jonescg
100 MW
A friend has a workshop in Perth which hadn't had the power connected for over 3 years. At this point the energy retailer requests that an inspection be done on the wiring to make sure it's up to code before hooking you up (at your expense). I think it's also true that you pay rates based on the expected rent it would get - and unpowered units are effectively storage units, and attract less rent. So double win.
So, the job was obvious - install a solar array with a battery and inverter, and run the workshop off grid. So with a bit of searching on Gumtree you can find cheap used solar panels going for under 40 cents a watt, usually with all the racking gear too. He wanted a decent sort of a setup as he will be charging his electric car from the unit on occasion too. So we settled on a 5.5 kW system using a Victron MPPT 150/100 solar charge controller. It charges a 48 volt battery of 200 Ah capacity or greater. Not bad for $1100 - in fact we could have got it for $860 if I acted on a sale but didn't :x
The flat roof meant making up some trianglular frames from 40 mm aluminium and mounting all the PV racking gear on that. It's a bit of a windy spot so I made sure there were plenty of screws holding them down.
9 x 200 W panels means a working voltage just short of 120 V DC. Three in series to get 120 V, and three of these in parallel at the junction box.
We only have 1.8 kW of solar on the roof for now, but we should be pushing 100 amps into the battery when we do.
Second hand solar is cheap cheap cheap! If you can source some batteries like this one (old UPS batteries) for next to nothing, you have a well powered site at your disposal!
So, the job was obvious - install a solar array with a battery and inverter, and run the workshop off grid. So with a bit of searching on Gumtree you can find cheap used solar panels going for under 40 cents a watt, usually with all the racking gear too. He wanted a decent sort of a setup as he will be charging his electric car from the unit on occasion too. So we settled on a 5.5 kW system using a Victron MPPT 150/100 solar charge controller. It charges a 48 volt battery of 200 Ah capacity or greater. Not bad for $1100 - in fact we could have got it for $860 if I acted on a sale but didn't :x
The flat roof meant making up some trianglular frames from 40 mm aluminium and mounting all the PV racking gear on that. It's a bit of a windy spot so I made sure there were plenty of screws holding them down.
9 x 200 W panels means a working voltage just short of 120 V DC. Three in series to get 120 V, and three of these in parallel at the junction box.
We only have 1.8 kW of solar on the roof for now, but we should be pushing 100 amps into the battery when we do.
Second hand solar is cheap cheap cheap! If you can source some batteries like this one (old UPS batteries) for next to nothing, you have a well powered site at your disposal!