Solar Powered Charging Station for Volt?

[spydergirl]

We are considering having one installed once we get our federal tax rebate for the purchase of our new 2012 Volt.

Has anyone installed or had installed a solar powered charging station for their Volt?

[lordcn]

If you intending to install a system at home there's three things you'll need to price:
1. The recommended 240V circuit for the charger for your house (in a garage?) from a local qualified electrician.

2. Install a charging station hard wired or plug into that circuit. Go to https://www.homecharging.spx.com/Volt/Home.aspx?menu=22 for information on #1 and 2.

3. Price a solar electric generating system. I would recommend a grid tie system which is what I have.
I'd size it for as much as you can afford remembering that you'll receive a 30% tax credit for the solar electric system in addition to your car and the charging station. I wouldn't wait. It may go away.

Good luck.

[gwmort]

Our PV system is going in the week after Christmas. We're leasing the system from Sungevity, so there is zero up front cost and the lease payment is less than our old electric bill.

[bonaire]

If this station is meant to recharge the car, don't skimp and just make it grid-tied. There is no reason not to be feeding the grid when not charging. Stand alone charging stations don't work unless they produce enough amps and volts to support the minimum input for the Volt - that is 120V at 8A. You need good sun and at least a 2KW system do to that. A grid tied system means that if the sun is not strong or the charging happens off-peak time when the output of the array is not enough, the grid is used to supply the needed charge.

To me, there should be no charging station installed without grid-tie.

Anything solar should be large enough to support a good cost-effectiveness. Plan on the biggest system you can to be grid-tied to your home (or work). Small stations are high priced for their specific output (say $10/Watt) versus an all-home system at $5/Watt or less.

[solar_dave]

I will echo Grid Tie, it allows the banking of power for later usage via net metering. Leasing can be an option for a cost effective way to get into solar.

One issue is scaling, if you plan to add more later make sure your installer takes that into consideration in the design. The only issue you may run into is the capacity of your service panel to accept the solar in feed. The National Electrical Code (NEC) only allows a 20% overrate on your service panel, i.e. if you have a 200 amp panel then you can only add a 40 amp solar breaker to back feed that panel. If you want more you need to derate the main breaker to like 175 amp which then may effect how many loads are allowed on the panel. You must have a spare double breaker in your panel to provide a feed in point as well.

The service entrance was a challenge for our setup. Since this system is fairly large it required an upgrade to the service entrance including the line from the transformer. We went from a single 200 amp panel to a pair of 200 amp panels, one derated to 175amps to accept the solar feed in breaker of 60 amps, with a 400 amp line and meter going to the transformer.

[Brittt1]

Our PV system is going in the week after Christmas. We're leasing the system from Sungevity, so there is zero up front cost and the lease payment is less than our old electric bill.

How does the whole Sungevity thing work, i have heard some good things about them but wonder how Swapping a bill vs paying a lease will benefit me and i'm sure you still need to pay some bill? also what happens at the end of the lease? is it lease to own? also I guess can you negotiate the install similar to if you were buying?

[solar_dave]

I just negotiated a lease with Salt River Solar for a 3920 watt add to my system using Enphase inverters, $1 watt up front, no payments, 5 year term, $99 residual with ownership transfer to me then. They get to keep all rebates and tax incentives. It will produce about $1100 a year (6500 kWh) at our on peak rates for an ROI of under 4 years. Any excess will get bought back by the utility @ $0.065 kWh which may extend the ROI out a year or 2 but even then not a bad deal.

For a standard Grid tie inverter install they have been quoting $0.50 a watt upfront with a 20 year term, $99 residual. Certainly a bargain for $5000 for a 10Kw system.

[larry4pyro]

Hate to be a wet blanket but San Diego Gas & Electric is asking permission to penalize solar users on Net Metering (Grid Tie) agreements. Other utilities including PG&E are closely watching this request and are expected to follow suit if approved. What this rate hike will do is impose a network usage fee on each kwh of power you pull off the grid at night. SDG&E says this network cost amount to $34 a month to supply 1 kwh of power. Breaking that down to an hourly rate, my guess is SDG&E is asking for a 4.7 cent per kwh surcharge on power delivered to Net Metering users. That means it will cost you about 50 cents more to charge your Volt than your neighbor with no PV system. If you are considering a Grid Tie PV system from a purely financial point of view, you may wish to revisit the numbers with this in mind as this potential rate increase could impact your return on investment in a very negative way. I installed a Grid-Tie PV system about 4 years ago. I knew it would be more expensive but I thougt it was the right thing to do, now with SDG&E's attempt to kill-off solar, I regret that decision. With this rate hike in mind, it may make more sense to separate yourself from your utility with an Off-Grid system designed to just charge your Volt.

[solar_dave]

Hate to be a wet blanket but San Diego Gas & Electric is asking permission to penalize solar users on Net Metering (Grid Tie) agreements. Other utilities including PG&E are closely watching this request and are expected to follow suit if approved. What this rate hike will do is impose a network usage fee on each kwh of power you pull off the grid at night. SDG&E says this network cost amount to $34 a month to supply 1 kwh of power. Breaking that down to an hourly rate, my guess is SDG&E is asking for a 4.7 cent per kwh surcharge on power delivered to Net Metering users. That means it will cost you about 50 cents more to charge your Volt than your neighbor with no PV system. If you are considering a Grid Tie PV system from a purely financial point of view, you may wish to revisit the numbers with this in mind as this potential rate increase could impact your return on investment in a very negative way. I installed a Grid-Tie PV system about 4 years ago. I knew it would be more expensive but I thougt it was the right thing to do, now with SDG&E's attempt to kill-off solar, I regret that decision. With this rate hike in mind, it may make more sense to separate yourself from your utility with an Off-Grid system designed to just charge your Volt.

That is why I profess that the AZ grid net metering plan is much better. The power generated can only be used during the Time of generation within the TOU plan. Then at year end you get a credit for the excess @ $0.065 kWh. The off peak rates are right around $0.05 a kWh so you get a profit (not much) off your excess to offset your night time purchases. I have moved my Volt charging, Swimming pool, laundry all to on peak consumption.

I actually see SDG&E point in that you sell at $0.30 or more (PG&E has rates as high as $0.54 kWh) day time and buy back at $0.06 off peak, that is 5 times as much generation. I like the kWh offset system much better with an annual credit settle up at year end. The utility make quite a bit of money then off your peak generation excess by sending it to your local neighbors and they also have no transmission costs.

But what SDG&E is doing is really not a level playing field, hopefully the utility commission will squash it.

[bonaire]

OP location says SF Bay area. No SD issues.