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Todd<br>
<br>
Sounds like everything is probably working normally. The power
factor of the grid interactive inverter is probably close to 1.0 so
when you are exporting power the power factor will go down.
Actually, I'm assuming that the power factor is normally somewhat
reasonable to begin with. It is possible, but unlikely, that the
power factor without the solar system operational was nearly zero.
The attached file demonstrates what is going on. In addition to the
solar system exporting 1.0 kW, you had a load of 2.03 kW at a power
factor of 0.65. The solar system reduced the load the utility meter
sees to 1.03 kW, but it didn't change the kVAR.<br>
<br>
Since they have provided you with a fancy meter, check out what it
says just after you turn off the inverter.<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.bluemountainsolar.com">www.bluemountainsolar.com</a>
</pre>
On 5/7/2012 7:46 PM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:toddcory@finestplanet.com">toddcory@finestplanet.com</a> wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:1336445214.195718736@webmail.finestplanet.com"
type="cite"><font face="arial" size="4">
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;">wrenches,</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;">i have
a question about my home's system. i was one of the
first net metered systems in our area, so the utility
company installed a fancy dual register meter which also
displays kvar/power factor.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;">when
selling 1 kW today the power factor was .40 and the kvar
was 2.37.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;">this
sounds horrible. <span style="font-size: 14pt;">question:
is this a concern?</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;">todd</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0 0 0 .8ex;
border-left: 1px #ccc solid; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
</blockquote>
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</font><br>
<br>
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