PV now active! Check this out!

Many of you are aware that our goal with this house was to be Net Zero Energy...which means that we create as much or more energy than we use. Well, yesterday the local electric company PNW "commissioned" our Photo-Voltaic system. This means it is now generating electricity from the sun and running it backwards into the grid. A couple of photos illustrate this.

Before PV active

We actually have two meters. One shows the amount of electric we pull from the grid and the REC meter shows how much electricity we create with our PV panels. You can see above that this photo was taken before the PV system was active...all zeros...no electricity created.

After PV active

And this photo was taken about 24 hours after the PV system went active showing that our PV system has already generated 20kw! Since we are know creating our own electricity when the sun is out, the use meter is actually now moving backwards! Supposedly there is a website I will soon get online access to monitor the activity of our 13 PV panels. Can hardly wait! :)

Last update photo is from our upstairs deck of our outdoor kitchen. I've used the grill several times already and am loving it. :)

Although we still have contractors in our home daily, they are making good progress (and are quite pleasant to have around actually!). I hope to be able to take inside photos soon, but we still have boxes laying around waiting for bookcases and final painting to be completed. Karin and Kristin completed about 80% of the landscape design and Karin plans to finish up the rest. Our landscaping will officially start on March 5 and is estimated to take another month or so.