Solar Power Thread

Not to mention that a thermosyphon allows you to still have warm water during load shedding, ahem 'planned maintenance'.
Next to fit the gas hob in the kitchen.
Then move all the lights to solar - have already replaced all of them with LED.
 
Just as quick update.

With the season's turn, and especially since the vernal equinox, I'm back to being a nett exporter.

Here's the daily average PV power generated by the 12kW array in kWh/day:

Jun : 29.07
Jul : 31.87
Aug : 40.39
Sep : 56.57
Oct : 56.06

October is marginally down from September because of the higher number of overcast days, even though October sunny days were producing more power than September sunny days.

Have been a nett exporter for the last two months. Electricity bill: R0 for power used and R135 (fixed charge irrespective of use).
 
Arthur said:
Just as quick update.

With the season's turn, and especially since the vernal equinox, I'm back to being a nett exporter.

Here's the daily average PV power generated by the 12kW array in kWh/day:

Jun : 29.07
Jul : 31.87
Aug : 40.39
Sep : 56.57
Oct : 56.06

October is marginally down from September because of the higher number of overcast days, even though October sunny days were producing more power than September sunny days.

Have been a nett exporter for the last two months. Electricity bill: R0 for power used and R135 (fixed charge irrespective of use).
Click to expand...

So if you do the grid tied thing you have to pay the R135 regardless of use?

My house is already as energy efficient that I can make it without generating my own electricity and my average bill is below R135 a month. Do you only have to pay the R135 because you grid tied then - because I don't pay if I don't use - or is it municipality dependant?
 
Most municipalities have a basic charge for consumers who use post-paid meters, ie anything other than pre-paid/Koopkrag. This is to cover the cost of reading the meter and associated admin. For these consumers, the charge applies even if their consumption is zero. The basic charge is anywhere between R80 and R180, depending on the meter owner.
 
Arthur said:
Most municipalities have a basic charge for consumers who use post-paid meters, ie anything other than pre-paid/Koopkrag. This is to cover the cost of reading the meter and associated admin. For these consumers, the charge applies even if their consumption is zero. The basic charge is anywhere between R80 and R180, depending on the meter owner.
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Try R415 in Joburg.
 
@Arthur

Thanks for the SSEG docs in this thread. Will make my life easier when I eventually get to connect my little 9KW setup up to the grid.

I did (most of) my wiring the other day;


10590521526_c8277913f2.jpg


...just need to get the panels up onto the roof now!

10687416864_bc4763e3b5.jpg
 
Wow, that's looks like great job, Isheed. Very impressive to be fitting it yourself!

Nice looking inverter. I don't know them but visited their website. Which model did you get?

Which panels are those? Must be just under 300-watters?

And how do you plan to mount them?

Sorry to ask to many Qs.
 
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More details on http://goingsolar.co.za :)
Its about time I did an update on there with some photos, i've got stuff on Flickr.com/sheedl, but i'm also renovating so its mostly repainting and wiring amidst the odd solar shot ;)

Panels are Co-tech 300W panels.

Nominal - 37.6V @ 8.06A. I bought direct from the factory when I was in Shanghai. Cost was about 820RMB a piece (+ shipping + tax + china export licence fee's). They had larger size units - 350W, but the pricing on those was much higher. I think I got good bang per buck for them anyway (I bought last year!), even if the rand has plummeted since. Grrr.

Inverter is the 10KV 3 Phase Growatt 10000UE - its the smallest 3 phase I could find! (12k rmb odd + shipping + tax).
Growatt was quite helpful - I met them at a trade show in Shanghai, their stuff looked the best for the price, and online reviews were positive (mostly from .au sites like whirlpool)

Mounting is using aluminium mounting brackets from NiceSolar.cn - http://nicesolar.cn/en/productshow.asp?menuid=22&menuidd=46&id=90 (3k rmb odd + shipping + tax for 30 panels width worth). Should be fairly simple, I'm going to try put some up this weekend with my cousin, as he's more practical than I am on that sort of thing.

My plan is 2 strings of 15 panels each into the inverter, then the a/c side to the front of the huis, and split out the 3 phase to different phases for an off Eskom/CoCT circuit in my outside room for dryer / washing machine etc.

Hot water is already solar heated, and all the lighting indoor and out has been LED based for a while now. Some of the LED lighting is even iPhone controllable! http://www.computersolutions.cn/blog/2013/05/let-there-be-light/ (gimmicky, but I like silly stuff like that)

I can't hook into a battery system with my current setup, but I plan on getting a separate battery charge controller + integrated system when I have the money. I was looking at something at the previous Solar show in Shanghai that was interesting, but it wasn't out yet - was about 80k rmb loaded with Lithium Sulphur batteries and 3 phase. Can't remember the name of it though, the details are back in Shanghai. Batteries are a pain to ship though, as its hazardous cargo, and means paperwork galore...

I've been monitoring my house use with a Flukso monitor ( http://www.flukso.net ) for the last year or so, so I have an idea of average house usage. Basically it gets shot when the maid comes as she runs the washing machine and dryer, hence my running the solar to the laundry room :)

Would be interested to hear more about your setup. I'm probably going to look at getting the Landis Gyre meter you have at some point, so that I can hookup.

Already had an electrician take a prelim look at my setup, and will have them sign off on it once I'm closer to finished, then look at doing the SSEG stuff. Might have to wait till I'm back in Jan/Feb though, as I leave again mid month back to the grindstone!
 
http://www.misolar.co.za/Resellers.html has a number of places listed.
If they don't carry the product, then I'd contact MiSolar and say you can't find it at their resellers, and ask if they can sort you out. I find it strange that a company won't assist someone who wants to buy a product, unless its been discontinued.

