A quest for cheap solar and wind power
Share This November 26th, 2009 Antowan
I was driving around East Lynn in Pretoria on business earlier this week when I drove past a shop dedicated entirely to solar energy. Solar power, geysers and all that. I decided to stop and ask the people there how much it would cost to move my office computers off the grid. The sales guy immediately readied me for a shock and instead asked me if he could calculate the cost of just taking a laptop off the grid. I agreed and he started to click away on his calculator keypad.
Around R18000 to run my laptop off solar and solar generated backup power 24/7. Holy smokes! R18000 is a lot of money for going renewable and this got me thinking about a couple of things, first of which was that this man must be smoking his socks! R18000, you have got to be kidding me! This was my first contact with solar power pricing in South Africa and I have to admit that I need to do a lot more homework before I commit to anything as exorbitant as that. For that price I think I will unfortunately have to force Eskom to burn a little bit of coal on my behalf a bit longer.
I am convinced I will find a cheaper way of doing it the DIY way. It will take a little bit of skills training on my part but I will manage. I am pretty sure I will. I have a list of suppliers I need to contact and this blog will be the place where I will share my adventures towards getting as much of my power needs fulfilled from the sun (and wind if possible). I have a couple of questions that need answering and they are:
- Are solar power technologies really that expensive or are we being fed false information. What is that price for?
- How easy is it to do it yourself? Sure, you will need an electrician for some stuff, but surely you can build your own panels nowadays or can’t you?
- Where are the best places for information? Should I find a dependable importer with good knowledge and eager to share, or should I opt for books or magazines on green power?
- Can you legally climb off the power grid in South Africa should you have the money to do so?
These are just a few questions, but I plan to offer some explanation in the near future of what I find. I would love your input on these matters as well. So if you have walked this path and feel you have information to share that can help me solve the expensive green power problem, please email me at antowan@myadsl.co.za
11 Comments Add your own
1. Dean | November 26th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Looking forward to seeing what you find!
2. McT | November 27th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Great Blog! Will be reading with enthusiasm.
3. AndyMo | November 27th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Antowan, people have an unrealistic expectation of Solar Power. Especially of photovoltaics (solar panels that produce electricity).
Modern photovolataics operate at about a 12% conversion efficiency (light into electricity). Cutting edge technologies can get up to about 40%.
1 square meter of PV (photovoltaics) produces about 1 KWH (kilowatt hour) of electricity per day (I am being very kind here). You need about 25 KWH of electricity per day for a South African home. To supply your home you need about 25 square meters of PV.
Add to that a battery system (ecological hazard) and an expensive transformer system and the costs will rocket.
You can of course reduce your electricity costs with energy efficient equipment to about 7 KWH per day.
But the fact is that photovoltaic solar power (compared to say wind) produces very little electricity for both area and cost. But this does not mean that solar power is not an ideal source of energy.
Its great for:
1) concentrated large scale solar array plants/farms or solar chimneys
2) Solar water heating – realistically this is the best, cheapest and most efficient way for you to save electricity.
3) Solar cooking
To answer your questions: (note I am neither an electrician nor scientist).
1) Solar power PV systems are incredibly expensive to produce. The electricity needed to melt the silicon to produce the PV is more than the PV will produce in its first 2 years.
2)Its relatively easy to produce very low efficiency PV, search for ‘DIY photovoltaics’. They don’t produce very much electricity though. The more efficient systems are cutting edge technology and beyond backyard capabilities.
3) Google.
4) Not sure about this, you can disconnect the power, but they might still charge you a tariff.
Only 2 solutions to this whole coal mess. As a country – A) Go with wind. B) Back it up with nuclear.
p.s. Nuclear produces far less radioactive material than coal – it just doesn’t billow it out into the atmosphere.
