I am purchasing a 5,000 watt solar system for my property. This will produce over 30KWH per day in the summer, and about 15KWH per day in the worst winter months. It will be entirely off-grid and will meet all of my family's needs. For those of you who know solar, it consists of 120 solar panels, 72v each, fed to an 80 amp outback charge controller, charging T-105 batteries with a capacity of 13.5kwh per day. The batteries will be replaced in about 4-5 years. The well pump will be a S40-6 made by Grundfos, DC powered producing 70GPM at 90' while only using 300 watts - and this does not tape into the inverter. This is the ideal solution I have always wanted, and the cost is about 60% of what the PG&E hookup cost would have been. The best part- no red tape with the local county and I have full power. A Xantrex SW5548 Inverter producing 5500 watts will run the cabin. It really pays to buy used solar panels and used gear(except the batteries). The monthly payment on this system is about $170 over 84 months. I am going to add wind power- most likely an 800 watt unit. This will run another $800 installed. Since I am a techie installing this will be hard work, but do-able without a solar professional.
Now the next step is to finish the septic with the county, then get the 120' well drilled.
Brock
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Hi,
I am reading your blog with some interest since we have some land in claifornia too (calaveras) and wondering about costs. You said PG&E hookup is about $24K -- what are the factors which determine this? We have power at the boundary, I'm wondering if there is a rough per foot cost to get it from the boundary to the house.
Thanks
Uee.
Uee,
The power from my property line is right at 900', and I will need an additional 150' of high voltage PG&E on top of the 900', then to the meter, and then two 100 amp runs from the meter to the house which is another 250'. PG&E wanted 24K for the 1150' and transformer installed, plus the red tape of dealing with the county. Normally, PG&E now charges about $25 per foot installed. Underground service can be as much as $40 per foot.
With the solar option the array is 100' away from the house and the line runs are very short, plus I don't have to open up access to the parcel for PG&E use to read the meter or create a separate entrance just for them.
Normally, the maximum distance you can go low-voltage 220 for a house is about 300'. I have heard of others putting a meter on the edge of their property, purchasing two 600v transformers and then running this 1/3 a mile to the house. The efficiency of the transformers is about 95%. Hope this helps. Good luck with your homestead.
Thanks for the info. We'll probably go for solar too when the time comes. Also some wind power. I will have to pick you brain when we build!
Uee
That sounds like a good plan. I have some friends getting some solar panels and tubing for their roof to heat their water, they are looking at spending 30K. We may consider in the future or if we build a little homestead out back, if one of the kids wants to buy our old farmhouse....many years to come!
My next big purchase would be an outdoor furnace... It would heat our house, part of the barn, a greenhouse, and provide us with hot water.
Thanks so much for the great info! We're trying to power a well and log cabin in Redding. Can you tell me where you bought your solar equipment and batteries. Any help is greatly appreciated!
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