Good News & Best Laid Plans

It's now mid-February and two important things have happened:

• We've received our first full-month Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) utility bill since the installation of our PV system went on-line, and
• Tigo has sent the latest version of their MMU & LMUs for replacement on the solar modules.

Our RMP bill was half of what it was a year ago!

Granted, weather conditions have a dramatic affect on power usage, but this type of reduction is a very hopeful sign.

As mentioned in an earlier posting, Tigo had offered to send out the "latest version" of their MMU and LMUs for a wholesale replacement of those which I'd installed in December. I took them up on this offer in that the earlier equipment was some of the first to come off of their new production line and the effort required to get it all working properly would certainly be greater than just replacing everything. Plus, the latest version of their LMUs promised better efficiencies in power production.

Now to schedule a day when my co-installer (my son) and I could perform the swap. It had to be a Saturday since my son was out-of-town every week for five weeks. We picked a week in February and set our plans.

Three days before our planned re-installation: The weather looks like it will be great with clear skies and temperatures in the 40°Fs.

Two days before our planned re-installation: The weather is starting to look iffy but perhaps it will still prove acceptable. I also prepped everything by pulling the new equipment out of the boxes and getting it staged for rapid assembly once the swap-out started. It was fortunate I did the prep because I discovered that the new LMUs mounted with pressure clips instead of screw clamps AND THERE WERE NO CLIPS INCLUDED IN THE SHIPMENT!

A quick call to Tigo and a bunch of clips were shipped overnight. What a great bunch of guys! No, "Well, I'll have to get back to you on that." Just a, "I'm so sorry! You'll have them tomorrow."

One day before our planned re-installation: The weather is clearly deteriorating and it looks like we're going to have to put things off.

The day of the planned re-installation: Rain! No way I'm getting up on the roof in rain!

Meanwhile, the existing setup (i.e. without the Tigo system fully operational) was producing lovely amounts of electricity, especially on sunny days.