Off Grid Solutions Overview
Welcome to a Wonderful Way to Live!
Off-grid home photovoltaic power has come of age. No longer is it difficult to assemble a power system that works. The creative challenge is to fit the system to your needs while making it simple, understandable, affordable, and able to grow as your needs change. Your investment in planning an integrated system pays off immediately and throughout the life of the system.
We can help you to design your power system and understand how to care for it. We can visit your site and advise on placement of panels, batteries and controls, wire sizing, etc. We can converse with your well driller and advise on pump selection. We can install your system to a fully Code-compliant, permitted and inspected professional standard, eligible for all available tax incentives. We can advise you about available financing options. We can support you in the years to come with troubleshooting, service, maintenance, upgrades, and answers to your questions.
By advance consulting, we can help you make decisions clearly and quickly. We'll take it step by step, at a speed that you are comfortable with. We are also available as advisors, for help with a land purchase decision, for a second opinion, or for system troubleshooting.
Getting Started
So much of what we do is teach. Much of our educational task involves explaining complex and technical ideas in nontechnical terms. Here’s a basic guide to help you navigate your journey:
Start with How We Will Work with You, which explains our usual residential off-grid design and installation process from start to finish. For a complementary perspective, read Getting Started with Renewable Energy [AAV: HP120], an excellent introductory Home Power magazine article on how to get started with a solar professional.
If you are new to off-grid living, Toast, Pancakes, and Waffles (recently published in Home Power Magazine) explains the basic principles of off-grid living and offers a good orientation to the ways off-grid energy use is different from conventional consumption patterns. Then review an older Home Power reprint entitled Doing a Load Analysis: The First Step in System Design [AAV: HP58].
All of these articles will discuss doing a load analysis. We use a simple but powerful Excel spreadsheet; we prefer that when you're ready, you fill out the PV System Worksheet and email it to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; this approach saves transcription time for us.
The next section on Tax Incentives explains the federal and state financial incentives available to off-grid homeowners. If you are seeking financing for your building project, the Home Power magazine article How to Finance Your Renewable Energy Home [AAV: 103 SindCampGraves] can help. It was coauthored by Positive Energy founder Allan Sindelar.
Going Deeper
Most off grid home power systems will include a backup generator. Engine Generator Basics, published in Home Power magazine in the June/July 2009 issue, will guide through sizing and selection of a generator for backup charging.
If you plan to build your own battery box, our Battery Box Design and Construction guide will help you through this process. If you plan to wire your home, or work with a conventional electrical contractor to plan the wiring, Wiring Guidelines for Off-Grid Homes will help with this process.
We manufacture an ultra-efficient DC control and distribution package for hydronic (hot water) heat called SETH™. You may read more about it on this page, titled Ultra-Efficient Hydronic Heat.
We address the specific needs and cautions encountered when taking a mobile home off-grid on a page simply entitled Mobile Homes.
You may wish to see photos of systems we have installed. Our Off-Grid Gallery showcases examples of Home Systems of various sizes, System Upgrades, Water Pumping installations, and other work.
Finally, we end our off-grid section on a lighter note by handing down the Ten Commandments of Off-Grid Solar Design on a virtual stone tablet.
General Resources
Of course, at some point you will want to know our Rates and Policies. We are the only company in the region that clearly posts our rates and policies on our web site.
You may also read what our customers say about us in Customer Testimonials.
We sell a $30 measurement device called a "Kill-a-Watt" meter, which allows you to plug in any AC device and measure consumption, including over time, such as a refrigerator. It's very easy to use and we include our own guide (available here) for use as a load analysis tool. In some cases we'll even lend you one of our meters. Let us know if this device would serve your process.
Customer Reviews
You can read plenty of independent customer reviews of our work at www.solar-estimate.org. When you get there, click “Find a Solar Pro” and then type “Positive Energy” into the “Enter a Company Name” box. Or, to compare us with other solar companies, enter your ZIP code, then click “Solar Electric” in the next window.
We look forward to working with you.
