Thursday, 30 June 2016

How does solar work with BC Hydro's net metering program


To learn more about this program click here.


Here's a good video to explain how everything comes together.

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

What If My Roof Faces East-West?

If your roof is facing East-West, you can also do solar in most instances by being creative. Here's a simple, low-cost, and extremely strong racking system we developed two years ago. The roof shown is pitched East-West but the modules are mounted perpindicular to the pitch in a Southerly direction. The angle can be adjusted by using different lengths for the rear supporting bars. This allows us to work with existing obstructions. In this case, trees in the backyard and in neighbours yards can be worked around by adjusting the angle of the module to be a little flatter. This only reduces overall production by a few percentage points on an annual basis.

Can Solar Work On A North Facing Roof?

Here's a well-written and informative article about how solar output varies by which way your roof faces. Most people automatically assume that if their south-facing roof is obstructed by trees or other things, that they can't do solar. Depending upon the pitch of your roof and other factors, other orientations can work well too. With the low-cost of equipment provided by Sweet Spot Solar it might just simply be a matter of adding a few more panels to make up any loses compared to having a true south facing roof.

Tuesday, 28 June 2016

Solar Powered Pergola Or Awning

Here's an idea for a solar pergola. Costco will reduce the 12'x16' OLT Breeze Pergola by $1000 between July 4-17. Sweet Spot Solar can sell you a system of 12 modules for a 3.2 kW array to fit on top of this. Keep cool in the shade and provide 3500 kWh/year for your house. OK, the pergola isn't really powered... but it will power your house.

We can also have a local carpentar build something for you to fit your property and budget.

What's in a name? Sweet Spot Solar

A lot of people have asked us about the inspiration for our name. The sweet spot can mean different things to different people, and it often refers to several of them at the same time.

For some, the sweet spot is finding the right sized system to help meet financial goals. We will design you a system to cut your power bill down to zero, a larger system to create some income, a medium sized system to keep you out of Step 2 electrical pricing where you pay a 50% premium to your utility company, or a small system (like our Solar-Ready Plus 1 kW to help you get started). 

The sweet spot for others can be symbolic and a demonstration to your family, neighbours, community, and future generations that you are doing the "right thing" by supporting locally-produced renewable electricity. 

The sweet spot can also refer to the location on your property where solar potential is the best. We'll help you find that sweet spot with ease.

There's one more reason why we call ourselves Sweet Spot Solar... because it's fun. Solar doesn't have to be all techie and have company names that sound like equipment you would find in a lab.  

If you play tennis, golf, or baseball... you're already aware of what happens when the sweet spot is hit. Wham... a perfect return, drive and home run.

The Sweet Spot Solar Company is about educating and informing people on how to hit that sweet spot. Of course, we would also love to design and sell you some top-of-the-line of equipment too. Working with the sun is not difficult and it's something we've had to do since the dawn of our time as a species.

Here's some fresh cinnamon buns cooked with the sun in a sun oven in less than 30 minutes. Working with solar is easy, fun, and now affordable.

Saturday, 25 June 2016

Our Solar-Ready Plus 1 kW Array

For many people, solar power at home is too expensive and it is sometimes seen as complicated or requiring significant modifications to your house.

Sweet Spot Solar has changed all of that with our special Solar-Ready Plus 1 kW array. This four module, 1 kW micro-array is a starter kit that has plenty of power and built-in room for expansion up to 17 modules - for a generous 4.42 kW array. That's like strapping a 4400 Watt generator onto your roof!

This starter kit won't power your whole house or allow you to generate any credit by itself, but it is the foundation for a larger array.

The Solar-Ready Plus 1 kW array will be installed fully by a licensed electrician with all permits and approval from BC Hydro to sell power back to them through the Net Metering program.

It's so simple that it can be put together in three steps.

Step 1. Four solar modules are attached to your roof securely and in a weather-proof way. 

Step 2. A junction box is placed with connection to those four modules, plus room for future expansion. This is what we mean by Solar-Ready Plus. You could add up to 13 more modules on this same line and junction box. TEK cable connects the junction box right into your breaker box, and it could look like this or be tucked away depending on your house.

Step 3. A 20 Amp double breaker is used to connect the array from the TEK cable directly. Nothing else in your house, and simple. Your entire house is now ready to work with solar and the grid simultaneously. This can even be connected to any other breaker box or sub-panel to the same meter, and provide power to the entire property on that meter.

Orders for this special system are now being placed. Don't miss out on the solar revolution.