Solar Power System by proxy

Day 4: Got slightly concerned by early morning clouds, but skies cleared up quickly. System still meeting all our needs very well. Batteries was at 41% in the morning.

Cell towers are back online again which is helping a lot with communication needs. Hopefully that will last. Municipality is also set to get a huge generator tomorrow to provide some power to the businesses and essential services. Possibly going to have local version of load shedding where certain areas of town will have power for certain periods. Will see if this happens.

ETA for repairs is now 15 February. 8 days to go if they can meet their schedule.

1707323345246.png
 
Crusader said:
Day 4: Got slightly concerned by early morning clouds, but skies cleared up quickly. System still meeting all our needs very well. Batteries was at 41% in the morning.

Cell towers are back online again which is helping a lot with communication needs. Hopefully that will last. Municipality is also set to get a huge generator tomorrow to provide some power to the businesses and essential services. Possibly going to have local version of load shedding where certain areas of town will have power for certain periods. Will see if this happens.

ETA for repairs is now 15 February. 8 days to go if they can meet their schedule.

View attachment 1658020
Click to expand...
Yeah they've done that with other long outages using load rotation to spread power.
 
Day 5: Some clouds this morning. Battery started out at 49% and was fully charged at 12:00. Still happily running everything we want including geysers during the day.

The huge generator for the town has either not arrived yet or hasn't been hooked up. Suddenly no word regarding it. At least there are now smaller generators for all the boreholes/dams so water supply shouldn't be a concern any longer.

We managed to get the generator at work in working order so were able to charge the batteries for the backup system. Will be able to run the generator for a couple of hours during the day and get some work done. Not looking forward to the flood of work that awaits once our systems is back online. Will need some serious prioritization to get the essential/important stuff done in the 2 or 4 hours we'll be able to run the generator each day.

1707418017450.png
 
Day 6: Pretty cloudy until about midday. Thankfully battery started out at 51% and was fully charged by 13:00.

Talk about the generator for the town has suddenly gone quiet. Generators were delivered, but doesn't sound like it will be used to power the entire town on a block by block loadshedding basis as initially indicated.

1707511955524.png
 
And it's officially day 10 of the great blackout. Solar power system is performing very well with no issues. If it wasn't for the issues at work I wouldn't even have know that there wasn't any grid available.
 
Crusader said:
And it's officially day 10 of the great blackout. Solar power system is performing very well with no issues. If it wasn't for the issues at work I wouldn't even have know that there wasn't any grid available.
Click to expand...

The peace of mind you must have is immeasurable
 
Mzezman said:
The peace of mind you must have is immeasurable
Click to expand...
Definitely. Compared to the hellish time the rest of the people are having this is pure bliss and worth every cent. With the 40°+C heat we are having right now we are basically using most of our excess solar to keep fridges running to freeze water for colleagues and friends so they have something cool for the heat.

Without solar the whole experience would've been VERY, VERY different.
 
Crusader said:
And it's officially day 10 of the great blackout. Solar power system is performing very well with no issues. If it wasn't for the issues at work I wouldn't even have know that there wasn't any grid available.
Click to expand...
Any idea when it will be back? I mean I know you're running, but of course the others aren't + the infrastructure isn't. How are you guys doing for food and water? Last update I can find still says tomorrow?
1707899800566.png
 
Lupus said:
Any idea when it will be back? I mean I know you're running, but of course the others aren't + the infrastructure isn't. How are you guys doing for food and water? Last update I can find still says tomorrow?
View attachment 1661270
Click to expand...

Heard that there's a possibility it might be switched back on at midday today, but apparently they are running into issues starting things up so official ETA is midday tomorrow.

Water has been an issue since municipal dams are running low. They switched off the water supply for a couple of hours during the night to build a bit of reserve. Some companies from nearby towns and other municipalities donated water. So thankfully not critical yet.

The big generator they got loaned was put to use to help ensure the 2 local supermarkets have power to ensure food security. Not a popular move with some residents up in arms about it, but understandable on municipal part. Food parcels were handed out to some families who were hit the hardest.

Hoping it ends soon.
 
Crusader said:
Heard that there's a possibility it might be switched back on at midday today, but apparently they are running into issues starting things up so official ETA is midday tomorrow.

Water has been an issue since municipal dams are running low. They switched off the water supply for a couple of hours during the night to build a bit of reserve. Some companies from nearby towns and other municipalities donated water. So thankfully not critical yet.

The big generator they got loaned was put to use to help ensure the 2 local supermarkets have power to ensure food security. Not a popular move with some residents up in arms about it, but understandable on municipal part. Food parcels were handed out to some families who were hit the hardest.

Hoping it ends soon.
Click to expand...
Yeah lets hope it's sooner then later, like hopefully this afternoon.
 
Crusader said:
The big generator they got loaned was put to use to help ensure the 2 local supermarkets have power to ensure food security. Not a popular move with some residents up in arms about it, but understandable on municipal part.
Click to expand...
What's their reason for moaning about it?
 
Lupus said:
:-( at least there is no clouds for your system.
Click to expand...
The only upside to the situation.

Mike Hoxbig said:
What's their reason for moaning about it?
Click to expand...
They'd rather have their homes powered. Not sure how they would like to portion out the 10 homes worth of power the generator could provide. Also moaning about other businesses not getting power.
 
Crusader said:
They'd rather have their homes powered. Not sure how they would like to portion out the 10 homes worth of power the generator could provide. Also moaning about other businesses not getting power.
Click to expand...
Then they must be told to STFU. Food security of the town comes before their fridges. They can get their own generators for their homes like everyone else has to...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Then they must be told to STFU. Food security of the town comes before their fridges. They can get their own generators for their homes like everyone else has to...
Click to expand...
This happens when you want to bring politics into everything and view every action as a injustice to yourself. Plus it's an election year so brownie points need to be earned from everything. If you can't ensure services to people then make it look like the party that actually does something is discriminating. That kind of thing...

Day 11 is done. Some clouds during the late afternoon. If ESKOM sticks to schedule the power should be starting to come back from midday tomorrow.
 
Day 12 [last day]: Was a pretty cloudy and hazy day today with slight drizzle during the late afternoon. Still running like a champ.

1708023649962.png

Power was restored to the town at around 11:30 this morning. It's been quite an ordeal. I can finally get some work done at the office now and catch up on all the stuff that piled up during the past two weeks. Being able to run an aircon at work was pure bliss.

The grid is still switched off at home just in case there are any voltage spikes or other issues with the supply. I also think the landlords actually realised that they don't really need the grid at all after running 12 days without it. Will see when they turn it back on.

And as a bonus (I guess) the town is exempted from loadshedding until 26 February.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X