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

[OffGridInTheCity]

100W for how long?

Corrected - thank you.

Or better, how many Wh?

It would generate maybe 100Wh. I don't remember the details (and I could be off) but my calcs showed a very small result . Useless for any kind of DIY home solution. It would take a major project on the scale of 1000s of tons traveling 100s of feet up/down to make real power.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Hydrogen is dangerous stuff.
Remember the Hindenburg?

Nobody under the age of 40 probably even knows what the Hindenburg was..

 

[Ampster]

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

The questions I would need to know are:

1. how may kWhs of power would be needed to produce x amount of hydrogen?
2. how much would it cost to store the hydrogen?
3. what would I power and how would that compare to just powering that device with electricity.

I am reminded that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are just EVs. They also need batteries because the fuel cells do not ramp up quickly so the batteries fill that gap. I purchased batteries at less than $125 per kWh and would rather have them in my garage than some tank of hydrogen, It all depends on where you are standing when something goes wrong. I know what the cost is of the kWhs I produce from my solar panels is and all my needs are covered by EVs, and other household devices.

 

[Hedges]

Hydrogen can be safely used and stored:

Crisco - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Hydrogenation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Ampster]

Hydrogen can be safely used and stored:

Yes, and it can be a source of light (the magic Crisco candle)

 

[curiouscarbon]

Nobody under the age of 40 probably even knows what the Hindenburg was..

ah yes, the famous marine accident ?

 

[robby]

It would be cool to find a way to make money with extra PV.
Anymore ideas?

 

[curiouscarbon]

It would be cool to find a way to make money with extra PV.
Anymore ideas?

atmospheric water generator

different yet similar to run of the mill dehumidifiers.

 

[onokai]

I put my extra power into an 80 gallon solar water tank that preheats our gas water heater.That is a 3,000 watt electic stinger in mid tank.
That tank also gets hot water from two 4x8 panels (solar hot water panels) on roof

 

[Supervstech]

I have a customer that drys lumber with his solar. Just has fans pushing air through the bundles.

 

[curiouscarbon]

I have a customer that drys lumber with his solar. Just has fans pushing air through the bundles.

reminds me of this thread about using solar energy to remove humidity from wood with heat and airflow : https://diysolarforum.com/threads/modified-solar-wood-kiln.15387/

there are quite a few results on youtube for the search term "solar wood kiln" as well.

 

[curiouscarbon]

I have a customer that drys lumber with his solar. Just has fans pushing air through the bundles.

curious if the fans run 24/7.

if not, what conditions spur slow or stop of fan? lack of solar? elevated ambient relative humidity occurs at night in some locations.

topic of daytime excess solar power implies the fans run close to solar noon time, when ambient temperature might near peak and ambient relative humidity near nadir (lowest). good for drying out wood to facilitate efficient combustion.

 

[Supervstech]

Afaik the fans run 24/7 he has the wood in a shipping container. I know he has boosted the Ah from 200 @ 24V to 400 @ 48V, so they were using a LOT of power running things.
I only posted it here as it does make them money drying lumber for sale.

 

[SenileOldGit]

I think that drying lumber could be a possible use for my spare electricity, I have loads of firewood that might benefit from being dried out more than it is at the moment, great idea!

 

[Johneb]

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.

Would a permanent magnet alternater improve these numbers? Not having to build a msgnetic field first?

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

Would a permanent magnet alternater improve these numbers? Not having to build a msgnetic field first?

The math was based on googling formulas for power based on gravity. The potential power reward for such an immense DIY effort to raise (store power) / lower (recover power) a 10ton tank 6 ft is so tiny that this kind of generator detail would not materially affect my view that it's wildly impractical.

When I think of storing/retrieving power for my home as an alternate to batteries, I'm thinking Powerwall scale - not a 100Wh.

 

[Hedges]

On the other had it is quite (relatively) practical if you lift 60 or 600', not 6'. Not the entire tank at once, but the contents, through a pipe.

Somebody came up with that stupid idea of a construction crane stacking cargo container weights.
Total available watts from the crane not enough to be interesting. Pumped hydro the scale of a power plant makes more sense.
Probably round-trip efficiencies using motors and cables is likely better than water through pipes, but equipment cost and scale better for hydro.

 

[RV10flyer]

Charge work van. Then make money repairing HVAC equipment in your EV.
Manufacture your own 200-400 pound 120V power supplies to load on the truck with a liftgate. Monitor power outages in your area online, then drive around and drop them off for a minimum 24 hr or two day rental fee. Pick them up after the power comes back on, collect remaining charges. Recharge them on your business solar system.

 

[Johneb]

On the other had it is quite (relatively) practical if you lift 60 or 600', not 6'. Not the entire tank at once, but the contents, through a pipe.

Somebody came up with that stupid idea of a construction crane stacking cargo container weights.
Total available watts from the crane not enough to be interesting. Pumped hydro the scale of a power plant makes more sense.
Probably round-trip efficiencies using motors and cables is likely better than water through pipes, but equipment cost and scale .

Use a windmill to lift the water to the upper tank when the wind is blowing. The rest of the time a 12v rv pump.

 

[robby]

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

This is what will probably become the number one Global way to use and make money on excess PV power.
I just watched a CNET video last night of them trying to get an EV across some Midwest states and it was almost impossible.
At one point they got saved by just making it to a small Barn/Shop in the middle of nowhere and the guy had a single EV charger that put in enough power to get them another 30 miles to a proper charger.

In many parts of America the Gaps in EV chargers is sparsely populated areas is going to have to be served by small EV stations run by mom and pop shops and even homeowners. In third world countries this is a given.

All that is needed is for Google Maps to include some new update to include all EV Chargers in each country and have some kind of mandatory Ping back device for each charger that allows the Chargers operational status to be sent to Google in realtime.

It's going to be fun watching the Politicians slowly try to pry this form of income from the public's hands and make it exclusive for big corps. They will probably turn a blind eye on it until the Lobbying starts.