An Interesting Solar System Development

My power went out today at about 3:13 PM.  It shut down my computer and everything else for several seconds.  Then, the computer came back on, and I had to power it up again.  The lights came back on quickly, after maybe two or three seconds.

Normally, this shouldn't have happened, because I have solar power, which would have kept everything running, even if the power flickered off.  But I happened to have had my car plugged in at this time, and my car uses all the solar power I make, and more.  So I figured the power coming back on was just a flicker, as happens from time to time, and the reason things shut down was that my car was using all my solar power.

But at 3:55, I got an e-mail from FPL.  It said the power was out at my house (it reportedly had been since 3:27, although I got a notice from Tesla telling me my charging had been interrupted at 3:13), and at 43 other houses near me, and that it would be back on by 7:00.  Really?  It seems to be back on already.  It has been for over half an hour.

So, the power was still off.  But it wasn't off any more at my house.  And my car was still plugged in.  At that time of day, when the sun is dipping behind trees and clouds, it was still supplying enough power to run everything in my house, and charge my car.  Amazing.

And as of yesterday, my projected FPL bill for the coming month was $9.98.  And that takes into account averaging from the weeks before that.  The actual bill on 9/19 was $31.66, and it had dropped steeply in the next few days, because I didn't charge my car, until today.

Really, if Tracy Truppman wasn't diverting so much Village money to the people who protect her and carry out executions for her (manager, attorney, finance director, code officer), and she didn't feel like doing anything else to uplift the Park (medians, streets, really anything), imagine how much money we would have to add solar panels to municipal buildings.