The Photovoltaic Deployment Method for Driveways
Imagine a major household appliance which, instead of consuming electricity, generates and feeds electricity to the grid by means of a 240V plug and outlet.
GismoPower® has developed the MEGA®, a Mobile Electricity Generating Appliance, a portable carport on removable wheels integrating a high-power bifacial PV system and a powerful Class 2 EV-Charger (US-Utility Patent 17/326,687).
The MEGA® is a transformative technology which serves “energy prosumers” where neither rooftop nor ground-mounted solar fit, enabling moderate income Americans, including renters, to adopt solar in their driveways for a fraction of the cost of comparable rooftop systems.
GismoPower® is not a future pie in the sky and has 4 live pilot sites connected to the electric grid today with public electricity generation data and performance statistics available:
PILOT SITE #0 (PROTOTYPE - 20X 375W) Private Residence in Sarasota/FL
PILOT SITE #1 (MEGA - 9X460W) FREEDM SYSTEMS CENTER in Raleigh/NC
PILOT SITE #2 (MEGA - 9X490W) MAXOUT RENEWABLES in Livermore/CA
PILOT SITE #3 (MEGA - 9X490W) Private Residence in Walnut Creek/CA
FREEDM Systems Center has recently published preliminary results from their ongoing impact analysis research based upon the above measurement data.
64% Soft Costs
Electric Utility Corporations like Florida Power & Light are legally entitled to offset real estate costs and all operating expenses for their solar PV installations through capacity charges with guaranteed revenue, while residential PV system operators do not benefit from such regulatory entitlements.
Residential PV systems therefore play an irrelevant, almost negligible role in the sunshine state. The actual share of Florida's 4.68% solar electricity generation capability from residential and commercial solar PV installations remains well below 1% in 2022.
No Solar available for Renters
● Most solar PV installers do not serve renters.
● Community Solar with remote net-metering is against the applicable laws in Florida which exclusively favor the utility corporations.
● The sole solar choice for most renters in Florida is to participate in a utility owned solar project.
● If renters in Florida would be able to offset their real estate costs and the installation costs for their solar PV systems through guaranteed revenue, they would become owners and not remain renters.
GismoPower® is neither rooftop nor ground-mount solar
★ Portability
This mobile racking system will open the solar PV market to renters and people on the move. No dedicated single-use real estate area is needed for GismoPower. Fitting in neither rooftop nor ground-mount category, MEGA racks can be wheeled into garages and barns during adverse weather conditions.
Solar installation companies can increase productivity by deploying several standardized GismoPower systems per day via flatbed trailer, instead of getting caught in unexpected complications during tricky customized rooftop installations which sometimes require dangerous, acrobatic efforts at elevated heights.
The secret sauce to GismoPower is its Solar On Wheels®. Heavy-duty caster wheels allow the individual racks to be elevated and wheeled around without major effort. The PV-Inverter/EV-Charger can either be mounted to a close by wall or fixed to its own portable cart using an extension cord. Bad weather ahead? Simply lower the side panels and wheel it into the garage. The car still fits underneath.
The metal racks can optionally be anchored and bolted on asphalt or concrete surfaces. The solar panels pivot up when deployed, and are folded down when the units are wheeled into a garage or shelter. Florida is notorious for its hurricanes, but look at what just happened with hurricanes in New York & Connecticut and other high wind events in the rest of the nation. GismoPower will give its owners a chance to “unplug and store” beforehand, instead of “install and pray” during storm events.
★ Plug & Play
GismoPower includes solar panel racks, solar panels and UL-1741 certified electronics which conform to the latest distributed generation rapid shutdown safety standards. Customers can choose to assemble the system components themselves, or employ an established solar installer company or a licensed electrician.
Unlike with roof-top solar systems or fixed solar carports, GismoPower allows convenient access to panels, module-based electronic components and wiring for trouble-shooting, maintenance and upgrades. A detailed assembly manual will be provided.
★ PRIWATT.DE
According to a new report from the HTW Berlin – University of Applied Sciences, and German consumer association Verbraucherzentrale NRW, more than 190,000 plug-in solar devices have been installed in Germany in recent years. In 2020 and 2021 alone, up to 128,000 of these photovoltaic systems, with a total output of up to 51MW, were added:
- Der Markt für Steckersolargeräte, HTW Berlin, 2022
- Quo Vadis Steckersolar, B. Preaetorius, R. Hoelger, 2021
★ Permitting Purgatory
Florida Statute 163.04 Energy devices based on renewable resources.
