58 Solar panels deployed , total STC  12,000 watts.















 

Indoor vegetable grow room? Bell peppers, tomatoes, etc year round?

Uses the most power during sun hours... LED lights these days are impressive for lower power usage...

Running 4500 watts to   water heater. and around 1500 watts of  lights at the moment.




 

Are you bragging?  

I think he's just bragging.  What do you think?  

Where'd you get all these panels?

Second the greenhouse option. Make the man think you're growing a forest of weed.

I'm assuming your sized your system for winter conditions and you have lots of excess power right now? I have a tiny little off-grid system, I just stop conserving so much when the sun is shining. If some Watts are lost, I don't really care.

Not clear on what you mean by '4100 watt battery based system.' At 48V this would only be 85 Ah, which can't be right. Or is it that only 34% (4100/12000) of the Watts produced by your panels are being used to charge the batteries?

You'd get a better ROI with MJ.

 

HOUSE power array consists of:

So.....apparently your pics aren't working.  Please fix them.

Buy a Tesla or 3 and charge them batteries. go completely energy independent

Do you have any high demand applications that you do somewhat irregularly? IE, dehydrating things, casting bullets with an electric lead-pot etc? Those are all things you can do now to take advantage of the increased solar output. I'm assuming your output will be greatly diminished this winter due to the decreased light you will get...

Other options I can think of will just be spewed randomly as they come to me...

Do you have an interest in pre-made meals? I like to cook, I like home-made food, I don't always have time to make a good, wholesome meal so it's nice to have frozen, pre-prepared meals that can just be dropped in the oven etc and be done with little/no prep work that day. If so, you can do a lot of your prep of those items now vs. later. The increased energy usage of cooking/prepping those items plus the usage from freezing them would ultimately save you some energy down the road and help to consume some of the energy excess you have right now. Some ideas include pre-cooked taco meat so you can just microwave it and make tacos/nachos/etc, pre-prepped lasagna that you just put in the oven and bake, pre-baked dinner rolls that you just heat & eat. The possibilities are endless.

I like the greenhouse idea. I've heard that bit coin mining is productive but a major cost is electricity which in your case could generate income while you are riding the peak energy.

I like the electric lead pot.






 

Series string of 12 cells:





 

East Array, 1760 watts, battery charging exclusive.
















 

This one runs the meter backwards:

 

Bake some cookies, while using a space heater and the air conditioner.

Winter sun is  at low angle, near vertical panel orientation is optimized for winter charging.

Have you ever considered building some supports and taking the panels off your house's exterior?  They could be free-standing or even roof top supports.  You might even get better utilization of the solar energy on your property (more peak power, more total daily energy).


Do you do these installations professionally, or perhaps, as a sideline business?

Did you design the system you have or did it just "evolve"?

I was also going to recommend grow lights, either indoor or to supplement an outdoor greenhouse.  Depending on your location, usually to extend daylight hours or added Lumens/heat.

600 watt High Pressure Sodium = 90,000 Lumens/150 Lumens per watt (high efficiency reflector recommended)
Life span of 1-2 years continuous before significant decay.

Trollslayer:

Certainly a tilt is required even without snow, even in the tropics.  You need a flushing action to keep them clean.  Still, IMO, you should get them off your house and onto stand-alone mounts, even if the mount is vertical.

The solar array(s) that power my house total 4100 STC watts.

 

nm.

Awesome, man

wow, green with envy.

This.

Would love to have the land to put up lots of panels. I visited Portugal a few years ago and lots of people have setups that actually follow the sun.

Very nice. Be prepared for all of that stuff to start crapping out on you in a few years though. Solar is currently a bad technology for many applications. It's too damn expensive, inefficient and doesn't last long enough to pay for itself. It's really nice to be off the grid though.

The weak spot in LED and more efficient lights is the power supplies.
Electrolytic caps other than hermetic solid tantalum have very high failure rates and short lives.

Wait, say what?

Solar doesn't last long enough to pay for itself? Current solar prices are well under $1/watt, throw in the federal tax credit and ever increasing electric rates and the pay-off is rather short.

FWIW, I ran the numbers on the setup that I'm working on right now. At my current electric rates, the price I paid for panels, the stuff I scrounged (wire) and the few things I need to buy yet, the payoff is well under 10 years. The warranty alone on the panels is 25 years from a reputable company. The biggest risk is the batteries and charge controller; buy from a reputable source...