If so, then look for 12v lights, as thats what they are...
 
lsheed_cn said:
http://www.misolar.co.za/Resellers.html has a number of places listed.
If they don't carry the product, then I'd contact MiSolar and say you can't find it at their resellers, and ask if they can sort you out. I find it strange that a company won't assist someone who wants to buy a product, unless its been discontinued.

If so, then look for 12v lights, as thats what they are...
Click to expand...

thanks Ishaad_cn
 
Nice update dude..

Would like a breakdown of costs when you're all done if possible :)....
 
Arthur said:
I'm on a phone so replies brief.

I've recently gone off the grid with an 8kW PV array. 40 x 210W panels back to 230VAC 50Hz via MLT Drives PowerStar II bi-directional grid-tied inverter.

For now, I export about 20-25kWh during daylight, and reimport it at night, using the grid as a battery, so my nett consumption is pretty much zero. This is possible only because my local municipality has agreed to a pilot project and installed a four-quadrant meter to measure imports, exports and nett usage.

I have a small 1260 Ah 48V DC battery bank, which at 20% discharge is good for about 3kWh.
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I've done pretty much the same but on a smaller scale. I have the following:

- A 1.6kW system; 8 panels + Sunny Boy 1700Watt grid tied inverter.
- A second 2.5kW system; 10 panels + Sunny Boy 3kW grid tied inverter
- A 3kW Victron Charger/inverter connected to 48V 10kWh battery bank. (They are these "2U" batteries)

Essentially how I've configured our system is it can operate in two modes:

Normally, when mains is available, it's a straightforward grid tied system and the Victron is basically only a battery Charger to keep the batteries healthy.

When the power fails, I manually flip a switch on the Victron to inverter mode. Only lights and some plug points are connected in this mode so stove, geyser, pool pump are disconnected.

System has been operational for about 2 years and we have had several power failures with no problems. In fact, this last week there was a pretty big power failure in Randburg and during the day I ran one of the (it's a 12,000BTU unit) air conditioners (the whole day) and the batteries were almost fully charged when the power eventually came on at 5pm.
 
Mine has been running for a week now, albeit with only half the panels mounted and installed, as I didn't have time to mount the rest yet this visit - I'm back in Shanghai, China again now..

It finally went live on the 14th. Its working out well though, although I am getting slightly less output than I expected - panels are in theory 4800W total for 16 panels x 300w, but looks like they're really 250w panels, as we get about 3.9x KW peak off the 16 we have mounted at the moment after inverter losses etc.

Everything survived the massive storm that hit Cape Town last weekend too, so that was a relief!

Still need to do paperwork for council approval, and arrange a new digital 4 quadrant Landis & Gyr meter so I can eventually "feed into the grid" as a SSEG (similar to Arthur), but we're generating electricity on a separate circuit in the interim, and our power is down to pretty much zero usage daytime.

The Landis & Gyr people are a pleasure to deal with too. They answer questions, and are quite helpful. Thanks again to Arthur for their details!

Although the whole install so far was fairly painless given that it was all DIY, I did have one issue.

My DC switch for the panel side decided to fry itself almost immediately, and lose its magic smoke (black and stinky that it was). It was only there as an extra safety precaution, so it wasn't a huge problem, I just wired MC4 connectors to the cable from the roof (after safely disconnecting from the roof), then plugged directly into the inverter.

I think the DC switch was just bad from the factory, and the inverter does have an off/on switch for DC, so it wasn't a calamity.

Other than that oh faaark moment, its all been great.

I need to do an update on the blog to show current working status, then its the fun part of documenting all of it, getting council signoff's, paying more money to get a bidirectional smart 3 phase meter (+-R4k with gprs and ethernet) , and becoming a small scale provider! (or not, depending on what the base charges will turn out to be).


Total costs:

Panels - approx R1600 / panel x 30
Inverter - approx R20,000
DC, AC Cabling, Mounting - approx R5600
Distribution panel side + 3 phase, 1 phase, dc switches etc - approx R500
Total - about 75k

I did get dinged for storage charges for 20k due to incompetence at freight forwarder, and clearance was expensive too, as the freight forwarder *****ed me on that too, that came to about 40-50k for that portion of the shipment, but I did have other stuff in the container, so its hard to calculate it out.

Assuming I use 40k for shipping, clearance, and taxes (no duties on panels or inverters), then looking at about R115,000

Installation took us 2 days (3-4 hours of work a day for 2 people), and there will be some ancillary costs for electrical signoff, and other paperwork bits n bobs, and of course a new meter, so for my 3 phase setup, total will probably be about R120,000 all in*

*At todays RMB-> Rand rate. I did buy most of it when the RMB was at R8.5 or so, but we are at 10.2 ish again, so used 1-> 1.6 for rmb->rand values.

Its grid-tied, and although I can go off-grid completely would probably cost me another R100,000 to do so at current prices in China for equipment + batteries.

Still, I think its a fair investment, as electricity is only going to go up in price in future, and if / when I do move, I can take it all with me! (Or sell it to the next buyer!)

I've learned from the experience though, and will probably be up for doing it again, as it was quite painless aside from the freight company royally *****ing me. There is a fair amount of interest in smaller (single phase) systems from everyone thats seen it, and I can put together a 4k + single phase inverter setup for reasonable prices for family+friends in future, and hopefully make a bit of cash doing it!
 
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I've learned from the experience though, and will probably be up for doing it again, as it was quite painless aside from the freight company royally *****ing me. There is a fair amount of interest in smaller (single phase) systems from everyone thats seen it, and I can put together a 4k + single phase inverter setup for reasonable prices for family+friends in future, and hopefully make a bit of cash doing it!
Click to expand...

you can put my name down as I'm certainly interested in doing this. I use very little power less than 600kw.
 
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