Update on solar power production

As we have had the solar panels on the loafing barn roof now for just about a year, I thought it was time to review the situation. From about the middle of March last year till the middle of February 2012 this year, we have earned about $9100 on our solar power by selling it back to Hydro1, the local electricity producer. That gives us a payback time of approximately 6 and a half years. This is of course assuming that the province of Ontario does not change the contract in some way. However, we did sign a contract for twenty years, so there would be a huge outcry and protest if they were to break it.
If anyone is still thinking of joining the MicroFIT program in Ontario, the payback amounts are a bit less now, but the costs of panels should be a lot less as well. Some contractors are still charging the old high panel prices, so be careful and check around! Solar power contractors have a high rate of bankruptcy including the one we dealt with. Once the system is up and running, it does not really matter, as skilled electricians should now be able to fix things like electrical shorts and blown fuses at a reasonable cost.We did have this happen a couple of times due to thunder storms causing power surges. It helps to have a couple of spare fuses on hand, and you can learn to replace them yourself.

We did purchase a long expandable handle for a soft horsehair broom so that snow could be cleared off most of the winter. This proved difficult when the snow was preceded by freezing rain.

Starting to sell spring lambs

The lambs are growing fast this year, mostly due to the heavy spring rains, current warm weather and so lots of grass. We have sold a few already as breeding stock, and hope to put a few ewes and lambs in an upcoming purebred auction this weekend. Contact me if you want details.

Also, we need some really good Katahdin sheep photos to blow up to a large size 11 x 14 or so for our display at various farm fairs this summer. I hate to use ours, as we do not want to be accused of unfairly promoting our own sheep, when we are representing the breed and  Katahdin sheep breeders in Ontario.
This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago and you can see all the mud in the pasture.

Top price at Hoards

We got top price for our heavy ram lambs at Hoard's on March 29th. Live weight price was $1.85 a lb and they averaged 98 lbs.

Sold some young rams

Yesterday we took 4 young rams to Hoards Station livestock market. They were last years ram lambs that we had kept for potential breeding stock, but they weren't really good enough to keep any longer, so off they went to the auction. We got about $175 each for 4 of them. Not bad  as even if they had been sold as breeding stock, they would not have been more than $250 each

Lambing and solar panels

The solar panels are finally up and running and making electricity. We can see on the new meter how many KWs we make in a day. Maximum daily so far about 60 KW, but it is only March. Of course, this is all being subsidized indirectly by the good people of Ontario through hikes in their power bills. All part of McGuinty's green energy initiative. Did you see the program about this on TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paiken?

We are now in the midst of lambing. Lots of ewe lambs so far this year, but we are only half way through. No bottle babies so far.

Another solar panel update

Well another month has gone by. Admittedly it is still winter but we have had some nice sunny days when we could have been making power....if we were hooked up! Anyway there is slow progress as we have now been approved by Hydro 1 our local electricity provided. We sent in some more forms and a cheque for the yet to appear special meter -cost about $1200. Now another wait while they take another few weeks to open the envelope! What is wrong with those folks at Hydro 1? I could open and read several hundred letters a day. Why can't they with several people on the job?

Anyway, I have just added a link to my wife's artist website, so check it out. There are some sheep pictures.

Update on solar panels

It has been a while since I posted on the subject of our solar panels on the barn roof, so here is the state of play. We now have the panels on the roof and the electrical work is all done and inspected. We are now waiting for Hydro-one to approve and hook us up.

An important piece of information was missing from the instructions from Ontario Power. There is a Form C which has to be filled in by your solar power company and e-mailed into the Hydro-one people. It important to e-mail-not fax, which we did originally-as their system for processing the faxes is not working!. Don't simply wait and hope for the best. You have to be pro-active and phone the Hydro-one people.

Another important point: The MicroFIT number has to be in subject line of the e-mail when you submit the Form C. They do not tell you this either in any written instructions. I assume they use telepathy to communicate!

It is a shame that this is taking so long, as our solar panel providers, ESEI solar, have been wonderful, and very quick and efficient. Their people even worked in the snow to get the panels up on the barn roof.