Have you ever used solar? Or are you talking out your ass based upon something you read on the internet? FWIW, my mentor on my solar project has lived off-grid, with solar power since the 80's. At that time he was spending over $7/watt on panels alone and it was more cost-effective for him to go that route. Fast forward to today and it is now VERY cost-effective for people that are even currently on line-power.

This phenomenon and leaking, low discharge rate batteries (even Duracells) have killed or will kill all your electronics.  IMO, they constitute built-in obsolescence.

Any local bauxite?  Take up aluminum smelting.

Doubletap

Ham radio? Big HF base unit, or maybe set up your own repeater network? That way you can make your own comms too

Get a hot tub, and use that power to keep the water warm.

Have 3 HF stations.

How about a small forge?

Half your panels will not last ten years and your panel manufacturer will probably be out of business in three. Best case you get a prorated credit if they are still around. Solar is about being green and being off the grid. It's will not save you any money with the current technology.

Exactly. People buy LEDs and they wonder why they crap out after a few months or a few years. The LEDs, if cooled properly, will last years. The electronics (power supply) are cheap junk though, and will fail long before the LEDs do. Same thing with CFLs. I have ten year old CFLs that work fine and my newer ones only last a year or so.

Also, the power has alot to do with it. With incandescents, you can see the power dip and spike. With new style bulbs you don't see it but it's slowly frying the electronics.

Interesting... do you have direct experience with this? What brand panels did you have that failed before the ten year mark and the company was out of business?

FWIW, Sharp and many other big-name manf's have been around a while and they aren't going anywhere anytime soon... do you have evidence to counter that?? I'm genuinely curious...

Build a death ray.

Yes. You can spend alot of money with a good brand name like BP and it'll last a while, or you can buy the cheap stuff and it'll fail pretty quickly. Either way it never works out financially.

The internet is full of examples of solar companies failing in the last few years including the one I can see from my house called BlueChip Energy.

There are also tons of examples of high failure rates in the industry, including this one: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/business/energy-environment/solar-powers-dark-side.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I would actually love to see an example of a ten year old solar farm that didn't have to have lots of equipment replaced.

China took an inefficient technology and started making it as cheaply as possible. It's just like what happened with LED light bulbs several years ago. China pumped out crap that failed quickly: http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2010/09/ftc-sues-lights-of-america-over-deceptive-claims-for-led-lamps.html

Give solar 20 years and it'll be where it needs to be. It's not ready yet.

Who said a reputable company takes "a lot of money" to buy panels from? Have you even checked solar prices in the last couple years? You can buy panels from a reputable less than $1/watt in many cases.


You can't give me the name of a company that was bogus from the start as an example of one that failed. Of course the company is going to fail if they base their entire business model on lies and deceit. You want the real truth on BlueChip Energy look here Like I said previously, I'm talking about reputable companies. Companies that have been around for quite some time, producing quality panels for quite some time...

For some reason that article won't open for me, but I bet it's an isolated incident (possibly installation related) or the panels are from a subpar manufacturer. Where is the follow-up that tells why they failed? What manufacturer made them?


Solar farm? I don't know of many, but they often aren't the best place to look either. Most solar farms are installed with the bottom line in mind, which means lots of cutting corners, lots of cheap product etc... And "solar farms" haven't been popular for all that long.

I can show you plenty of places that have had privately owned solar for a LONG time...

Are you mad at solar panels because you used to work at BlueChip or something? The problem with this becoming popular technology is that you have companies springing up all over the place that are making panels. Most of them don't have a clue what they're doing, or they aren't in it to grow a business, they just want the quick, easy money and to get out. That's the problem, they aren't in it for the long-haul. You have to seek out the companies that ARE in it for the long-haul...

From the NY Times article that you cannot open:



Also, here is a partial list of solar companies that aren't likely to honor their warranties:

2009 to 2010

Bankrupt, closed, acquired

Advent Solar (emitter wrap-through Si) acquired by Applied Materials
Applied Solar (solar roofing) acquired by Quercus Trust
OptiSolar (a-Si on a grand scale) closed
Ready Solar (PV installation) acquired by SunEdison
Solasta (nano-coaxial solar) closed
SV Solar (low-concentration PV) closed
Senergen (depositing silane onto free-form metallurgical-grade Si substrates) closed
Signet Solar (a-Si) bankrupt
Sunfilm (a-Si) bankrupt
Wakonda (GaAs) closed

