Living on PV power in comfort and style

The Solectrogen House near San Francisco was conceived, designed and built by Solar Depot as an off-grid renewable energy house. It is powered by a Solectrogen hybrid power system consisting of a 3 kW PV array, two 1 kW wind powered generators, a 50 kWh storage battery bank and a 6.5 kW LP-fueled diesel engine generator for back-up. Two 4 kW sinewave DC to AC inverters are utilized, with 24 VDC input and 120/240 VAC 60 Hz output. The inverters are equiped with built-in battery chargers and microprocessors for controlling the engine generator operation. The water supply of the house is a well pumped by a PV powered submersible DC pump. The swimming pool filtration system utilizes a 3/4 HP DC pump powered by a separate dedicated PV array of 640 watts at 90 V. Energy efficient lighting and refrigeration used in the house minimize the power requirements of the house. The house also utilizes a solar thermal system consisting of 640 sq. ft. of glazed solar collectors and a 500 gallon storage tank. The thermal system is utilized for heating water year round, for space heating in the winter and for swimming pool heating in the summer.