Sunday, June 22, 2008

power system solved for the homestead

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

Tuesday, June 3, 2008