2011

Bankrupt, closed

EPV Solar (a-Si) bankrupt
Evergreen (drawn Si) bankrupt
Solyndra (CIGS) bankrupt
SpectraWatt (c-Si) bankrupt
Stirling Energy Systems (dish engine) bankrupt

Acquisition, sale

Ascent Solar (CIGS) acquired by TFG Radiant
Calyxo (CdTe) acquired by Solar Fields from Q.cells
HelioVolt (CIGS) acquired by Korea's SK Innovation
National Semiconductor Solar Magic (panel optimizers) exited systems business
NetCrystal (silicon on flexible substrate) acquired by Solar Semiconductor
Soliant (CPV) acquired by Emcore

2012

Bankrupt, closed

Abound Solar (CdTe) bankrupt
AQT (CIGS) closed
Ampulse (thin silicon) closed
Arise Technology (PV modules) bankrupt
Azuray (microinverters) closed
BP (c-Si panels) exits solar business
Centrotherm (PV manufacturing equipment) bankrupt
CSG (c-Si on glass) closed by Suntech
Day4 Energy (cell interconnects) delisted from TSX exchange
ECD (a-Si) bankrupt
Energy Innovations (CPV) bankrupt
Flexcell (a-Si roll-roll BIPV) closed
GlobalWatt (solar) closed
GreenVolts (CPV) closed
Global Solar Energy (CIGS) closed
G24i (DSCs) bankrupt in 2012, re-emerged as G24i Power with new investors
Hoku (polysilicon) shut down its Idaho polysilicon production facility
Inventux (a-Si) bankrupt
Konarka (OSCs) bankrupt
Odersun (CIGS) bankrupt
Pramac (a-Si panels built with equipment from Oerlikon) insolvent
Pairan (Germany inverters) insolvent
Ralos (developer) bankrupt
REC Wafer (c-Si) bankrupt
Satcon (BoS) bankrupt
Schott (c-Si) exits c-Si business
Schuco (a-Si) shutting down its a-Si business
Sencera (a-Si) closed
Siliken (c-Si modules) closed
Skyline Solar (LCPV) closed
Siemens (CSP, inverters, BOS) divestment from solar
Solar Millennium (developer) insolvent
Solarhybrid (developer) insolvent
Sovello (Q.cells, Evergreen, REC JV) bankrupt
SolarDay (c-Si modules) insolvent
Solar Power Industries (PV modules) bankrupt
Soltecture (CIGS BIPV) bankrupt
Sun Concept (developer) bankrupt

Acquisition, fire sale, restructuring

Oelmaier (Germany inverters) insolvent, bought by agricultural supplier Lehner Agrar
Q.Cells (c-Si) insolvent, acquired by South Korea's Hanwha
Sharp (a-Si) backing away from a-Si, retiring 160 of its 320 megawatts in Japan
Solibro (CIGS) Q-Cells unit acquired by China's Hanergy
Solon (c-Si) acquired by UAE's Microsol  
Scheuten Solar (BIPV) bankrupt, then acquired by Aikosolar
SolFocus (CPV) layoffs, restructuring for sale
Sunways (c-Si, inverters) bought by LDK, restructuring to focus on BIPV and storage

2013

Bankrupt, closed

Bosch (c-Si PV module) exits module business
Concentrator Optics (CPV) bankrupt
Suntech Wuxi (c-Si) bankrupt

Acquisition, sale, restructuring

Diehl (Germany inverters) inverter division sold to PE firm mutares AG
ISET (CIGS) moving into "microsolar"
MiaSolé (CIGS) acquired by China's Hanergy
Nanosolar (CIGS) restructuring for sale
NuvoSun (CIGS) acquired by Dow
Twin Creeks (kerfless Si) acquired by GT Advanced Technology
Wuerth Solar (installer) business turned over to BayWa

Companies that are acquired, divested, or restructured; or that exit a line of business are still required to honor warranties.  Bankruptcy or closure of the entire business is another matter, obviously.



I don't have anything like OP has, but I've had 14 sharp 240 panels in service for about 18 months w/o a single issue.

I have 58 PV modules in service.

The Cold Climate Housing Research folks did a house up north of Fairbanks that incorporated a hot water storage tank that stored heat in the summer and used it to heat the house for most of the winter.  Maybe you could do something similar to that?  Would be much less efficient I would imagine since you are going solar=>electricity=>heat rather than solar=>heat as they had done.  Just a thought..

4500 watt tank type water heater, keeps the shop bathroom warm, and soaks up a fair bit of surplus electricity.