Nth Degree Solar Energy, a Grand Junction, Colorado based solar design and installation firm recently finished a commercial solar installation in Grand Junction. Colorado. Find it here.

Nth Degree Energy uses the Acme camera kit and PV Watts to do a custom designed solution that fits the customers needs.  Here is what an array shot looks like to determine the amount of sun hours a day:

PPI - Solar Analysis

The grid-tied solar array was installed on the roof:

PPI-Solar Array

All the racking used to install the PV solar electric system are UL-certified (not all solar companies can say that!)

PPI- Solar Racking

This system uses SMA inverters.  Here is a shot of the power panel after installation:

PPI - Power Panel Layout

Here are some more statistics

Latitude: 39 04.656’ N

Longitude: 108 30.775’ W

Elevation: 4596’

Declination: 11.2 deg E

Lowest Temperature -22deg F

Highest ambient Temperature 92deg F

Total Electricity used/Year: 47,423 KHW

Panel Pitch: 30 deg

Hours of Solar Radiation: 5.8 Hours /day fixed for summer

View this grid-tied solar electric PV power plant here.

Most grid-connected solar energy systems work the same way:

1. Solar Energy is converted to electricity via photo-voltaic modules
2. An inverter converts the DC (think battery) electricity into AC (what our home use)
3. Some sort of cut-off switch or breaker is used to isolate the system from the grid
4. Your meter measures the solar energy created by your PV array.