Duckworth House
115 Pack Saddle Trail
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To maximize the solar energy available, I custom designed and built my solar array to track the sun utilizing a dual axis system.The array consists of 12 PV panels mounted on a pole so the array can follow the sun throughout the day. |
Renewable energy features
Solar PV
kW: 3.3 kW
Installation Date: September 2015
Installer: self
Equipment
12- SolarWorld SW275 MONO array, 12- ABB microinverters
Pole mounted dual axis tracking
Solar Tracking Controller: Laser Precision Crafts, STA1000-HW
Retail Electric Provider
Weatherford Electric (municipal utility)
Green features
- LED lighting in 75% of the home
- Timer on electric water heater
Host Comments
To maximize the solar energy available, I custom designed and built my solar array to track the sun utilizing a dual axis system. The array consists of 12 PV panels mounted on a pole so the array can follow the sun throughout the day. Each panel is connected to a micro inverter to allow individual monitoring of each panels performance. To help save natural resources (and a little money) the materials used to build the system mainly came from the local scrap metal recycling center, Weatherford Recycling & Supply, with the exception for the solar equipment.
The installation was completed in September 2015 so I now have one year of historical performance data available. The ABB micro inverters have monitoring software that allows tracking of the system performance and as well as individual panels from a computer or smart phone. Tracking the sun has proven to increase the performance considerably compared a fixed system.