Glad you asked!

Well maybe you didn't ask, but somebody did, trust me. Here's what I answered, and then some:

Our solar system so far has been wonderful. Having the battery truly makes it a system; without it, you can only use the solar power when the sun’s up.

We’re still in our first year, so haven’t experienced all the seasons yet. Yesterday I finally turned on the A/C like I meant it—running through the hottest part of the day. Up until then we could rely on open windows and ceiling fans to keep us breezy and comfortable (neither of us have pollen allergies). But yesterday was Too Much and I caved to my comfort.

The resulting chart looked like a wide-toothed comb.

The sun’s power covered the A/C electrical draw (blue upward spike on the graph whenever the A/C was running), and as soon as the A/C cycled off, the sun’s power went to the grid (white downward spike on the graph). Our battery (green spikes) provided the extra electricity needed as the sun’s power waned:

The up-and-down action going on with the green shows that first the battery was used to supply the additional power needed to run the A/C, then when the A/C cycled off the system sent sun power to the battery to recharge it back to 100% capacity.

Everything in play

Other things being shown in this graph:

• The battery supplied all our needs until roughly 6am, when it reached the 50% remaining level and turned itself off (that's an option we set; in a non-grid situation, all battery power is available for use). The grid supplied our energy then until the sun had enough presence to supply our needs, around 7:30.
• Somebody was still up and active until roughly 2 am, at which point the usage/battery (blue & green together) finally settled down to the usual low-usage nighttime wave. I think the wave is the cycling on and off of the refrigerator's condenser/motor/fan/whatever makes it go.
• Must've been cloudy around 1 pm.
• The battery is recharged first, then excess power goes to the grid. That's not an exclusive action, however. If there's enough power to do both, both are done (light green section where the green and white overlap.)
• Somebody was still up and active until midnight. (It was me, both times. I've been moving into and out of various computers for the past several days, as well as dumping many GB of data into the chorus's Google Drive. Lots of time spent waiting for downloads to complete. Thank goodness I had a book to read!)

Shave or a Haircut, and an opinion...

...or one month's-worth of electricity: that's what you can buy with $0.52! In truth, the two-and-fifty cents was to pay the taxes levied ($.23) and the Miscellaneous Gross Receipts Fee ($.29). We didn't pay for ANY electricity for the period 14 November to 14 December, and, in fact, have a balance in the energy "bank" of 150 kiloWatt hours: what we generated (251 kWh) minus what we used (101 kWh).

Nice news indeed on this gray, rainy day during which we probably won't even generate 2 whole kiloWatt hours. As reference, yesterday was bright and sunny and we generated 24.1 kWh for the day. Right now, at 3 pm, I'm looking at a forlorn wave of yellow and the sum of 1.2 kWh. (Home usage so far today: 4.8 kWh.) The PowerWall never even had a hope of fully recharging today.

And that's... okay. It's all part and parcel of the whole solar-powered experience.

Corrected 4/2018: Conversation at my quartet's rehearsal came around to the ditty "Shave 'n' a Haircut: 2 bits!" (as it does), and having corrected my Tenor as to the lyrics, I realized I'd better correct myself too!

The actual lyrics are: "Shave 'n' a haircut: 6 bits. Tip the barber: 2 bits. Altogether: 1 buck!" Same melody throughout.

Our Bass was astonished to learn that dollar coins were once cut into eighths and those 8 bits were used as currency (hence the 2 bits that made up 1/4--one quarter--of the dollar). She's so young.

Having never seen the actual breakdown of a barber's rates back in the days when we literally broke a dollar, I'm guessing fifty cents would get you either a shave OR a haircut, but not both.

Whoa! Snow!

December 8th, in the middle of Texas, and we have snow on the ground! It never even occurred to me that it might be in the forecast, despite the last two dreary days. I was caught unawares because I hadn't been listening to the radio regularly (how 20th Century is that sentence?!?)

Of course I wanted to see what the panels looked like:

Yep. Snow-covered. How would that affect the electricity generation?

Oh, Snapp!

Still playing around with the Tesla app, tracking our solar energy production and usage. We can see a broad summary of our weekly usage (and monthly too, but that picture was blurry and we've only had the system running for 3 days.)

Sunshine, lollipops, and...

... a shiny new app to play with!

We were given the go-ahead on Friday night to turn on our system. Way ahead of what we thought was "schedule", but we're not going to argue! Woohoo!!!!

When Comes the Sun?

This has been the timeline of our project so far:

Mid-April: Talk to a SolarCity/Tesla Energy "Energy Consultant" and get the ball rolling.

Early May: Sign the paperwork/disclaimer that would switch our power over to the company that SolarCity/Tesla Energy recommends: MP2.
      Solar panels approved by HOA. Now the fun begins, trying to convince the city that the battery is safe (that's the job of the Energy Consultant).

End of June: Get and sign the enrollment papers for the new power company, MP2.

Mid-July: Power switched over to MP2.

End of August: Arrange a date for installation. First one available is at the end of September.

September 27: Installation of panels and battery. Now we wait for the system inspection to be completed. Told this could take 4-10 weeks.

October 4: Received loan payment coupons for the next 12 months, starting in December 2017. Our loan, to cover the cost and installation of the 17 panels and the battery panel, comes to nearly $26,000.

Early November: "Final document package" sent by SolarCity to the power company for review. We were told it could take "a few weeks" for this to be completed. We were immediately sent an Interconnection Agreement by the power source (Oncor, through which the different power companies get the electricity they sell to the consumers. At least, that's my understanding of the system!) After signing it electronically and sending it back, it was signed by their representative within a day.

November 3: Got this email from SolarCity/Tesla Energy:
"I just wanted to touch base with you regarding your solar project. We submitted your project for Permission To Operate on 11/01 with an estimated timeline of 10-11 weeks. Also we received Permission To Operate from Oncor on 11/02, so we are waiting for MP2 to confirm that your Net Energy Meter credits are active, this has a timeline between 30-60 days. Once again thank you for choosing SolarCity."

So...solar by the end of the year? I'm hoping so, but not holding my breath!

Here Comes the Sun

My husband uses the current administration as the full moon off of which to sight his sextant of life choices. And this administration is headed by as full a moon as you're ever likely to find in a car full of adolescent passengers. All this is to say, as soon as King Coal was adopted as the energy source of choice, hubby decided to finally embrace solar power.

Having wanted to go solar for years now, I was thrilled when he finally came on board. It may also have been a matter of timing--I'm not sure the company we went with had enough cachet in our area until now. But they're aligned with Elon Musk, the John Galt of our times, so we're happy.

I came home (after 5 weeks in Oregon helping my parents) in time for the install. In preparation, hubby had moved everything from the left side of the overstuffed, chaotic garage to the right side (also overstuffed and chaotic) in anticipation of the battery wall being installed inside the garage. He also moved things off the back wall. Not particularly well or well thought out (as in: move the entire 7' cabinet, but don't empty any of the shelves?!?), but moved nonetheless.

First step on The Day: slow the 50 mph traffic (of kids being driven to the three "within walking distance" schools on our street) to an acceptable 30 mph, by parking a fleet of vans and a truck in front of the house.

Win.