The Charles Perry Solar Array

Many of you know our good friend Charles Perry. Charles retired from the Paris Board of Public Utilities about eight years ago. Charles was always known as an innovator and after retirement his innovative spirit had more time. He had a goal to install a solar array on his home that would not just pay for itself but maybe pay him back a little also. After contacting Charles, he was eager to let folks know what his project accomplished. We asked John Etheridge, General Manager, Paris Board of Public Utilities if could could shed some light on Charles' efforts. "Charles has always seen opportunity and taken advantage of it. That insight and his engineering skill present themselves quite well in this project", stated John. Below is this remarkable project in Charles' own words and his success.

I have been retired from Paris BPU for eight years now, after working 40+ years, the last 25 as general manager. I am loving retirement, but one of the highlights is that I am now selling power back to TVA, at just under 21 cents per Kwh.

When I was at BPU selling my board on the Green Power Switch program, our board attorney called me a tree-hugger, which I still am not. I became aware in 2012 of the 12 cent premium above distributor rates, when my brother who lives on a TVA lake in east Tennessee, was exploring a battery back-up system, because of prolonged outages, discovered the generous Generation Partners Pilot Program. With the 12 cent premium, the 30% tax rebate, and solar panels that cost $1.14 per watt,(25% of what they cost 10 years ago) and the $1,000 TVA rebate, I estimated that my system would make a 20% return on investment. That got me thinking and prodded me to build my own system. The system has performed wonderfully and actually, with a $15,500 net investment, and a solar income of $7,340 for the first two and a half years, I’ve gotten an 18.9% annual return. Thank you, TVA. Now let me give you a few details:

I decided to make the installation myself, with my son helping pull wire and accurately bend the conduit. I oversized the 3 @ 240 volt circuits carrying 12 amps each to #10 wire to minimize losses to ½% carrying the valuable 21 cent per kwh power. I installed 42 solar panels each with a 240 volt inverter, both of which carry a 25-year warranty. I have a 9kw contract and a maximum 8.5kw output. I had a perfect layout to work with, as my 20 ft. by 52 ft. south-facing roof was 5 in 12 pitch, which makes the panels self-washing. I have some morning shading, but not enough to justify trimming my shade trees. The system has been fairly trouble-free with three inverters being replaced, in warranty, taking 20 minutes each, as I laid the system out for easy access to every panel and inverter. Upon talking to my friends who are still managers, I have found that they do not like having to deal with solar systems. I’m presently getting 20.8 cents per KWH, but with the recent tightening of regulations on coal fired plants, I predict an escalation of rates which will bring a larger return on investment.Presently, my solar system pays my home power and water bill and the power bill on my lake cabin, which makes retirement more pleasant. The system has performed wonderfully and actually, with a $15,500 net investment, and a solar income of $7,340 for the first two and a half years, I’ve gotten an 18.9% annual return. Thank you, TVA.

Also, with the help of Jeff Thompson of BPU supplying me with BPU’s monthly peak demand hours and the wholesale rate per month, I have calculated the actual charges that my solar saved BPU on their power bill. My solar system actually saved BPU $388.86 from reduced power demand, for which they were charged for $145.17 for the past 12 months. With this difference, I have saved BPU a net $243.17 for the past 12 months.With the 12 months of customer service charges paid, I am one of their most profitable residential customers, as it should be, as I am a lot more trouble.

Below is a picture of my home showing the solar array. If you have some interest in performance, you can log in to: 
https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/x9pB113233 to view my current solar production and history. Would I do it again? Absolutely!