Solar Energy and Oncor

Okay, groovy people-
We got an email from Oncor on December 17 saying that we've been "moved to Project Submitted status." Unlike what we were initially told, the email says that the process may take up to 30 days to complete... not 2 weeks.  Strike one.  Hopefully the letter was erring on the side of caution and the 2 weeks will be closer to correct.  We'll see.  (Along with this, the email went straight to SPAM and was not listed as being from Oncor so I didn't see it for a week. Guess I'll have to scrutinize things more carefully.)

What that means is that we've got our system installed but can't switch it on. Not happy about this.  We'll survive, but not a fan of inaccurate information from companies. 

Also I have yet to hear from the company about scheduling the work on the "blackout circuits".  In their defense, it has been Christmas holidays, so I guess I can cut them a little slack, but we ARE rolling into blackout season shortly.  A well...again...we'll see.

Interview with the Solar Panel Installer

Installation of the panels and electronics

So, we've got a crew of four installing the hardware for the solar system...brackets, racks, panels, inverter, and the connections.  They feel they'll get done today. At first they were a little nervous about the three story building, then they realized that the roof is only slightly pitched (15 deg) and consequently easy to work on.

brackets and racks for panels

So we're rocking!  As I wrote this, I got an email from the the company, O3 Home Solar, that we are ready to start the next step, connecting the system to the grid and dealing with the power company.  Moving along indeed.

UPDATE:  Tim and I discovered an issue.  We did not get the system that allows us to draw power during a blackout.  He was right that our contract didn't call for it.  So I called the office and spoke to Ronnie.  Between the two of them we figured out a solution and settled it very quickly and professionally.  It takes another service call, but we got it handled.  Yay.

[any further updates will be new posts]

Here Comes the Sun (doo bee doo bee)

Subtitled: Going Solar

Coming this Tuesday, December 17, 2019, we will have solar panels installed on our roof.  We are staying on grid for now and doing the buy-back option. Reliant/Oncor have a good buy-back program...we've been told.  We'll see how everything works.  Let's face it, it's not what we're used to and will take some adjustment.  We know some folks in town who have them from another company, but they've promised to help us with the rough bits we'll come to.

I'm going to post pictures, videos, Facebook streaming videos,  and narratives as we get them in and as we adjust to the panels.  Some things should stay exactly the same on our part.  Some things will change.  They're not a miracle, just another energy source.

For those of you who don't know, we intended to use solar from the beginning.  We're 90% + electrical for that reason.  In the future, as storage systems improve in quality and price we'll think about adding that to our system, but for now it's just a no go.  Anyway, I'll keep you posted.  Not every day, of course, but more frequently than usual at first.  After a while it will only be when there is an issue or a victory.

Thanks for reading.  I'll definitely have stuff on Tuesday.