This is why Germany has now increased their CO2 emissions. Too much dependency on solar and wind that their systems have become unreliable. Thanks for then turning around and buying that Russian oil.
People that crap on the price of solar setup and batteries need to realize that Hawaii pays the most in the US for electricity. The price of electricity on average is $.37 per kWh. That's more than $300 for the average household. Note that that price varies by island. The next state up in cost, which is New York pays less $.20 per kWh. The national average for the rest of the US is less than $.14 per KWH. So in this instance, for Hawaii, the investment into solar is worth it and will pay for itself sooner than a mainland home.
We invested in solar here in Maryland...was totally worth it even though our state allows net metering...Hawaii along with several other states are ripping people off not offering net metering!!! Shame on Hawaii!!!!! Our payback is about 10% a year...better than stock market any day!!!
How can it be better than the stock market. Your solar panels decay and need to be replaced. You will never be ahead with solar. By the time they pay for themselves, they will need replacement.
It kind of depends but generally yeah if you have other options they make more financial sense. Not to mention technology keeps improving and prices dropping. A 10k solar system 5 years ago isn't half as good as you'd get now even though you'd still be paying that system off. There is also the fact in a lot of area's you can't get off the grid either, the city won't let you disconnect. Which means even if you never touch a drop of power you still have to put up with a minimum fee to be connected to the grid and in some cases shut down your own power so they can maintenance the line safely.
hey ,if anyone else wants to uncover solar energy residential home try Magonsi Solar System Expert (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my buddy got great results with it.
Sometimes I think its meant to show that some things you should not try to DIY and its more meant to show you what it is, the benefits (pros and cons) and what the whole install would look like to help you decide if its something you might want to do.
There are a few components to the subject . One place I discovered which succeeds in merging these is the Ewans Energy Roadmap (check it out on google) definately the no.1 plan that I have ever seen. Check out the unbelievable information .
Many jobs cannot be done by the homeowner due to electrical code as well as city codes. A homeowner could theoretically install the whole thing but would still need an electrician for the final connection and to check that all is correct and up to code before the inspector okays it. His mortgage company and home owners insurance would also likely stipulate this as well so that a novice doesn't install too thin a wire and the house burns down.
What if he had 10 batteries instead of 5? I would hope that should cover twice more longer & use the rest of that supply into the next day continuously so that there would be less feed from the electric company. And being that these are batteries, one of them is likely to fail over time, so I have to wonder how much it costs for one replacement battery unit.
I love this technology! The future is going to be awesome! Imagine wow fast motorcycles will be. Free to charge, and insanely fast electric engines. Instant power baby!
I like this but it would be nice to have the ability to have a battery that could hold more power in a smaller space. I then would have more batteries not only 5 but 25 to 30 plus batteries. I would as well put more solar panels on the roof. At night I would install a wind turbine so so when the wind blows at night it could help charge those batteries and help to provide power at night cutting down on having to use the power company if possible. I believe things like this should be considered as a Right not a Privilege. Public Utilities should never be a for profit entities, they need to be a right.
if its a 'right' then you could use 0.1% of the energy i use, and you would still pay the same (in taxes) to support my 1000% higher energy usage. still think its fair?
The micro inverter is for grid tie use, as stated on this product's web page. However, in this installation, the solar energy setup is for off grid. How does this micro inverter work in the off grid phase?
These are not off grid batteries. They are designed for places where time of use billing makes prices skyrocket when solar capacity collapses in the late afternoon as the sun is setting and thus it is cheaper to run off the batteries than the grid.
You may want to expand on "the why" the utilities don't want upstream power - specifically the fact that distribution (as apposed to transmission) grids are historically designed to be one way. The issue comes down to safety. Transmission lines are bidirectional in delivery and thus have fault systems that isolate based on multiple sources of energy. In distribution systems, the feeders are designed with the assumption ion that power is delivered from the substation to the meters, and fault isolation assumes that. If there is a line fault, the utility does not want energy delivered from the home into the faulted line. However, there is technology being developed for "islanding" these segments.
James Hanley Here in Florida, the utility lobby has blocked the use of "islanding inverters in residential solar installations using the safety argument. However, people who buy whole house standby generators are allowed to power their homes in a power outage , yet somehow, these don't pose a risk to utility linemen? How can a fossil fuel powered generator be safe and a solar system be "unsafe". Both have "islanding" circuitry!
Inverters, such as the Enphase Micro Inverters on my system, cut power if they sense grid loss so they don't back feed any power onto the lines. I believe that's standard in all of them.
It has since the 1980s, but the plant was damaged by lava during the 2018 eruption and won't be operational again for another year or two. The plant is located on the Big Island. There were studies for a couple decades of how to get the power to a couple more islands, but the long undersea DC cables needed would be too expensive (depth of water, environmentally sensitive reefs, etc). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puna_Geothermal_Venture
It is my understanding that Hawaii makes more solar than used during the day.... they go negative on the base loading. Then in the evening they have to spool up rapidly. That’s the problem.... also the grid tie settings for things such as frequency deviation are broader... SMA for example has a different set of setting for US mainland vs Hawaii grid in their grid interactive inverters.
