The Bike Works community bike shop on Ferdinand Street just got a whole lot greener.
Last week, a stellar crew from Artisan Electric came in and installed a new solar array on the roof of the shop. On a sunny day, our electric meter runs backwards, meaning we are producing more electricity than our shop uses and are pumping that excess out into the power grid!
Best of all, this solar electric system was FREE as part of the Solarize Seattle Central/Southeast project!
Solarize Seattle is a program by Northwest SEED designed to accelerate solar energy education and installations in central and southeast Seattle neighborhoods through a group purchase of solar electric systems at a discounted price. As part of this program, the solar installation companies donated a solar electric system to two community organizations. NW SEED selected Bike Works and Clean Greens as the recipients of the free solar systems!
The system is comprised of 16 215-Watt (3.44 kW total) Sanyo HIT modules, one of the most efficient modules on the market. We also have an energy monitoring system that will allow us to monitor our electricity usage in real time, helping us identify ways to reduce power consumption, decrease our electric bills, and put more electricity out into the grid. We look forward to updating you on how the system performs in the sunny months.
A huge thanks to Artisan Electric, NW SEED, and Seattle City Light for making this possible!
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