Off Grid Solar

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Pilon on December 31, 2012 at 11:02am

Wow, thanks!

Some other factors are related to the retrofit of this equipment on an old house on a city lot. I think one could get away with some small production with far less reliance on a generator with far more ideal conditions. Uninhibited southern exposure, passive solar house design, wind and or hydro generation, etc would make it feasible north of the 49th parallel but that's quite an endeavour, but not without a generator.

We don't have heat in all the rooms anymore, nor can we distill water this time of the year. On the plus side we're more conscious of our lives and activities.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Pilon on February 17, 2013 at 2:03pm

Here's an article on us:

http://www.southdeltaleader.com/news/191125751.html

I'm quite happy to see production from the solar system meet or exceed our demand! In terms of kWh, as of Feb 8th, we've been making over 3.0 on days that don't rain. They may still be overcast with sunny breaks, and there are not enough of these days in a row to cut out the generator completely but it has meant stopping it from running sooner each day.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Pilon on February 20, 2013 at 9:41am

4.8 kWh yesterday which is more than we used.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Chatterjee on February 22, 2013 at 3:54pm

Tuesday, the 19th was indeed a fine day in Rainland.  I tracked right with you on energy collected and it was well above the anticipated average for that day (the grey line in the graph below).  However, this winter overall I am down a full 28% below the anticipated average production.  Do you think this is a sign the sun is burning out?  

Just kidding....I hope.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Pilon on March 25, 2013 at 1:00pm

Well two full weeks and no generator, just pure solar energy. Today we'll do a load of laundry and vacuum the house and the batteries will still be near full capacity with kWh productions of 4-5 daily, things are looking good.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Chatterjee on March 25, 2013 at 1:16pm

Great to hear that you are adapting with the sun, keying off its energy when it's there and being resilient when it's not. I wish we could all live in this way, and some day we will.  

Spring's arrival has brought me some hope, and here is my past week's solar PV harvest.  What I really love is seeing that my long-dormant winter crops are responding in the same positive manner.  Do you think these phenomenon--solar energy production and plant growth--may be related?   Just kidding.

It's all good, and let's welcome the sun back for maybe a stronger presence this spring than last.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Pilon on May 26, 2013 at 9:11pm

Randy, how has the production worked out since?

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Permalink Reply by Randy Chatterjee on May 26, 2013 at 10:38pm

We, Paul, the sun is rising higher in the sky every day. I can't wait for June. Here is May thus far, also available online to anyone in a different form here:
My May average is just about as would be predicted.  Rainy days are 2-4 kWhs, or two times the rated wattage of my system (1500W AC after derating).  On sunny days, I am receiving 6 to 8.5 kWhs, which is to say I am getting the equivalent of four to six hours of maximum yield.  

So, if my average over a whole year is around 5-6 kWhs per day (760 kWhs since last September), or about 50 cents of power per day including saved taxes on earnings not needed to pay for this power, I will need 47 years of power (at these current rates) to pay back the investment I made.  I doubt the modules will last that long.  Well, at least I expect the EROEI will make my investment carbon neutral in 5 years, and thereafter I'll be a net contributor to my power needs (wants?).   

We still need another 5-6 kWhs per day to make up our usage.  I have a video editing home office with dozens of hard drives and two computers working 12-16 hours a day, so I can't push the total family usage much below 10-12 kWh.  We have an extremely efficient fridge at 1.3 kWhs per day average, but we also have an electric stove and oven, and I bake a lot of bread (and fill the oven with every effort). 

When I get my main roof finished, I may add some more modules IF I can get them and the inverters much cheaper, and without any markup.  Over $1,000 installed is far too much to pay, and I'll be looking to cut that in half, where it is now in Germany and a few other more highly-developed countries with an experienced and efficient industry behind it.

Sorry for the long rant.  I am still hugely conflicted about solar PV.  

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Permalink Reply by Paul Pilon on May 28, 2013 at 9:41pm

Switch the stove and the electric clothes dryer, if it is electric, and you'll knock your consumption by half or more I'll wager. What brand/model of fridge is that?

I used to run 4 external hard drives and a tower all day and night sometimes. I now record audio with a laptop and charge up the batteries during the day. Ancilliaries are plugged into power bars so that I can the audio or video work done without everything running all at once. I'll use headphones and leave the monitors unplugged until I need to use them etc. It's obviously a smaller set up than yours though, but it works well.

Without federal and provincial rebates it's not economically feasible. I'm capped at 4 to 5 kWh/day since the batteries stay full now, but if I turn on anappliance with a big draw the watts start to flood in. Otherwise the system stays pretty dormant.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Chatterjee on May 28, 2013 at 10:54pm

You are certainly right about the stove. When I can berries, bake, or otherwise go crazy with the stove preparing a big meal for lots of people, I go off the charts. My usage can increase as much as 5 kWhs in a day versus when I don't eat at home or am away. My fridge is a Samsung RB196ACRS 17 cubic foot bottom freezer (no ice maker, single fridge door and drawer freezer), which currently draws between 1.2 and 1.4 kWhs per day (I love my Kill-o-Watt meter!). It was one of the best insulated and efficient models I could identify for a full-size family fridge.

On the computing side, I have everything plugged into strips and swap out and depower any drives I am not using at any given time. They spin down anyway when not in use for even just a few minutes. However, I often have to leave my overclocked Hackintosh computer and two RAID drives cranking away all night rendering or compressing long movie files. Even on a really busy day and night of work, the computer and its two LED/LCD monitors rarely use more than 2 kWH's of power. Of course I have a laptop too, and I long ago decided never to use its battery when I do not need to. The batteries in most laptops are rated and warranted to only 1000 charge cycles, and at $100 to replace and the carbon footprint of all that lithium, recycled or not, I cannot rationally time shift using its internal battery. The laptop never draws more than a half kWh on a usual day anyway.

Still, it all adds up, and maddeningly. If modules stay cheap and the quality does not collapse as it is rumoured to be doing, I will consider expanding my complement. I still think changing to gas cooking--fracked gas?!--is hardly an improvement ecologically (albeit more efficient), so I plan to keep the old electric at least for bread baking. Baking is a more efficient means of cooking in general.

So true about the economics of PV systems here. We need more expensive power, and the coming privatization of BC Hydro will only begin to deliver that. (No, I am not kidding, and the rumours are flying about that. BC politics is beyond corrupt.) In any case, power costs would have to skyrocket to bring PV into the money.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Pilon on June 30, 2013 at 10:37am

Do they choke the power going to the grid with some sort of algorithm? My production is limited to usage and just for kicks I turn on a 1600W toaster oven to watch the wattage from the panels increase and meet demand. I struggle to use 7kWh in a day as there's only so much laundry and vacuuming one can do in a day. :) If the grid acted as a load I'd think the array would meet my demand but run full tilt all the time to supply the grid.

If they did choke it the conspiracy bone in my body, which I admit is pretty big hehehe, is whispering thoughts in my ear. They could be very selective of who they get power from and how much. Nice way to pay the most to the people the most in their favour.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Baxter on March 25, 2013 at 5:13pm

Hi Randy,

It looks like the daily kWh estimates are high. Here are the estimates from the report that we originally prepared for you:

Daily kWh average by Month
Jan 0.903
Feb 2.065
Mar 3.452
Apr 4.677
May 6.806
Jun 6.548
Jul 7.194
Aug 6.516
Sep 4.032
Oct 2.677
Nov 1.097
Dec 0.806

If I remember right these were based on the assessment we did on your house roof so we should update them for you garage.

Paul, there are more efficient refigerators and freezers available than what you can get in most retatil outlets.

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