That's not what I imagined when I heard solar storage. I thought it was going to be a 10,000 gallon cistern connected to the solar thermal to move water up into local water towers. Then the potential energy could be used at night.
great idea ...or maybe right in the backyard heavy weight like say 5 -6 tons lifted up slowely by electric motor and gear box , than the same motor could work as generator power by that weight going down slowly . the only concern would be to make the set up safe somehow so no little child would get trapted under that weight ...( or drunk adult )
How about return on investment? How long for breakeven? These panels don't last forever. They lose efficiency every year. Same with the batteries. Eventually everything will have to be replaced. How much gain in savings will there be before replacement?
great no world of info what kind of batteries , how much they cost and the DC voltage on it ...thank you very helpful video ...that much everybody knows .
According to my electric company electrical is more heavily used during the day. Business is the reason for that. It would be sensible for businesses to go solar.
Garden-Variety Google User even if you double the life of the batteries you still will never make what you invest into one. It is like everyone buying high end furnaces, you will never recoup the money. How do I know I install them and service them. I see people buying the most advanced hvac systems on the market, but they won't save enough money in energy costs to ever pay for the equipment. Same goes for this equipment, the investment will never be recouped. Until natural gas becomes scarce and oil drys up there will never see their money back on this equipment.
Depending on how much is invested in the system and how big of a system you invested in... Solar power systems can range from $500 for a basic system that just powers a few LED lights to over $30,000 for a system that can let the house be completely off-grid and still have every modern convenience... Versus how much energy you use... If you're paying hundreds every month for utilities then it could pay off sooner but typically it averages around 7-10 years... It can also pay faster if you're in a high energy cost region like Hawaii that has to pay a high premium to get fossil fuel shipped to them. Along with how much sun you get in your region... Being in Hawaii they get a lot so it's easier to get a higher return on energy costs there but if you're in a region that doesn't get a lot of year round sunlight then it can take a lot longer to break even... But you can always combine the system with a wind turbine and other ways to generate energy locally...
Overly gross statement. Where the user is located, how much energy he uses, how much the system/installation cost him are all huge factors in when/if it makes a return on investment. That aside, keep in mind solar panels also need to be replaced at some point, same for turbines, things wear down. Batteries also don't just "end" they lose % capacity over the years. A well maintained system can last 20yrs, but the amount of energy produced and stored will lower over the years and needs to be accounted for.
3:45 "...this is a 1.2 kw hour battery" Wow 1.2 kw! I just bought a new computer. It has a 4 gig hard drive and 250 mb of ram! Isn't technology awesome! [end] sarcasm.
Richard often visits Germany and loves their energy policy so he is seriously into solar. Germany depends a lot on the Russians for their natural resources that produce power (mainly natural gas) and they want to depend less on the Russians.
Because Richard is an AC specialist, they know of both electricity and plumbing, he also has a little mechanical engineering in him so it's good to see that he has interest inside him for these sort of things rather than pushing for unsustainable living such as using a gasoline/LPG/Diesel generator like the other videos have shown
So - how many amp hours is his battery bank? How many KW is his solar array? How much does Hawaii pay for solar power you put back on the grid??? How much power can Hawaii public utilities demand from your solar battery bank? How long will your battery bank last if you draw 20 percent of battery capacity each night? This Old House keeps it light and clueless.
The electric company doesn't like paying its customers so they make them store it in the customer's batteries so the cost just keeps rising. The electric company (more like companies as this is starting to happen globally now) doesn't want you to have any of this so they are doing everything they can to force you into just saying forget it and go back to them. They are, after all, in the electric company business to make a profit and when people could do net metering the company was not showing profits like before. Wise up the push to remove us from being self sufficient has started and it will only get worse.
There's someone making very precisely machined weights that spin faster when "charging" and slow down when "discharging" though the AC generated isn't always 60hz so the power has to still be converted so I'd have to see one in person to say it's viable
My thoughts too, coupled with the initial inverter at the panels, this makes the system rather inefficient, you lose what 10% everytime you convert? Doing it twice costs you.
I guess he pretty much is limited to AC because of the existing wiring in place that was meant for 120 volt AC. If they drop it down to 12 volt DC (or whatever), they would need much thicker wires to handle the increase in current. I'm curious how they all keep their sine waves in sync....does each inverter do that on its own?
never said you could store AC. I'm saying that he's limited to running AC down the wires because DC wires would likely need to be changed to thicker wires and he might need to change his solar panels as they already have a build in inverter and doing everything twice.
Arie M in a normal system DC power is sent to the batteries then inverted once to AC. in this "AC battery" DC from the panel is inverted to AC feeds the house and another inverter in the "AC battery" to be stored as DC.
This right here is the future of solar power. Eventually when I retire, I plan on building my dream shipping container home with a system similar to this. If my budget allows, I may even include enough solar and storage to be totally off grid, which is entirely possible in sunny locales, and with battery technology improving and getting cheaper.
best to go for a DC-DC storage solution before the inverter to minimise loss, then you can use the existing inverter to transfer the energy out into your home for you to use throughout the day and night, I would suggest for a proper family home 50KW battery system and 6KW solar panels to ensure happy living. That should be around $10,000 however you will still be feeding back into the grid so you will be making money off the system and you will only have to pay the supply charge, not the KW used. The monitoring of the DC-DC system can be done with tablet system so you know what battery system to replace and you don't need to spend $2000 to replace 1KW of batteries when it fails.
jej3451 here is the thing about that, there are programs but they are still very expensive to have installed correctly and the worst part is other tax payers are paying for these programs which I certainly do not support government taking more money out of my checks to fund a industry that couldn't survive with out it. Look at the Tesla car company that has gotten over 350 million in tax payer money to fund their car company
Are you still looking for solar system? We are manufature in China. If you are intersted in you can contact me . Email: export19@anern.com skype: anern19 whatsapp: +86 18816786034. Thanks Sunly Wang
I don't understand why Solar has to be a solo individual effort. Why couldn't it be pooled for an entire block? With a common area that everyone owns collectively for the solar area and just pay someone to manage it so everyone doesn't have to become a solar expert. But I guess pooling your neighbors into a communal solar grid is just weird in our modern "everyman for himself" "everyone is an island" world.