4. Letchme | November 27th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
I researched solar power. To fully utilise all appliances you need about more than 10 sqaure meteres of voltaic panels. The cheapest way would be to order straight from USA and diy. there it costs people approximately $2000 diy. In SA if we import it could cost under R20000 to be independent of the grid and perhaphs sell to the grid
5. buffalobill | November 27th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
The real problem and cost, is not generating the power, but storing it. That requires batteries which are expensive. Yes, you can use lead/acid (aka car) batteries but you will need a lot more of them than, say, deep cycle batteries. Remember you cannot discharge a lead/acid more than 50% without dramatically shortening its life. The cost of solar itself will come down as the efficiencies of manufacturing volumes kick in.
Letchme’s on the right track. What we need is a more progressive organisation and thinking than Eskom or our municipalities appear capable of providing. We should be able to do away completely with batteries and generate power any way we like in our homes (say solar or wind), the excess of which goes back into the grid for which you receive a credit. It’s done in the States, where they don’t have monopolies and are forced to think beyond building more power stations and charging more. Actually, they’re forced to think. Stop.
This brings to mind an idea floated by my wife who was reflecting on the smaller townspeople taking on the dysfunctional municipalities and providing services themselves (while withholding payments).
Why not have smaller communities or suburbs providing their own services? Why shouldn’t we as a suburban block or townhouse complex be capable of generating our own power, storing it and only drawing on the national grid when we need it? It all boils down to the vision and the economics – the business case, if you were. Should Eskom succeed in hiking its prices too far, you will see this happening when we will see self-sustaining communities emerging and withdrawing themselves as much as possible from the municipalities (who of, course, will kick and moan because it’s the paying communities that will do so).
There’s lots of unemployed or retired electrical engineers around (usually ex-Eskom) who can design such systems.
My personal ideal is to be energy neutral in that I consume no more than I produce – but that’s a long way away, but I’d like to get there, one day.
And then, you need to think energy efficiency in the home – dumping all your incandescent bulbs, for one, and looking forward to Phillips’ new LED lamps, although using fluorescent in the meantime. Geysers are obvious, more energy efficient fridges, TVs and PCs (I’m guilty there). But I still have a problem in the cooking stakes. Microwaves just don’t do the job as well as an oven, no matter what they tell you.
6. MartinP | November 28th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I already have a 105 Ah Deep cycle Battery and a 600W Inverter which can run my TV, Decoder, etc for up to 6 hours. I used it extensively during last year’s blackouts.
I decided to look into powering my TV setup exclusively by solar PV’s. I found that a 60 Watt 12v panel just to keep my Battery charged (5 Amps at full sunlight) would cost about R2500.
Even at Eskom’s new proposed prices, it would take me over 5 years to recover my R 2500.
I suggest that we are being ripped off (an old South African tradition- Eskom, Telkom, cell Phone companies, etc) on the price of Solar PV panels.
Does anyone know where to get cheap Solar PV panels locally? They seem incredibly cheap in the USA.
7. chris | December 6th, 2009 at 8:29 am
There is one more method that people tend to forget about and that is bio-gas. Many homes got a lot of bio waste that can be used to produce gas for cooking and for other use.
The only problem though is to manage it and it can smell a little.
8. shilpa | December 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
” .Hello,
‘Yes’, the Cart can be used for subscriptions.
Majority of our merchants’ buyers are actually international. Sadly, not a lot of local users are accustomed to buying things online.
It does not include a website (although we also offer that service separately). You can get any 3rd party to do the website and we will just integrate with them.
regards
hazz.hazz”
9. brandon | December 11th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
does anybody know if i can get geysers(solar) at about R3000.00 need to buy in bulk and distribute to rdp houses? contact me via email
10. Monde Mkhize | January 12th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
I am contracted to build a number of low cost houses and I would like to meet and discuss with you about the installation of water heaters to these low cost houses. Pls. give me a call
11. Monde Mkhize | January 12th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I am contracted to build a number of low cost houses and I would like to meet and discuss with you about the installation of water heaters to these low cost houses. Pls. give me a call at 0713184188
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