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Previous Posts:

37) SunCottage Complete!

                   August 24, 2020 

36) Available for Rent!

                   February 13, 2020 

35) Furnishings & Triskelions

                   April 23, 2019 

34) Green Roof & Appliances

                   August 15th, 2018 

33) Between Snow & Summer

                   May 27th, 2018 

32) Sauna, Painting, Tile & Nest

                   April 1st, 2018 

31) Tesla, Geothermal ... Plasterers

                   February 17, 2018 

30) Solar Tracker is Online!

                   December 31, 2017 

29) Grid Connection & New Panels

                   December 31, 2017 

28) Interior Work

                   December 24, 2017 

27) Views of the Exterior

                   December 22, 2017 

26) Woodchips & a Bifacial Tracker

                   December 15, 2017 

25) Well Capping & A Minor Disaster

                   December 7, 2017 

24) Deep Wells, Green Roof & Chips

                   November 24, 2017 

23) Roofing, Windows, Bridge & Time

                   November 14, 2017 

22) The Crew & the SolaFlect Pad

                   October 31, 2017 

21) Walls & the Earth Tube

                    September 30, 2017 

20) Framing & Plan Change 

                    August 31, 2017

19) Foundation, ICFs & Radiant 

                    July 31, 2017

18) Demolition, Firemen & Footings 

                    June 15, 2017

17) Floor Plans   

                    June 2, 2017

16) The SunCar   

                    May 31, 2017

15) The Green Roof   

                     May 30, 2017

14) Energy Recovery- ERV or HRV?   

                     May 25, 2017

13) Triple Pane Windows, ICFs

                     May 24, 2017

12) Hot Tub-Small but Beautiful  

                     May 20, 2017

11) Solar Chimney 

                     May 18, 2017

10) The Tesla Battery- The Heart     

                     May 3, 2017

9) The Bottle Wall   

                     May 1, 2017

8) On Whey and Woodchips   

                     April 27, 2017

7) Geothermal  

                     April 13, 2017

6) Key Elements of the Building 

                     March 2, 2017

5) A True Passive House?                         

                     Jan. 26. 2017

4) The Systems: Solaflect Tracker   

                     Dec. 14, 2016

3) What to Build  

                     Nov. 23, 2016

2) The Story of the Old Cottage  

                     Oct. 22, 2016

1) SunCottage Genesis                         

                     August 29, 2016

29) Grid Connection & New Panels - December '17

The Federal Government has a program that gives back a 30% tax credit against the cost of installing a solar system. For our Solaflect tracker this amounts to nearly $7000 deducted from the total out-of-pocket cost of $23,000. But the thing is you have to have it up and running in 2017. That means you need to generate some photovoltaic power, not a lot, just some, a few electrons, a couple of watts.

So it's December 19th, close to the wire, and we have neither panels nor a connection to the grid. Thankfully the Solaflect boys arrived at 3 pm add started stringing the panels:

They worked well into the evening:

Two days later a crew from Green Mountain Power arrived to hook us up to the grid. Talk about shaving it close.

So here's the completed panel on the morning of December 31st. I have no idea if we made the deadline. One thing that didn't happen was we failed to get internet service hooked up. The tracker uses it to fine tune aiming the array, to monitor the weather, and to generally communicate with the tracker. Solaflect says that it's not necessary, that it can track the sun approximately with its built-in software. But I'm noticing that the array has yet to move. So the big question is did we meet the requirement to create power in 2017? Did a few electrons make the trip to wherever they go? It's a $7000 question.

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