You're essentially describing a municipal electrical grid on a smaller scale. Where we're starting to run into trouble is in the "pay someone to manage it" part, in that if everyone has solar, the lost revenue (or payouts in a net metering situation) means we won't be paying in enough to maintain the grid, repair it after storms, etc. The grid is important to maintain because you'll still have power regardless of your own system, and the further the grid spreads, the more reliable it becomes.
This. Unless you are far from a grid, have VERY expensive grid power, or just like being "green", for most individuals, they will never recoup their investment in savings. in 25 years or whatever, they'll need to replace worn out parts, etc. Because of that, I feel that a centralized solar effort is the most useful whether it's the community or solar farms.
Break-even varies tremendously. If your price per kwhr varies by Time-Of-Use then shifting loads to batteries, during peak kwhr price time, could *potentially* save you money.
I am totally aware of the Westinghouse versus Edison "battle of the currents" and if you were you would know that the number 1 best thing about AC is it's ability to be sent over long distances due mainly to the ease of stepping up voltages (transformer). so, central power stations can more economically distribute power. but, if you generate (solar) right at the site of consumption, the the advantages of AC over DC totally go away - which is something you should do.
How long to the Batteries and Panels last? If they last 50 years with ever increasing cost of energy with minimal maintenance, then it's a no brainier to buy solar. But if the panels start slowly being less efficient and Batteries have to be replaced like batteries do, then this doesn't really make sense if power bills are relatively average. Now if I get more than I need and want to sell my extra power to my neighbor....lets see how long it takes the Government to come in and shut that down.
The moral of the story is we are getting solar with storage so that we can keep paying the electric company at least just a little. Don't ever install way more than you might need otherwise the solar company won't get paid to maintain its grid which is necessary to keep asking you for some money each month.
Tesla has their Powerwall solution for this purpose. That costs about 4000 or 8000 dollars i think. That also depends on your needs. But in 50 years we will have fussion power, all those windmills and solar arrays can go on the scrap pile then.
Richard van Pukkem my problem with tesla is they have been taking tax dollars to stay a float in the name of being fair. If there was truly the demand for those products government wouldn't have to get involved stealing money from tax payers to fun a private company.
Everything Tesla has had it's hands on has been subsidized by American tax payers...to the tune of over $5 billion...Tesla cars, Space X, and their SolarCity business. And the subsidies are still going on. I can't stand the god complex people perceive about Elon.
zack9912000 What? Do you also complain about the tax breaks we give big oil and every other multi billion dollar corporation in the US? If we are going to boost an industry with tax revenue I would rather promote one that helps move us towards a greener future versus one that pollutes and causes cancer and birth defects in children.
John Salazar don't go all liberal on me trying to justify these green projects that waste billions of our taxes. I do not support any federal funds going to private industry that without those funds they collapse because there is little to no demand for those products. It's clean you don't know anything about what toxic chemicals they have to use to manufacture these products and the millions of tons of carbon to strip mine to make these products. It's like cutting your foot off for a in grown nail claiming it's the best option.
This is also true for coal, Exxon, Chevron, Walmart - lots of farming.. and really any company the pays less than a living wage. I would much rather have tax revenue fund emerging technologies than let Walmart pay less than a living wage. So in the name of being fair, please can we just let coal die?
I suspect it is for a number of reasons. When only a few people in an area have solar, the ElCo can use that extra energy during the day for commercial loads, then at night when commercial loads go off line they use their generation capacity to service the solar homeowner that now need power. When a large portion of the population has solar, including commercial properties, now the ElCo has no need for the extra energy during the day, but they still have the demand at night. So now the ElCo needs to purchase some sort of storage. They can use pump storage, pumping water to a higher elevation during the day, and then using it to power hydro at night,but I doubt Hawaii has the geography for that. Power plants just don't start up and shut down on a whim. Your baseline plants (which are the cheaper ones to run) take a while to heat up and shut down. Your peaker plants, such as gas turbines, do come on line quickly, but cost alot to run. The ElCo is shifting the cost of the storage batteries to the people at are actually benefiting from them, as opposed to spreading the cost across all of its customers.
Lot of utility companies are ending net metering agreements, because if everyone had solar and was paying the same amount for electric that the electric company is paying them... basically creating a wash where the electric company gets nothing or very little income .... without income, how to maintain the electric grid? Some utilities are ending agreements/metering completely, some are modifying them where the company pays less for electricity that is push on the grid than the customer/consumer pays for taking it off the grid. Solar customers without batteries are basically using the grid as their battery and if they don't pay more for using grid electricity than when sending it out, they are using the grid for free. Everyone that uses the grid should pay or else it can't be maintained.
