Anyone have any experience with these little black magic boxes? Whether you've made them yourself or you have bought them in the past, how did it go? Let's hear these exciting stories of self-sufficiency. I'm wondering if it's worthit...
solar panels
- Thread starter domino79
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My boat is powered 100% by the sun. Sometimes I have to break out the oars on cloudy days...but other than that its awesome!
How long does it take to charge, difference between overcast and sunny, and would you recommend? I'm guessing you would if you say it's awesome...
Actually, doesn't take any time at all. It's like instant electricity. Kind of like one of those old calculators that run on solar. I've only used it outside. Never tried it on the inside.
Would I recommend it? Sure, but I like those new portable battery chargers. More convenient that breaking out two small solar panels.
I have a bushnell solar phone charger that rolls up that I use for backpacking. It's awesome.
Here in Utah we're seeing more and more houses with solar panels. We get something like 300 days of sunshine a year and as soon as we get a house of our own, I'm getting them installed. It's starting to eat into the market to the point that Rocky Mountain Power is wanting to charge a fee to solar panel users for as a way of offsetting any "cost" associated with buying power from the solar user. At least, that's my understanding of it. Oh course, our flat-earth bunch of saints in the statehouse is so in bed with energy companies, they won't do anything to protect consumers.
Here in Utah we're seeing more and more houses with solar panels. We get something like 300 days of sunshine a year and as soon as we get a house of our own, I'm getting them installed. It's starting to eat into the market to the point that Rocky Mountain Power is wanting to charge a fee to solar panel users for as a way of offsetting any "cost" associated with buying power from the solar user. At least, that's my understanding of it. Oh course, our flat-earth bunch of saints in the statehouse is so in bed with energy companies, they won't do anything to protect consumers.
Have you thought about making your own? With just the scant research I've done it seems the decreased cost is negligible over the long term, due to decreased performance, lifespan. Could be wrong. Often am. But the idea of diy paneling is attractive.
You're describing the great net metering debate, or the practice that standard utilities point to most often when trying to quash competition in the form of DG solar/wind/geo systems. The argument made by utilities against net energy metering is inherently flawed and can, much more easily than they like to admit, be circumvented through a new energy pricing structure. Standard utilities, Arizona Public Service (APS) being the biggest offender, are throwing a lot of $$$ to disseminate completely erroneous information of how solar consumers share the fixed costs of energy grids, and have launched misleading marketing campaigns trying to paint solar consumers as upper class that are intentionally "sticking" it to the "have nots" (with third party ownership, which makes up ~75% of the DG market and is the competitor that standard utilities are losing to, allows any and all grid-tied income classes to benefit from solar power immediately without signficiant upfront costs).
Utah is an interesting market in that it welcomes third party solar financing and established RPS, but the state enjoys a relatively low average energy price per kWh (due to its reliance on coal) and doesn't offer residential solar system incentives. The good news for solar in that state is, with the massive shift of focus in the solar industry to customer acquisition, most large res.solar providers/financiers will soon be offering $0 down PPAs starting at 13c kWh, equivalent to the avg energy price in the state. Utah also has a great sales bases for res. solar............Mormon college kids looking for summer sales jobs that already have door to door experience.
But back to the original question.......don't build the PV panels yourself. The panels are so damn cheap, China is literally subsidizing their manufacture. The actual construction of the system is extremely easy (outside of wiring) with the SnapNRack mounting system, especially if you use micro inverters (recommended over central inverters although they cost more upfront). I suggest working with a licensed installer though to optimize the output (identify tilt angle, azimuth, conduct shading analysis, etc) and balance of system costs. With parts and labor the overall system cost should be ~ $4/W. If you're dead set on installing yourself (but please just by the panels!) you can get a remote system design from an installer for as low as $50.
At some point you are going to have to work with your local utility during the install process if you're going to continue to be grid-tied. Just a heads up that it will take a while to receive permission to operate (months).
This post was edited on 3/25 7:58 PM by Mime-Is-Money
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