The Solar Nerd
February 20, 2019 1:21 PM   Subscribe

The Solar Nerd
In which I nerdily compile everything you might want to know if you are planning to stick solar panels on your roof or your backyard. If you already have panels and a supported inverter, you can join the community and your inverter data will show up automatically, and people can you ask you stuff.

For the calculator, I put together a database of every financial incentive in the United States so that you can just put in your zip code and find out what how much a system will approximately cost you, and how long it will take to pay back the system based on the estimated power generation. It takes into account local climate and models how your system will perform. I can't take credit for the math involved in the latter: it comes via PVWatts, an API by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The community part was inspired by studies that show solar panel adoption is helped by peer effects: if you see panels on your neighbor's roof, the technology will suddenly seem less exotic. So the idea behind this site is that people with systems can join, and then neighbors who are curious about solar can see who nearby has it, and ask them questions.

At the moment it supports SolarEdge or Enphase inverters. If you connect, it'll get your system data and update it hourly. I'm planning to support more inverters in the future, so if you have another inverter type with a public API, I'd love to hear about it.

This is a full-time thing for me at the moment, so any feedback is fantastic and welcomed.

Built with React, Node, and Hugo.
Role: programmer, designer, writer
posted by caffeine_monkey (4 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite

this is really neat
posted by pyro979 at 2:23 PM on February 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


This is great. I wish there was a similar site for the UK.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:29 AM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


Very cool! Thanks for sharing.
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:06 AM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]


Getting this error when I try to calculate things
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 3:08 PM on February 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


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