Solar renting

[marine1]

Do you guys know who does a similar thing to Gosolar ?
But if you are a renter not an owner?
Gosolar wont allow you if you are not the property owner

Thakns

 

[swakop_toe]

Versofy, but you have to get written permission from owner.

 

[marine1]

Versofy, but you have to get written permission from owner.

Thanks man, owner doesnt mind she just doesnt want to sign up hewrself and I dont blame her.
Would the top system take you off the grid sort of?
Lets say the following:

• 12kw 3-phase Hybrid Inverter
• 10kwh Battery bank
• 26 – 28 kWh solar PV
• Support & Monitoring
• Average daily consumption approx. 40kWh

I want to be able to use the solar during the day and then also at night tryiong to limit my exposure to jhb city power as much as possible.

Whats your thoughts?>

 

[leon.davibe]

Thanks man, owner doesnt mind she just doesnt want to sign up hewrself and I dont blame her.
Would the top system take you off the grid sort of?
Lets say the following:

• 12kw 3-phase Hybrid Inverter
• 10kwh Battery bank
• 26 – 28 kWh solar PV
• Support & Monitoring
• Average daily consumption approx. 40kWh

I want to be able to use the solar during the day and then also at night tryiong to limit my exposure to jhb city power as much as possible.

Whats your thoughts?>

3phase is really chasing up the costs , would only go there if you need peak output that would exceed a single phase setup

The solar is quoted in kwh
So if that is what the array can do in a day you already fall short on the 40

ie the battery capacity needs to equal what you use while no sun so lets say from 6-6

if the usage is evening/night biased then 10kwh battery won't cut it , tends to be in most homes

I would take measurement see how many units you use while sun is shining and how many at night and work from there

 

[RonSwanson]

What is your monthly electricity usage, in units?

 

[marine1]

3phase is really chasing up the costs , would only go there if you need peak output that would exceed a single phase setup

The solar is quoted in kwh
So if that is what the array can do in a day you already fall short on the 40

ie the battery capacity needs to equal what you use while no sun so lets say from 6-6

if the usage if evening/night biased then 10kwh battery won't cut it imos it tends to be in most homes

I would take measurement see how many units you use while sun is shining and how many at night and work from there

Thanks so I should measure from 6pm - 6am and then also from 6am - 6pm and see what I am using per day between night and day?
I want to try and get away from Eskom as much as possible not so much just for load shedding
So do you think I need another battery and maybe 2 more panels?

 

[marine1]

What is your monthly electricity usage, in units?

thats the problem its been estimates all year and then they didnt charge me last month now they took the whole year and put it into the highest band and charged me 26k , lemme look at daily consumption or what I can see, maybe you can comment? We are busy fighting with COJ about this

 

[leon.davibe]

thats the problem its been estimates all year and then they didnt charge me last month now they took the whole year and put it into the highest band and charged me 26k , lemme look at daily consumption or what I can see, maybe you can comment? We are busy fighting with COJ about this

View attachment 1623833

You could just take the last reading and known early reading(ie not estimate)

You will get a smoothed out avg over x amount of months

ie the longer the time frame the less likely that the avg gets pulled out of context (ie like having a heat wave with lots of AC will skew the avg on a short time frame)

 

[leon.davibe]

Thanks so I should measure from 6pm - 6am and then also from 6am - 6pm and see what I am using per day between night and day?
I want to try and get away from Eskom as much as possible not so much just for load shedding
So do you think I need another battery and maybe 2 more panels?

Yea essentially you want the solar panel array to be able to cover night plus day consumption combined or as close as budget allows

You can use

Global Solar Atlas

The Global Solar Atlas provides a summary of solar power potential and solar resources globally. It is provided by the World Bank Group as a free service to governments, developers and the general public, and allows users to quickly obtain data and carry out a simple electricity output...

globalsolaratlas.info

To determine what you will get out of x size array, you can change array size to see what will meet your need, it will give you expected output for winter and summer months based on info relevant to your area

Be sure to change the angles of your roof and the way it is facing azimuth is the angle off perfect north, and the tilt = your roof angle

And then the batteries has to cover the nighttime usage or as much as budget allows , keep in mind losses 1-10% inverter choice dependant

going for a big inverter makes it easier to just put everything on the inverter, meaning less work to actually get as much as possible from solar

