Mine are on a very large Japanese maple and they do seem to get enough light for a few hours of illumination in the evening, but if we are entertaining at night I put them in full sun for the day and place them under the tree in the evening for longer light.

Hello Cecelia, during the architecture process you may include many design elements that can help reduce the overall electrical load of the house before the calculation for the PV panels are taken into consideration. As a rule of thumb in order to maximize the photovoltaic system capacity you may wish to implement more insulation in exterior walls (specially east/west) and the roof to lower A/C loads, that amount to most of the electrical load of the house. Also you may want to implement overhangs or exterior shading on the windows and/or use insulated windows to lower the sun heat to the inside of the house. Using high SRI roofing and light colors on the outside will also help as well as using low albedo surfaces for ground cover and implementing planting areas around the house will help with the interior heat load. In terms of cost for solar in Puerto Rico it has come down in recent years and there are tax incentives for PV panels as well as for the batteries that have been in place for the last couple of years that may help as well. It hasn't been as easily accesible in PR as in the past 5-7 years so that is why I believe it isn't used as much as in the mainland. It is becoming more and more common, as is the batteries use after hurricane Maria. In your PV design you may want to include batteries as well as a generator that may complement each other in case of power failure so fuel or gas is not as expensive as it would be if you were running the house completely by the generator and the size of the generator can be smaller as well. Hope this information helps, and if there are any questions that arise from my comment I am happy to help.

Hello, rouge21, Babs tipped me about your enquiry and I will share my bird bath experiments with you. I tried a solar-powered small fountain when they were first available and it was not good. Being in zone 6, our share of cloudy days is ample, hence, no working fountain most of the time and when the sun shone strongly, it was, at best, a weakling's effort. Were I to try another one today, I would opt for a small fountain with the solar panel separate from the fountain - not one of those with a floating disc in the middle. Similar to this style Any shallow 'bowl' of water (sans fountain power) will serve birds, bees, butterflies well, but should be rinsed out every couple of days for multiple reasons. If you have an area close to the house where you can watch the bathers and sippers, a simple dish (planter base, whatever you have) filled with or without small stones will serve little birds and bees. (the stones give the bees a place to land and drink.) Overkill info - but if you're interested... Deciding that electric was the best way for me, I bought an outdoor extension cord and using a 1940s ice chopper, I wiggled out a 5" deep trench through the lawn to where I wanted the cord plug to be. That was about 20 years ago. It is still in place and it still works. I just put the ice chopper into soft lawn and literally wiggled the chopper back and forth to separate the lawn and make a mini trench for the cord to lay in. Once the cord was stuffed into the lawn - using a wooden shingle to push it down - I pushed the lawn back together and nobody knew the cord lay below. With power in place, I could plug in anything from a summer fountain to an outdoor Christmas tree - and did both. However, the biggest and year round draw for the birds - all of them - is a heated bird bath on our deck railing. Unplugged in summer, I plug in this red fountain below for the smaller bird - including hummers - and they seem to like it, despite it being out of my camera's view. (green link below for buying info) Should you decide electric is viable, here is more info than you need. I have not regretted laying a power cord for the winter heated bath and the summer red fountain; both have been very dependable and work on cloudy days. It has a large enough reservoir for about a week's worth of bathing. I change the water often though to prohibit mosquito development. red fountain The cord runs from the back outside outlet to the red fountain and also to the heated birdbath on the deck railing. Heated bird bath for winter - unplugged in summer. heated+bird+baths+for+outdoors In winter, the water remains at 37 degrees and the bath is used constantly as a source of open water. I'm in central Connecticut and some winters are closed prohibiting running water being available to critters and birds. I just fill it by hand with a gallon jug of water. And then there is a larger Japanese font for the big guys. No fountain. Be careful what you wish for, lol. Everybody needs water. Way too much info, but if you have the opportunity and means to help birds, et al, get water, go for it in the way that works best for you. Kindly, Jane

Try going through the website energysage.com put in your zip code and it will list companies in your area. If your not already, I highly recommend you look into buying your system rather than a lease deal.