In the flats of Pescadero, not far from the Pacific Ocean is a compound that contains a three-bedroom house with vaulted ceilings, two large one-bedroom casitas, a garage with a caretaker’s unit above, a grove of fruit trees, an amazing swimming pool and outdoor living areas. To reduce the overall cost of operation, the Colorado owners of the property asked Innovacion Solar to design a solar system that would manage much of the electric needs of the property. They had recently asked to increase the storage capacity of the system to include the two casitas.

Entering the compound through the double gates, the house in straight ahead with a three-car garage and caretaker’s unit to the right as well as a utility building. Entering the house, the vaulted and rounded brick ceilings are amazing but require a strong air conditioning system to keep the house cool. There is a butler’s pantry with a wine cooler and the kitchen is chef’s grade with subzero refrigerators and a 10-burner and grill electric stove. Each of the two casitas also have small kitchens.

The initial design of the system was to meet the needs of the main house. There is a total of 48 SunPower solar panels spread across the roof of the main house and the two casitas. With 470 W panels, this creates the possibility to have 22.56 kW of energy an hour generated to run the house and charge the batteries. A separate building houses the solar equipment with two Schneider Electric Inverters and charge controllers directing the solar power to the house or to charge the 48 kW of Blue Ion lithium-ion batteries in three battery management cabinets. With full sun, the batteries would be fully charged within three hours and the most, while still providing energy to the house. The Stellar monitoring system allows the system to be monitored remotely from anywhere in the world.

Diego Marquez of Innovacion Solar, reviewing the needs for the system to be able to deliver power directly to the two casitas suggested that it would require adding another bank of batteries and another Schneider electric inverter, and potentially some additional panels on the roof of the caretaker’s unit above the garage. The additional system components could either be included in the same location or placed in the utility building beside the garage.