Our contractor arrived last week with his SunEye and did a full shading workup of the roof. Essentially he measured 6 points on the roof as shown here:
The important measurements for this year are locations 1 and 2 since this is where the initial array will be built. And, for six hundred dollars in WI Focus on energy grant money, the answer was this:
and this:
That’s within the 10% minimum shading requirement!
So, why the difference? Essentially, SolarEye can spot trees and adjust the calculation accordingly. My analysis was a “worst case” analysis that treated trees essentially as a concrete barricade that had the profile of my shaded area line.
After I receive my contractor’s invoice for a $500 downpayment, I can fill out my grant reservation for a $600 cash rebate.
We’re also going to go with Suniva 265 Watt panels because the OPT270s are oversold through August. My cost for those will be $324.88 each (delivered).
Hows the budget looking?
1,299.50 (panels)
2,350.00 (contractor)
600.00CR (focus grant)
= 3049.50 for the 1KW array. Not too bad!