One of our goals here at SunPak is to be a part of building better, smarter homes and buildings. Pushing clean energy forward on these projects is just a part of what we’ve been striving to do. We are electricians who install solar panels, whole home battery backup systems, and home automation/ controls. Recently we’ve had an opportunity to bring together all the pieces of the puzzle to one project and the end result was a job we are very proud of.
Since completing this job, we’ve had a couple more opportunities to do the same, but this one holds a special place for us here at SunPak. The owners were very open to all of our suggestions and they are very happy with the end result. We owe them a huge thank you for allowing us to build it and show off what we love to do.
We have been electricians for a while now, but going out on our own to start SunPak Electric 5 years ago allowed us to do things a bit differently. We wanted to use our skill set to do something more than just wire a building. Clean energy is and will be a big part of building new homes moving forward. Designing an electrical system around the solar and batteries is an important part of making things work the way the customer needs it to.
With this home, we had plenty of roof space to work with and were able to install a 20 kw solar array. That totals 50 solar panels, each 400 watts. This array will cover all their electrical needs and some. When it comes to building solar, bigger is definitely better as we will always find use for more power. Roof design is probably our biggest limiting factor, so its nice when the design allows for an array of this size.
Having energy storage also means that the solar can stay operational during an outage, charging the batteries as well as running loads in the house. These batteries can also be discharged on a daily basis to offset peak demand usage from the utility.
For the battery backup, we installed three Tesla Powerwalls to complement the solar system. These sleek back up home batteries work in case of a power outage to keep critical loads running. We include loads like refrigerators, freezers, lights and general use outlets. We also included some mechanical loads necessary to keep the house warm. Putting some thought to what really needs to be ”on” in a power outage means those batteries can work for longer periods of time.
Energy efficient design starts with a thoughtful architectural design and carries through all aspects of the construction including the solar and batteries. Being able to design all aspects of the electrical system has enabled us to truly build an integrated system that works as it was intended. This was an amazing project for us here at SunPak and we are looking forward to the next one.