Farming and gardening is, of course, the original use of solar power, but the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association (MOFGA) went the next step and installed the 21st century evolution: an 11.7kw solar photovoltaic array. This grid-tied system has no moving parts, no batteries, just fifty-two Solon Blue 225 watt panels tied to two inverters that will convert sunshine into electricity for the next several decades.

This 21st century system marks the latest step in the restoration of a 200 year old barn – a true symbol of old tradition meets new technology! This unique and highly visible project was a great opportunity for some video coverage, and in this 7-minute feature we hear from Vernon LeCount from MOFGA and John Luft from ReVision Energy’s Liberty office about the installation and MOFGA’s long-term ambitions about renewable energy.

MOFGA provides year-round services to organic farmers and gardeners, but they may be best known for their big upcoming event: the Common Ground Fair to be held this September 23-25. The fair is the premiere celebration of rural traditions and sustainable living and attracts over 60,000 people each year.

We’ll be there the whole weekend with staff from all three branches. Be sure to keep an eye out for the new PV system as you approach the south parking lot, and talk to us about any questions you’ve ever had about solar, energy efficiency, and green building.

Thanks again, MOFGA, for making a big commitment to sustainable energy, and to Darryl Czuchra Production Services, who went above and beyond in the creation of this video.

More Photos in Our Commercial Solar Photo Gallery:

For Cheryl Frederick, Assistant Professor of Captive Wildlife Care and Education at Unity College, the tipping point for energy came this past semester when she had a guest lecturer in her classroom talk about coal.

“There is nothing clean about coal,” she remembers, “And our environment is in crisis. I thought – I need to go beyond teaching this to living it.”

That decision brought her to ReVision Energy, who she learned about through colleagues at the university who were familiar with our work. She appreciated not only the lofty recommendation she received, but that she would be employing Unity alumni for her project.

PACE Financing Makes it Possible

Cheryl’s system took advantage of the new PACE program by Efficiency Maine, a low-interest loan tied to the value of your home specifically made for renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements. Maine is the first state in the country to offer PACE financing and Cheryl’s may be one of the first home to use it for solar electricity. But despite the newness of the program, she says the experience was great.

“The whole process took about a month,” she says. “Now our money now goes to the loan instead of the utility bill, and if we stay here long enough we’ll get most or all of our electricity for free. It’s an amazing program – we wanted to do solar and the PACE loan made it possible.”

Solar As a Form of Entertainment

Cheryl, like many solar electric system owners, finds herself having lots of fun watching the performance of her system through her web-based monitoring portal. She can now see how much power she generates in a given day and check in from anywhere with an internet connection.

“It’s like watching stocks go up – you have a nice sunny day and then get to see how much power you generated,” she says, adding “The website also tells you what your carbon offset is and how many trees you have saved.”

She finds that being aware of how much power she’s generating makes her more aware of how much power she’s using. “We have become more careful about our power use, and are hoping to bank more power this summer than we use.  That way, we can use more electric heaters this winter to offset our oil use.”

The best part? “I feel like I’m finally doing my part,” she says, “Instead of cutting down trees, I’m saving them.”

The fourth annual Freeing the Grid report has come out, outlining the wide range of states’ progress towards modern and understandable net-metering service, a requirement of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Essentially, net metering lets a customer back-feed solar energy to the grid, and lets their account be credited at the full retail rate.

The report, done by the independent organization Network for New Energy Choices, advocates common sense net metering policy. With simple rules and standards, a number of states have demonstrated the readiness with which solar photovoltaic (PV) systems can feed the grid renewable energy. On the other hand, excessive system requirements, redundant applications, and general unfamiliarity with grid-tied technology still pose obstacles in other states.

Photo of a 3.6 kW ground mounted array in Bath Maine. Derek Wilbraham uses his solar credits to offset the electricity bills at his home and camp!

In Maine, specific recommendations were made to remove system size limits and allow solar PV systems to be sized to meet on-site load. The report also recommends adopting safe harbor language to protect customer from extra and/or unanticipated fees (e.g. CMP’s $50 net metering charge.) The report notes that Maine has adopted a policy of “meter aggregation”- where a customer can spread solar generation credits across several accounts which are metered separately, one of the first states in the country to do so. Maine’s overall grades were B for net-metering, and A for interconnection.

