West Linn, OR
30.6kW BIPV, Solar Awning, Roof Mounted Systems
Chris & Janet Morgan originally began thinking about putting a solar energy system on their home because of Chris’s interest in tropical plants. He has a beautiful collection of tropical plants in a greenhouse on the south side of his home. However, keeping a greenhouse heated at 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Oregon using fossil fueled energy did not sit well with Chris’s commitment to reducing his family’s impact on climate change. Chris and Janet began researching a solution and soon came up with a plan to eliminate their natural gas connection, reduce their energy use through energy efficiency, and add a highly efficient electric ground source heat pump to heat their home. The Morgan’s then added a 30.6 kilowatt solar electric system which has produced more energy than they use on an annual basis for the last several years. Chris is looking forward to using the extra electricity he is producing for his new all-electric car.
The Morgan’s system is composed of four separate solar arrays. Two roof mounted systems, one ground mounted system, and a large trellis in their front yard with a building-integrated (BIPV) solar roofing system that we designed and built locally. There were many system design challenges to find enough un-shaded area for a 30.6 kilowatt array on a residential building and have the home still maintain its charm. The trellis array helped immensely with this; at 14.4 kilowatts, it is almost half of the systems size.
