As the new Solar Energy Marketing and Analysis Intern for Astralux Power Systems, I came into this position as a new graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in Business Marketing and a minor in Media Studies. As you may notice, there is nothing in that title that is even slightly technical, and no where in my education did I learn extensively about solar power. Two weeks ago I knew barely anything about solar, other than it is green, and that is currently the most common word in the English language. However, in these past two weeks I have been able to get a basic understanding of solar power, how it works, the industry itself, the great rebates, and how easy it is. Learning about this has been riveting and exciting for me, so I want to share that knowledge. If you have a technical background, don’t judge, if not, here is my best attempt at explaining solar power in basic terms that anyone can understand, and my way to share my enthusiasm of solar with you.

Let’s just dive on in! I will not go too much into how each individual solar panel works, more than there are three types, Single Crystalline, Poly Crystalline, and Thin Film. Single Crystalline is composed of sheets of silicone, which are sliced from a single silicone crystal. Because these crystals are cylinders, these panels are composed or circular pieces placed together, which creates a great deal of wasted space. Poly Crystalline is made up of thousands of tiny crystals on the panel, which allows it to be a rectangular shape. In the past this design has been less efficient, but that is changing as technology advances. Thin film is the final choice which is essentially a “sheet” that can be rolled out. This type of panel is the least efficient and needs the most surface area, so it does not tend to be as practical for smaller roofs.

Once a home or business has decided to look into solar, the process begins with a sales representative visiting the location. They measure the site, speak with the owner about what they would like, their energy needs, and then return that information to our designer, who will then map out the site for the highest output system available based on what the customer’s preferences. The optimal system would be on a location that faces due south and has a 40° tilt. The more optimal the system is, the higher the rebate will be. As the system strays away from that, the rebate will have to be calculated based on a percentage of the optimization of the system. The size of the system will also be established based on the space, amount of electricity used by the home, and the homeowner’s desires. These can range anywhere from 0.5 kW to 10 kW for a residential home. This can go up from there for any other building, but then the rebates would change. A typical residential system is 5 kW. The solar array (which is the word for all of the panels in a system) will then be placed however is desired, which can be a ground mount, on the roof, etc.

As the panels are installed, so is an inverter. The inverter is the box on your house that will invert the DC power the panels produce to AC power, which homes use. The size of the inverter is set to match the size of the system. There are two types of inverters that can be used; the first is a basic inverter, which means all of the panels will be connected in a series. The other kind of inverter is a micro inverter. One of these is attached to each individual panel, meaning they all act independent of each other. The advantage of micro inverters is that it will greatly reduce the effects of shading. When a normal inverter is used and there is shading on one or more of the panels, the system will produce significantly less. It is a similar effect to when you unscrew a light bulb from you strand of Christmas lights. When a micro inverter is used, each panel is independent, so only the panel subject to shading will be affected.

The final pieces of a solar install are the net meter and the monitor. The net meter is a digital piece on the outside of your home that measures the power produced by the panels, the power required by the home or building, and keeps track of how much power is needed from the power company’s grid and how much is pumped back into it. At the end of the year the power company will read this and if more was pumped back in than used, they will refund you for the number of kilowatt hours your system provided them with. A solar system will only pump what is needed by the house at that moment into the home; the rest of the power is stored on the grid. However, the power company will only allow a homeowner to install a system that produces up to 120% of their usage, so don’t get your hopes up, conserving energy is not entirely your next income stream. The final piece is a monitor which will be placed in the home for the owner to see what their system has produced, what they have used, and so much more. Some of the inverters even make this information available online.

Before I explain the rebates, here are some other basic facts:

• In one minute the sun produces enough solar energy to power the world for a year.
• For every kW of solar energy, approximately 90-100 ft of unobstructed roof space is required.
• A 3 kW system produces 4500 kWh per year, 375 kWh per month. A 10 kWh system produces 15,000 kWh per year and 1,250 kWh per month.
• In Colorado, on average, 1 kW = $150 of annual electricity offset, or $12.50 a month.
• A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is 1,000 watts acting over a period of 1 hour.
The rebates in Colorado are one of the best parts of solar, because it takes something that seems so out of reach and makes it possible and affordable. This table is the best way to explain how the rebates from your power company, such as Xcel work.

Small Medium Large
Size 0.5 – 9.9 kW 10.0 – 500.0 kW 500.0+ kW
Rebate $2/W $2/W Request for Proposal
Renew. Energy Credit $1.50/W $0.115/kWh (for 20 yrs) Request for Proposal

Essentially the rebate is composed of two parts, the basic rebate, which will always be $2/W for a small or medium system, and the REC or Renewable Energy Credit. The REC is based on the optimization of the system and can be reduced, but $1.50/W is optimal. Medium systems, which are generally commercial sized, receive their REC rebate over time, rather than upfront, like the other rebates.

The cake topper to all of this monetary assistance is the 30% tax credit that is received at the end of the year after the system has been installed. This 30% is taken off of the initial cost of the system, before all of the rebates come into play, which is phenomenal!
In this blog I will not even begin to go into the numbers and environmental impact one system can have, but just imagine, it’s pretty fantastic. Look for that in another blog, because that really is one of the most important reasons to go solar. It’s not just money; it’s also about preserving our planet.

As I previously mentioned, solar and the rest of the renewable energy world is interesting, exciting, and essential for our future. Feel free to check out our website, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or contact us to learn more about what is going on in the exciting world of solar. Hopefully this all made sense and was as interesting to you as it is to me.