Excited to be off of the Eskom grid.

[EnderZaMan]

What does the farm produce (asking because that's a very expensive setup)

Awesome though, like please do share the stats and interfaces would be cool to see.

We're still working out the kinks, we're a Raspberry farm, borehole water feeding both residential and irrigation. We're writing up a summary which I will make available soon.

The solar plant has been designed to run the residential area as a phase1 project with 2 other phases to cover the whole farm. We did however design the PCS (the brains and transformer situated in the white container) to increase the capacity later on.
Having run the solar panels (power during the day) in tandem with Eskom ( power during the night) proved that with minor expansion we can cover the whole warm during the day.
The power at night is coming from the batteries since last night with the following discoveries during the night:
We are using almost 10KW just on flood lights.
We use 37KWh @12:00 but only 18KWh @06:00
The farm is not optimized regarding energy use.
Running the fridges at the top with the phase 1 setup might not be viable right now.
We might only need to add to the battery capacity to run the whole farm.

 

[Thor]

We are using almost 10KW just on flood lights.

Big farm.

Are those lights are converted to LED yet?

Basically, did you guys start swapping everything out for more efficient appliances etc or is that a work in process?

I was involved with a few smallholding farms and my god, one tends to forget how nice Eskom power really is, if only it was reliable.

 

[TheChamp]

Big farm.

Are those lights are converted to LED yet?

Basically, did you guys start swapping everything out for more efficient appliances etc or is that a work in process?

I was involved with a few smallholding farms and my god, one tends to forget how nice Eskom power really is, if only it was reliable.

Seemingly not, but it's going to be a nice project seeing all the savings when they do the conversion.

 

[Wakandafication]

I'm wondering when the batteries will get stolen. If someone knows you have them, even the contractor who installed it can tip people off - it's what the mobile companies found out.

 

[EnderZaMan]

Basic info:
300 PV Panels generating 160Kwh
We will up this to 360 panels with a 200Kwh output.
400Kwh lithium battery with 1200 cells.
250A transformer with bypass cabinet. This manages the power distribution as well as throttle the 150Kw inverters charging the batteries or supplying the farm during the day.
We clip on the inverters from 9:30 and start generating @ 05:26 untill sunset.

 

[Rickster]

Basic info:
300 PV Panels generating 160Kwh
We will up this to 360 panels with a 200Kwh output.
400Kwh lithium battery with 1200 cells.
250A transformer with bypass cabinet. This manages the power distribution as well as throttle the 150Kw inverters charging the batteries or supplying the farm during the day.
We clip on the inverters from 9:30 and start generating @ 05:26 untill sunset.

Cost?

 

[wingnut771]

Cost?

I guess around 3 mil?

 

[maumau]

I'm wondering when the batteries will get stolen. If someone knows you have them, even the contractor who installed it can tip people off - it's what the mobile companies found out.

....and whether insurance covers them?