Kurt
10 kW
Some might remember the thread I started then took down from the general discussion section of ES a few months ago regarding our intentions to purchase a off grid home. Anyhow after discussing the thread with my wife she wanted some changes made and was concerned about the information posted jeopardizing the sale to us. Slim chance I know but we really wanted the place so we took the thread down until it was officially ours.
So thanks to the people that took the time to contribute to the 1st thread. Now that we have the keys I am starting this new thread. Basically as a bit of a blog on living off grid.
System basics.
Also for emergency back up though it isn't really needed is a Kubota J108 9kva 3cyl diesel generator
Initially I was led to believe the house had 6600w of pv although the sales agent had mixed that up with the continuous output of the inverter. Anyhow 4000w is proving to be way more than wee need.
The system being only two years old looks to be in near new condition. Though I can already see some design faults in the system layout but should be easy to sort out. Things like inverter and batteries housed in the same building (need a dividing wall). Some shading on very back string of panels during the very late afternoon. I am usually fussy about most things but will live with the system for a short while and iron everything out.
Future plans for the home are a home workshop - shed to be built near the home. After not being able to swing a cat in my double garage I use now this is what I am most excited about
I need to able to power my modest size lathe, mill , cold saw, Tig welder among other things. Most inductive loads from motors are 1000w motors or less other than my air compressor thats 2400w though I might just convert that to a ICE engine. Will be a little bit of suck it and see regarding starting loads of all the motors. Also my small tig welder taking PF into account needs roughly 5kva when running at max. The workshop isn't being used all the time so I will base my use around available energy at the time.
I was thinking the property could take advantage of pumped hydro to supplement energy storage and make use of excess pv output on sunny days when the battery bank is full early in the day.There is around 1 acre of flat land at the top of a hill Around 6 acres very very steep heading down the mountain for around 250m. There is a medium size spring fed dam up the top. Also a high annual rain fall of around 2000mm. Perhaps even two 20,000 ltr tanks. One fills off the proposed shed/workshop then feeds to the bottom tank down the hill. workshop will be roughly 120m2 roof area or use the dam.
Some pics of the property and system
Kurt.
So thanks to the people that took the time to contribute to the 1st thread. Now that we have the keys I am starting this new thread. Basically as a bit of a blog on living off grid.
System basics.
Also for emergency back up though it isn't really needed is a Kubota J108 9kva 3cyl diesel generator
Initially I was led to believe the house had 6600w of pv although the sales agent had mixed that up with the continuous output of the inverter. Anyhow 4000w is proving to be way more than wee need.
The system being only two years old looks to be in near new condition. Though I can already see some design faults in the system layout but should be easy to sort out. Things like inverter and batteries housed in the same building (need a dividing wall). Some shading on very back string of panels during the very late afternoon. I am usually fussy about most things but will live with the system for a short while and iron everything out.
Future plans for the home are a home workshop - shed to be built near the home. After not being able to swing a cat in my double garage I use now this is what I am most excited about
I need to able to power my modest size lathe, mill , cold saw, Tig welder among other things. Most inductive loads from motors are 1000w motors or less other than my air compressor thats 2400w though I might just convert that to a ICE engine. Will be a little bit of suck it and see regarding starting loads of all the motors. Also my small tig welder taking PF into account needs roughly 5kva when running at max. The workshop isn't being used all the time so I will base my use around available energy at the time.
I was thinking the property could take advantage of pumped hydro to supplement energy storage and make use of excess pv output on sunny days when the battery bank is full early in the day.There is around 1 acre of flat land at the top of a hill Around 6 acres very very steep heading down the mountain for around 250m. There is a medium size spring fed dam up the top. Also a high annual rain fall of around 2000mm. Perhaps even two 20,000 ltr tanks. One fills off the proposed shed/workshop then feeds to the bottom tank down the hill. workshop will be roughly 120m2 roof area or use the dam.
Some pics of the property and system
Kurt.
(@ the cost of tax payers of course)
