MHK Solar
3809 Buckeye Cir, Manhattan, Kansas, United States

MHK Solar provides comprehensive solar energy solutions including residential and commercial grid-tied, solar+battery backup, and portable solar energy generators.

MHK Solar is owned and operated by Austin Pfannenstiel. Austin is a Kansas native and Kansas State University graduate with a Masters in Electrical Engineering and Masters in Business Administration. From 2009-2014 he served as a commissioned submarine officer in the United States Navy aboard the USS Nebraska ballistic missile submarine out of Bangor, WA. He then spent two years as a Navy nuclear power operations instructor and supervisory engineer. He is currently enrolled at Kansas State University working on his PhD of Electrical Engineering and has taken additional graduate courses in wind and solar engineering and distribution systems.     Austin has been interested in solar and renewable energy for over 15 years and believes solar is one of the few pragmatic solutions for our worlds energy future. He has followed the advances in the industry over the years and decided it was time to install solar on his own home in 2016. This is where his passion really took off and MHK Solar was born.   â€‹

Grid tied

We have significant experience installing residential grid-tied solar systems. For grid-tied applications we exclusively install the latest generation of Enphase Energys microinverters. Enphase microinverters offer numerous benefits over traditional string inverters. With this system, every panel has its own dedicated inverter mounted on the racking on the roof. This prevents shading of a single panel or some other single point failure from dramatically reducing overall system performance. Each inverter also outputs 240 VAC directly. This simplifies connection to your homes load center, minimizes power losses in interconnecting wiring, and reduces clutter. These inverters have a 25-year warranty.     The free MyEnlighten app from Enphase energy lets you track your power production in real time from your phone. It can also help diagnose any system issues or faults. The Envoy monitoring system connects to the microinverters via power line communications and then connects wireless to your home internet. You can also see interesting stats about your lifetime energy production.  ​  The Envoy monitoring system also has the option to install power consumption monitoring current transformers on your home or buildings main load center so you can have the ability to monitor both your solar production and energy usage in real time from your phone or computer.

Solar + Battery

We are very excited to start offering systems with battery storage! This would be a great option if you want to have power to a room or a few critical appliances during a grid outage. Even houses or locations that arent well suited to a larger, grid-tied installation typically still have enough space to install a few panels that can be used to charge and maintain your batteries indefinitely.     A completely off-grid solar+battery system would be great for a hunting cabin or metal building that is used occasionally, but has never had electricity. A larger off-gird system may make financial sense for a new home built in the country where it may cost several tens of thousands of dollars to run new power lines. If you have an idea for a possible off-grid application, please contact us for a consultation.  ​

Portable

We have integrated solar panels, battery storage, and AC power generation into mobile trailer-based applications. These are be great for remote construction sites, outdoor events, camping, or tailgating. We have single panel small trailer model available now for sale or rent, but we can also make larger custom trailer mounted options.