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PIne Island Solar, LLC

What makes a good site for solar?

South facing roof.

Poor solar site.

Home has south facing roof but is poor site.

South facing roof.

Poor site due to shading.

The sites above all have south facing roofs, but are poor sites for solar because of the shading from trees, power lines or dormers. The ideal location will have no shading anytime of the year from 9 am to 3 pm. The roof slopes need to be greater than 20 degrees to qualify for the Minnesota State Rebate Program. The system must also face within 45 degrees of south to qualify for the rebate.

Roof mounted systems are installed slightly elevated above the roof surface to provide ventilation under the modules. As modulea heat up they are less productive. In Minnesota we have to size systems allowing for the cold winter temperature. Cold weather will make the modules produce more electricity. It is important to choose the proper inverter for the cold climate of Minnesota.

Passive tracking system being installed.

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The two pictures above are of a small expandable system being installed. The inverter will operate with 1 string of 6 modules, but can be expanded with another string of 6 or another 2 strings of 6. The pipe is 15 feet long with 5 feet below grade. The hole is 24 inches in diameter and filled with 3500# concrete mix sloped away from the pipe at the top. The site was checked with a solar pathfinder to determine the possible shading. The fence, building and trees will not cause excess shading on the modules.

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This is a wall mounted system on the south facing wall of a building.

The moduled are at a fixed 45 degree angle and mounted using Unirac rails and unistrut channel onto the exterior wall. The DC shutoff will be mounted at grade level, accessible to the power company. The inverter will be mounted inside the building along with an AC disconnect. Lightning arresters will be installed on both side of the inverter.

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The solar hot water heating system was installed in the 1980's. It is still operating today. The system is a simple drainback system which uses a small heating unit on the main floor of the house to provide some heat and also heats the domestic hot water.

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