(1) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or other provision of general or special law, the adoption of an ordinance by a governing body, as those terms are defined in this chapter, which prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources is expressly prohibited.
(2) A deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or similar binding agreement may not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources from being installed on buildings erected on the lots or parcels covered by the deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or binding agreement. A property owner may not be denied permission to install solar collectors or other energy devices by any entity granted the power or right in any deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or similar binding agreement to approve, forbid, control, or direct alteration of property with respect to residential dwellings and within the boundaries of a condominium unit. [..]
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On January 13th 2022, the Florida Solar Energy Center approved the FSEC 203-17 certification for the portable and unmounted 4.12KW GismoPower MEGA.
For well over a decade, the Sarasota County Department of Planning & Development Services has continued to be embroiled in corruption and misconduct scandals, involving former Building Officials Kathy Croteau and Greg Yantorno as well as a former code enforcement officer.
Disregarding our state-wide FSEC 203-17 certification, the Sarasota County Building Official unreasonably withholds our photovoltaic permit application.
- Nov 12th 2021 Electrical Review: APPROVED
- Jan 26th 2022 Zoning Review: NOT REQUIRED
- Jan 25th 2022 Building Review: FAILED
Pursuant to Florida Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act (“FLUEDRA”) we filed a petition against unreasonably withholding Solar Photovoltaic Permit Application 21 177673 00 BI.
The Sarasota County Attorney responded to some of the issues raised in our FLUEDRA petition.
On May 12th 2022 the Sarasota County Building Code Board of Adjustments and Appeals BCBAA upheld the Building Officials decision:
* February 9th 2022:
- STEVE BELL: DECISION February 9th 2022
* May 12th 2022:
- HEARING AUDIO RECORDING
- HEARING TRANSCRIPT
- Steve Bell: Paper Presentation
- Achim Ginsberg-Klemmt: PowerPoint Presentation
*June 2nd 2022:
- Theresa Toole WRITTEN ORDER
Building Code Board of Adjustments & Appeals
* October 19th 2022
The Sarasota County Department of Planning and Development Services has schedule the FLUEDRA hearing chaired by Special Magistrate Mr Kenneth Tinkler Esq. The hearing will take place on Tuesday October 18th 2022 at 9AM at the Sarasota County Administrative Building (North County) 1660 Ringling Blvd, Sarasota, Florida.
★ Power
Our first MEGA® prototype in Sarasota/Florida has been generating electricity on the grid since February 25th 2021, but on this system we have 20 x 375W panels connected on our own private driveway with less than optimal shade during several hours each day. During the course of our experiments last year we modified the panel configuration several times without recording the exact date and time when we added more panels, so the dataset produced at this location might not have enough scientific value from a power generation perspective: https://monitoringpublic.solaredge.com/solaredge-web/p/site/public?name=GismoPower-Tanglewood-Florida#/dashboard
We are a family with three lively teen-twen age kids and three Nissan Leaf EV's who are almost exclusively charged at this GismoPower MEGA rack in Florida. Our direct neighbor is also taking advantage of the free EV charging capacity at this site with his BMW i3. His i3 draws ~7.75KW when charging and our Nissan Leafs ~3-4KW, so you can recognize the neighbor's vehicle by the amplitude of the charging curve. Our yearly electricity bills with FPL show that we were able to generate more "home-made" electricity than we used for the past 4 years. The solar power generation data from our rooftop PV system at the same address can be viewed at this link:
GismoPower® is not a future pie in the sky and has 4 live pilot sites connected to the electric grid today with public electricity generation data and performance statistics available:
PILOT SITE #0 (PROTOTYPE - 20X 375W)
Private Residence in Sarasota/FL
FREEDM SYSTEMS CENTER in Raleigh/NC
MAXOUT RENEWABLES in Livermore/CA
★ Price
One of GismoPower’s primary design goals is to create technology which pays for itself quickly, so the team has avoided costly battery backup technology for now. The present electric system was intentionally designed to operate “grid-tied,'' but it is of course possible to combine a GismoPower version with different electronic components to operate "off-grid," and this concept can be pursued in the future, funds permitting. The team understands that a version equipped with battery backup and V2X technologies would be especially helpful for disaster response or in remote locations without reliable electric grid connection.
