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7.5 KVA array, 30KW of battery. The inverters are a pair of 5KVA units providing 240V. The place is pretty small, there are two air conditioners, but both are inverter minisplits. Cooking can be a big load, but it's pretty short. The pool pump is 1.5 KW, but it runs most of the day (totally covered by the solar). The system is all Victron (We are a dealer/installer) and it's got some cool bells/whistles on it.
Edit/Add: I just pulled the year to date numbers. Total consumption is 1970KWhrs, power from the grid is 18.6KWhrs. So 0.9% of the power consumed has not been from the sun. This number should continue to trend down, but may get a few bumps depending on renters and what happens during storm season. But I'm looking forward to a year end with 99% of the power being solar.
Also noting that there are few concessions made other than a small footprint. The house is very comfortable/livable. We cook a lot. We run the AC when needed (sometimes we run it when not needed). I have some advantages in sourcing and my own labor was pretty affordable, but even at retail, this is a 20 year system with a 8-10 year ROI (maybe less depending on price escalations). This is all doable for a good portion of the world, we should be doing a lot more of it. Most of the power in the region is provided by fossil fuel generation, every KW that is not provided by the grid is a bit of dirty carbon fuel not burned up.
I often wonder why new homes dont have built in alternative energy generation.
There are some disadvantages to local vs centralized energy production, notably less efficient and stable.
But then after having no power for three days last week due to wind storms due to risk of wildfires...which is likely to be a more common trend going forward...combined with the growth and lower cost of batteries, I wonder if the stability issue is becoming less of an issue.
7.5 KVA array, 30KW of battery. The inverters are a pair of 5KVA units providing 240V. The place is pretty small, there are two air conditioners, but both are inverter minisplits. Cooking can be a big load, but it's pretty short. The pool pump is 1.5 KW, but it runs most of the day (totally covered by the solar). The system is all Victron (We are a dealer/installer) and it's got some cool bells/whistles on it.
Edit/Add: I just pulled the year to date numbers. Total consumption is 1970KWhrs, power from the grid is 18.6KWhrs. So 0.9% of the power consumed has not been from the sun. This number should continue to trend down, but may get a few bumps depending on renters and what happens during storm season. But I'm looking forward to a year end with 99% of the power being solar.
Also noting that there are few concessions made other than a small footprint. The house is very comfortable/livable. We cook a lot. We run the AC when needed (sometimes we run it when not needed). I have some advantages in sourcing and my own labor was pretty affordable, but even at retail, this is a 20 year system with a 8-10 year ROI (maybe less depending on price escalations). This is all doable for a good portion of the world, we should be doing a lot more of it. Most of the power in the region is provided by fossil fuel generation, every KW that is not provided by the grid is a bit of dirty carbon fuel not burned up.
Apparently a couple of companies are selling benchtop induction burners with a built-in battery system. Apparently, the things crank a shit-ton of energy which is especially good for N Americans who can't install a 240V system for one reason or another. As a bonus, they can cook through power outages. Obs, you have all that covered, but it seemed pretty creative.
Wow, that's impressive. I backtracked and read some of your earlier posts but didn't see anything about how big your panel installation is.
7.5 KVA array, 30KW of battery. The inverters are a pair of 5KVA units providing 240V. The place is pretty small, there are two air conditioners, but both are inverter minisplits. Cooking can be a big load, but it's pretty short. The pool pump is 1.5 KW, but it runs most of the day (totally covered by the solar). The system is all Victron (We are a dealer/installer) and it's got some cool bells/whistles on it.
Edit/Add: I just pulled the year to date numbers. Total consumption is 1970KWhrs, power from the grid is 18.6KWhrs. So 0.9% of the power consumed has not been from the sun. This number should continue to trend down, but may get a few bumps depending on renters and what happens during storm season. But I'm looking forward to a year end with 99% of the power being solar.
Also noting that there are few concessions made other than a small footprint. The house is very comfortable/livable. We cook a lot. We run the AC when needed (sometimes we run it when not needed). I have some advantages in sourcing and my own labor was pretty affordable, but even at retail, this is a 20 year system with a 8-10 year ROI (maybe less depending on price escalations). This is all doable for a good portion of the world, we should be doing a lot more of it. Most of the power in the region is provided by fossil fuel generation, every KW that is not provided by the grid is a bit of dirty carbon fuel not burned up.
power bill update - $62 pesos. That about 3 dollars. That's a two month bill. We are basically paying for backup connection to the grid at this point, all of our consumption is covered by the solar. We did have a very brief failover to the grid for some reason back in March. The system recorded 0.06 KWH of consumption, but the power company didn't even charge us - their metering might not be sensitive enough to pick it up.
Wow, that's impressive. I backtracked and read some of your earlier posts but didn't see anything about how big your panel installation is.
