Rector Solar Central, Tempe, AZ
2.9 kW Residential Grid-tie Photovoltaic power plant
Background photos: Photos of the south and west-facing photovoltaic arrays on our roof. 


Below, inset:
Aerial view of our house, showing locations of the solar electric panels connected to our local utility grid. We've been online since Nov. 2005 - each year the total energy collected has exceeded 4100 kWh. Stats are posted further down the page.

Array locations

Our installation consists of an 1837W roof-mounted photovoltaic string facing south, and an 1120W string facing west. Each PV string is connected to its own independent MPPT input to the power converter, which is the interface to the neighborhood electric grid under Salt River Project's EarthWise renewable energy program. Both PV strings send several amperes at up to 300 Vdc to the conditioner, which converts this to 240 Vac house current, returning up to 2.4 kW back to the electric grid (yes, the meter runs backwards). The collected energy is directly subtracted from our monthly usage at the retail cost (net metering).
Energy Generated  

By Year:
2006 (11/22/05-12/31/06) 4291 kWh

2007 4172 kWh

2008 4162 kWh

2009 4158 kWh

2010 4010 kWh

2011 4092 kWh



Other Photos:
mouse-over for additional details

The morning we went on line 11/22/05:
No, not that switch, Vern!









Business End of the solar plant, the grid intertie:

Power inverter   Inverter Interior


That peaceful feeling:

power monitor






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