 

[marine1]

Yea essentially you want the solar panel array to be able to cover night plus day consumption combined or as close as budget allows

You can use

Global Solar Atlas

The Global Solar Atlas provides a summary of solar power potential and solar resources globally. It is provided by the World Bank Group as a free service to governments, developers and the general public, and allows users to quickly obtain data and carry out a simple electricity output...

globalsolaratlas.info

To determine what you will get out of x size array, you can change array size to see what will meet your need, it will give you expected output for winter and summer months based on info relevant to your area

Be sure to change the angles of your roof and the way it is facing azimuth is the angle off perfect north, and the tilt = your roof angle

And then the batteries has to cover the nighttime usage or as much as budget allows , keep in mind losses 1-10% inverter choice dependant

going for a big inverter makes it easier to just put everything on the inverter, meaning less work to actually get as much as possible from solar

Thanks so much

 

[marine1]

Yea essentially you want the solar panel array to be able to cover night plus day consumption combined or as close as budget allows

You can use

Global Solar Atlas

The Global Solar Atlas provides a summary of solar power potential and solar resources globally. It is provided by the World Bank Group as a free service to governments, developers and the general public, and allows users to quickly obtain data and carry out a simple electricity output...

globalsolaratlas.info

To determine what you will get out of x size array, you can change array size to see what will meet your need, it will give you expected output for winter and summer months based on info relevant to your area

Be sure to change the angles of your roof and the way it is facing azimuth is the angle off perfect north, and the tilt = your roof angle

And then the batteries has to cover the nighttime usage or as much as budget allows , keep in mind losses 1-10% inverter choice dependant

going for a big inverter makes it easier to just put everything on the inverter, meaning less work to actually get as much as possible from solar

why dont these guys want to put the geysers and pool pumps and aircons onto the solar?
Cant they have a switch or something to decide which you want to use? Solar or electricy from COJ?

I am looking at that site, dont really understand the numbers

 

[marine1]

This is what I see just not sure about adjusting the azimuth etc

 

[leon.davibe]

why dont these guys want to put the geysers and pool pumps and aircons onto the solar?
Cant they have a switch or something to decide which you want to use? Solar or electricy from COJ?

I am looking at that site, dont really understand the numbers

They are often scared people will keep tripping the system or empty the battery and have nuisance shutdowns , minimising queries call-outs imo

A person can have a changeover switch installed on heavy hitters then you can swop it on a whim on eskom or inverter, but if you get a big inverter then you just use the inverter settings to change the load to be powered from eskom instead if battery is low or solar production is low

You can l ave the azimuth on default if your roof faces north a degree or two won't be earth shattering to the estimate

And om satellite view find your home for best results

It tends to give yearly units in mwh ie 1mwh = 1000kwh eskom units

Then click on open detail
Scroll down on the left there is a bar chart that will show you how many units you can expect per month, if your angle on the roof is closest to optimal then you will see the dip in june isn't as deep

If sub optimal then winter dip is more

Most installations bias the panels to the perfect angle for winter to lift the dip in winter ,as longer days in summer tend to compensate for sub optimal angle for summer ie flat is optimal for summer

That is the only portion we as avg people care about approx units per month /30 for a daily

 

[leon.davibe]

This is what I see just not sure about adjusting the azimuth etc

View attachment 1623851

Hover on the month to see units per month expected

If it exceeds 1000kwh i think it will show mwh again

0 Azimuth is if your roof is facing perfect nort and if not you need to change the angle to what angle your house is offset to perpendicular to north

ie if you house is 10deg offset, then you would have to use either 10deg or 350deg depending on which way it is off set ie to east or west, ie assume 10 would be to east and 350 would be if to west 0 is perfect north facing

 

[marine1]

They are often scared people will keep tripping the system or empty the battery and have nuisance shutdowns , minimising queries call-outs imo

A person can have a changeover switch installed on heavy hitters then you can swop it on a whim on eskom or inverter, but if you get a big inverter then you just use the inverter settings to change the load to be powered from eskom instead if battery is low or solar production is low

You can l ave the azimuth on default if your roof faces north a degree or two won't be earth shattering to the estimate

