Solar production - 2 year update: The left panels were installed in June of 2019 while the right panels were installed August of 2020. It is currently December 2021 and these panels combined have made 25.97 MW of energy. Enphase's website says that is enough energy to power a fridge for 16 years or a 100 Watt light bulb for 30 years! The panels were installed by All Energy Solar. We had them put them on the roof to save space in the yard; although, being able to tilt the panels to slide the snow off them would be useful.
Microinverters on each panel give the per panel production data. The microinverters also allow the panels to still generate electricity if half of them are covered in snow. In my testing, a patch of snow the size of a dollar bill on any single panel will reduce its efficiency by 90% until it is removed or melts!!! I will sometimes crawl up there and clear them with a solar broom/rake tool
, but that is tedious when we get feet of snow or ice, and is probably not the safest choice either. I probably put the panels at more risk from slipping in falling on them. So, from January to March they are usually completely snow covered. My setup is not optimal as the panels are oriented to the southwest, but that's how our barn is oriented. Despite this, the system completely offsets our electricity consumption including Holly's bi-weekly pottery kiln runs! In the above picture, you can also see Paul's 450 lb giant pumpkin that he grew this year too.
