I am now pretty sure that the panels will be on the roof and what you see is for some equipment related to the system. Perhaps and inverter or two.
With that fixed brace in the back and the solid 4x4, distance to wall is limited.
You are correct. It is solid and I designed it. I built it last Saturday with my son in law. It was a two man job. It is extremely rigid and is a tensegrity structure after the late Buckminster Fuller (Bucky).
The concrete was poured six days prior. I built the rear beam prior, with L-anchors and nylon washers so the beam does not touch the concrete, which would be a code violation.
This was placed when the concrete had cured the requisite amount, plus the bases for the cedar 4 X 4s, they have anchors and keep the posts above the concrete.
To-morrow will be final construction day hopefully, and more details after that. I will be working with the crew to get things absolutely correct and make sure there are no code violations. I had the inspector around prior and he said he usually fails these projects at least twice. I am going to make sure we get a first time pass.
There is a generator as you can see in the above pictures and I post again below. It is a 20 KVA Cummins auto start with an automatic transfer switch in the utility room.
Batteries are no longer recommended as they don't last long enough and the cost of of the initial install and replacement are too high. So two way metering is used. So a lot of the time I will be supplying neighbors. The estimate is that it should provide 75% of my electricity usage, and therefore I will have two electricity bills per year instead of 12. The way the utility works this, is that there is one make up bill a year. If you should happen to produce more then you use, they send you a check.
On site is the best place for solar, as the DC/AC conversion loses 25 to 30% and you lose another 30% in line loses from the solar farm. So generating at home is much more efficient.
It is now snowing hard. We had a heavy cold rain all night and now it is snowing heavily. The ground is still warm as it was 80 degrees two days ago, so I don't think it will settle much.
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny but only 47 degrees, so I will have to put a warm sweater under my overalls. I expect to be out doing this all day, so don't expect any more updates until Saturday.
I am hunkered down and baking bread today. I have baked all my own bread for 8 years or so now. It is seems really romantic to be baking bread when there are huge snowflakes falling fast outside.
I will post the picture that shows the generator outside once more. The fixation is totally "Caterized" and will not go anywhere. I fabricated the fixation device myself, and it is "right by design."