In New Hampshire, similar recommendations are made to lift unnecessary net metering requirements. The report also shows a need for a more concise and rational interconnection standard. New Hampshire’s overall grades were B for net-metering, and D for interconnection.

You can also download the full report, containing a detailed state-by-state summary.

A local Target store lets customers know that the store’s A/C load is reduced to help keep the region’s electric usage under control

When it’s a searing 100-degrees in Maine or New Hampshire, we concede it’s a worthy time to put on an air conditioner. But while A/C may take the edge off the heat for us humans, the strain is pushed onto the electric grid.

As consumers we usually only experience electricity’s effects – turning on the lights, running a fan, or powering a gadget. Yet, in the background is an extraordinarily elaborate system of transmission and distribution that ultimately ties back to a control room that looks remarkably like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

Here grid operators have job #1 of maintaining consistent electricity supply despite constantly fluctuating and limited data. While most power is purchased at bulk auction for competitive prices, when there’s a sudden flux of demand, options become limited and the real-time cost of electricity skyrockets. For example, when savagely hot temperatures hit the Northeast and anyone with an A/C kicks it on.

When a kWh Costs a Lot More than a kWh

On Thursday, July 21, for example, a power line failure knocked several power substations out of commission (Source: Portland Press Herald), an event which, combined with the heat, caused electricity prices to more than quadruple as backup generators and reserves were kicked in to meet the demand. The brutal pattern repeated that Friday, when from 1pm – 6pm power cost more than $250 per gWh, four times more than electricity cost the previous Friday, July 15.

The worst part of this equation is that the electric generators brought online to meet peak demand are often the dirtiest and least efficient tools to produce power – short cycle, peak-load firing coal or oil power plants (located in such picturesque areas as Cousins Island and Bar Harbor, Maine).

The utility companies’ solution to heavy summertime use is to build more and bigger power lines, often through previously undisturbed habitat.  The transmission build out is an expensive and intensive project, comprising pieces like this 286-ton transformer, made in Taiwan, the transportation of which requires a 16-axle truck and roads to be supported with extra steel bracing!

With all the cost associated with propping up the existing system, we can’t help but ask – why don’t we harness the sun instead?

The Vision of Distributed Solar

We’ve talked about the idea of distributed solar before, mostly in the context of our allies at GridSolar. The concept is this: install solar panels where power is most needed under peak conditions – the hospitals, schools and commercial buildings with large flat roofs, big A/C units, and population-dense neighborhoods.

This solar electric installation in in-town Yarmouth will offset peak electric use in the neighborhood when it produces more power than it uses

Since, almost by definition, solar panels will perform close to their peak when A/C loads are the highest, distributed solar accomplishes the goal of reducing strain from the grid without requiring expensive and inefficient peak fossil fuel inputs. Oh, and they have the added benefit of producing clean electricity the other 355 days when it’s not peak load!

Of course, you don’t need a huge installation to help the cause – literally every grid-tied solar electric installation helps take some load off the grid. Within ReVision’s customers alone there is over 2MW of electricity being eased off the grid during peak hours of use (as well as all the other times the sun is shining).

So, with solar electricity you can feel good about running your air conditioner, or even better – if you’ve gone to the beach, you can rest assured your system is helping run your neighbors A/C instead, and you’re racking up the credit. Now that’s cool!

More Resources on this Staggering Summer and the Grid:

We’ve stumbled across some really interesting materials on the state of the electric grid and our use of electricity. These might interest you, too:

• APM’s Marketplace has been featuring segments of an hour-long documentary on our addiction to coal power
• New York City is getting serious about solar – with 2/3 of its buildings good sites for solar, the city predicts it could meet 1/2 its energy needs with solar power.  From CNN Money
• We were inspired by this story of the Japanese working as a nation to keep the electric use under control in a post-Fukushima environment

Thanks to an Efficiency Maine Grant, the new learning center at the Bryan Pond 4-H camp will provide nearly all of its power from the sun!

