Thread: Power prices, gas prices- ouch or Solar perhaps?

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Typically I generate about 450 KWH in winter and about 850 in summer with the current system.

EDIT: FYI the car averages between 100 and 150 KWH a month.

If you work from home (or are retired) that would work quite well depending on how much power the house itself consumes. We are a high power user. If anyone is home we are heating the house with heat pumps. I work from home and have a heat pump running all day in my office area. There is also the washing machine and electric cloths driers hammering away most days. It is what it is, but unless its the middle of summer, I wouldn't be charging high current devices. My father charges his electric throw-away from the house solar. He is retired and the car does basically zero milage (shopping runs around town mostly). So even through winter he could probably keep its battery at around 80% charge (you don't want it to charged or you loose the regen function).

I see the electric throw-aways around here .... And think how nice an old Triumph stag .... or V12 jag would be..... well really how nice anything old and decent without electronic garbage is (yes I am nuts, no doubt about it).

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

Given I am getting more than 35kWh of solar per day I think my car and house may be covered almost entirely

How do you go through winter if you heat with heat pumps? ie: nothing for 12 hours a day, and possible cloud cover through the daylight hours. I don't think I could charge anything to be useful through winter, let alone run the heating . At the moment we have an 8KW system, and our power bills are over $300 a month in winter.

seeya
Shane L.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

How do you go through winter if you heat with heat pumps? ie: nothing for 12 hours a day, and possible cloud cover through the daylight hours. I don't think I could charge anything to be useful through winter, let alone run the heating . At the moment we have an 8KW system, and our power bills are over $300 a month in winter.

seeya
Shane L.

I had a record for ten plus years of the seasonal PV on my business PV. I will need to top up in Winter. The when I top up is the $$$$$$ or $? The 3 hours of free power time shifted to my batteries may mean little if any other than the very cheap overnight if needed.

Waiting and seeing for current system to have a few years will be needed for my own satisfaction.

Of interest is right now the batteries are charging at the maximum rate and mostly using PV and grid 2nd. That and the morning prior to 11am has already put battery back over 50%. I dumped almost the entire battery into my car overnight Other trivia is Solar is at "

PV Power：5.67kW

" despite a fair bit of cloud about.

Update is the installer said it was unlikely they could increase the capacity of the solar much. He said most of the increase in capacity is because the panels are bigger. Given the limited space it's unlikely they could increase it much and it would be expensive.

So he reckoned just getting a couple of batteries. Go on a plan like OVO and charge for free for three hours a day and top your battery up. The fun for the rest of the day on free power. Also they do 8c between midnight and 6 which is also another option to top up.

He recommended powerwall3 and one expansion module. I don't have much room for any more.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Update is the installer said it was unlikely they could increase the capacity of the solar much. He said most of the increase in capacity is because the panels are bigger. Given the limited space it's unlikely they could increase it much and it would be expensive.

So he reckoned just getting a couple of batteries. Go on a plan like OVO and charge for free for three hours a day and top your battery up. The fun for the rest of the day on free power. Also they do 8c between midnight and 6 which is also another option to top up.

He recommended powerwall3 and one expansion module. I don't have much room for any more.

Can you remote mount the batteries in the shed away from the house where the family sleeps? In theory quite safe, however those suckers are getting recalled constantly (It doesn't even appear to be the batteries themselves as much as the electronics).

Don't you have an electric throw-away? It's possible to set them up as a house battery as well. It makes me wonder if the infrastructure electronics to do so is worthwhile though unless the car is always at home (ie:it would be no good for someone that drives to work during the daylight each day).

Originally Posted by Tins

All very true JT. The power went out for tens or hundreds of thousands of homes and business with the storms earlier this week. Smug Mug Me perhaps?


What also true is those who can afford to have a hybrid system may be ok while many who cannot afford both the systems and the right people to install them will be both paying more and having more unstable supply.

My nuclear bent is looking better and better every day. Silex/GLE TRL6 has made my super account smile++++++++ NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE

Originally Posted by Tins

FYI. The Centre For Independent Studies is a well known right wing group which is known for it's anti renewable policies and lobbying.

Donald Trump'''s '''climate hoax''' comments belong to a well-resourced playbook landing on Australia'''s shores - ABC News

Just a moment...

Just for fun I had a little dig into what these guys actually think we should do, and I can't really find that they have any plan but they do think current policies are rubbish. That's the problem with all this - if you don't like what's being done come up with a compelling alternative!