Design and fabrication of the BDM southwest photovoltaic residence prototype

As part of the Department of Energy residential photovoltaic demonstration program, BDM has designed a photovoltaic, all-electric residence suitable for the southwestern United States and built a prototype structure to test the design concept. The prototype was built at the Southwest Residential Experimental Station operated by the Solar Energy Institute at New Mexico State University along with prototypes from other contractors. The use of prototypes permits testing of the PV array which produces DC power, the power conversion equipment which converts DC to AC, and the utility interface equipment which operates the power system interactively with the electric utility. The array mounting and structural aspects can also be evaluated.