Hi Andrew,
Wanted to give you an update on the status of the solar electric and hot water systems you installed at our house a year ago. The hot water system has been great. I would say that it is producing the majority of the hot water we use for 6 months of the year. Even in the dead of winter on cloudy days, the water feeding our old water heater is getting pre-heated to at least 70 or 80 degrees. From June through September we just turned off the backup gas heater because we didn't need it.
The PV system is performing even better than we predicted. In the year since it was installed, I believe it has produced about 100-200 kWh more than the 3000 it was sized for. We produced a surplus for the months of July and August, even after I ran our air conditioner for several days during the heat waves we had. Looking at my latest PGE bill, we haven't paid for any electricity we've consumed since February 2009.
All in all, we're very pleased with the solar systems and feel very good about the installation. Hope things are going well.
All the best,

Fred Wurster
4722 SE Tolman
Portland, OR