Amazing how an industry that was conceived in the US has been completely ceded to China to become the leader in the world. So much for American Exceptionalism.
There are more solar installers in the US than there are coal miners. And yet...
Amazing how an industry that was conceived in the US has been completely ceded to China to become the leader in the world. So much for American Exceptionalism.
power bill update - $62 pesos. That about 3 dollars. That's a two month bill. We are basically paying for backup connection to the grid at this point, all of our consumption is covered by the solar. We did have a very brief failover to the grid for some reason back in March. The system recorded 0.06 KWH of consumption, but the power company didn't even charge us - their metering might not be sensitive enough to pick it up.
Awesome! Hope to implement solar on my home in the near future.
power bill update - $62 pesos. That about 3 dollars. That's a two month bill. We are basically paying for backup connection to the grid at this point, all of our consumption is covered by the solar. We did have a very brief failover to the grid for some reason back in March. The system recorded 0.06 KWH of consumption, but the power company didn't even charge us - their metering might not be sensitive enough to pick it up.
The equipment company I rep won't even bother bringing solar panels to the US. We get the rest of their gear, but they say 'just source them in your market, it's too expensive and too much hassle to bring ours to you because of the tariffs'. These are tariffs started under Trump V1, and extended by Biden. Solar panels have gotten incredibly cheap for the power they provide. I did our system in Mexico for about 30% less than we could have in the states (panels only). The rest of the world is installing solar and wind all over the place and reaping the rewards. We are actively thwarting implementation.
The combined states of Baja California (roughly the size of our California) have over 100MW of wind and solar. In 2024, they exceeded their goal of 33% of their energy from clean sources. They sell power to California.
Anti-China sentiment and tariffs aren't going help the US' laggard status. Also wind power gives you cancer...
It's bound to be uneven across states in the US, but there's some progress.
The equipment company I rep won't even bother bringing solar panels to the US. We get the rest of their gear, but they say 'just source them in your market, it's too expensive and too much hassle to bring ours to you because of the tariffs'. These are tariffs started under Trump V1, and extended by Biden. Solar panels have gotten incredibly cheap for the power they provide. I did our system in Mexico for about 30% less than we could have in the states (panels only). The rest of the world is installing solar and wind all over the place and reaping the rewards. We are actively thwarting implementation.
The combined states of Baja California (roughly the size of our California) have over 100MW of wind and solar. In 2024, they exceeded their goal of 33% of their energy from clean sources. They sell power to California.
New wind and solar farms already undercut the production costs of new coal and gas plants in nearly every market worldwide. Cheaper renewable energy enables countries to move away from fossil fuels in the fight against climate change. (...)
The rest of the world is going to win this race while the USA is tying their runners shoe laces together.
New wind and solar farms already undercut the production costs of new coal and gas plants in nearly every market worldwide. Cheaper renewable energy enables countries to move away from fossil fuels in the fight against climate change. (...)
a good podcast on the whole idea, seems logical but hard to get communities on board. Worth a listen as is all Volts podcasts if you are a fan of green energy
This would really make sense on a neighborhood scale if you had like minded neighbors. If you could scale for a system with ~50-100KW you could really make a nice system. It would take a little to manage it, but the tools are all there. You could also make it work well on the lower end if you had provisions for load shedding non-critical loads (water heating, pool pumps, things like that). I've considered it for our neighborhood down south, but there are some logistics problems and most people are already built out. In the states I'm sure you would have regulatory hurdles that would make it harder. In the PNW it is really tricky to sell power, you have to do a lot of utility compliance stuff. You can however do a service fee based on usage, so there are ways around it. A co-op is a natural structure that is well supported legally for it.
Curious which one you are looking at. I've seen a couple co-op ones that made sense, but I've seen a lot more that were investment vehicles and had a planed/built in profit for the investors. How attractive it is depends a lot on your local utility rates, but most places in the US get plenty of sun to make them economically feasible if done right. The base equipment should have less than a 10 year ROI and a 15-20 year life cycle. The batteries should have their own schedule and be flexible for alternative technologies. Most of the good ones will use something like 1500-2000 cycles - so something in the 5 year range, and a buffer for unit attrition. Lots of the investment ones skip the batteries and just go for grid sell back. Then you are just using credits for your nights/cloudy days, or just using credits all around (these tend to be much better for the investor and worse for the member/customer). Usually these aren't done a a scale where you really get the advantages of scale. You can do your own system for your house by putting a little more in up front, and get a better return over the life of the system.
I received a mailing from my energy provider Xcel, encouraging me to join one of these groups, which have solar farms that consumers can use to offset their energy bills, like this company: https://platform.pivotenergy.n...
the idea is, you get billed by both the energy company and the solar farm group, and net the savings, which works out to be somewhere between 5%-15% off your bill.
Not huge savings but apparently no upfront costs and you are supporting cleaner energy.
