I need 300 killowatts per month for household

[Tim Thomson]

How many 15 watt/12 volt panels would it take to produce 300 k watts per
month?
How many batterries would be recommened for 300 k watts divided by 30 or
10 k watts a day? About five hours of sunlight per day.

 

[Steve Spence]

That would probably be 300 kWh / month.

the lower wattage panels are much more expensive per watt than those
100watts and up, but lets run the numbers.

Lets say that 300 kWh's / comes out to 10 kWh's per day, and that you do
have 5 full sun hours a day (are you in CA?).

10 kWh / 5h = 2 kW. You need a 2 kW array (round numbers not taking into
effect a 30% inefficiency fudge factor).

2 kW / 15 watt = 134 15w panels.


Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org

Contributing Editor
http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 

[William P. N. Smith]

How many 15 watt/12 volt panels would it take to produce 300 k watts per
month?

Assuming you mean KWHR (kilowatt hours), that's 10KWHR/day divided by
5 (peak) hours of sunlight per day, so you need about 2 KW of panels,
or a minimum of 133 of them. This is best case panel production, a
SWAG says you probably need about 200 of them...

[Yeah, I know, $20-30K just for the panels, if that's too much, read
no further...]

How many batterries would be recommened for 300 k watts divided by 30 or
10 k watts a day? About five hours of sunlight per day.

Forty Two.

[You need to specify what kind of batteries, how long your longest
period of dark/cloudy weather is, how fast you want to recharge, etc.]

 

[Tim Thomson]

That would probably be 300 kWh / month.

the lower wattage panels are much more expensive per watt than those
100watts and up, but lets run the numbers.

Lets say that 300 kWh's / comes out to 10 kWh's per day, and that you do
have 5 full sun hours a day (are you in CA?).

10 kWh / 5h = 2 kW. You need a 2 kW array (round numbers not taking into
effect a 30% inefficiency fudge factor).

2 kW / 15 watt = 134 15w panels.

Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org

Contributing Editor
http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

I am not in CA. I am at 50 north by 115 west..... Crows Nest Pass Alberta
Canada.
I was just thinking about starting a small system. I have easy acsses to the
15 watt and now it looks like 30 watt panels.
I know they are pricey but I have been playing with 3-15 watt panels and was
just wondering. The 15 watt panels are about 20 inches by four feet, what size
are the 100 watt panels?

How many 12 volt batts does it take to store say 5 kva. I allready have an
inverter ( Brutus true sinewave 12 volt)
I could probably cut my needs in half by replacing my fridge with a natural
gas one if they make one that is. I could also get rid of the elctric dryer.
At present I am using the old incadesent lights. I still have a few wall warts
to get rid of etc..... I live in a wind belt, we have hundreds of those 3.2
mega watt wind turbines here but they will not allow a small one (400 watt) to
be installed at my house.
I am also looking at NG gas genney for back up.

 

[Steve Spence]

According to http://www.e-marine-inc.com/articles/images/canadaiso.jpg
you are looking at 2 full sun hours per day, not 5, so you will have to
at least double the number of panels. 5kva(h) of batteries might look
like 8 trojan t105's, 2 series x 4 parallel. That would give you 900ah,
or 450ah usable. You really need to rethink this.


Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 

[[email protected]]

Kilowatt-HOURS of energy, vs kilowatts of power.

How many 12 volt batts does it take to store say 5 kva.

You can't store kVA. I suggest learning these units
before someone separates you from your money

Nick

 

[Owen Robb]

I am not in CA. I am at 50 north by 115 west..... Crows Nest Pass Alberta
Canada.
I was just thinking about starting a small system. I have easy acsses to the
15 watt and now it looks like 30 watt panels.
I know they are pricey but I have been playing with 3-15 watt panels and was
just wondering. The 15 watt panels are about 20 inches by four feet, what size
are the 100 watt panels?

How many 12 volt batts does it take to store say 5 kva. I allready have an
inverter ( Brutus true sinewave 12 volt)
I could probably cut my needs in half by replacing my fridge with a natural
gas one if they make one that is. I could also get rid of the elctric dryer.
At present I am using the old incadesent lights. I still have a few wall warts
to get rid of etc..... I live in a wind belt, we have hundreds of those 3.2
mega watt wind turbines here but they will not allow a small one (400 watt) to
be installed at my house.
I am also looking at NG gas genney for back up.

Hi Tim:

When you say that "they" who are they is it the utility or the
MD or the Provice? I can see that the Utility might not want certain
products hooked up the the grid but as a stand alone system I cant see
a problem. There are a lot of old vets in this in the P Creek area
check at the wind center in P. Creek.

Owen

 

[Me]

How many 15 watt/12 volt panels would it take to produce 300 k watts per
month?
How many batterries would be recommened for 300 k watts divided by 30 or
10 k watts a day? About five hours of sunlight per day.

Not enough information to make that call......How much sun do you get a
month? What are you weather conditions like on a monthly basis? What
is the cloud cover like on a monthly average? If only we knew, we could
actually make a "Guess" at what you could expect.


Me who wonders if he really expects a rational answer.......

 

[Cosmopolite]

William wrote:




Great number, that 42. The answer to life, the universe, and everything
;-). Also comes into play for:

"How many roads must a man walk down... before he is a man..." and the
ever popular "What do you get when you multiply six by seven..."

Douglas Adams, rest in peace ;-).

DJ

AMEN.......

