at Solar Haven
We had planned to have a "utility entirety" system utilizing both electricity from the utility company and from our PV system. However,the local electric company wanted $5,000 to run the power in to us. That's after WE dug a four foot deep trench a quarter of a mile long for the cable. We said "no, thank you."
We are now "off the grid" -- relying totally on our own system of solar panels, batteries, and inverter to generate electricity. The system works fine and, frankly, it's a good feeling to be independent and to know we are helping our planet, albeit in a very small way, by not contributing to the pollution from burning coal and natural gas used to produce conventional electricity.
From the power generated by our twelve solar panels (shown above), stored in twelve batteries, and converted to 110 AC household current with an inverter, we can run all of our city gadgets (though not all at once):
- toaster oven
- small refrigerator
"The amount of sunshine energy that hits the surface of the Earth
every minute is greater than the total amount of energy that the world's
human population consumes in a year!"
Source: "Home Power Magazine" -- a must have magazine!
(visit Home Power's web site)
PV SYSTEM BUDGET:
Kyocera 120 Watt PV Panels (8, new) - $4,750
(7.10 amps @ 16.9 volts, 960 watts total)
Solec 150 Watt PV Panels (4, used) - $2,050
Combiner Box and Breakers for Panels - $125
"Trace" Power Panel and SW-4048 Inverter - $3,790
(48 volt, 4000 watt DC-AC inverter)
Concorde "Absorbent Glass Matt" Sealed Photovoltaic Batteries (12) - $1,920
(105 amp hour storage capacity per battery)
"Two Seas" Top-of-Pole Mounting Rack for Solar Panels - $465
Cables for Batteries, Panels, and Inverter - $240
Shipping from "Northern Arizona Wind and Sun" in Phoenix - $250
Total Cost of System - $13,500
Installing the PV system:
New Storage Room
for the batteries, inverter, and charge controller.
BACK-UP SYSTEM
On cloudy days when the sun does not charge our batteries, we have a wind generator to charge our batteries. On those days when we have neither wind nor sun (very rare in the Arizona desert), we have a 2,800 watt Makita gasoline generator to provide our electricity.
The generator is wired to our inverter so that it provides both power to our house and charges up our batteries at the same time. We have used the generator mostly when one of us is "bad" and leaves something on in the house or uses their computer too many hours in the day for the power we have available and when we get a bad spell of cloudy weather.
SEPARATE 12 VOLT - DIRECT CURRENT SYSTEM
Since appliances, motors, and electronic devices all run more efficiently on direct current when compared with their AC counterparts, we have installed a separate 12 VDC system for the things we have which run with DC current. This system consists of one 40 watt solar panel and a large capacity, deep-cycle storage battery to provide direct DC power. The system currently supplies power for three of the five DC pumps which circulate water in our hydronic heating system and a large DC exhaust fan for the greenhouse. The pumps only use 10 watts each, but each pump is capable of moving an amazing three gallons of water a minute. The fan only uses 16 watts, less than half the wattage necessary to run an AC fan of the same size.
Click here for a detailed diagram of this system which also includes a charge controller, on/off switches and fuses, a 12 volt timer, and a battery desulfator.
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