It won't go to waste, it will go into storage that the customer will need to purchase. I haven't heard anything about batteries costing more, but I think more is at play than just greed. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what the electric companies are thinking. What is the state of California thinking as they have raised tax on gasoline, greedy? What's state's that charge to drive on toll lanes (not toll roads, but lanes set aside for rich people) thinking? Raising gas tax and charging for toll lane driving greedy or just a way to pay for the roads? Raising electric rates greedy or just a way to pay for the electric infrastructure? Disney charges extra for a fast pass, is it greedy to separate the rich kids that can afford the fast pass from poor kids that can't? Is it greedy for me to ask for a raise? Sorry, I'm on a roll, I didn't plan this it just started flowing uncontrollably.
nice, but let's not be pollyannaish about the cause for proliferation of solar in Hawaii -- it's due to great incentives that make it financially viable.
Did anybody notice Nick's surname? Soleil is French for the sun, surely he changed it!! Soleil - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleil Soleil is the French word for the Sun.
Storage with micro-inverters is dumb. If you're installing a new system, and aren't already saddled with micro-inverters, DC-optimized panels, with a battery monitor/charger and big grid-tie inverter that can draw power from either the battery bank or solar panels is a better solution.
We need to alter building code to allow 12 v lighting from solar. Very simple system with 12v batteries and LED bulbs. Skip the inverters and you save the conversion losses. LED bulbs for 120v AC have rectifiers and regulators to drop it back to 12v anyway... so going solar to 120v and back to 12v = wasting a lot of energy. Run a major amount of the house off of 12V.... ******************* THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN AC BATTERY! You have a DC battery with an inverter.
Let's hope he knows more about solar than the camera man does about , "Out to the grid". And then show a picture of the Phone and Cable lines, with no Electrical grid in the scene.
WB IsMe One of the barriers to making renewable-energy highly-efficient and mainstream, is economically storing the energy the renewables generate. On-site storage of the energy your solar-panels produce is the most efficient and most bang-for-your-buck. If your "system. only works part of the time, it is not much of a system, IMHO.
I´am a fan of solar energy. The sun will never send us a bill.
Greetings from germany
France will
Hey Fritz, what are doing when the sun doesn't shine for 2 weeks?
Where I live it's the government that sends it, because for whatever reason you still need to tax the energy you produce.
This is why Germany has now increased their CO2 emissions. Too much dependency on solar and wind that their systems have become unreliable. Thanks for then turning around and buying that Russian oil.
People that crap on the price of solar setup and batteries need to realize that Hawaii pays the most in the US for electricity. The price of electricity on average is $.37 per kWh. That's more than $300 for the average household. Note that that price varies by island. The next state up in cost, which is New York pays less $.20 per kWh. The national average for the rest of the US is less than $.14 per KWH. So in this instance, for Hawaii, the investment into solar is worth it and will pay for itself sooner than a mainland home.
We invested in solar here in Maryland...was totally worth it even though our state allows net metering...Hawaii along with several other states are ripping people off not offering net metering!!! Shame on Hawaii!!!!! Our payback is about 10% a year...better than stock market any day!!!
10c/kwh in Texas means solar makes no sense at all
How can it be better than the stock market. Your solar panels decay and need to be replaced. You will never be ahead with solar. By the time they pay for themselves, they will need replacement.
It kind of depends but generally yeah if you have other options they make more financial sense. Not to mention technology keeps improving and prices dropping. A 10k solar system 5 years ago isn't half as good as you'd get now even though you'd still be paying that system off. There is also the fact in a lot of area's you can't get off the grid either, the city won't let you disconnect. Which means even if you never touch a drop of power you still have to put up with a minimum fee to be connected to the grid and in some cases shut down your own power so they can maintenance the line safely.
Holy cow, we only pay $.08 per Kwh (winter rate) in Oklahoma. Summer rates are $.12 to $.14.
I've seen people reuse old prius batteries. It's such a good idea.
Finally a solar video :) I have been watching your diy videos for the last year.
So the answer to "how to install home solar", seems to be "get someone else to do it"
hey ,if anyone else wants to uncover solar energy residential home try Magonsi Solar System Expert (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my buddy got great results with it.
Sometimes I think its meant to show that some things you should not try to DIY and its more meant to show you what it is, the benefits (pros and cons) and what the whole install would look like to help you decide if its something you might want to do.
There are a few components to the subject . One place I discovered which succeeds in merging these is the Ewans Energy Roadmap (check it out on google) definately the no.1 plan that I have ever seen. Check out the unbelievable information .
Many jobs cannot be done by the homeowner due to electrical code as well as city codes. A homeowner could theoretically install the whole thing but would still need an electrician for the final connection and to check that all is correct and up to code before the inspector okays it. His mortgage company and home owners insurance would also likely stipulate this as well so that a novice doesn't install too thin a wire and the house burns down.
What if he had 10 batteries instead of 5? I would hope that should cover twice more longer & use the rest of that supply into the next day continuously so that there would be less feed from the electric company. And being that these are batteries, one of them is likely to fail over time, so I have to wonder how much it costs for one replacement battery unit.
That’s nice if you live in Hawaii but not everybody lives in Hawaii we’re here in Michigan cloudy almost every day what do you do then???
I have a 45 watt solar system I run only 12 volt led light one over my dinner table & one for the living room. Works ok need more watt panels
This guy is all about the home loads
Great solution.
I love this technology! The future is going to be awesome! Imagine wow fast motorcycles will be. Free to charge, and insanely fast electric engines. Instant power baby!
That nice to have money 1 of those batteries cost $1948 time 5 cost $9740 not including labor.
Excellent technology. I look forward to having an electric bill that is only a few dollars.
