The solar panels we ordered were installed last Monday and Tuesday. We're leasing the panels, which means that the company we contracted with guarantees a mimimum level of output and will maintain the panels to ensure that. With a roof that requires a 30 foot ladder to access it, we're happy to have the maintenance taken care of by someone else.
Still to go before we can "go live" are inspection by the City of Oakland and review by PG&E, the local utility company. The arrangement with PG&E is that annually we get paid for power we produce in excess of what we use, and day-to-day, power produced during daylight hours is credited toward nightime use. Our hope is that typically we'll be covering our power needs each day and our monthly billing will show we won't owe PG&E anything.
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| Our contactor |
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| Subcontractor, Sun Inc, doing the conduit work. |
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| Balcony as staging area for the panels. |
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| Ready to lift panels to the roof. |
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| With the job finished, the panels are so high up you can't see them. |
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| The metering equipment and conduit is all that's visible from the ground. |
I made some progress on the door refinishing project. Phase one was bleaching out some black water stains on the inside of the door and restaining it.
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| Phase 1 finished |
Phase 2: I got started sanding the outside of the door removing flaking varnish. There's quite a bit of deep sanding needed before the outside can be refinished. Most of that work may wait until we order and install a storm door so we can remove this door and do the sanding horizonally instead of vertically.
We continue to enjoy the sunsets from our perch in the Oakland Hills.
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| Toward Mt. Diablo |
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| Toward Round Top |
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