Is there any way to make money from excess power apart from selling back to grid?

[SenileOldGit]

I have 12kW of solar panels, and next Summer I expect them to be making at least 50kWh per day, possibly 80kWh. I only need maybe 15kWh per day in the Summer (I will be running two mini split air conditioners as often as needed, but that's only something like 2-3kW and maybe 10-20kWh per day?). Is there some sort of electrical device that I can run (apart from cryptomining, which I have already thought about a little) that changes something into something else, that normally people don't do themselves because it takes so much energy? I am going to buy a couple of water distillers so that I can make litres of pure water for washing my windows with (to prevent streaks being left), but I wonder if there is some other venture I could put all that spare power to use in.

 

[Hedges]

 

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[OffGridInTheCity]

Use the extra power to create some prep supplies? We run a Harvest Right Freeze Dyer - haven't measured it but it's 10-15kwh / 24hr-cycle. The food is reconstituted with water and a good number of items (eggs, hamburger, for example) are quite good after reconstitution.

Personally, I'd LOVE to build a 10,000kwh battery and store the summer excess for winter, but that would be on the order of 1Million+ 18650 cells

 

[45North]

Preheat your water tank. There's threads on it here somewhere.
Or, if you want to get fancy, raise weights like concrete or water to store kinetic energy (and also figure out how recover it)

 

[MurphyGuy]

I have 12kW of solar panels, and next Summer I expect them to be making at least 50kWh per day, possibly 80kWh. I only need maybe 15kWh per day in the Summer (I will be running two mini split air conditioners as often as needed, but that's only something like 2-3kW and maybe 10-20kWh per day?). Is there some sort of electrical device that I can run (apart from cryptomining, which I have already thought about a little) that changes something into something else, that normally people don't do themselves because it takes so much energy? I am going to buy a couple of water distillers so that I can make litres of pure water for washing my windows with (to prevent streaks being left), but I wonder if there is some other venture I could put all that spare power to use in.

I bought a Freeze Dryer and used the extra energy to freeze dry food. Most batches in the medium Harvest Right machine take about 20 to 23 kWh of energy. Now that I have enough of it to last my family for 3 years, I do a lot of freeze drying for other people now.

 

[Bobert]

Buy an electric car

 

[Ampster]

After you heat your water and your home, freeze dry your food and your friends food, and charge your EV, if you have anything left you could always mine crypto currency. Crypto mining would be last on my list of priorities. LOL

 

[Mattb4]

Buy an electric car

Perhaps not as expensive would be battery powered bike, ATV, chainsaw, electric wood splitter, various other devices that run on electric but do tasks for you. If you have excess elec. power it opens the door to eliminate gas powered things wherever feasible.

It is a interesting topic. I am also exploring possible usage for excess Summer solar production. BTW today is the shortest day of the year and while slightly overcast I am developing enough to charge back up my batteries.

 

[curiouscarbon]

Perhaps not as expensive would be battery powered bike, ATV, chainsaw, electric wood splitter, various other devices that run on electric but do tasks for you. If you have excess elec. power it opens the door to eliminate gas powered things wherever feasible.

It is a interesting topic. I am also exploring possible usage for excess Summer solar production. BTW today is the shortest day of the year and while slightly overcast I am developing enough to charge back up my batteries.

Happy winter solstice!! ? Good going

 

[timselectric]

Put an EV charger in your driveway. And sell the excess power. (If it can be done legally)

 

[Ampster]

Put an EV charger in your driveway. And sell the excess power. (If it can be done legally)

If you are not allowed to sell charging, advertise Free EV Charging and have your kids set up a lemonade stand. They can tell the people the charging is free with a lemonade or they can charge for parking.

 

[timselectric]

If you are not allowed to sell charging, advertise Free EV Charging and have your kids set up a lemonade stand. They can tell the people the charging is free with a lemonade or they can charge for parking.

Loop holes are the American way. lol

 

[SenileOldGit]

Preheat your water tank. There's threads on it here somewhere.
Or, if you want to get fancy, raise weights like concrete or water to store kinetic energy (and also figure out how recover it)

My garden is pretty big (1/3 acre) and on a hill, I was thinking of putting some IBC tanks at the top, and use the excess electricity to pump water up to the (one ton per tank) - I wonder how much potential energy one tank would store. It's probably a fifty feet height difference between the bottom and the top of the garden? Maybe more?

 

[curiouscarbon]

My garden is pretty big (1/3 acre) and on a hill, I was thinking of putting some IBC tanks at the top, and use the excess electricity to pump water up to the (one ton per tank) - I wonder how much potential energy one tank would store. It's probably a fifty feet height difference between the bottom and the top of the garden? Maybe more?

overall, pumped hydro might be worthwhile in your situation, but i suspect the energy density might be disappointing. the exact calculations are not familiar to me; the two videos above may give more insight, cheers and good luck in general

 

[curiouscarbon]

running a freeze dryer to store food in a longer lasting form never occurred to me until reading this thread. the excess energy transforms the food into a form that spoils much more slowly. nice idea!

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

I have 3 x 2500gal rain harvest tanks in my yard. Each tank could weight 2,500gal * 8lb/gal = 20,000lbs or 10tons.

I did some calcs one time on the power I could generate if I raised a 10ton tank up 6ft in the air and then let it fall slowly (turning a generator) back to earth. The numbers came out to 100Wh or something really small. It's like turning a generator from rain water going down you're gutter - you can get 1-2w.

I'm just struck by the immense amount of mechanical power it takes to turn a generator - whether a propane engine, wind, water, or gravity - compared to panels that sit silently/still and generate a good bit of power.

 

[Hedges]

100W for how long?
Or better, how many Wh?

 

[Alkaline]

how efficient is electrolysis, I wonder what it would take to make some hydrogen.

 

[45North]

Hydrogen is dangerous stuff.
Remember the Hindenburg?