Good video .my system is all offgrid love it
I like this but it would be nice to have the ability to have a battery that could hold more power in a smaller space. I then would have more batteries not only 5 but 25 to 30 plus batteries. I would as well put more solar panels on the roof. At night I would install a wind turbine so so when the wind blows at night it could help charge those batteries and help to provide power at night cutting down on having to use the power company if possible. I believe things like this should be considered as a Right not a Privilege. Public Utilities should never be a for profit entities, they need to be a right.
if its a 'right' then you could use 0.1% of the energy i use, and you would still pay the same (in taxes) to support my 1000% higher energy usage. still think its fair?
The micro inverter is for grid tie use, as stated on this product's web page. However, in this installation, the solar energy setup is for off grid. How does this micro inverter work in the off grid phase?
These are not off grid batteries. They are designed for places where time of use billing makes prices skyrocket when solar capacity collapses in the late afternoon as the sun is setting and thus it is cheaper to run off the batteries than the grid.
Put links on how to buy the equipment you show in the videos
Verry good 😊
You may want to expand on "the why" the utilities don't want upstream power - specifically the fact that distribution (as apposed to transmission) grids are historically designed to be one way. The issue comes down to safety. Transmission lines are bidirectional in delivery and thus have fault systems that isolate based on multiple sources of energy. In distribution systems, the feeders are designed with the assumption ion that power is delivered from the substation to the meters, and fault isolation assumes that. If there is a line fault, the utility does not want energy delivered from the home into the faulted line. However, there is technology being developed for "islanding" these segments.
James Hanley Here in Florida, the utility lobby has blocked the use of "islanding inverters in residential solar installations using the safety argument. However, people who buy whole house standby generators are allowed to power their homes in a power outage , yet somehow, these don't pose a risk to utility linemen? How can a fossil fuel powered generator be safe and a solar system be "unsafe". Both have "islanding" circuitry!
Let me give you people some advice. Our government doesnt care about your safety .They care about money
Inverters, such as the Enphase Micro Inverters on my system, cut power if they sense grid loss so they don't back feed any power onto the lines. I believe that's standard in all of them.
Why doesn't Hawaii tap its volcano for geothermal energy? Regarding 1:34-2:10: That's what baseload plants are for.
It has since the 1980s, but the plant was damaged by lava during the 2018 eruption and won't be operational again for another year or two. The plant is located on the Big Island. There were studies for a couple decades of how to get the power to a couple more islands, but the long undersea DC cables needed would be too expensive (depth of water, environmentally sensitive reefs, etc). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puna_Geothermal_Venture
It is my understanding that Hawaii makes more solar than used during the day.... they go negative on the base loading. Then in the evening they have to spool up rapidly. That’s the problem.... also the grid tie settings for things such as frequency deviation are broader... SMA for example has a different set of setting for US mainland vs Hawaii grid in their grid interactive inverters.
That's not what I imagined when I heard solar storage. I thought it was going to be a 10,000 gallon cistern connected to the solar thermal to move water up into local water towers. Then the potential energy could be used at night.
great idea ...or maybe right in the backyard heavy weight like say 5 -6 tons lifted up slowely by electric motor and gear box , than the same motor could work as generator power by that weight going down slowly .
the only concern would be to make the set up safe somehow so no little child would get trapted under that weight ...( or drunk adult )
Great video!
how long do the batteries last? when do they have to be replaced?
How does this system handle anti-islanding? If I pay for all those batteries, I better be able to use them when the grid is down.
chrisbinnie you will that is why there are batteries.
GRID-TIED AC BATTERY Does NOT work as backup or off-grid power source.
that info was pulled right off the batteries description
chrisbinnie He had that disconnect switch to cut him off from the grid.
that's nice. save energy
How about return on investment? How long for breakeven? These panels don't last forever. They lose efficiency every year. Same with the batteries. Eventually everything will have to be replaced. How much gain in savings will there be before replacement?
I can across a useful collection of videos that will help on Ewans energy roadmap
great no world of info what kind of batteries , how much they cost and the DC voltage on it ...thank you very helpful video ...that much everybody knows .
nice good job !!
Nice video ;)
What kind of micro inverters are they using?
Those micro inverters are Enphase IQ 6plus
How much would this all cost a person
According to my electric company electrical is more heavily used during the day. Business is the reason for that. It would be sensible for businesses to go solar.
My HOA specifically states no solor panels can be installed.
Why the hell would you ever buy a home with a HOA??!? Worst mistake you can ever make.
You need to verify with your State - what are your Solar Access Rights ?
and what is the payback time?
Woodchop most systems never pay back, by the time you get close equipment has to be replaced
I believe what needs replacing are the batteries, every 10-12 years. This is why improving battery tech in the future is so critical to green power.
Garden-Variety Google User even if you double the life of the batteries you still will never make what you invest into one. It is like everyone buying high end furnaces, you will never recoup the money. How do I know I install them and service them. I see people buying the most advanced hvac systems on the market, but they won't save enough money in energy costs to ever pay for the equipment. Same goes for this equipment, the investment will never be recouped. Until natural gas becomes scarce and oil drys up there will never see their money back on this equipment.
Depending on how much is invested in the system and how big of a system you invested in...
Solar power systems can range from $500 for a basic system that just powers a few LED lights to over $30,000 for a system that can let the house be completely off-grid and still have every modern convenience...
Versus how much energy you use... If you're paying hundreds every month for utilities then it could pay off sooner but typically it averages around 7-10 years...
It can also pay faster if you're in a high energy cost region like Hawaii that has to pay a high premium to get fossil fuel shipped to them.
Along with how much sun you get in your region... Being in Hawaii they get a lot so it's easier to get a higher return on energy costs there but if you're in a region that doesn't get a lot of year round sunlight then it can take a lot longer to break even... But you can always combine the system with a wind turbine and other ways to generate energy locally...
Overly gross statement. Where the user is located, how much energy he uses, how much the system/installation cost him are all huge factors in when/if it makes a return on investment. That aside, keep in mind solar panels also need to be replaced at some point, same for turbines, things wear down. Batteries also don't just "end" they lose % capacity over the years. A well maintained system can last 20yrs, but the amount of energy produced and stored will lower over the years and needs to be accounted for.
Nick Soleil is a pretty great name for a guy who does solar energy.
So if he has a child by someone named Moon they can name it Luna Eclipse Sun.
or for a circus performer
They could hang out with Soleil Moon Frye.
3:45 "...this is a 1.2 kw hour battery" Wow 1.2 kw! I just bought a new computer. It has a 4 gig hard drive and 250 mb of ram! Isn't technology awesome! [end] sarcasm.
I have spent quite a while studying about solar energy and discovered an awesome website at Ewans Energy Roadmap (look it up on google)
But the return on investment on the batteries are not worth it needs to be replaced every 7 years ? But they cost $7000+ ?
why is the plumber on this one?
jMon Because I imagine the meeting went something like this:
Producer: "Who wants to go to Hawaii...."
Richard: "I'LL DO IT!!!!"
Richard often visits Germany and loves their energy policy so he is seriously into solar. Germany depends a lot on the Russians for their natural resources that produce power (mainly natural gas) and they want to depend less on the Russians.
Because Richard is an AC specialist, they know of both electricity and plumbing, he also has a little mechanical engineering in him so it's good to see that he has interest inside him for these sort of things rather than pushing for unsustainable living such as using a gasoline/LPG/Diesel generator like the other videos have shown
Rich and his kid are all about renuable energy, his kid i think is a consultant for a company that sells renuable energy to people.
plumbers are usually going to know more than electricians anyway since plumbing requires at least basic knowledge of electricity and not visa versa
So - how many amp hours is his battery bank? How many KW is his solar array? How much does Hawaii pay for solar power you put back on the grid??? How much power can Hawaii public utilities demand from your solar battery bank? How long will your battery bank last if you draw 20 percent of battery capacity each night? This Old House keeps it light and clueless.
Nick Soleil lol His last name literally means Sun in French.
The electric company doesn't like paying its customers so they make them store it in the customer's batteries so the cost just keeps rising. The electric company (more like companies as this is starting to happen globally now) doesn't want you to have any of this so they are doing everything they can to force you into just saying forget it and go back to them. They are, after all, in the electric company business to make a profit and when people could do net metering the company was not showing profits like before. Wise up the push to remove us from being self sufficient has started and it will only get worse.
pvt would be better electric and hot water in one panel and electric production at its peak as panels actively cooled
Why do the utility companies no longer want your generated energy back into the grid?
Is there anything called AC battery!
I never knew that.
There's someone making very precisely machined weights that spin faster when "charging" and slow down when "discharging" though the AC generated isn't always 60hz so the power has to still be converted so I'd have to see one in person to say it's viable
I thought the batteries were marine batteries in the basement on a rack.. theres a place like that at lacsimondotcom
No , not marine batteries.
An AC battery?
Great video, but where to purchase this in the USA?
one day!
So an AC battery is a DC battery with an inverter in one unit.
My thoughts too, coupled with the initial inverter at the panels, this makes the system rather inefficient, you lose what 10% everytime you convert? Doing it twice costs you.
I guess he pretty much is limited to AC because of the existing wiring in place that was meant for 120 volt AC. If they drop it down to 12 volt DC (or whatever), they would need much thicker wires to handle the increase in current. I'm curious how they all keep their sine waves in sync....does each inverter do that on its own?
You can't store AC
never said you could store AC. I'm saying that he's limited to running AC down the wires because DC wires would likely need to be changed to thicker wires and he might need to change his solar panels as they already have a build in inverter and doing everything twice.
Arie M in a normal system DC power is sent to the batteries then inverted once to AC. in this "AC battery" DC from the panel is inverted to AC feeds the house and another inverter in the "AC battery" to be stored as DC.
This right here is the future of solar power. Eventually when I retire, I plan on building my dream shipping container home with a system similar to this. If my budget allows, I may even include enough solar and storage to be totally off grid, which is entirely possible in sunny locales, and with battery technology improving and getting cheaper.
and let's leave the cost of the system, out of the video......sigh.
www.freecleansolar.com/Enphase-1-2kWh-AC-Home-Battery-p/enphase-ac-battery.htm
That's really overpriced for 1KW.
Agreed. A Tesla PowerWall would eat this thing for breakfast.
best to go for a DC-DC storage solution before the inverter to minimise loss, then you can use the existing inverter to transfer the energy out into your home for you to use throughout the day and night, I would suggest for a proper family home 50KW battery system and 6KW solar panels to ensure happy living.
That should be around $10,000 however you will still be feeding back into the grid so you will be making money off the system and you will only have to pay the supply charge, not the KW used.
The monitoring of the DC-DC system can be done with tablet system so you know what battery system to replace and you don't need to spend $2000 to replace 1KW of batteries when it fails.
stirlingfromla play boiyo
Sooo 3-4K a piece for the batteries. + the cost of the panels. Wow. Their making it tougher to go solar.
They're
And then how often do you have to replace the batteries? Can't imagine that this is saving much money in the long term.
jej3451 the strip mining they have to do to make those batteries completely destroys any earth saving they claim it does
So it's not even suitable for ideologically-motivated customers, never mind people who are trying to save money.
I'm sure there's a nice fat government subsidy that makes it just financially viable, though.
jej3451 here is the thing about that, there are programs but they are still very expensive to have installed correctly and the worst part is other tax payers are paying for these programs which I certainly do not support government taking more money out of my checks to fund a industry that couldn't survive with out it. Look at the Tesla car company that has gotten over 350 million in tax payer money to fund their car company
You're preaching to the choir.
So they used more than they made?
shoebert31 they still are on the grid they are not 100% solar power useage.
What it's the cost of that solar panels system?
Typical cost of a solar install can be $3.00 - $3.50 a watt. That includes panels, racking, inverters, labor to install.
Are you still looking for solar system? We are manufature in China. If you are intersted in you can contact me . Email: export19@anern.com skype: anern19 whatsapp: +86 18816786034. Thanks Sunly Wang
I saw that ceiling fan & wanted to convert it to a wind power generator.
He never said the cost of Analysis, installation or cost equipment and a cost benefit analysis. Big let down.
What is the reason Hawaii's utility company doesn't allow solar back on to their grid?
I don't understand why Solar has to be a solo individual effort. Why couldn't it be pooled for an entire block? With a common area that everyone owns collectively for the solar area and just pay someone to manage it so everyone doesn't have to become a solar expert. But I guess pooling your neighbors into a communal solar grid is just weird in our modern "everyman for himself" "everyone is an island" world.
wakeupscreaming solar expert?
You're essentially describing a municipal electrical grid on a smaller scale. Where we're starting to run into trouble is in the "pay someone to manage it" part, in that if everyone has solar, the lost revenue (or payouts in a net metering situation) means we won't be paying in enough to maintain the grid, repair it after storms, etc. The grid is important to maintain because you'll still have power regardless of your own system, and the further the grid spreads, the more reliable it becomes.
This. Unless you are far from a grid, have VERY expensive grid power, or just like being "green", for most individuals, they will never recoup their investment in savings. in 25 years or whatever, they'll need to replace worn out parts, etc. Because of that, I feel that a centralized solar effort is the most useful whether it's the community or solar farms.
Where are the Hula hula dancers ???
How long is the ROI?
Break-even varies tremendously. If your price per kwhr varies by Time-Of-Use then shifting loads to batteries, during peak kwhr price time, could *potentially* save you money.
if wired in series most do parallel
so why do you need AC at all - get DC only appliances and other users
BRILLIANT statement
I am totally aware of the Westinghouse versus Edison "battle of the currents" and if you were you would know that the number 1 best thing about AC is it's ability to be sent over long distances due mainly to the ease of stepping up voltages (transformer). so, central power stations can more economically distribute power.
but, if you generate (solar) right at the site of consumption, the the advantages of AC over DC totally go away - which is something you should do.
How long to the Batteries and Panels last? If they last 50 years with ever increasing cost of energy with minimal maintenance, then it's a no brainier to buy solar. But if the panels start slowly being less efficient and Batteries have to be replaced like batteries do, then this doesn't really make sense if power bills are relatively average.
Now if I get more than I need and want to sell my extra power to my neighbor....lets see how long it takes the Government to come in and shut that down.
So based on the wire size this will only supply a max of 20 amp, so better not use the hair dryer and microwave at the same time.
Pwc does not participate in solar here either. You will not be connected to grid here usa nc.
Itching for one more of batteries so there is a small surplus. I wouldn't want to give the utility companies a dime.
Anyone else catch that the guy installing the Solar battery has a last name meaning "Sun"?
I think the electrician messed up his beard there :)
The moral of the story is we are getting solar with storage so that we can keep paying the electric company at least just a little. Don't ever install way more than you might need otherwise the solar company won't get paid to maintain its grid which is necessary to keep asking you for some money each month.
Only 6kwh that seems small.
Tesla has their Powerwall solution for this purpose. That costs about 4000 or 8000 dollars i think. That also depends on your needs. But in 50 years we will have fussion power, all those windmills and solar arrays can go on the scrap pile then.
Richard van Pukkem my problem with tesla is they have been taking tax dollars to stay a float in the name of being fair. If there was truly the demand for those products government wouldn't have to get involved stealing money from tax payers to fun a private company.
Everything Tesla has had it's hands on has been subsidized by American tax payers...to the tune of over $5 billion...Tesla cars, Space X, and their SolarCity business. And the subsidies are still going on. I can't stand the god complex people perceive about Elon.
zack9912000 What? Do you also complain about the tax breaks we give big oil and every other multi billion dollar corporation in the US?
If we are going to boost an industry with tax revenue I would rather promote one that helps move us towards a greener future versus one that pollutes and causes cancer and birth defects in children.
John Salazar don't go all liberal on me trying to justify these green projects that waste billions of our taxes. I do not support any federal funds going to private industry that without those funds they collapse because there is little to no demand for those products. It's clean you don't know anything about what toxic chemicals they have to use to manufacture these products and the millions of tons of carbon to strip mine to make these products. It's like cutting your foot off for a in grown nail claiming it's the best option.
This is also true for coal, Exxon, Chevron, Walmart - lots of farming.. and really any company the pays less than a living wage. I would much rather have tax revenue fund emerging technologies than let Walmart pay less than a living wage. So in the name of being fair, please can we just let coal die?
Man those Enphase batteries look slick! If only the company was in better financial shape
As much as I like this old house. this wasn't much of a how to
I have one Tesla powerwall battery 14 kWh battery on my solar system.
haha, Rich...tell us WHY electric companies don't want to buy back our energy?
I suspect it is for a number of reasons. When only a few people in an area have solar, the ElCo can use that extra energy during the day for commercial loads, then at night when commercial loads go off line they use their generation capacity to service the solar homeowner that now need power. When a large portion of the population has solar, including commercial properties, now the ElCo has no need for the extra energy during the day, but they still have the demand at night. So now the ElCo needs to purchase some sort of storage. They can use pump storage, pumping water to a higher elevation during the day, and then using it to power hydro at night,but I doubt Hawaii has the geography for that. Power plants just don't start up and shut down on a whim. Your baseline plants (which are the cheaper ones to run) take a while to heat up and shut down. Your peaker plants, such as gas turbines, do come on line quickly, but cost alot to run. The ElCo is shifting the cost of the storage batteries to the people at are actually benefiting from them, as opposed to spreading the cost across all of its customers.
Lot of utility companies are ending net metering agreements, because if everyone had solar and was paying the same amount for electric that the electric company is paying them... basically creating a wash where the electric company gets nothing or very little income .... without income, how to maintain the electric grid?
Some utilities are ending agreements/metering completely, some are modifying them where the company pays less for electricity that is push on the grid than the customer/consumer pays for taking it off the grid.
Solar customers without batteries are basically using the grid as their battery and if they don't pay more for using grid electricity than when sending it out, they are using the grid for free. Everyone that uses the grid should pay or else it can't be maintained.
just pay the customer the wholesale price instead of letting that power go to waste.
Because the electric companies and the battery companies want to make more money off of people because they are greedy . Its ridiculous
It won't go to waste, it will go into storage that the customer will need to purchase. I haven't heard anything about batteries costing more, but I think more is at play than just greed. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what the electric companies are thinking. What is the state of California thinking as they have raised tax on gasoline, greedy? What's state's that charge to drive on toll lanes (not toll roads, but lanes set aside for rich people) thinking? Raising gas tax and charging for toll lane driving greedy or just a way to pay for the roads? Raising electric rates greedy or just a way to pay for the electric infrastructure? Disney charges extra for a fast pass, is it greedy to separate the rich kids that can afford the fast pass from poor kids that can't? Is it greedy for me to ask for a raise? Sorry, I'm on a roll, I didn't plan this it just started flowing uncontrollably.
What, no Tesla power wall?
never heard of 'ac battery'
I noticed that Home Depot and Lowe’s bring in these solar company representatives. I just ignore them. My electric bill is normal.
Convert to ac just to convert back to DC:/ I know ac is good for long distances but that's not that long of a distance
How about how to install a hair piece..
3:28 looks fake as heck as the whole interaction
That house is built for little people. Some super low ceilings
nice, but let's not be pollyannaish about the cause for proliferation of solar in Hawaii -- it's due to great incentives that make it financially viable.
Did anybody notice Nick's surname? Soleil is French for the sun, surely he changed it!! Soleil - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleil
Soleil is the French word for the Sun.
Where's Kevin?
NIck Soleil... With that last name he was meant to work in solar.
soon those houses will have a tesla solar roof
and Tesla batteries. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Storage with micro-inverters is dumb. If you're installing a new system, and aren't already saddled with micro-inverters, DC-optimized panels, with a battery monitor/charger and big grid-tie inverter that can draw power from either the battery bank or solar panels is a better solution.
It will take 20 yrs to brake even
No air conditioner!?!
where I am we sell it back to the power company.
John Chambers that will probably change soon, the power company is way over paying for power its buying from customers during off peak hours.
We need to alter building code to allow 12 v lighting from solar. Very simple system with 12v batteries and LED bulbs. Skip the inverters and you save the conversion losses.
LED bulbs for 120v AC have rectifiers and regulators to drop it back to 12v anyway... so going solar to 120v and back to 12v = wasting a lot of energy.
Run a major amount of the house off of 12V....
*******************
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN AC BATTERY!
You have a DC battery with an inverter.
I don't think its necessarily code but voltage drop in DC lengths.
Let's hope he knows more about solar than the camera man does about , "Out to the grid". And then show a picture of the Phone and Cable lines, with no Electrical grid in the scene.
OMG WHY NO AIR CONDITIONING YOU HAVE SOLAR!!!
Battery is very expensive and can NOT be used as back up if the grid goes down. Quite useless! The Tesla Powerwall 2 is a much better deal.
It could, but I don't think they installed enough supply of batteries to work without the grid.
Poor guy loves Hawaii but Hawaii doesn’t love him. They secretly hate his guts. #Haole
FANTASTICA ADONAI BARUCH ISRAEL-JERUSALIMO.FANTASTICA ,SOLAR.MILIARD SORY AMORE.AMIN AMORE.
Like the idea but it pisses me off my tax dollars are used to subsidize other homeowners projects.
A solar-system without on-site storage.....is no system at all.
No dude, solar PV system comes in two form, ON grid and OFF grid. Energy storage is optional for ON grid system.
WB IsMe One of the barriers to making renewable-energy highly-efficient and mainstream, is economically storing the energy the renewables generate. On-site storage of the energy your solar-panels produce is the most efficient and most bang-for-your-buck. If your "system. only works part of the time, it is not much of a system, IMHO.