Solar Power at a Horse Farm

Diane Sherman is a full-time nurse and a parttime horse trainer who shares a house with her mother in Alpine, California, about 30 minutes east of San Diego. Her acre-plus plot is also home to a splendid menagerie of horses, ponies, donkeys, goats, chickens, dogs and a cat.

Diane was one of my "backlash" customers; one who resented the obvious deception and greed of the so-called California energy crisis of 2000-2001. By placing Uni-Solar framed modules on a four-bay workshop/garage and on an open barn, we were able to nearly zero out her electricity bill. The system also allows her to train horses at night under the lights of her walking pen adjacent to the barn.

The system is 12Kw/DC consisting of 188 US-64 watt framed modules with 10.2Kw on the barn and 1.8Kw on the workshop/garage. Sunny year-round and just minutes north of the US-Mexico border, the system generates 1674 kWHrs on average per month. With just one adjustment, the system is tied to the San Diego Gas & Electric grid and has been producing continuously since its commissioning in December 2003.