Utility Disconnect! Don Loweburg c.1992 Don Loweburg Ed and Marty Burckhard's PV adventure began over 10 years ago. At that time they owned a comfortable home and ran a successful business in a small community in central California. The winter of 1981 was somewhat cold and, like people all over the country, they saw the monthly electric bill go up dramatically. When they had purchased their "Gold Medallion" all electric home 10 years earlier, they had never dreamed that they would be paying the high electric bills that were now routine. Ed went "critical" the day he opened the $324 electricity bill for February. After being told there was nothing the power company could do, Ed told the manager to remove the power from his home. Thinking that Ed would cool off, the manager told Marty that maybe they should think about it for a few days. Later that day, while Marty was washing some dishes, the lights and power went out. A few moments later Ed came into the kitchen with the power meter (the thing that goes 'round&'round and eats money) in his hand, saying something to the effect that "this'll show the SOBs." To make sure they got the message, Ed took the meter to the power company's office, tossed it on the service desk, and demanded that the utility wires be removed from his house. In less than two hours, a crew arrived and the wires were down. Ed's bold, perhaps irrational, act set off an immediate shock wave of opinion and comment in his local community. The story appeared in the newspaper the next day, hit the AP wire service, and went national. Two days later NBC had a crew at Ed and Marty's house taping a story for national prime time TV news. During the month following the disconnect, their phone rang constantly. Sometimes they would do two radio talk show interviews in the same day. The Burckhard's action had struck a resonant chord in the psyches of people all over America: "You can take your power and shove it." Connecting to Renewable Energy During the following months, Ed and Marty made do. They used propane lights and refrigeration. Sometimes they ran the generator in their motor home to do the wash. They were also doing lots of reading, especially Mother Earth News. Ed was particularly interested in the articles on photovoltaic power. When Ed read about a seminar on PV being offered locally, he decided to attend. Thus began the relationship between the Burckhards and Offline Independent Energy Systems. Designing an adequate PV system was straightforward because the Burckhards had already made important changes in their energy usage. They had already installed a propane range and oven, propane refrigerator, and a solar water heater. The PV system was initially sized to handle lighting and small household appliances. The fixed-mount array consisted of ten Arco M-73 modules connected to a SCI charge control. Since future upgrading was anticipated, a high quality Helionetics 2.5 kiloWatt (kW.) inverter and a heavy duty 500 Ampere, 24 Volt IBE forklift battery was used. Backup consisted of a 100 Ampere, 24 Volt IBE battery charger and the Burckhard's existing 5 kW Honda generator. A custom transfer switch handled ac power switching between the inverter and the generator. Ac power was connected to the standard ac service panel located in the garage. The equipment, except for the generator, was located in a well-ventilated corner of the garage. The Burckhards were thrilled with their new power system. After almost a year of roughing it, the return of convenient lighting and the normal comforts of everyday living was much appreciated. They quickly discovered a bonus. While the local utility power went down many times that first year, Ed and Marty never had a power outage. Ed reports, with some joy, the phone calls he made during these stormy outages to the local utility manager. Ed always let him know that his power was not interrupted. During the next two years the system worked flawlessly. During this period a propane-fired tankless water heater was installed to augment the solar batch type water heater. However, the Burckhards required extensive winter backup and their generator needed repair. It was time to upgrade. Expanding the system The array on the roof was increased by ten more ARCO M-73s, bringing the total number of modules up to twenty. A custom rooftop tracker designed by Robbins Engineering was also installed. Another 500 Ampere hour, 24 Volt IBE industrial battery was added and the DC disconnect and fuse box were upgraded. Other enhancements included input-output digital Ampere-hour meters and quick disconnects on the inverter, batteries, and the backup charger. The ailing generator was replaced with a 4 kW, 1800 rpm Winco fueled with propane. The residence was also extensively remodeled which required a code inspection. Everything passed without a hitch. Some changes were made inside the house. The propane refrigerator was replaced with a Sun Frost RF16. They also bought a satellite receiver and large screen television monitor. With the increased power, Ed and Marty could relax a bit and enjoy life without worrying about running out of power. During the summer months, the Burkhards were 100% energy self sufficient. The winter months still required backup during stormy periods, though the amount was far less. A year after the upgrade, during 1986, the first of two system breakdowns occurred. The inverter became erratic. The problem was traced to a poorly crimped interconnect cable inside the inverter. Another breakdown was a repeated fuse failure in the charge controller. Even though the array current was less than the rated capacity of the fuse, enough heat was generated in the fuse holder to cause fuse failure. The inadequate, glass-type AGC fuse was replaced with a larger fuse of the same rating. Four years passed without any major problems. Occasional drop by service to check battery condition and routine system check was about the extent of attention from Offline. And More Energy! The last upgrade was begun in the spring of 1990. Total power sufficiency during the summer months had been attained by the previous upgrade. It was now time to eliminate all winter generator backup. This upgrade began with a disappointing experience with a Tri-Lam product. It was later determined that the original rating system was inaccurate and additional Lams were provided by the distributor, who was responsible under the terms of the warranty. The final Lam array consisted of 21 modules, three parallel sets of seven in series. This configuration was barely adequate. These modules were added to the existing twenty Arco M-73s on the Robbins tracker. Though significantly more than the original tracker design allowed for, the array tracked satisfactorily. There was no more room on the roof, so when Ed decided to add even more modules, a ground-mounted Zomeworks tracker was used with twelve Hoxan PM-50 modules. These 53 tracked modules deliver 50+ Amperes at 25 VDC. The PVs produce 350 Amp-hours per day Ð 8.7 kiloWatt-hours per day. The increased array current required a new Heliotrope CC120 charge controller and an upgraded 100 Amp array disconnect and fuse box. A SCI DM3-24 system monitor was added, providing a digital display of system voltage and array current. Free Power Ed's goal was achieved. During this last winter, the backup generator was run only once for a few hours. The Burkhards are very satisfied and feel they can pretty much run anything they want and not worry about running out of power. I asked Ed how much the system had cost altogether. He paused, then said, "About $25,000." Though I should have known, I was a little shocked. Spent over the course of ten years, the investment had not seemed that large. I asked Ed if it had been worth it. Without hesitation he replied, "Absolutely. I would have been paying over $200 per month for electricity. During these last ten years I would have paid $24,000 to the power company. Instead, I bought a PV power system for about the same amount. From now on I get free power." Burckhard system COST CHART Access Author: Don Loweburg, Offline Systems, POB 231, North Fork, CA 93643 ¥ 209-877-7080 Ed and Marty Burckhard, Box 364, Oakhurst, CA 93644 Words-1394