Thanks to a grant from Efficiency Maine, the new year-round lodge at UMaine’s 4-H Learning Center will generate virtually all of its electricity by harnessing sunshine.

For over 50 years the University of Maine 4-H Camp & Learning Center at Bryant Pond (formerly the Maine Conservation School) has strengthened children’s relationship to the natural world with a combination of inspired outdoor fun, practical woods-wise skills, and “hands-on” conservation education. So when a grant became available to fund solar projects for the purposes of demonstrating PV technology to the public, the location seemed like a perfect fit.

The new 10.3kw grid-tied system will generate about 14,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, offsetting about 18,200 pounds of CO2 emissions from regional fossil fuel power plants. Equally important, it will be used as a learning tool for students who will use the facility year-round. Soon the solar array will feature web-based performance monitoring, interpretive signs, and a lobby computer display showing how much electricity the panels are generating at any given time (Maine Community Foundation has helped with the latter).

The project was showcased in the Lewiston Sun Journal:

The center will have a dining hall and a commercial-style kitchen and will hold 36 people… The lodge, which is still under construction, will incorporate as many “green” features as possible, including the solar panels and recycled-newspaper insulation throughout the building, said program Director Ryder Scott.

“Whenever possible, we’ve used local materials for construction of the entire building, within reason,” he said.

Eighty percent of the project cost is being funded through a $50,000 renewable resource grant from the Maine Public Utilities Commission. The remainder of the money was acquired through fundraising. The PUC grant, which is administered through Efficiency Maine, supports projects that use renewable energy technologies, specifically photovoltaic. The grants are funded by ratepayers who opt to support the program.

It’s a real honor to work on projects like these that help bring solar to the attention of the next generation. We look forward to being part of decades of learning!

Tom Southworth’s BEYOND net zero home will sell power to the grid each year!

Tom Southworth’s commitment to sustainability runs deep. Since 1974 he’s owned and operated a water-powered sawmill in Lancaster, New Hampshire, around which he built the successful Garland Mill Timberframes business. Tom imparted his passion to his son Ben, whose work includes turning a 1970s ranch house into a LEED Platinum, Net Zero showcase. So when it came time to build a home to retire in, Tom set his sights high: he wanted a house that would not only generate all of the electricity it uses each year, but also produce a surplus to sell to the grid.

New Hampshire Ups the Ante

“What got me started in this direction is when New Hampshire went beyond net billing and offered to write me a check if I produce more power than I use,” Tom says. “I took a hard look at my energy usage and determined that 8,000 kWh/year would allow us to meet all our needs and be a net exporter of electricity.”

Most impressive is that Tom both exports power to the grid and heats his home with electricity. While conventional wisdom is that electric heat is expensive, 21st century building standards challenge that assumption completely.

“While it’s not official yet, we built this house to meet German passivhaus standards,” Tom says. “This means an extremely well-insulated building envelope consisting of 12″ exterior side walls packed with cellulose sheathed with 2″ foam, and 40″ of cellullose packed into the truss system. We moved in on April 1st and so far have not used any heating whatsoever.”

Tracking Results

Tom Southworth’s solar thermal storage tank is tied into its own electric meter to track run time of the backup electric element

To keep track of his goals, Tom uses a decidedly analog but very effective method of monitoring his systems – an extra electric meter dedicated to tracking photovoltaic production, and a second dedicated to his hot water tank. In addition to the photovoltaic system, Tom had us install a solar hot water system tied into an existing 120 gallon storage tank with electric backup.

“Since we don’t really know much electricity our backup tank will use in the winter, we added the second meter so we could really understand it,” Tom says, “We expect to use only solar-heated water from May through September and will be closely watching how much the electric element is needed in the other months.”

Power While the Sun Shines

Now that everything is up and running, Tom says the system is so far “on target” for photovoltaic production.

“I’m 100% pleased with the system,” Tom says, “I look forward to enjoying my years of retirement knowing my energy comes from the sun.”

The solar electric system on the fire station in Manchester, Maine will provide more than half the power for the building

The Town of Manchester, Maine, has one of the first solar-powered fire stations in the state! Last month we finished installation of a 9.2kw grid-tied photovoltaic array, which will provide over 11,000 kWh of clean energy annually – or roughly half of the power used in the facility.

