POSITIVE ENERGY 3225A RICHARDS LANE SANTA FE, NM 87507 Contact: RANDY SADEWIC Phone: 505 424-1112 Fax: 505-424-1113 Email: RANDY@POSITIVEENERGYSOLAR.COM Alan Sindlar--put in solar for Sarbjits and Satya Kaur at Ram Das Puri: 505-780-2738 Website: HTTP://WWW.POSITIVEENERGYSOLAR.COM   They Offer: Commercial Solar Electric Systems Residential Solar Electric Systems   Other Services: Solar System Consulting & Engineering They also got 18 positive recommendations on this comparative FindSolar site--way above any other company. Conversation with Allan Sindelar, allan@positiveenergysolar.com August 11, 2006 He knows a number of our community members, especially those at Ram Das Puri. Since there is lots of custom work in outfitting a well with solar—because every well is different, there are no quantity cost-saving standardized packages that he can offer us, as he might if we were all getting grid-tie equipment (where you sell excess electricity back to the Co-op) in a subdivision of identical houses.  But we might save in his cost of travel if a number of us are contracting with him at the same time.  He said that his prices are not the lowest, but he feels that his products, system designs and installations are the best, and he has successfully been in the business for a very long time! All this information is from his introductory free consult.  After this, he charges $90 per hour.  But if I buy a system from him, he then credits me back 50% of the consulting fee.  If he came up to Espanola from Santa Fe to give a talk to our group, he would charge us the hourly consult fee plus the time for travel one way, and $.50 to $.75 per mile.  He is “good but not cheap!” He mentioned that there is a federal and state tax credit total of 30% for going solar.  More information at http://cleanenergynm.org/.  And that http://cfcae.org/ is a great resource guide for installing renewable energy in New Mexico.  Also, Allan has written about 7 articles for a marvelous magazine that I subscribe to that helps me understand how solar power works-- http://www.homepower.com/ and has articles on-line. Allan felt that for my projected use—which is staying on the grid for now, but be ready to go totally solar pumping if electricity becomes unavailable, would be to install a GRUNDFOS PUMP (from Germany) that automatically or manually switches from AC to DC and back as needed.  (AC is alternating current that comes from the Co-op and is often called "house current" that we normally use.  DC is direct current that comes straight from solar panels and batteries.  An inverter is an extra machine that changes DC--direct current to AC--alternating current.  An inverter would be more money, less efficient for this project).  He also noted that because I have a shallow well, about 45’ to 90’ deep, the pump would not need as much power as necessary for a deeper well to haul water up a greater distance.  This pump would give 5-6 gallons per minute (within my well’s refill rate of 5-10 gallons per minute). BATTERY FACTS: You use batteries to store solar electricity so that you have it available when the solar panels can’t produce electricity when there is no sun at night or on cloudy days. He would suggests sealed, maintenance-free, 10 year batteries for my well.  These are best for smaller projects.  Larger projects call for batteries that need regular maintenance. If you put in batteries for a small project now, but in the future you want to increase your solar (or wind) capabilities, you cannot just add more batteries to an enlarged interconnected system.  You have to replace all the old batteries and install all new batteries of the same kind and age for the whole project. If you use the batteries all the time, it would not shorten the life of the batteries.  And if you held the batteries, but did not use them, it would not extend the life of the batteries. Only bad or abusive maintenance shortens the life of batteries. I mentioned that I might like to do this in stages over time to work with my money flow.  So, he suggested 3 stages: Replace my current pump with the AC/DC GRUNDFOS PUMP that will work on the AC grid for now and easily switch to solar DC when needed.  The pump along with control hardware would be about $2,500 to $3,000.  Add two 24 Volt solar arrays with racks for 4 modules to power the pump, and provide minimum house power for perhaps a computer for a couple hours a day, cell phone charger, irrigation timer.  He would also include a manual switch to change from AC to DC.  Each large solar panel costs about $1,000 to $1,500, so the ballpark estimate for this is $3,000 to $4,000, but no figuring has been done to determine actual power needs.    Batteries in this original system would have to be replaced when I enlarge the system.  Sealed, 10 year batteries for this project are about $2,000. Sept. 12, 2008.  I talked to Randy again. He said that to operate the well on AC from solar produce energy, the cost of an inverter and sealed batteries would be $8-9,000.  And when you add the cost of solar panels, and a control panel to produce about 1 Kilowatt hour, the cost may risr to $13,000. The cost of back up batteries to provide 4 Kilowatt hours might be $20,000.  And since every job has to be custom designed, the only quantity discount he could give us would be 3-5% for eliminating their advertising and free intake time. DIRECT SOLAR WITH PANELS AND CONTROLLER would run the pump on DC only when the sun shines.  That would cost about $5-6,000.  Then during daylight hours, water could be stored in an elevated 1,000 gal. tank (higher than the house) to give good water pressure when the sun is not shining.

August 9, 2006, Siri-Gian Kaur   PUMPS-- ELECTRIC (AC & DC), SOLAR, HAND, & WINDMILL PUMPS...   A conversation with my “well guy,” Bob Osborn at Thompson Well Services, 505-455-2262.  Unlike other well services that I have called, Bob is quite responsive and works untiringly to educate me in this well lore that is new to me.   My well is about 49’ to perhaps 90’ deep, and the water level is about 45’ deep from the ground level cover of the underground pump house.  The well’s refill rate is from 5 to 10 gallons per minute.  (Since the original well digger did not register this information with the NM State Engineers Office in Santa Fe when it was first dug—as prescribed by law, Bob tested it for me.)   Bob said that the life expectancy of conventional AC electric well pumps—the apparatus that actually sits down in the well water and pumps the water up the pipe is about 7 to 15 years.  My pump is now 19 years old.  His estimate for replacement is: Pump $600, Labor $250+, perhaps Wire @ $1/ft., perhaps Pipe @ $2/ft.  All together, a very ball park figure for replacing my 1.5 horsepower, 230 V pump might be $1,300 to $1,400.   The DC (direct current) pumps that work directly from solar power without battery back up as shown on the Real Goods site at http://www.solareco.com/articles/article.cfm/id/92 pumps at a reduced rate of only 2-3 gallons per minute only when the sun is shining and is not adequate for house use, even with a large tank on it.  This set up is primarily used in the field to water stock—cattle, sheep, etc.  The water is pumped into a cistern or other container so the animals can drink from it.  Bob says that this pump is complicated and expensive.   In Mexico and South America, communities use windmills to get their communal water.  Although windmill setups are expensive for an individual, they might fit the bill for a community water system.  He said that the comany, TP Pumps and Pipes in Albuquerque (505-247-4036) represents windmill pump technology here.  In Texas, windmills are still used to pump water for livestock.   Bob says that all the equipment to put solar electric on a well—panels, batteries, (inverter for AC), etc. can be quite expensive.  And since the diameter of the well hole is only about 4 ½”, it would be too difficult to fit a hand pump apparatus into my existing well along with an electric pump.   One cheaper alternative may be to dig a second well that in the future might be used for irrigation of my field, and/or for a second house that I might build.  This second well could be near the first well but at least 100 ft.+ from the septic tank.  We could then put either a hand pump only in that well, or possibly put an electric pump in with the hand pump.   Very general estimates are: digging a 100 ft. well—$2,500 to $4,000; hand pump equipment (pipe, pump, sucker rod)—$1,000; electric pump—$2,000.  This does not include the cost of a holding cistern or pressure tank or pump house.