And om satellite view find your home for best results

It tends to give yearly units in mwh ie 1mwh = 1000kwh eskom units

Then click on open detail
Scroll down on the left there is a bar chart that will show you how many units you can expect per month, if your angle on the roof is closest to optimal then you will see the dip in june isn't as deep

If sub optimal then winter dip is more

Most installations bias the panels to the perfect angle for winter to lift the dip in winter ,as longer days in summer tend to compensate for sub optimal angle for summer ie flat is optimal for summer

That is the only portion we as avg people care about approx units per month /30 for a daily

Dear God you know your **** about this

 

[leon.davibe]

Dear God you know your **** about this

No assume it is just a head start on reading/forums/youtube

Not to long ago i was arguing not seeing a stupid mistake i was making

We learn something new everyday, if we venture out of our comfort zone

 

[RonSwanson]

thats the problem its been estimates all year and then they didnt charge me last month now they took the whole year and put it into the highest band and charged me 26k , lemme look at daily consumption or what I can see, maybe you can comment? We are busy fighting with COJ about this

View attachment 1623833

It's shocking man! (pun intended)

Ja, like @leon.davibe just take your actual reading today, subtract your last 2022 actual reading, then divide that amongst the number of days. That would give your actual daily. I suspect that it will be around 15-16 kWh daily. If that is true, you would need an 8kW inverter (preferably Solis S6), and 18-20kWh of battery to get you through the night (assuming a base load of around 700W). On the roof you need to max it out at 13kWp. All this is true if you can identify the phase that you are using, I doubt that you are using the other two phases though.
If you are using all 3 phases, you will need to buy a more expensive 3 phase inverter, or perhaps even better: ask them to downgrade you to single phase first. This means that your monthly fixed costs will drop dramatically too.

So all in all, using PFS pricing, you are looking at 255k (including rail mounts, cabling etc.). Install I would thumbsuck at 20-30K (depending on the phases issue above, so all in all you are in for 275-285K. Not bad for 99% off grid.

Or you can start a little smaller with a system like this, and add 2 additional batteries as you get funds. Probably the wisest option, and should shave over 2K off your monthly usage bill.

 

[leon.davibe]

Thanks so I should measure from 6pm - 6am and then also from 6am - 6pm and see what I am using per day between night and day?
I want to try and get away from Eskom as much as possible not so much just for load shedding
So do you think I need another battery and maybe 2 more panels?

Sorry wasn't paying attention properly when i read this post earlier

Sorry for the long post

Your original post has kwh which i assume to be the amount of units the system is rated to produce per day


You can use that info to select a package, ie you want a system that is equal/more than what your 24hrs consumption is

Or you need the KWp rating of the panels ie KWp is the rated peak output of the panels

Then use solar atlas to check if the figures they are quoting is generic values or if they used a tool like this to determine the expected output based on your location/weather/irradiance

ie 10 panels of 500w would be an array of 5000Wp or 5KWp

And then solar atlas uses irradiation and data from your area to determine how many kwh the array will produce in a day

ie where i live my avg over a year is equivalent to 4.1 sun hours per day thus 4.1 * 5000w/5kw would mean that my avg will be 20500wh /20.5kwh per day

While the same panels fitted at sun city with an avg of 6.1 sun hours will produce 30.5kwh avg per day

Naturally this is avg ie my array size at the moment is 2.73kwp and have seen 20kwh units per day on a good day and 5kwh on cloudy/rainy day

I have only had panels since 13jul so not a lot of data yet

And this is why ronswanson says max out the mppt capacity , cause if you do the chances of meeting your needs on cloudy day gets better

And then the meter reading of night time consumption will help to choose battery size

Most tend to try not use batteries below 20% to stretch the lifetime

so lets say you find that you use 10kwh from6-6 when the battery would have to carry

You would have to oversize the battery for that 20% reserve and the loss of inverter losses some cheaper inverters are like 90-93% and pricier option can be up to 99% efficient

So consider 21-30% for this

So you would need 14.3kwh to meet a need of 10kwh at worst case scenario

So it all starts with your measurements

Finance/cash/rental depends on your circumstances and which suits you best

ie the rental is the fee fixed or is the increases linked to eskom or just inflation ?

ie financing may seem more expensive the first years and then as eskom/rental increases how long before that crossover point where financing drops below the other options ?

Rental means some risks are someone else's , at a price


So few years later you may wish you went a different route