In many cases, water from wells can only be found at deep levels, increasing the amount of power required to extract and utilize this water. Most AC pumps are extremely inefficient at moving water. The amount of power required for pumping is enormous. In other cases, a well may not produce much water - 2 gallons per minute or less. We have found the Grundfos SQ-Flex pump with storage system to be very efficient and reliable in all these circumstances.

Near Livingston, Montana is one of the largest off-grid commercial facilities in the west. This 17,000 sq-ft facility is an indoor horse arena with a complete office, public restrooms, viewing rooms, sound system, indoor arena lighting and stalls for horse boarding.

Near downtown Bozeman, Montana is a grid-connected home employing systems designed and installed by Planetary Systems, Inc. These include heating, hot water, solar hot water and PV power systems.

This is an offgrid home project which included solar, wind and energy efficient systems for this cabin/home located near Ennis, Montana. The relative size of the home is deceiving as this home is supposed to look like an old homestead complete with little log cabin below where we installed the water and power systems the year prior to building the cabin. The total sq-ft of the home is about 1500. The home is heated by a Buderus sealed combustion boiler with radiant heat under the floors.

Renovation of a home reducing energy use utilizing Solar electric (PV) and solar hot water collector system with Takagi instantaneous hot water heater. This system was installed early in 2006 by local contractors using technologies provided by Planetary Systems, Inc. and has resulted in a dramatic reduction of both onsite fossil fuel and electric usage.

Planetary Systems, Inc. home, offices and business are totally grid-independent at our Ennis, Montana location. Completely independent systems utilizing wind and PV input are located in our personal power shed and in our main shop/warehouse location on 6 acres in southern Montana. Systems were originally installed in 1998 but have been continuously upgraded to feature the same products we offer for sale. Planetary Systems also has operational solar hot water, hybrid heating and low energy well pump systems at our facility.

This is the Sustainable Technology Center of the San Juan Islands, which was put together by Planetary Systems, Pacific Custom Homes (James Sackett) and Ward Phillips back in 1994-1995. This was the first commercial sustainable project utilizing all the concepts which have now become standard fare...Grid-tied RE systems, low energy heating and water systems, on-site waste-water treatment and low energy lighting. Here the main office building is under construction in the spring of 1995.

An unsolicited article about one of our systems in California. In two parts

This is our latest grid-tied system with energy storage featuring our new PP-Ultra Power Package using Outback Power Systems components. These systems are more efficient at producing, storing and utilizing energy than any system currently available. A 2kw PV array can provide almost all the power for this home and can provide back up power for days during an outage. This system is located in Bellevue, WA a short distance from our System-1 project.

An example of a small cabin system for a local summertime cabin using our Power Package model PP-2524/3K-17 system. A 2500 watt system provides enough power for a micro-wave, TV, fridge and other small appliances inluding a DC water pump.

A small cabin in the highlands above Livingston, Montana. This system inlcudes our Power Package system, solar panels and a well pump system for summer use. The system maintains itself during the winter and can be started up by turning on the water system. A small backup generator provides power on cloudy days when being used.

This home near the Seattle metro area is probably one of the most energy efficient homes in the area. The home has our Power Package PV grid tie system, 98% efficient radiant heating and a solar hot water system with backup instantaneous gas water heaters.

We have several systems in the Hawiian Islands, including some installations listed here. These systems are on Molokai and this is a collage of the installations there. All our Power Package systems there have worked very well despite heat, humidity and dust as seen in the photos.

Probably the largest off-grid structure in the west, this is the Alternative Energy Research Institute being built by our neighbor and friend. This 17,000 sq-ft building is essentially two pyramids and will feature a bios-phere, machine shops and has all of our latest systems technologies for power, heating, cooling and lighting. Photo shows building under construction.

Here is an example of one of the reasons why grid tie systems typically do very little for the grid or the owners. This system is mounted on the roof of a local food store, and as you can plainly see, it is facing magnetic south but the trees to the east are in line and in front of the array. This effectvely cuts off great amounts of valuable power from sunrise to about 1pm, making the array virtually useless in summer (when there are leaves) and in winter. Even the shadow of the branches reduces the power of the PV modules, probably by about 50% till 1pm. This photo was take at 9:30 am around the middle of May. Unfortunately this is an all-too-often occurence when people put up solar panels for typical grid tie system. Placing a higher value on the aesthetical value over the function of the system does not utilize the value of the PV modules. Systems like this give little payback and are an overall bad example of the application of PV power. Planetary Systems recommends that you never substitute visibility for the greatest functional ability of any system.

The Principals of PLanetary Systems, Inc. prefer to lead by example which is why our home is the most sustainable home in the Northwest. Our average home energy electrical consumption for electrical power is only 8.5kwh daily. We grow a lot of our own food and use LP gas for some of our heating, for cooking and for some of our hot water (in the winter) while our solar hot water systems provides nearly all our hot water the rest of the time. There are many issues involved if you are truely trying to be sustainable, more than just being