Solar Advice's basic off-grid solar power system prices compared

AchmatK said:
On average my system generates 14 000kWh per year. At todays tariff of ±R2.50/kWh that comes to R35k in year one that is not going to Eskom or municipality.

Compounded over 10 years and a moderate annual increase of 8% which by year 10 would be R70 000 per year. The system should assist still be able to go on fire a further 5 years before anything needs to be replaced.

It's even worse for house B who will be paying R4 000 every month for usage plus whatever the connection fee will be at that point.

This is my real world data from my setup. Grid provided electricity is more expensive even with expensive lithium batteries. In 2 years time my pv generated electricity will be cheaper than anything CoCT can provide. View attachment 1343488View attachment 1343490
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How much of that do you end up using? Return on investment is only on what gets used. It is a shame that so much solar power goes to waste while there is loadshedding! I'm more than happy to push what ever extra gets generated back into the grid at no charge, but they want me to pay to do that. Ridiculous!
 
Tiggerxi77 said:
How much of that do you end up using? Return on investment is only on what gets used. It is a shame that so much solar power goes to waste while there is loadshedding! I'm more than happy to push what ever extra gets generated back into the grid at no charge, but they want me to pay to do that. Ridiculous!
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Solar only generates what is used or stored. What is stored is then used later, so storage is basically delayed use. You can't generate but not use electricity
 
Harmonic said:
Total electricity cost for house A is not R500 p/m. That figure has to include purchase, installation, maintenance and repairs of the solar system. As a bonus it needs to include the opportunity cost of tying up potentially R100-500k in an illiquid, depreciating "investment/asset". As an example R150k in a 6% p.a. account will net you R750 a month
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What's the total cost of having loadshedding 3x a day for 2.5hrs? How is that calculated and factored in?

Instead of paying eskom R2500 a month to have power at times, get a loan of R200 000 and pay the bank R2000 a month and have solar installed. Then you still have R500 to pay eskoms flat rate to use the grid on rainy days and you never have to worry about loadshedding. Priceless!
 
Tiggerxi77 said:
How much of that do you end up using? Return on investment is only on what gets used. It is a shame that so much solar power goes to waste while there is loadshedding! I'm more than happy to push what ever extra gets generated back into the grid at no charge, but they want me to pay to do that. Ridiculous!
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Huh?

None of that is being lost. If he’s generated it then it’s been consumed either instantaneously or for later usage via batteries.

Also why would it go to waste while there is load shedding? That’s when it really get used for a lack of grid.
 
SauRoNZA said:
If you leaned it more to solar panels and less to batteries sure.

But then you’d have nowhere to store what you generate.

My 193k system generated 691 kWh last month, but there are good days and bad days and for that you need battery.

I reckon I need to spend another 50k on one more battery and some more panels and I’m as good as grid-free.
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Won't it be better to just spend 15k on a generator? The cost of batteries to carry you though 1 sunless day is way to high.
 
Tiggerxi77 said:
Won't it be better to just spend 15k on a generator? The cost of batteries to carry you though 1 sunless day is way to high.
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It’s about 7k more to add 4.8kwh battery now and no maintenance or perpetual cost to keep it running.

Also no noise.

And it’s not about one sunless day. It’s about every day.

I only need one more battery to make it through a very bad day, and then I’m sorted for the next ten years.
 
Tiggerxi77 said:
Won't it be better to just spend 15k on a generator? The cost of batteries to carry you though 1 sunless day is way to high.
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If you are purely looking for a loadshedding solution then a generator becomes an option. Solar obviously helps for loadshedding, but greatly reduces your monthly bill too
 
SauRoNZA said:
Huh?

None of that is being lost. If he’s generated it then it’s been consumed either instantaneously or for later usage via batteries.

Also why would it go to waste while there is load shedding? That’s when it really get used for a lack of grid.
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I misunderstood and assumed the 14000 is the theoretical kw the system can generate in a year. You are consuming / storing that much. So at R2.50 a kw that's R35000 a year saved... Not sure how people can argue that solar is pricey...you end up paying eskom or the bank, but with solar there's no loadshedding.
 
SauRoNZA said:
It’s about 7k more to add 4.8kwh battery now and no maintenance or perpetual cost to keep it running.

Also no noise.

And it’s not about one sunless day. It’s about every day.

I only need one more battery to make it through a very bad day, and then I’m sorted for the next ten years.
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7k for 4kw storage? What batteries are you using? Lithium is around 5k per kw
 
Tiggerxi77 said:
I misunderstood and assumed the 14000 is the theoretical kw the system can generate in a year. You are consuming / storing that much. So at R2.50 a kw that's R35000 a year saved... Not sure how people can argue that solar is pricey...you end up paying eskom or the bank, but with solar there's no loadshedding.
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Exactly.

I was spending R2000 a month with Eskom anyway.

Ignoring price increases and while spending R500 a month with Eskom still the R1500 I put back into my home loan over the next 10 years pretty much makes my entire solar install free or cost equivalent with the only caveat being I paid up front.

No increases, no load shedding and more power than I ever used before.
 
SauRoNZA said:
No no, I meant you’d pay 7k more than the 15k generator for a 4.8kWh battery.

Dyness A48100.
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OK now I'm with you. Problem is if you use 10kw a day you need 2 of those to bridge a cloudy day. In CT we have the odd 3 or 4 times a year where there is very little sun for 2 or 3 days in a row.

Usually that's not a problem since the grid is backup, but with loadshedding it is becoming a problem. Luckily my hybrid inverter can charge the batteries too if I switch the mode. So if it's cloudy and the batteries are running low AND the is planned loadshedding I can just charge them up... Does not help the power crisis so not a good solution.
 
Tiggerxi77 said:
OK now I'm with you. Problem is if you use 10kw a day you need 2 of those to bridge a cloudy day. In CT we have the odd 3 or 4 times a year where there is very little sun for 2 or 3 days in a row.

Usually that's not a problem since the grid is backup, but with loadshedding it is becoming a problem. Luckily my hybrid inverter can charge the batteries too if I switch the mode. So if it's cloudy and the batteries are running low AND the is planned loadshedding I can just charge them up... Does not help the power crisis so not a good solution.
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Yeah I already succeed in load shedding being a non-issue.

But now just trying to stretch it to being almost grid free and have it purely as a backup.

I had two days of no-grid in June but a lot that were pretty damn close with only 2-3 kWH used.
 
Tiggerxi77 said:
I misunderstood and assumed the 14000 is the theoretical kw the system can generate in a year. You are consuming / storing that much. So at R2.50 a kw that's R35000 a year saved... Not sure how people can argue that solar is pricey...you end up paying eskom or the bank, but with solar there's no loadshedding.
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Forgot to include my generation graphs.

Already over 27MWhScreenshot_20220708-214402_SOLARMAN%20Smart.jpgScreenshot_20220708-185639_SOLARMAN%20Business.jpg
 
SauRoNZA said:
Exactly.

I was spending R2000 a month with Eskom anyway.

Ignoring price increases and while spending R500 a month with Eskom still the R1500 I put back into my home loan over the next 10 years pretty much makes my entire solar install free or cost equivalent with the only caveat being I paid up front.

No increases, no load shedding and more power than I ever used before.
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And with the components expected to last 20 years, you'll have another free 10 years
 
SauRoNZA said:
Don’t they take it off the first units bought every month?
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Not in CoJ. Bought R1,000 on Wed, got 460 units.

Even if they do introduce it, that measly R150 or whatever is not enough to give me buyer's remorse. And if it does put anyone off, chances are they can't afford a solar system anyway. Looking at a certain someone on this thread...
 
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