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Interesting Technology Updates -Click on a title below

  • - A radical idea to get a high-renewable electric grid

    This is an interesting approach to optaining very high penetration of renewables such as photovoltaics and wind.  At present most large installations operate under Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) wherein the economics are based on a sell all output at predetermined prices. This contrasts with standalone systems wherein the system size Read More
  • - Breakthrough Batteries Powering the Era of Clean Electrification

    - Breakthrough Batteries Powering the Era of Clean Electrification Battery Storage Costs Drop Dramatically, Making Way to a New Era. A recent Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) report continues to confirm that clean electrification through batteries is advancing at impressive rates. Very interesting report: Breakthrough Batteries- Powering the Era of Clean Electrification Read More
  • - Interesting Technology

    An assortment of links to interesting information   Semiconductor Nanowires Could Double the Efficiency of Silicon Solar Cells A p/n semiconductor junction is not the only way of converting sunshine into useful electrical energy.  Light consists of a flow of photons of various energy levels (colors).  See this article-Solar Cells.  Nanowires Read More
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Caution- This may be out of date, APS may have changed their website.  APS customers can call APS Customer Service and they can help you with finding your data.

If you have a photovoltaic (PV) system connected to APS and do not have other monitoring of the PV system such as that provided by most inverter manufacturers, it is not easy to determine the solar production that corresponds with the monthly electric bill.  APS requires a solar production meter and this data is recorded and made available to the customer, but with a little effort.  The following example is based on the system APS calls RCP, utility speak called 'Resource Comparison Proxy' (note that the APS website was developed by utility personnel using their view of the situation, not the customer view). Under RCP APS purchases all excess PV output at a fixed rate. Some APS customers with older PV systems use the now grandfathered 'Net Metering' (rate rider EPR-6) wherein any excess PV production, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) is used to offset energy delivered by APS. For either Net Metering or RCP, the APS bills show only the measurements made by the bi-directional billing meter.  A summary of APS rates is available on our website at: Summary of APS Solar Rate Plans- 2019

Look at the recent example of an APS electric bill and see if you can determine the solar production (not shown):

CaldBill1

This APS bill shows that 229 kWh in this case was sold to APS under the RCP rate.  The bill does not show the solar production that was directly used; to determine this, one has to have an APS web account (free) and has to go online to learn more. There is a lot of data available.  Note the 'Meter reading' dates above, this will be used later to calculate the matching solar production. Using a browser such as you are using to view this article, go to https://www.aps.com/

The APS website was recently updated.  The top of the page has a Log In.    

APS Web 1

APS Web 3

Enter your APS username/password then click login.  If you do not already have a username and password, click on 'register'. The following is typical.

APS Web 2

Next select the tab 'Billing and Payment', then click on 'View your billing and usage'.  Be patient, this may take a minute or so while the APS website loads your data.

APS Web 4

 

This is a very useful page. There are really two related pages, 'Energy from APS' and 'Energy to APS'. The above is 'Energy from APS'.  Further detail is available by positioning the cursor over a specific date, this produces a pop-up with details:

APS Web 5 

 In this pop-up: 

Total Produced = PV energy generated

Total Delivered is energy from APS

and the On-peak and Off-peak components

are shown.

Selecting the 'Energy to APS'  tab shows the solar components:

APS Web 6

APS Web 7 

 In this pop-up: 

Total Produced = PV energy generated

Total received is the daily excess energy sold to APS (if RCP) or net Metered to APS.

 

Each of these pages has a 'Create Report' button. 

APS Web 8

There are 3 options:

Download graph data: This will provide daily values

Billing and usage data:

Peak usage data: 

The 'Download graph data' option downloads a file named downloadGraphView (y).xls wherein the 'y' is used if there are subsequent downloads.  These files have a header and 35 days of data.  If prior data is needed, simply select an earlier month. Typically the data will look like this (two months illustrated):

(Note: Windows 10 identifies these files "The file format and extension of 'downloadGraphView (2).xls' don't match. The file could be corrupted or unsafe. Unless you trust its source, don't open it. Do you want to open it anyway?".  Seems that the actual format is not .xls, but Excel loads the files.

APS Web 9

 

The values for the billing date range, July 25 to August 23 in this example, need to be added.  This can be done with the spreadsheet program or manually.  In this example the sum is 711.5 kWh. This is not straight forward since the values shown are actually text and Excel can not directly add them.  Use the =value(cell) function in another column to convert the text to actual values.  Now that the actual solar production is known, the below  chart shows the relationship of these values.

Cald 11

The calculation of Home useage is (Solar Production) + (Purchased from APS) - (Sold or net metered to APS).

 

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     This is your source for solar and renewable energy information in Arizona. Explore various technologies, including photovoltaics, solar water heating, solar architecture, solar cooking and wind power. Keep up to date on the latest industry news. Follow relevant lectures, expositions and tours. Whether you are a homeowner looking to become more energy efficient, a student learning the science behind the technologies or an industry professional, you will find valuable information here.
  • About The Arizona Solar Center

    About The Arizona Solar Center Arizona Solar Center Mission- The mission of the Arizona Solar Center is to enhance the utilization of renewable energy, educate Arizona's residents on solar technology developments, support commerce and industry in the development of solar and other sustainable technologies and coordinate these efforts throughout the state of Arizona. About the Arizona Solar Center- The Arizona Solar Center (AzSC) provides a broad-based understanding of solar energy, especially as it pertains to Arizona. Registered Read More
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