[oclug] [OT] Solar / Renewable Power Generation

[Tom Trottier]

That setup seems excessive. Why 30kW? If you really want to escape the 
utility, you have to switch to propane or natural gas for your stove 
and dryer at least, and have a solar hot water system for water, and 
perhaps heating. If you use fluroescents, your daily needs should be 
much less than 30x2.6 kwh = 78kwh

A 4.5kw generator could be used as supplemental when needed.

Or run a motor off the propane and use it as a heat pump for cooling or 
heating, as well as using the waste heat and generating electricity. 
E.G. http://www.propanegas.com/consumer/resguide/advance.html or  
http://www.genergypower.com/

If you're still on the grid, I think you can sell extra electricity 
back to the Hydro company.

Tom

On Monday, August 12, 2002 at 15:41, Jon Earle 
<oclug at lists.oclug.on.ca>
wrote re "Re: [oclug] [OT] Solar / Renewable Power Generati" saying:

> On Sun, 11 Aug 2002, Mike wrote:
> 
> > My brother currently runs his house off of a small Honda generator and
> > propane.  His previous house had 6 solar panels and propane.  he's was
> > trying to decide how many panels are needed now and with fuel prices so
> > low he's finding it cheaper to keep running the generator to charge the
> > batteries.
> 
> www.utilityfree.com has a sizing guide.  I ran through it this AM and,
> what I came up with is this:
> 
> I need, in worst case (winter), a system capable of generating 30kW (since
> the solar hours are considerably reduced in the winter in this area - only
> about 2.35hrs of power generating sunlight/day, compared with about 4.6 in
> the summer).  This means, I'd need 758 40W/2.36A panels at around 38' x
> 17' x 12.6lbs ea.  That translates to two arrays (24V system) sized about
> 20' x 87'.  For a three day reserve (in case we get some seriouly cloudy
> days common in winter), I'd need 74 265Ah batteries.  Without even
> figuring all the costs for mounting structures, wiring, inverters,
> controllers and anything else I'd need, I think the above would be
> horrifying expensive to build.
> 
> Compare the prices of PV systems to the emerging fuel cell tech - the
> equivalent fuelcell system for my house (two 4.5kW cells) would run me,
> right now, about $50k.
> 
> Some folks I've read on the net, suggest hybrid PV/wind systems.

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