Solar panel power up!

[Cronk]

WOW.

How about ridiculously more? The Tesla model S can be optioned up to having 3 motors developing 1020 hp and 0-60 mph in 2.0 seconds - 1.3 g in my reckoning. But one thing you cannot do in the car - rev the engine at the lights.

 

[kevlray]

One of my co-workers got solar panels. It helps a bit with the electric bill. But he missed some information in the fine print and he ended not getting as good as deal as he thought (The KWH price changes over time).

 

[AccessBlaster]

One of my co-workers got solar panels. It helps a bit with the electric bill. But he missed some information in the fine print and he ended not getting as good as deal as he thought (The KWH price changes over time).

It does seem there is always a hook to get people to go green. One example is the diamond lane hook, if you bought a green car you can drive the diamond lane for a fixed amount of time, then it expires.

Another hook might be the government's incentives to go green with solar power in the form of rebates they also expire. Furthermore, the installers will often demand the government's incentives as part of the installation package. The consumer is left with 7-10 years to recoup their investment.

The murky waters do not help people who are on the fence about going green.

 

[HealthyB1]

I live in Adelaide in South Australia. I installed 5KW of panels 8.2 years ago They cost about $6K AUS at the time. The Government and Power retailer were offering a rebate of 23c per KW hour which later reduced to 12 cents then 9 cents and is currently at 16 cents. So cost wise it is hard to determine if i am ahead. However since they were installed they have generated 61,859 KiloWatts and I have exported a total of 39,927 KiloWatts after some of the power is consumed in the house. On average I am generating 20.1 kw per day. I am importing 13.6 KW per day from the electrical mains (grid) and exporting 13.4 KW. The issue is that the power being imported is at about 39C per KW versus the rebate of 16 cents per KW for exported power.
I checked and found that my quarterly power bills average $290 varying from a high $451 in Winter and $186 in Summer. The issue is the daily supply charge to be connected to the grid of 80c or $73/Qtr. $292 pa
I had a reputable person review these figures and my system and he recommended putting an additional 3 KWatts of panels up (8KW in total) and forgoing the storage battery until they drop in price and the reliability improves. The batteries cost about $12K here fully installed. Once they drop in price I would definitely look at them. But at the current pricing by the time you pay the battery off its time to buy a new one.
There is an Australian Govt testing laboratory in Canberra and they confirmed same with respect to buying a battery.
This article gives you an overview of the battery testing. Ignore the advertising and look at the analysis. 75% of Home Batteries Faulty In Long Term Battery Testing (solarquotes.com.au

 

[Cronk]

I had a battery installed with panels. I knew it was not economically justifiable but I had spare cash during lock downs and figured there was the added advantage of power during planned or unplanned black outs.

But be wary when talking to installers about this. The people who come out to quote are mainly sales reps with no technical background. When I asked about backup supply from the battery, I had some who said solar would not generate during blackouts. Completely false. What the inverter is required to do is to isolate the house from the grid so there is no live wiring. A lot of inverters achieve this by isolating the solar panels and battery. I went for an inverter which has extra functionality allowing certain circuits to receive power from the panels/battery. I have both lighting circuits and one power circuit supplying power to the kitchen.

Yes, I did consider a generator but this way I don't need extra wiring or extension cords trailing through the house.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Question: During a blackout, the inverter kicks in similar to a generator correct? Second how long can the inverter last on battery power, I know there are many variables but are we talking about a day/week?

Thanks

 

[oleronesoftwares]

The industry needs to figure out how to deal with the millions of new batteries it's producing and their impact on the environment specifically the lead

Improvement is been made ,hopefully soon, we should start seeing it.

 

[oleronesoftwares]

WARNING don't rent a Tesla for the weekend as I did, otherwise you run the risk of getting hooked on the car

That's what modern technology can do, it will increase one's desire for it. Mankind generally is fascinated with new products/ improvements in design, performance, etc.

 

[oleronesoftwares]

Second how long can the inverter last on battery power, I know there are many variables but are we talking about a day/week?

As you have rightly said, it depends on some variables like

1. Capacity of the batteries
2. Number of equipments and types of equipments been powered

If you are talking about a scenario that applies to a home, around 12- 24 hours.

 

[AccessBlaster]

If the power goes out for more than 12-24 hours then what? I suspect one would hope the solar panels would kick in and replenish the batteries.

NG spoke about his generator running on propane or natural gas Wouldn't that be more effective if long-term blackouts are expected.

 

[Cronk]

Question: During a blackout, the inverter kicks in similar to a generator correct?

The inverter monitors the grid side, on the house side of the main switch in the "fuse" box. When there is no power, there's switching in the inverter isolate the grid and two of the power circuits to the GPOs in the house as well as direct circuits to the AC and oven. That leaves one power circuit and the two light circuits connected to the battery/panels.

The house base load is just over 100watts (for clocks, standby on TV and AC etc), with fridge increasing that to 200 w (I was surprised how little power it uses). Apart from shorter days in winter and cloudy days, we are net exporters to the grid after recharging the battery and topping up the EV.

So when you ask how long in terms of day/week, I'd say we are OK for power for maybe 250 - 300 days a year.

 

[oleronesoftwares]

If the power goes out for more than 12-24 hours then what? I suspect one would hope the solar panels would kick in and replenish the batteries.

Most likely

 

[Cronk]

If there is light on the panels, electricity will be generated and supplied for the house power demand and to recharge the battery if necessary. When light diminishes and panels cannot supply any or less than full power requirements, the battery discharges to supply any power demand until it is flat.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Youtuber Stavros969 does a review of a standard Tesla. Unfortunately, he doesn't allow direct linking to his videos.

If you go to the main link below you find the review titled "I'm done with electric cars! Going back to combustion power-here's why!'

https://www.youtube.com/user/stavros969/videos

 

[NauticalGent]

So...being inspired by this thread, I had a assessment done for my house. 16 panals/Battery and all that jazz - $64k! The 25 year financing comes to $230 a month which is $100 MORE a month than what my current electricity bill comes to.

Even after I pay it off, it would take another 25 years before ROI. Gonna pass on this one...

 

[Cronk]

Did the sales rep have a carpet bag? Or are the panel frames in solid gold?

 

[NauticalGent]

Did the sales rep have a carpet bag? Or are the panel frames in solid gold?

I took into account that they may have hi-balled the quote. Going to call one of their competitors and see if there is any difference.

 

[Cronk]

Solar panels are rated as being Tier 1 (the better ones), Tier 2 (cheaper but also lower performance), less than Tier 2 (rubbish). I went for Maxeon SunPower panels, up at the top end of Tier 1 if not the top one. Top dollar but best performance and warranty. This site writes At this rate, 5,000 watts of standard solar panels costs about $3,200, but 5,000 watts of Sunpower panels would run between $5,600 and $6,400.

On top of that you need an inverter to convert the DC output of the panels into AC for your house consumption and to feed into the grid. Maybe $1.5K to $3K depending on brand, power rating, one or three phase.

And also cost of installation labor - say one or two days for a gang of 3 or 4. Plus any profit for the installer.

Hi-balled is an understatement.

 

[moke123]

I know what you mean. Some of them have a cargo carrying contraption on the front. I think they're called cargo bikes or something?

There are some very nice electric scooters around, but I think you've got to have a minimum of three wheels, just for the sake of a nice bit of width to give you some presence on the road. I think you're less likely to get run in
to, and you can add lots of highly visible flags and lights...

They are Can Am's

 

[moke123]

Now That's Nice!

But it's not an Indian.