Smith Electric Company

A Little Quiet

It might get a little quiet here for a while. The solar equipment is installed, inspected and approved. We're just waiting for the PSE&G (electric utility) to approve the interconnection to the grid. That could take 6 weeks or so (1 week down now).

Here's what I plan to do in the meantime:

1. Create an index page to the installation process and pictures - a one-stop page for people who are looking for information that skips the "still waiting" posts.
2. I may not have mentioned it here, but I'm a student pilot (airplanes). If I have a lesson flying in the right direction, I want to take an aerial photo of the panels, and I'll post it here.
3. I'll try to keep up with solar news and other installations, especially in New Jersey.

Thanks for looking in, and keep checking for more news!

While you wait ...

A note to new readers .....

We're hopefully in the end of a waiting period for building permits. The equipment is all in the hands of my installer, and we can start the installation as soon as we have the building permits and I have a window of availability (to be home to let people inside and keep an eye on things).

If you're looking for more basic info on why we're installing solar panels you should take a look at the January 2004 archives (to the left). For "before" pictures, take a look at the February 2004 archives.

Bye-Bye Blog-City, Hello TypePad

With this post, I am moving this blog from Blog-City to TypePad. I am also splitting the blog in two. This blog is the Solar Energy blog - which will concentrate on the installation of solar panels, etc. on our house. The main page for that blog is Smith Electric Company.

I am also creating a personal blog for my thoughts. Since I created the Solar Energy blog a month ago, I've had a hard time restraining my posts to the topic. Therefore, the new blog can be found at Mark Time.

The reason that I'm changing is Blog-City's horrendous upgrade process and their poor customer service throughout. They started the upgrade on 3/2. My blog was completely down until 3/5, and then was up and down sporadically until 3/9. They only restored the ability to upload files and photos today. Throughout, their customer service/downtime notifications ranged from vague to just plain insulting.

They've lost a customer. I'm paying TypePad 10 times more in fees, but I'm getting a much better service.