The array is fixed at a 45° tilt, elevated at least 3 feet above grade on a rack, with the ground beneath covered in crushed white rock and a white-painted container wall behind the array. Every one of these choices specifically benefits a bifacial panel, whose rear face harvests reflected (albedo) light in addition to the front face's direct and diffuse light.
White crushed rock typically reflects roughly 30–45% of incident sunlight (vs. 10–20% for grass or soil), and a white-painted wall behind the array reflects even more. Combined with the 3-foot rack clearance that lets light circulate under the panels and the 45° tilt that opens up rear-face exposure, this siting is close to ideal for bifacial gain. Published bifacial gain in high-albedo, elevated, tilted installations like this commonly runs 10–20% above an equivalent monofacial array.
Panel: CW Energy CWT595-144TNB10, 595 W bifacial, sold as a pallet of 31 panels for $7,009.10.
| Component | Function |
|---|---|
| (a) Mounting structure | Fixed 45° ground-mount rack, 3+ ft clearance, engineered for wind/snow load |
| (b) Bifacial PV panels | CW Energy 595W, front + rear generation |
| (c) Wiring | DC home-runs, PV wire, conduit, grounding |
| (d) Combiner box | Consolidates DC source circuits, rapid shutdown, overcurrent protection |
| (e) Inverter (DC→AC) | Grid-tied string inverter(s) sized to array |
| (f) AC-to-grid metering | Production/bi-directional meter, AC disconnect, utility interconnection |
| (g) 20 ft weatherproof container | Houses combiners, inverters, controls, monitoring — the "power house" |
| (h) Monitoring system | Production, export, and fault monitoring/alerts |
Both kilns run 24/7, but solar only produces for about 4 hours/day of effective full output. With no battery, the array must generate the kiln's entire daily energy need within those 4 hours; the grid absorbs the surplus by day (reversing the meter) and supplies the kiln at night, netting out over the billing period.
Panels are only sold by the pallet (31 panels), so both systems are rounded up to the next full pallet. That rounding creates a built-in production cushion: 15.3% surplus for the 5,000 BF kiln and 2.5% surplus for the 15,000 BF kiln, which absorbs cloudy days, panel degradation, and system losses without undersizing the array.
| Metric | 5,000 BF Kiln | 15,000 BF Kiln |
|---|---|---|
| Daily production (array kW × 4h) | 221.3 kWh | 442.7 kWh |
| Daily consumption | 192 kWh | 432 kWh |
| Daily surplus reversed to grid | 29.3 kWh | 10.7 kWh |
| Annual production | 80,789 kWh | 161,578 kWh |
| Annual consumption | 70,080 kWh | 157,680 kWh |
| Annual surplus exported | 10,709 kWh | 3,898 kWh |
| Value of exported surplus @ $0.15/kWh | $1,606 | $585 |
Because there is no battery, every kWh generated flows either straight to the kiln's load or out through the meter to the grid — there is no curtailment. At $0.15/kWh, both systems are sized so daily production essentially matches (and modestly exceeds) daily consumption, meaning the meter runs backward during the ~4 sun-hours and forward the rest of the day, netting close to zero over a billing cycle.
| Line Item | 5,000 BF Kiln (55.34 kW) | 15,000 BF Kiln (110.67 kW) |
|---|---|---|
| (b) PV Panels (3 / 6 pallets @ $7,009.10) | $21,027 | $42,055 |
| (a) Mounting/racking (est. $0.18/W) | $9,960 | $19,921 |
| (c) Wiring (est. $0.05/W) | $2,767 | $5,534 |
| (d) Combiner box / BOS (est. $0.03/W) | $1,660 | $3,320 |
| (e) Grid-tie inverter (est. $0.11/W) | $6,087 | $12,174 |
| (f) AC disconnect / meter / interconnection (est. $0.03/W) | $1,660 | $3,320 |
| (g) 20 ft weatherproof power-house container (installed) | $8,500 | $10,000 |
| (h) Monitoring system | $2,000 | $2,500 |
| Hardware subtotal | $53,661 | $98,823 |
| Installation labor (15% of hardware) | $8,049 | $14,823 |
| Engineering / permitting / interconnection (7%) | $3,756 | $6,918 |
| TOTAL INSTALLED SYSTEM COST | $65,467 | $120,564 |
| All-in cost per watt | $1.18/W | $1.09/W |
Because the solar meter runs at the same $0.15/kWh rate as the grid (net metering, 1:1), the kiln effectively runs on a near-zero electric bill once the loan/cash outlay for the array is recovered, plus a small annual credit from the export surplus.
Both configurations pay back in about 5 years, with 20+ years of remaining panel life (typical bifacial warranties run 25–30 years) generating savings well beyond breakeven. The larger kiln pays back slightly faster because fixed costs (power-house container, monitoring, engineering) are spread across more panel wattage, and rounding to full pallets creates proportionally less "wasted" surplus capacity.
Both the 5,000 BF and 15,000 BF container dry kilns are strong candidates for a battery-free, grid-tied bifacial solar conversion. The site conditions described — 45° fixed tilt, 3+ feet of rack clearance, white crushed rock underfoot, and a white container wall behind the array — are close to ideal for bifacial gain, giving useful margin against real-world losses without needing to model an exact bifacial bonus percentage.
At a conservative 4 peak-sun-hours/day annual average, the 5,000 BF kiln (8 kW constant load, 192 kWh/day) needs a minimum 48 kW array, met with 3 pallets (93 panels, 55.3 kW). The 15,000 BF kiln (18 kW constant load, 432 kWh/day) needs a minimum 108 kW array, met with 6 pallets (186 panels, 110.7 kW). Both round up to full pallets, which builds in a production cushion of roughly 2.5–15% above the bare minimum.
Installed system costs, including panels, racking, wiring, inverter, grid interconnection, a 20 ft container power-house, monitoring, labor, and engineering/permitting, come to approximately $65,500 for the 5,000 BF system and $120,600 for the 15,000 BF system ($1.09–$1.18/W all-in). At $0.15/kWh with full retail net metering, annual savings run $12,100 and $24,200 respectively, producing simple paybacks of roughly 5.4 and 5.0 years. One data correction is worth flagging: the panel listing's "$0.038/W" figure is a typo — the true cost, verified against the pallet price, is $0.38/W, and that corrected figure drives all cost results here.
|
| CONTACT TEL: 608-238-6001 Email: greg@globalmicroturbine.com | AMP | PDF |