April weather in the Chicago-land area is difficult to forecast. It can be clear with bright blue skies, or dark-clouded and cold with snow flurries. Or heavy rains with lightening and thunder. Pick your favorite.
So it has been an interesting solar production month so far. Every day seems to bring another production record for my installed system.
But the event that I really did not expect was the somewhat startling thump that occurred on two peaceful mornings. Our morning ritual is to wake up, look out the bedroom window for any unusual stirrings in the neighborhood. After throwing water on the face, walk down the stairs to the first floor and make coffee. Sit down with my brew and open up the news. My dining chair faces the sliding window overlooking our deck, bird feeders and the backyard detention ponds. It could be pre-dawn or the sun may be up (pretty casual these days).
After recent snowfalls on two days in mid-April, I expected the solar production to be reduced. That is until the snow melts from the panels.
This is the view on the morning of April 15,2020 after getting approximately 5-6' overnight.
This is the view on the morning of April 17, 2020 after getting about 4" overnight.
At about 7:45 AM on the 15th and then again on the 17th, we were surprised by the snow drop from overhead. The picture below shows the remnants of the snow that slid off the roof.
There is no warning of the imminent drop. But there are 30 feet of glassy panels that are rising along the roof slope up to the peak above the sliding glass door.
If you get enough sun load on the snow, the slippery glass panel surface becomes a great slide. I have not viewed the avalanche build up on the roof, but it generates enough momentum to shift the snow clean.
And then there is plenty of great panel area to generate energy.
As I mentioned earlier, April seems to be a good solar month.
Since the beginning of the month, five separate 'largest ever' days of solar production occurred. Progressively higher 'highs' occurred on April 2, 10, 16, 18 and 20. And right now, April 21st looks like another high.
Since we are using only about 28-35 KWh of energy a day, I decided to use the excess solar energy today to 'fill up' the electric vehicle during the day. An EV charge usually is limited to 10 KW and normally requires about 2-4 hours of time (which I would normally do during the night time).
Sunny days are great!
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