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Fine Lines Solar Projects in Marfa, Texas
Fine Lines has installed several solar systems in Marfa, Texas. To date, all of them have been connected to the electrical grid (grid-tied) and enabling the client to sell back any excess generated power to their electrical provider. The installations costs have been partially offset by participating in AEP's solar rebate program.
These systems also all have a constant internet connection which reports the status of the modules and total output. At any time, we or the client can log in and check on the performance of the system.
Every system is custom-designed to fit the needs of the client and the conditions on the site. We begin by calculating an average electrical usage for the property, and then assess the suitability of the roof and grounds for the installation. The size of the final system is a consideration of the power needed, the available space and the budget for the project.
Marfa Project 1
This modest-sized grid-tied system is for a second home in a location with periodically unpredictable power from the utility, so a battery backup was included which can supply the electrical needs of the home for up to 3 days. This home was not in AEP's service area, so their rebate was unavailable.
The small roof limited the amount of modules that could be included, but the client did not want to take up ground space with the installation, so we settled on a 2.25kw system size.
The system uses an Outback Power inverter to convert the DC current provided by the modules to the AC current required by the electrical service in the house. We also used Outback's Mate 3 system control and monitor, and Energy Cell 200gh AGM batteries for the backup.
Marfa Project 2
This fairly large 8.85kw grid-tied system was installed on the flat roof of the garage near the main house to keep it out of view. Due to the limited roof size of the garage, we used LG modules to get maximum power from the available space. We were unable to cover all of the house's electrical needs from the roof area of the garage, but we got as close as we could.
The positioning of the garage did not allow an ethernet internet connection to the house, so we used a Zigbee wi-fi extender, which dictated the selection of a compatible Solar Edge HD wave inverter to provide the AC current.
Marfa Project 3
This system was installed on a new house with no historical data on electrical usage, so we made our best guess based on the size of the home. The 2.4kw installation is tied to the grid, and Enphase mircorinverters were used for the conversion to AC current. Microinverters operate separately for each module, instead of one inverter for the entire system. This gives the installation greater resiliency as well as better performance with partial shade.