Full solar and backup power systems much more affordable than at the beginning of the year

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

Journalist
Staff member
Joined
Mar 6, 2024
Messages
1,718
Reaction score
1,449
Kiss Eskom goodbye

South African households can go fully off-grid with a solar and backup power system for much less in late 2024 than at the beginning of the year.

Eskom's plan to increase electricity tariffs by a combined 66% over the next three years has sparked a fierce reaction from the South African public, civil society, and politicians — including those serving in government.
 
Ja no thanks. I just decommissioned my small 1 kW portable system and I'm so glad I didn't put another R 200k+ down.

Solar PV geyser makes sense with a 2-4 year payback but that's about it for me. Once you've factored in battery degradation and inverter maintenance and general increase in the complexity of the house's electrics, the only people who are winning in the long run are the guys who sponsor articles like this at MyBB.
 
Tomtomtom said:
Ja no thanks. I just decommissioned my small 1 kW portable system and I'm so glad I didn't put another R 200k+ down.

Solar PV geyser makes sense with a 2-4 year payback but that's about it for me. Once you've factored in battery degradation and inverter maintenance and general increase in the complexity of the house's electrics, the only people who are winning in the long run are the guys who sponsor articles like this at MyBB.
Click to expand...

Naah, it's not nearly as complicated and messy as you make it out to be.
Just don't cheap out on components and installation, that's all, and with the current prices, no-one should be cheaping out anyway.

Also, hook up a decent monitoring system like Solar Assistant and you'll easily be able to see degradation effects etc. over time long before they happen.
If all else fails, you just flick a switch and bypass your system until you sort out issues.

Just having that backup system clean the Eskom power coming in and knowing I won't go dark unexpectedly when something happens on the grid is worth it.

These systems have gamified the generation of power, I love checking out the stats somedays and having per-second data for over a year now is very interesting sometimes when you start picking up trends etc.
 
Tomtomtom said:
Ja no thanks. I just decommissioned my small 1 kW portable system and I'm so glad I didn't put another R 200k+ down.

Solar PV geyser makes sense with a 2-4 year payback but that's about it for me. Once you've factored in battery degradation and inverter maintenance and general increase in the complexity of the house's electrics, the only people who are winning in the long run are the guys who sponsor articles like this at MyBB.
Click to expand...
Been off-grid now for more than 6 years and the maintenance of the system is minimal.
 
RaptorSA said:
These systems have gamified the generation of power, I love checking out the stats somedays and having per-second data for over a year now is very interesting sometimes when you start picking up trends etc.
Click to expand...

For us nerds there's the fun and novelty, even with loadshedding awol, it's still bringing joy.

But if you're normal and you have R 200k in your pocket do you still go for it now?


BBSA said:
Been off-grid now for more than 6 years and the maintenance of the system is minimal.
Click to expand...

If you're actually doing maintenance you have nothing to worry about. It's the aunties who put an inverter in a dusty garage who have the problem. When that house changes hands in 5-10 years, the new owner is going to find the switch flicked to bypass and all the MOSFETs are blown. A whole new avenue for disputes the estate agents are going to get familiar with...
 
Tomtomtom said:
For us nerds there's the fun and novelty, even with loadshedding awol, it's still bringing joy.

But if you're normal and you have R 200k in your pocket do you still go for it now?
Click to expand...

200K is a bit much, my ceiling ideally would be 120-150K. You can do a ton with that budget right now.

I'm stuck in a complex so my options for expansion are a bit limited so still sitting with just 4 Panels and a 5kWh battery.

Surprisingly those 4 panels cover almost half my energy usage most of the year, I'm looking at solar geysers as we speak and also have an idea to get 4 more panels after that... that should get me very close to off-grid (apart from extended cloudy days, which sucks)...
 
RaptorSA said:
200K is a bit much, my ceiling ideally would be 120-150K. You can do a ton with that budget right now.

I'm stuck in a complex so my options for expansion are a bit limited so still sitting with just 4 Panels and a 5kWh battery.

Surprisingly those 4 panels cover almost half my energy usage most of the year, I'm looking at solar geysers as we speak and also have an idea to get 4 more panels after that... that should get me very close to off-grid (apart from extended cloudy days, which sucks)...
Click to expand...
You can always move :sneaky:
 
My advice to anyone looking to go off grid is the more information you have the better.

Find neighbours who have invested in solar and see if they are willing to provide their generation statistics over a long period of time and system specs.

You also should invest in something to accurately track your own homes usage over a decent period of time and especially during day and night including winter and summer month peaks.

From there you can calculate exactly what you need and cater for best and worst scenarios in terms of generation and storage. Nothing worse than spending a fortune on something which doesn't meet your requirements.
 
Tomtomtom said:
For us nerds there's the fun and novelty, even with loadshedding awol, it's still bringing joy.

But if you're normal and you have R 200k in your pocket do you still go for it now?




If you're actually doing maintenance you have nothing to worry about. It's the aunties who put an inverter in a dusty garage who have the problem. When that house changes hands in 5-10 years, the new owner is going to find the switch flicked to bypass and all the MOSFETs are blown. A whole new avenue for disputes the estate agents are going to get familiar with...
Click to expand...
"Normal" I guess (not in IT), but just awaiting transfer and will be spending around R155k in 2 weeks. Other than whether loadshedding will return, the increase in electricity costs over the short term (4 to 5 years) make it make sense. I've over-specced my system because I want to pay Eskom as little as possible, and because of how much more affordable its become compared to a few years ago.
 
Tomtomtom said:
Ja no thanks. I just decommissioned my small 1 kW portable system and I'm so glad I didn't put another R 200k+ down.

Solar PV geyser makes sense with a 2-4 year payback but that's about it for me. Once you've factored in battery degradation and inverter maintenance and general increase in the complexity of the house's electrics, the only people who are winning in the long run are the guys who sponsor articles like this at MyBB.
Click to expand...
What do you do now, just sit in the dark and pretend its the 18th century?
 
Tomtomtom said:
For us nerds there's the fun and novelty, even with loadshedding awol, it's still bringing joy.

But if you're normal and you have R 200k in your pocket do you still go for it now?




If you're actually doing maintenance you have nothing to worry about. It's the aunties who put an inverter in a dusty garage who have the problem. When that house changes hands in 5-10 years, the new owner is going to find the switch flicked to bypass and all the MOSFETs are blown. A whole new avenue for disputes the estate agents are going to get familiar with...
Click to expand...
I cried about the 200 k that I put down for my solar setup.


But 82% of my electricity will be “free” at least for the next 10:years when there is a chance I may have to fork out money again.
Then again the system may work fine for 20 years.

Anyway, no regrets now and no worries about loadshedding and power cuts

I can also use more electricity than I normally would during the day like for warming up my jacuzzi.

The money I spent on solar adds value to the selling price to my house.
So at the end of the day it’s not much of an expense. That 200k will return to me.
 
My system was stupidly overpriced as the installer saw me coming. But at R170k all in, I'm basically off grid. Using 1kwh per day from grid. I do however have a gas stove top and solar geyser that isn't included in the R170k. My system is also I think way overspecced as batteries are charged by 11am and I normally spend my days looking for electrical stuff I can turn on to use the excess solar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter