---
slug: solar-one-month
title: "Solar: One Month"
date: "2022-11-11T11:49:14-04:00"

pics:
  dashboard-year:
    css: "image"
    tip: "Total energy production and consumption."
    sources:
      - "/files/posts/solar-one-month/dashboard-year.webp"
      - src: "/files/posts/solar-one-month/dashboard-year.png"
        width: 991
        height: 657
  dashboard-sunny:
    css: "image"
    tip: "Energy production and consumption on a sunny day."
    sources:
      - "/files/posts/solar-one-month/dashboard-sunny.webp"
      - src: "/files/posts/solar-one-month/dashboard-sunny.png"
        width: 992
        height: 657
  dashboard-cloudy:
    css: "image"
    tip: "Energy production and consumption on a cloudy day."
    sources:
      - "/files/posts/solar-one-month/dashboard-cloudy.webp"
      - src: "/files/posts/solar-one-month/dashboard-cloudy.png"
        width: 996
        height: 657
---

[Enphase][] dashboard for our first month of solar:

{{< pe-figure "dashboard-year" >}}

The blue bars represent energy produced by the solar panels.  The orange
bars represent energy consumed by us.  The Y axis is
[kilowatt-hours][kwh] (pay attention to the Y axis, because the
dashboard rescales it).

According to the numbers above, the solar panels generated 78% (1 -
117.4/538.6 = ~0.78) of our consumed energy for the month.  Virginia has
[net metering][], so our power bill should be 21% of what it would be
otherwise.

On clear, sunny days the panels generate more energy than we consume:

{{< pe-figure "dashboard-sunny" >}}

And in a shocking twist that will surprise no one, on cloudy days the
solar panels don't do very well:

{{< pe-figure "dashboard-cloudy" >}}

[solar]: https://pmdn.org/solar
  "Solar array details and energy production statistics."
[enphase]: https://enphaseenergy.com/
  "Enphase"
[net metering]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_metering
  "Net metering"
[kwh]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilowatt-hour
  "kilowatt-hour"