Batteries in a storm?

BELLEVUE -- It was a dark and stormy night last December -- and especially the five cold nights that followed -- that persuaded John and Patsy Curtis to go solar.

When the lights went out last year, they figuratively had their frosty noses pressed to the warm windowpane of Al Patterson's house next door.

		Scott Eklund / P-I
	Bill Von Brethorst, right, explains the new solar system his crew had just installed for homeowner John Curtis, left.

"We watched Al over there glowing," John Curtis said. "In here it was 45 degrees, but we stuck it out."

Not next time.

Should another winter windstorm gut the power lines of local utilities, the Curtises figure to be as snug and as smug as their neighbor was last year.

At least they should -- with careful use of the backup battery system included with their solar installation.

It was back in late 2000 that their neighbor introduced his cul de sac to the idea of grid-tied solar power with battery backup, a concept not widely accepted as practical for this region.

An ardent ham-radio specialist and retired Boeing engineer, Patterson wanted no loss of electricity when called upon to run his radio station in an emergency, and he didn't stop with the battery package. Wanting a belt with his suspenders, he also installed a natural-gas-fired, automatic-switching generator to backup his batteries.

The Curtises didn't go that far, stopping with a solar-electric system tied to the outside grid and a battery package.

How long will the batteries last in an emergency outage similar to the one in December? Montana-based Bill Von Brethorst, who installed the system, said over and over that the question could not be answered. "It depends," he kept repeating. "You want a sound bite and I can't give you one."

Finally Von Brethorst allowed as how the Curtises' system "might" be expected to provide power enough for a blackout lasting five to seven days -- if the couple is careful.

He said the batteries should run the furnace and the tankless gas water heater that requires electricity to fire, as well as a microwave oven and a disciplined array of lights.

As an early haze gave way to sunlight over the Curtis home one recent morning, percolating on the roof was an array of 16 light-sensitive solar panels that clearly were producing electricity.

In a back corner of the garage stood a short stack of plastic crates, each containing 24 deep-cycle, tinker-free storage batteries. Each plastic crate was only slightly larger than an oversized cedar hope chest.

There also was an inverter, which turns the direct current from the panels and the batteries into the alternating current required by appliances and lights in the home.

John Curtis is hoping his $25,000 investment will prove itself beyond the assortment of government incentives presently due producers of renewable energy.

"It's definitely not a financial thing for me," he said. "It's about the whole (carbon) footprint thing. I've been interested in it for quite a while."

A residential real-estate appraiser by profession, Curtis said he is uncertain how much the new equipment will add to the value his home.

"There may be some," he said. "But I really can't say how much. This is all so new."

Indeed, what Curtis cares more about now is performance at that battery bank, and on that score he appears to have rolled the dice for a win.

"Is it working? It is," he said. "I've been watching the meter. Even with rain clouds, it was charging those batteries, and when the sun does come out, it goes crazy."

In the view of some, however, the decision by anyone in the Northwest to add the expense of backup batteries is compromised not only by the extra cost -- about $5,000 -- but also by the weather.

Renewable-energy broker Doug Boleyn of Cascade Solar Consulting in Portland said he would choose to rely not on batteries in a power-out, but on a generator -- fired by whatever fuel is available, from natural gas, diesel or gasoline.

"In the Pacific Northwest," he said, "our grid power generally fails during winter storms, when daylight is short and there is significant cloud cover. So the chance for charging batteries then is minimal."

Also, said Boleyn, using solar power to keep a bank of batteries charged in summer is wasteful because it reduces the system's ability to contribute to the grid and reduce your utility bill.

On that point, the generator that became the belt to neighbor Al Patterson's suspenders looks rather hip.

Earning with solar

Federal tax credit (expires Dec. 31) -- For solar-electric (photovoltaic) systems brought online in 2006 and 2007, a federal income tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of buying and installing the system. Caps at $2,000 for residential homes; no cap for businesses.

The same 30 percent, $2,000 cap tax credit is available for solar water heaters, but it, too, will expire Dec. 31.

Net metering -- Utilities are required to allow power produced by backyard solar, wind and hydro systems to spin the utility meter backward, feeding into the grid as home-power needs ebb. When the sun sets or is blocked by a heavy winter cloud cover, power is drawn from the grid as usual.

State incentives:

Utilities are allowed, but not required, to pay small producers of electricity 15 cents for every kilowatt hour they generate. The program went into effect on July 1, 2005, and extends through June 2014.To participate, contact your utility or the Northwest Solar Center, northwestsolarcenter.org.

For Washington-made inverters, add 3 cents to that initial 15 cents.

For Washington-made solar panels add 36 cents. (None are yet available, and only one company, Outback Power Systems of Arlington, has them under development.)

The caveat: Incentive payments are capped at $2,000 a year, but to reach that amount would require a system 4 1/2 times larger than the 2.4-kilowatt home systems that appear to be today's standard.

Green Tags: These bring in an additional 5 cents a kilowatt hour from brokers dealing "clean energy" to corporations nationwide. Also known as Renewable Energy Credits or RECs, they are being bought in the Northwest by Portland-based Cascade Solar Consulting. The Green Tag idea is a marketing device conceived to encourage renewable, non-polluting sources of electricity. No law yet compels the system, the price of fluctuates, and Cascade Solar's offer ends on Dec. 31, 2009. Unknown is whether the practice will be extended. More information at

cascadesolar.com.

Adding it up:

Pacific Northwest homes with a "standard" 2.4-killowatt solar power-generating system are expected to produce 2,400 kilowatt hours a year. Here's what you might earn per year:

Basic 15-cent rate -- $360

Use of Washington-made inverter -- $72.

Power produced and used, but not charged for under the net-metering law -- $200

Green tags -- $120

The total -- $752 a year (through 2009)

In the future:

Washington-made solar panels (when finally available) -- $864

Potential future total -- $1,616 a year (through 2009)