 

[George Ghio]

Sorry Steve, and you were doing so well too.

Take your T105s and go golfing

Tim, T105s in series/parallel are not a good idea. Will it work, yes. Is
it to your advantage, no.

The best solution is to use a battery bank that has the correct Ah
capacity without parallel cells.

T105s have a twelve month warranty. This is a good indicator of what
Trojan thinks of the life expectancy of them. And they should know.

Steve is right about the panels.

George

 

[John P Bengi]

Take your $100,000 and buy yourself something nice instead.

 

[Steve Spence]

I have 6 T105's. Over 6 years old, and still running strong.


Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 

[Steve Spence]

Just to show how disconnected with reality george is, the following is a
common setup for smaller systems, and is identical to the system that we
originally started with.

http://www.newenglandsolar.com/catalog_pages/Kit drawings/Kit2drw.htm

The Trojan T105 battery is a top quality battery with glass mats and
patented Multi-Rib separators. The Multi-Rib separator provides superior
electrolyte distribution, less negative plate expansion, less water
usage, reduced positive plate shedding and less maintenance. They also
utilize a proprietary paste formula, known as Alpha Plus, which is
another key ingredient to long life. Trojan T-105's are simply the best
battery of this type and size. In fact, based on the new Battery Council
International testing procedures, Trojan's T-105 was 225 cycles better
than the next leading brand.
The T-105 model has a strong, lightweight case, made of
polypropylene. It weighs about 62 pounds. It is easier to use as a
building block than the 130 pound L-16 battery. One person can carry the
T-105.battery
Don't buy 12 volt marine batteries for your system unless it will have
only one battery. Two 6V batteries wired in series make one large 12V
battery that is bigger and better than two of the 12V marine batteries.
All of our kits feature Trojan T-105 batteries, and always have for
the last ten years. Many of the systems we sold ten years ago are still
operating on the original T-105 battery bank. In terms of watts stored
over time per dollar, nothing even approaches the Trojan T-105 for value.

Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 

[m II]

Tim Thomson wrote:

I live in a wind belt, we have hundreds of those 3.2
mega watt wind turbines here but they will not allow a small one (400 watt) to
be installed at my house.

(posting trimmed)



I'm curious why they won't let you put up a small wind generator in the land of
plenty. Sounds like a sinister corporate plot or something..

I've been to Pincher Creek and it's a wind gold mine.






mike (In Calgary)

 

[John P Bengi]

Stop trolling Steve. Take your emotional issues and resolve them somewhere
else.

 

[Anthony Matonak]

I'm curious why they won't let you put up a small wind generator in the
land of plenty. Sounds like a sinister corporate plot or something..

....

Often the requirement is that you must put up your wind tower someplace
where it can't fall on someones home and (maybe) kill them. Often folks
find it easier to sleep at night without the worry of sudden death by
falling objects. Go figure. If the original poster lives too close to
their neighbors to allow this kind of space then they usually won't be
allowed to put up a tower. Yes, this often means they won't let you put
up a tower too close to your own house as well.

The only solution to that kind of thing is to move out of the city.

Anthony

 

[Tim Thomson]

According to http://www.e-marine-inc.com/articles/images/canadaiso.jpg
you are looking at 2 full sun hours per day, not 5, so you will have to
at least double the number of panels. 5kva(h) of batteries might look
like 8 trojan t105's, 2 series x 4 parallel. That would give you 900ah,
or 450ah usable. You really need to rethink this.

Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

Wow this aint California but the sun shines here alot more than two hours a day.
I have been running some tests and I never planned on going off the grid with solar!

It would be more like three hours of peak and easy six hours of useable sun here.
The sun comes up here as of today (over the mountain) about 7:30 am and by about
10:00 am there is plenty of usable power off my test panels by about 11:am they are
running at peak (if I track the sun) untill about 4:30 pm..............The winter
months are a differant storie and I wouldnt even dream of testing panels during the
winter.
Having solar here is more like a hobby with a slight payback thats all.

 

[Tim Thomson]

Kilowatt-HOURS of energy, vs kilowatts of power.


You can't store kVA. I suggest learning these units
before someone separates you from your money

Nick

Thats why I am here dude TO LEARN!.......................how long can I
watch the friggin tv with a light on with a battery? Panels come in
differant watts /volts/amps batts come in differant
volts/size/parelelle/series/dollers bla bla bla.................going
nuts here....
I do have accses to some good used glass type batts and lots of auto/UPS
batts
As a matter of fact I have UPS batts comming out my ying yang (my
job)............was just hoping to charge them with some sunshine thats
all.

 

[Tim Thomson]

Hi Tim:

When you say that "they" who are they is it the utility or the
MD or the Provice? I can see that the Utility might not want certain
products hooked up the the grid but as a stand alone system I cant see
a problem. There are a lot of old vets in this in the P Creek area
check at the wind center in P. Creek.

Owen

It's the MD of the CNP they got a stick up their ass just the last year..........No
more back yard turbines here! We are close to Pincher Creek but thats not part of
our world here.

 

[Tim Thomson]

Hi Tim:

When you say that "they" who are they is it the utility or the
MD or the Provice? I can see that the Utility might not want certain
products hooked up the the grid but as a stand alone system I cant see
a problem. There are a lot of old vets in this in the P Creek area
check at the wind center in P. Creek.

Owen

Oh and with all the BS here I would not even dream of tying into the grid.