I just got my latest net metering statement from PG&E and I’m happy to see that I’ve just crossed the $1000 mark as of July 6th — as in PG&E now owes me over $1000 for the excess electricity my system has generated over the six months so far (January through June). Woot!
That’s after all my household consumption, including charging my electric car (Nissan LEAF), running my well pump and water treatment system, etc. What it doesn’t yet include though is heating the house since my heat pump was installed after the cold months had past. So I don’t yet know how much heating my home will dig into my solar production surplus come fall and winter. (I also don’t have a regular daily commute right now so I don’t have as much of a need to recharge my car right now.)
Update (8/15): Looks like my excess production for July added another $400 to that total. More woot!
However, the fine print here is that this number is just used to compute the net “true-up” amount for the whole year at retail energy prices. If I end up with excess production for the year, PG&E will only be paying me at the much lower wholesale rate… yeah, not quite so much woot. ;-)
Another cool thing to see though is how well these SunPower panels perform in overcast conditions. It’s still overcast just before noon today in Santa Cruz and yet they’re pumping out 2760W right now. (Compared to 7000W on a sunny day at noon, or a peak of 7900W about 2 pm, even with dirty panels.) Sweet!
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