diy solar

diy solar

Assuming you pay $0.12/KWh, can you ever come out ahead going full offgrid?

timselectric said:
I have been waiting for 20 years to go off grid solar.
Waiting for it to make financial sense. Glad it finally did, before I became a daisy factory.
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Same, my brother installed wind and I just couldn't see it with the maintenance. He has a machine shop for a hobby and was able to redesign the failure points on his wind generator and that decreased his maintenance. He was selling kits to refurbish that model on ebay so it paid him to find a solution. He works as an engineer at a local factory.

2 things changed that gave me the push. The LFP batteries and inverters that automatically switch back to grid as a backup. I'd looked at grid tie in the past, several estimates and decided this was the way to go for me.
 
Zwy said:
Have a diagram? Parts list? :)
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Only in my head. Haven't made the system Bible yet.
But it's just 2PDT relays.
N.C. is the backup source.
N.O. is the preferred source.
Preferred source holds the relay coil activated. When the preferred source loses power, the relay defaults to the backup source.
Multiple relays in a chain for multiple backup sources. In order of preferred to last resort sources.
 
GregTR said:
Having "some" electricity when the grid is down is something everyone should consider. Having 100% grid independence when there is a grid with a fairly high rate of availability is not the economic choice. And again, let me remind you, just because it worked for you, it has zero bearing on someone in TX with $0.12/kWh.
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It wasn’t that long ago that my first tier electric rate was 13 cents a kWh, it is now 31 cents a kWh. What do you think is going to happen with electric rates in Texas? If you believe power will always be cheap, well good luck with that, I believe the pain will only get worse.
 
WDB said:
It wasn’t that long ago that my first tier electric rate was 13 cents a kWh, it is now 31 cents a kWh. What do you think is going to happen with electric rates in Texas? If you believe power will always be cheap, well good luck with that, I believe the pain will only get worse.
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I can literally lock in $0.11/kWh for 36 months today from a dozen providers

power_rates.png


I did not expect that a year ago hence I started looking for solar options but if you told me that this was going to be available I would not have installed solar last year and would have waited for PV and battery prices to drop.

At $0.11/kWh it's is extremely difficult to make a positive ROI on any kind of solar setup, let alone in Texas where we don't have any kind of net metering available.

While I do have my system, every time someone asks me about it I tell them it's probably not financially wise for them to do the same today in Texas.
 
timselectric said:
I really have been following the industry for 20 years.
But it just wasn't cost effective, until lately.
15 year ROI and 10 year lifespan just wasn't worth it.
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Same here except I've only been following it for maybe 10 to 12 years and running the numbers and walking away because the ROI was horrible. It finally started to make sense within the last year or two, but even then only as a DIY project, at least for me. Everyone has their reasons and resources. I appreciate some level of independence and place considerable value on it. Not everything is about money. Hell, I may never get my money back but I don't much care.
 
rodrick said:
Is it are passion or our ocd that drives us to be that way?
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No OCD here. I would have responded sooner but I spent all day making changes on stuff like wiring and conduit. But I'm not OCD. My wife told me at one point - don't glue any of that stuff up because you're just going to change it again like the last five times. But I'm not OCD.

I'm just dedicated.
 
ROI, Fiscal Sense, Cost Effective. Probably depends a lot on your outlook on life.

I see a lot of numbers and figures in this thread and a lot of people have put a lot of time into making a cogent reply.

However I much agree with this sentiment:
EastTexCowboy said:
Not everything is about money. Hell, I may never get my money back but I don't much care.
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At my main house and workshop, the electrical co-op's umbilical cord is within reason to hook up to but I see no reason to do so. Every day people are purchasing new cars/trucks and never give ROI one thought. I guess I could be blamed for doing the same with batteries, inverters and solar panels.
 
pollenface said:
I have friends wanting to go off-grid to SAVE money ... I'm trying to explain that it doesn't work that way. You go off-grid for self reliance, for uninterruptible power when the grid goes down, for love because you're a solar freak, but they're not freaks like I am.
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it works to a degree..
what most people fail to see that it fixes your energy rates, cuts out the inflation of it, and lessens the power the power-co's and government and taxation have on your life and wallet
 
timselectric said:
Money was my only deciding factor. All other benefits were just icing on the cake.
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So I'm just curious, Tim. Now that you've gone down this road, and considering your self-proclaimed mercenary nature ;), if you had to do it over again and knew it was going to be a break-even at best would you still do it? ?
 
WDB said:
It wasn’t that long ago that my first tier electric rate was 13 cents a kWh, it is now 31 cents a kWh. What do you think is going to happen with electric rates in Texas? If you believe power will always be cheap, well good luck with that, I believe the pain will only get worse.
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Things do change. I used to buy gas for 35 cents. Surprisingly enough gas prices were darn cheap not too many years back after going through several shortages. Now it is high again.

Electrical rates are both a function of supply/demand and government regulation. California has high rates in large part due to its government. If I lived there I would expect it to get worse every passing year. The folks in charge there want Utopia and damn the cost.
 
Mattb4 said:
California has high rates in large part due to its government. If I lived there I would expect it to get worse every passing year. The folks in charge there want Utopia and damn the cost.
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Ah but those high electric rates have incentivized innovation, pushed PV into the forefront allowing others (like me!) to benefit from the changes in technology and lower cost of PV equipment that only large scale production can produce.
 
Mattb4 said:
Things do change. I used to buy gas for 35 cents. Surprisingly enough gas prices were darn cheap not too many years back after going through several shortages. Now it is high again.

Electrical rates are both a function of supply/demand and government regulation. California has high rates in large part due to its government. If I lived there I would expect it to get worse every passing year. The folks in charge there want Utopia and damn the cost.
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35 cents is a pipedream in most of the world now a days and as for electricity and natural gas prices, i stated what most europeans now pay ..

again, prices are about to go up further , and that is what one should base their opinions and investments on
Mattb4 said:
Things do change. I used to buy gas for 35 cents. Surprisingly enough gas prices were darn cheap not too many years back after going through several shortages. Now it is high again.

Electrical rates are both a function of supply/demand and government regulation. California has high rates in large part due to its government. If I lived there I would expect it to get worse every passing year. The folks in charge there want Utopia and damn the cost.
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or rather, they may arguably see a disaster comming and are trying to keep thing livable for the majority of man kind, instead of the "happy few"..

who knows ?

all i can help is me, my family and friends, so that is what i will do
 
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