The Kennebec Journal reported on the project. Keith Edwards writes:

A new array of 44 solar panels atop the fire station is expected to supply about half the electricity the building needs.

“It’s in, it’s making electricity right now,” [Town Manager E. Patrick] Gilbert said of the system.

The system is connected to the power grid, so when it is producing more power than is needed at the fire station, that excess electricity goes into the grid, and the town will get a credit on its bill from Central Maine Power Co. for that electricity.

“Whatever we don’t use dumps back into the grid,” Gilbert said. “There will be good (electricity-generating) days and bad days.”

… Gilbert said the location is expected to allow the panels to work at about 95 percent of their capacity … He said he hopes to ultimately make the system’s monitoring information available on the town’s website.

The project was supported by a grant from Efficiency Maine made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Cliff Babkirk’s 5.4kw grid tied solar electric array will nearly completely offset the electric load of his air source heat pump, his home’s primary source of heat

Energy conservation had been on Cliff Babkirk’s mind for years, but it reached a head in 2008 when he received an invoice from his heating oil company for $5,000 for a pre-paid contract. “I knew I had to do something different,” he says, “I wanted to get off oil for environmental reasons already but now I had economic reasons too.”

His search for an alternative heating system initially lead him to geothermal, though quotes of up to $50,000 for a retrofit installation made the project uneconomical. Instead, he learned of an similar, but significantly less costly solution – the Acadia air source heat pump.

Immense Savings with Electric Heat

Made by a Maine company, the Acadia offered many of the same benefits as a geothermal system, and integrated with most of Babkirk’s existing system – including his air handler and duct work. He had the unit installed before the 2008 heating season, and estimates it saved him $3,200 after the first year alone!

Of course, the drop in heating oil costs were offset, in part, by a rise in electricity costs to run the heat pump. Babkirk also had an energy audit done and learned that his basement and attic were two big culprits for energy loss. So, for his next step, he set about to better insulate the trouble spots in his house, and then to offset the electric load of his heat pump with solar electricity.

In 2009 he added 2″ of rigid foam insulation to his basement walls (,) added closed cell sprayed foam to his rim joists, and undertook some serious air sealing work. In 2010, he pulled out much of his home’s existing attic insulation and replaced it with super-dense R49 blow-in cellulose insulation. Finally, in 2011, he added grid-tied photovoltaic installed by ReVision Energy to offset his electric usage. His initial goal was to drop his load of 16,000 kWh a year to around 10,000 kWh a year – his electricity baseline prior to the installation of the air source heat pump.

Solar Exceeding Expectations

“Our goal was to be producing around 500 kWh/month with solar and so far the system has exceeded our expectations,” Babkirk says, “The best part is that the energy I’ve paid for today with my solar panels is never subject to a rate change. I’ve locked in the cost of a portion of my electricity for the next 20-25 years at a rate below current utility prices. In addition, through the benefits of net-metering, CMP gives me a credit on my bill for excess electricity produced by the array that I don’t use.”

Cliff is a big fan of data monitoring, and has been using The Energy Detective (TED) to monitor his household’s electric use since 2008. He was immensely satisfied to send us this photo of his household’s electric use soon after the PV system was installed:

More Solar Power on the Horizon

While he’s made great progress already, Cliff plans to take his 30% federal tax credit from his first PV array and use it to buy more panels. “My goal is to get to 50% of my energy use being offset by PV,” he says. He and his wife plan to stay in their current home – overlooking a pond in Sanford, Maine – well into retirement, and so the idea of getting control over their utility costs is immensely comforting.

“We like the idea of reliable systems and predictable costs,” he says, “Currently our oil boiler is nothing but a fancy hot water system and a backup source of heat when we lose power or should the Acadia system require maintenance… And once we can find an alternative backup heat source I like even better, we will finally have a fossil-free house.”

In the meantime, Cliff can expect to generate over 6,576 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually, while offsetting roughly 8,812 lbs. of CO2 emissions that would be generated from coal, natural gas, or liquid fuel power plants.