Solar Power

---

What is farm-4-energy doing

In working to support new and efficient ideas for solar installations we have in 2023 installed a Residential Size BAPV Thin Film Installation, in 2016 installed a proof-of-concept model for BAPV, and installed a setup of Solar backup lights and backup sump pump installation.

BAPV Thin Film
With Thin Film Building Applied Photovoltaics, the solar panel/thin film adheres directly to roof metal, as opposed to traditional solar installations that are a separate rack system installed on top of a roof. Thus, the roof metal also becomes a power producing solar installation.  

Advantages with this type of solar installation are:

• The metal roof itself also serves as a power producing solar installation.

• For new metal roofs, the new metal roof and power producing solar installation can all be done in one single  

installation.
• These BAPV solar panels are more aesthetically appealing as compared to traditional rack based installations.
• Federal and State tax incentives for solar power systems offset product & installation costs.

• BAVP Thin Film installations can be grid connected or off grid installations.

Residential Size BAPV Installation

In 2023 we installed a 1500-watt BAPV Thin Film system Applied with a new standing seam roof, as shown below. This installation contains 26 Powerfit-20 modules from Sunflare.  As you can see the Thin Film solar strips are barely noticeable. For this, the standing seam metal roof panels were prelaminated with the solar strips and then everything was installed all at once on the roof.

 Proof of Concept BAPV Installation

As shown below, we’ve installed a proof of concept 200-watt installation on 2 rib corrugated screw on roof metal integrated with traditional 5 rib corrugated roof metal.  As of this posting in late 2023, it has remained in place with no issues since installation in 2016.    Also shown is another Proof of concept 60 watt single strip installation installed on a garage roof.

Solar backup lights & backup sump pump and camp installations.

Over the past several years, I have been collecting power off of a small set of 15w panels at our home and using this to charge batteries that power a backup sump pump, three backup 12vDC lights in our cellar, and a commonly used 12VDC light in our living room.   I have also assisted on some off grid camp solar power system installations as well.

The underlying goal of all of this work is to productize this work into solutions that can be installed on in and on homes, farm buildings, and commercial structures while combining these installations with other aspects of energy farming so that we can generate local jobs, local revenue, and move to a more self-sufficient energy model.
 

Below are pictures of installation we’ve done at home to study the effectiveness, longevity, and requirements for these solutions

 Why Install Solar

• It produces clean electricity with no resulting pollution

• Solar technologies now can produce power in bright sun or cloudy cover

• Home owners and businesses can take advantage of current Federal and State tax incentives

• Thin Film BAPV integrates new metal roof installations and solar installations at the same time

• Remote locations with no utility power grid access can have electrical power for years once installed

• Our solutions can charge backup DC systems and then dump excess power to the home or utility power grid

• It had been documented that in 45 seconds, the earths surface receives enough solar energy to fully meet the worlds entire energy demand for that day (http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/sustainability/assets/earths-solar-potential.pdf) and similarly, another resource states that the earth receives enough energy from the Sun in one hour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy) to power the planet for an entire year, and this amount is for one year is "twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined" in that same year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy).
 

Click here to view details describing how installing solar power fits into the overall concept of Energy Farming, where energy is farmed at a given location from available resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biofuels, and from this concept, jobs and revenue can be created for a community.

Resources::

Sites to help with planning a solar installation:
http://solarenergy.com/solar-calculator
http://www.geonames.org/
http://www.freesunpower.com/solarpanels.php

Available incentives and credits:
http://www.dsireusa.org/

Products and parts:
http://www.amazon.com/HQRP-T-branch-Connector-Photovoltaic-Coaster/dp/B004N725UE
http://store.affordable-solar.com/