Dipping a toe into the solar power pond - March 2024
As a retired engineer, I have a natural desire to investigate engineering curiosities. Recently, the concept of solar power directly from the sun appeared on my radar. Intrigued by “free electricity” or “Green electricity”, I began an extensive investigation online. After all, there has been 40 years of investigation done already. Some of the key takeaways from were:
After understanding the “lay of the land”, I decided to go ahead and spend some money and start learning on my own how solar can benefit our family, and create a greener environment. I decided to set up an off grid system that could provide emergency power, like a generator, as well as defray a small amount of our electric bill. So I got busy: I ordered a solar inverter, 6 bi-facial solar panels, and a 48 volt 100 amp-hour battery. Fortunately, the transfer switch was already installed.
The ordering process was good: The parts arrived from California within 2 weeks, undamaged, and I was ready. The first thing to notice is that the parts are big and heavy. 100 pounds for the battery, 50 pounds for the inverter, 60 pounds each for the solar panels. So, you need to be prepared to move and manipulate large, heavy equipment. Since we have ample ground space, on a hill, with no trees, I opted to build a portable ground frame for the solar panels. I did this with treated lumber and I set it up so I could run experiments with angle and tilt. My first set up was facing due South at a tilt of 57 degrees.
- The price of solar components is way down.
- There are lots of companies entering the market creating a dizzying array of choices.
- There was a big wave of people about 10 years ago who jumped in, thinking that they were going to make money by selling electrical power to the utility companies.
- The utility companies have effectively put a halt to this with “net metering” and now , in some states, even paying only 20% or less, for any power created at the customer level.
- When you partner with your utility company, you must use their specified equipment, get permitted, and set it up their way, with their approval process.
- The solar power produced is only available in the daylight, so if you need some at night or other dark days, you’re out of luck.
- Partnering with your utility company is typically how it’s been done, except for “off gridders”.
- Off grid participants use batteries to store solar power for use in non-sun times and they have been making great strides in how a family might thrive in this situation.
- Batteries are fairly expensive, so there is a limit to how much you’re willing to pay.
- Recently, a Federal Tax credit of 30% has been put in place, to help encourage solar investment.
After understanding the “lay of the land”, I decided to go ahead and spend some money and start learning on my own how solar can benefit our family, and create a greener environment. I decided to set up an off grid system that could provide emergency power, like a generator, as well as defray a small amount of our electric bill. So I got busy: I ordered a solar inverter, 6 bi-facial solar panels, and a 48 volt 100 amp-hour battery. Fortunately, the transfer switch was already installed.
The ordering process was good: The parts arrived from California within 2 weeks, undamaged, and I was ready. The first thing to notice is that the parts are big and heavy. 100 pounds for the battery, 50 pounds for the inverter, 60 pounds each for the solar panels. So, you need to be prepared to move and manipulate large, heavy equipment. Since we have ample ground space, on a hill, with no trees, I opted to build a portable ground frame for the solar panels. I did this with treated lumber and I set it up so I could run experiments with angle and tilt. My first set up was facing due South at a tilt of 57 degrees.
Solar installation in Williamsburg, Mi
Setting up the electrical side of the equation required that I study EE 101 for a few days. You need to be sure of what you’re doing or get professional help. (But, sometimes nothing compares to trying it out.) After a few trial and error sessions, I eventually got all of the wiring, connectors, special tools, switches, and mounting hardware and started making electricity.
Indoor electrical equipment to distribute solar power
I was in awe when the sun came up on that first morning and “bam”, I was producing 180 volts of sun derived energy. My system runs through a manual transfer switch that takes 10 critical circuits from the main panel and diverts them to a bypass switch where I can select “grid” or “Gen”, to feed the 10 circuits. These include our well pump, the furnace, refrigerator, coffee pot and 4 other circuits. These are intended to get us by in a power outage situation. In the past, this is the device that I plugged the generator into during a power outage. Now, I plug my solar system into it for emergency power except that I leave it that way permanently so that my solar production can defray my total electric bill. And also reduce that grid power that is needed to power our home. In the first five days of use, I am making about 10 kw-hrs. per day. The battery lasts 8 hours at night. The grid power goes on seamlessly when the battery or solar is too low. I am very happy with the results so far and I am ready to start some fun experiments with the sun. Stay tuned for updates.