Tesla Roofs, which sell for $63K-$96K, certainly won’t get Power to the People. But even a standard rooftop solar system can be more expensive than a comparable GismoPower system; When combined with an EV-charger and a canopy or carport, the cost advantage becomes significant:
Average installation cost without taxes and incentives:
Carport (homeadvisor.com) $ 6,395
EV-Charger $ 3,000
Rooftop Solar System 9KW
$2.77/Watt (EnergySage) $ 24,930
COMBINED TOTAL $ 34,325
GismoPower Dual Rack MEGA (~9KW)
TOTAL $ 25,000
Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE)
1. Net System Cost:
Total System Cost: $25,000
(9KW GismoPower Dual Rack MEGA)
Less 26% Federal Tax Benefits: -$6,500
NET SYSTEM COST: $18,500
2. Next, figure out the Total kWh Production over the period you wish to calculate LCOE for. We'll use the 25 year warranty period:
Using pvwatts.nrel.gov
Location: Livermore/Northern California
Settings: DC System Size: 9KW; Module Type: Standard; Array Type: Fixed(open rack) System Losses(%): 0; Tilt(deg): 0 Azimut (deg): 180; DC to AC Size Ratio: 1.18; Inverter Efficiency(%): 98.6; Ground coverage Ratio: 0
15,238 kWh / Year
15,238 kWh * 25 Years = 380,950 TOTAL kWh PRODUCED
3. Last, figure LCOE by using the two figures above. Divide the NET SYSTEM COST by the TOTAL kWh PRODUCED:
$18,500 (net cost) / 380,950 (total kWh production) = $0.049 per kWh
ENABLING SOLAR ENERGY ACCESS ON UNTAPPED SURFACE AREAS
A 2016 study by NREL identified 8,130 million square meters of suitable rooftop area for PV installations in the continental U.S, amounting to 2,008,966 acres, which could potentially supply up to 14.8% of the entire U.S. electric power consumption.
According to the UC Berkeley's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, there are about 3.4 parking spaces in the USA for each car, and many well-cited and informed guesstimates say there may be as many as 8 outdoor parking spaces per car. With about 250,000,000 cars in the US, and the assumption that only 2 parking spaces with 180 sqft per car would be suitable for solar installations, one arrives at a photovoltaic parking area potential of ~ 2,066,115 acres.
Using different data sources, one arrives at similar metrics for parking-space solar potential. As of September 2020, there were 213,300,000 single-family dwellings in the United States and 38,000,000 multifamily units. If 2 outdoor parking spaces with 180 sqft per housing unit were covered with solar panels, one could cover approximately 2,076,859 acres with solar panels.
Both estimation methods would arrive at slightly larger solar potential than the solar rooftop potential determined by NREL in 2016.
Without counting any commercial or institutional parking areas, the above numbers lead to the conclusion that driveways and parking spaces offer an underexploited solar generation potential, combined with an underserved market potential of ~250,000,000 suitable private residences x $18000 = $ 4,500,000,000,000.
How much solar do we need?
According to Bill Nussey's book "Freeing Energy," The US has 3,797,000 square miles of land total, so only 0.5% of the total land mass would be needed to power the entire nation with solar energy. However, according to SEIA.org, the “Sunshine State” Florida covers an anemic 4.68% of the total electricity generation with renewable resources in Q2 2022, which includes large utility scale solar farms owned by corporations like FPL and Duke.
The actual share of Florida's 4.68% solar electricity generation capacity from residential and commercial rooftop & ground-mount solar systems remains well below 1%.
A carbon neutral household since 2017
The passion for solar energy runs in the family. Our home has 66 rooftop photovoltaic solar panels and we officially run our entire home including all our EV's on solar electricity since 2017.
Florida Power & Light enforces unfavorable policies which limit privately owned solar system installations to 115% of PAST usage and requires a system generating more than a theoretical maximum of 10KW to pay for an extraneous, unjustified liability insurance.
In 2019, the Gismo team made an attempt to fix this issue by filing a petition with the Florida Public Service Commission against Florida Power and Light (FPL) who disincentivizes powerful residential solar systems and appealed the FPSC's denial of the petition.
- May 13th 2020 - SC19-1873 Initial Brief of Merits
- July 4th 2020 - SC19-1873 Reply Brief
In 2020, we intervened before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in support of net-metering and just monetary compensation for generated solar electricity.
IN THE PRESS
GismoPower now popular in China
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