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Ground Mounted Solar Panels

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People ask us sometimes if we do ground-mounted solar panels. Solar photovoltaic systems can be mounted on traditional solar rails with engineered racking systems. And, YES, we install solar panels on ground racks. But NO, we do not recommend them in Southwest Florida. Why You Should, Or Shouldn’t, Consider a Ground Mount It might seem like a great idea at …

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What Florida’s Net Metering Law Changes Mean

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THIS LEGISLATION WAS (THANKFULLY) VETOED BY GOVERNOR DESANTIS. It was never passed into law. This article remains in place for historical reference. Original Article: In case you missed it, the Florida legislature passed a significant change to the Net Metering laws in Florida. These are the rules that allow solar energy producers to “sell” excess energy production back to the …

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How Much Space do Enphase Encharge Batteries Require?

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Solar energy with battery backup is increasing in popularity as technology evolves and systems become less expensive and more consumer-friendly. Enphase’s Encharge batteries, part of the Enphase Ensemble system, are a go-to option for consumers who have or are considering Enphase microinverters. The undisputed leader in microinverter technology for solar photovoltaic systems, Enphase dominates the local market. One of the …

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Business Electricity Rates and Solar Panels

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Demand Charges Change the Calculus I think you will agree – most people don’t really understand how utility companies charge for electricity. That is doubly true of business owners and executives because businesses are often billed in more complicated ways than residential customers. It’s hard enough to understand bank charges and cell phone bills. Electricity billing is often a nebulous …

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How To Best Use The Enphase Enlighten App

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The Enphase Enlighten app comes standard with every Enphase microinverter system we install. This app is free from the manufacturer and allows you to view your system performance. We create this video to help you navigate the app and demonstrate how to use it to best understand your energy flows. This video is best viewed in full screen on a …

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Large Bubble in Pool – Solar Pool Heating Startup

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Watch this video to learn what it means when you get large bubbles in the pool when your solar pool heating system starts up each time. When your pool pump shuts off or your solar panels shut off during the day, the water in the panels drains down to the pool. The panels fill up with air. When your solar …

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Enphase Launches the IQ8 Microinverter – Backup Without Batteries

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Enphase has launched the new IQ8 microinverter, which comes with the promise of allowing you to use your solar panels off-grid without batteries. Until now, solar panels were either grid-interactive which means they shut down with the loss of the grid, or they worked with batteries to provide backup power. Before you get too excited, let’s get something straight. Solar …

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Solar Pool Heating Automated Valve Manifold Explanation

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Automated Solar Pool Heating Valve Manifold Explained In this video, we explain how our automated solar valve heating manifolds work. The manifold shown here is based on our standard valve setup. Your valves may vary due to a variety of circumstances, but this is the most common arrangement for manifolds installed by Florida Solar Design Group. Keep in mind, your …

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Solar Panel Door To Door Sales

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There is a practice in the solar energy industry that you should know about. Door-to-door selling has been around forever. The people that sell solar door-to-door really don’t sell anything. We call them “door knockers.” Solar Panel Door Knockers The idea of knocking on doors is simply to gauge your interest in solar energy. Once you are targeted with some …

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Solar Panel Power Clipping

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The solar electricity term “clipping” refers to energy that is lost when a solar panel’s output potential exceeds the amount of power that an inverter can convert. That sounds bad, right? Well, maybe not. In good solar photovoltaic system design, the solar panel rating is almost always higher than the inverter (or microinverter) rating. The factor by which the solar …

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Solar Pool Heaters Are Weather Dependent

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Unheated pool temperatures are essentially the average of the nighttime low and daytime high ambient temperatures. It’s well known, and not surprising, that swimming pool temperatures in Southwest Florida closely track the surface temperature of the Gulf of Mexico. The near-shore gulf temperature fits the same pattern. At times, unheated pools can lag large temperature swings, but for the most …

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Sleazy Solar Panel Sales

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Warning: You might need a shower after reading this article. The Solar Panel Sales Industry Is Sleazy Our colleagues may not like this airing of dirty laundry. Call it what you want – sleazy, shady, deceptive, disgusting. The solar panel sales industry has become extremely messy. There is a huge cash grab going on in the growing industry, and the …

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Commercial Solar Panels (Solar Electric) in Southwest Florida

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If you’re wondering why it’s been a while since our last post, we’ve been insanely busy. We were fortunate enough to earn the business of some commercial customers and have been engaged in adding solar panels to some businesses and non-profits. These organizations are all committed to sustainability and the for-profit businesses realize the return on investment potential for solar …

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Pentair Superflo VS Pool Pump Updated With New Automation Options

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The Pentair Superflo VS is being re-released with some new automation functionality. We previously recommended against this pump for a couple of reasons, primarily due to the analog automation options and 1.5 HP rating. The new automation options make it a good choice under certain circumstances. We have always recommended “oversizing” variable speed pumps so you can get the advantages …

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Putting Battery Backup Capacity into Perspective

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Grid-interactive solar panels cease to operate when the sun goes down. They also shut down when there is a utility outage. That is unless you have batteries. It’s a common misconception that solar panels can directly power your home during the day if the power company has a grid failure. Except in very limited circumstances, this is not the case. …