Here Comes the Sun
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Over the years, solar panels have been installed on every square inch of roof. There is nothing better than plugging in one of the cars and knowing that all of the energy generated goes straight to the ballet commute.
Then it snows.
Covering the panels.
The weather settles into below freezing for many days. Many days.
Snug under their blanket of snow, the panels teased and mocked me.
Our electric bill arrived. It was a solid three figure payment to Central Hudson. Central Hudson who charges us a Customer Benefit Contribution for supplying the grid with electricity from generated by our solar panels. We are charged “a monthly $/kW DC charge to recover public benefit program costs” - in addition to the monthly connection costs. AND they grandfathered in our panels that were installed before the 1/1/22 activation date.
Some states you get reimbursed for what you feed the grid - not in NY.
Obviously, I am not a fan of this.
I do not like paying bullies.
A few weeks ago we purchased a long handled panel scraper and did the best we could reaching panels that were not installed with accessibility in mind.
We also procured and installed an energy monitoring system to attach directly to the fuse box. We now have real-time data coming in on where the electricity is being used. Where the big spenders are - data to make choices.
Courtesy of the NYS Power To Choose website I shifted our provider of renewable energy to a more economical provider.
And then we get the second month’s bill. 150% higher than the month before.
No longer could we avoid what needed to be done.
Heights.
Slippery metal roofs.
Ladders.
After the first time, heart pounding, it became rather fun.
This past weekend we all piled onto the ladder - tools in hand.
To have conversations like this.
“Dragon, please don’t get too close to the edge. And be careful shoveling the snow onto the driveway. It was just plowed.”
“Bean, be careful scraping the joints of the panels. You don’t want the pokey screw damaging the soft foam of the scraper.”
We were able to reach the bottom two rows of the main array safely - almost eight panels clear.
The six panels outside of the window I did myself - crawling along the top of the array and pushing the tool gently along the top.
Now I look out and smile.
Here comes the sun.*
*Bill McKibben gave a talk at our local library this winter about this latest book, Here Comes the Sun. It is very wonderful what is happening across the world with solar generation (not in our country though). I learned there are solar panels in Germany that you can hang over your balcony and plug into an outlet. So far, only Utah has legalized “Portable Solar Generation Devices” - fingers crossed more states will follow.
Reading McKibben’s newsletter is an exercise in deep breathing. I recommend it as long you have time to do Fists of Anger afterwards.
