The 120% Rule and Your Main Breaker Panel’s Limitations The altE Store started designing and selling grid-tied solar systems way back around the year 2000. Back then, a typical solar system was about 5000W. Nowadays as the price of solar…
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How do you solve a problem like Maria? Wednesday, September 20, 2017 was a day that changed Puerto Rico forever. Hurricane Maria tore across the island, destroying almost everything in her path. Puerto Rico’s infrastructure was damaged beyond recognition. Homes, roads,…
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Solar Power International 2017 SPI is the largest solar trade show on the planet. How did we start each day? Well, to our pleasant surprise, each day started out with a smile, as every morning (and throughout the days of the show)….
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Tiny is Huge! Tiny Houses are a big success these days. Minim Micro Home in Washington DC Cutting back your possessions to the bare minimum and fitting your new life into a tiny house has become a dream for many. With…
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SolarEdge Inverters Background SolarEdge inverters for grid-tie are a terrific option for installing anywhere from 3kW to 11.4kW single phase solar power systems for residential or small business. With the SolarEdge DC optimizers installed at each solar panel, it controls the…
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We sat down recently with John Webber from Schneider Electric to talk about different options for adding battery backup to your grid-tie solar system. Watch the interview below. Full transcript. DC Coupling vs. AC Coupling altE: Now John, we’ve seen a lot in…
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What’s the difference between several different types of grid-tie inverters, including a string inverter, string inverter with DC optimizers and micro inverters? Our Solar Queen explores each option. String Inverters With a string inverter, as its name suggests, you would wire…
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Probably the question we most often get is, “How much solar does it take to power my 2,000 sq ft home?” The answer is always the same. “I don’t know. How much power do you use?” The power usage for different…
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Myth #5: It takes more power to make solar panels than they save. They wear out and have to be replaced often. The Embodied Energy is the energy consumed to make, deliver, and install a product. That includes mining the material, processing…
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A common question we hear all of the time is, “How much is solar?” Or more specifically, “How much will it cost for me to install a grid-tie solar system on my house?” Without knowing specifics, this is a very difficult…
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