Hedges
I See Electromagnetic Fields!
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 20,041
PV/battery backup is nicer whether you have a generator or not, gives you smaller amounts of power 24/7 with generator running occasionally or not at all.
Trencher, bury 2" or 3" PVC conduit 18" under ground. Thread a pulling line through it as you assemble conduit. With 6 awg or 2 awg pulled through it you can deliver 70A or 125A 120/240 or 208Y. 2/0 AWG works, but requires much more to pull, like a winch or tugger. Or pickup truck? (avoid bends.) Oversize conduit makes it easier. Put in additional conduit for phone/data/control and poly pipe for water while you have a trench.
Whether you feed utility power or use PV/generator, having the buildings tied together will be useful.
You can install grid-tie PV on both (the most economical form of PV), and later they can be part of an off-grid system if you select what family of products you want to use.
You can DIY a grid-tie PV system for $1/watt which will give you power for $0.05/kWh amortized over 10 years. Maybe replace inverters if they fail, and by 20 years the average amortized cost is down to $0.03/kWh
Anything battery costs considerably more, in particular the wear out and replacement cost of batteries (or high upfront cost of batteries that can deep cycle every night for 10 to 20 years.) Prices are coming down. So to start, if you want battery backup for grid failure, you can undersize battery and shut of excess loads. My daily PV production peaks at 5x my battery capacity, could probably make it work at 10x or more; that's excess AC production for daytime use, minimal loads at night. e.g. run A/C and pump water while the sun shines.
Trencher, bury 2" or 3" PVC conduit 18" under ground. Thread a pulling line through it as you assemble conduit. With 6 awg or 2 awg pulled through it you can deliver 70A or 125A 120/240 or 208Y. 2/0 AWG works, but requires much more to pull, like a winch or tugger. Or pickup truck? (avoid bends.) Oversize conduit makes it easier. Put in additional conduit for phone/data/control and poly pipe for water while you have a trench.
Whether you feed utility power or use PV/generator, having the buildings tied together will be useful.
You can install grid-tie PV on both (the most economical form of PV), and later they can be part of an off-grid system if you select what family of products you want to use.
You can DIY a grid-tie PV system for $1/watt which will give you power for $0.05/kWh amortized over 10 years. Maybe replace inverters if they fail, and by 20 years the average amortized cost is down to $0.03/kWh
Anything battery costs considerably more, in particular the wear out and replacement cost of batteries (or high upfront cost of batteries that can deep cycle every night for 10 to 20 years.) Prices are coming down. So to start, if you want battery backup for grid failure, you can undersize battery and shut of excess loads. My daily PV production peaks at 5x my battery capacity, could probably make it work at 10x or more; that's excess AC production for daytime use, minimal loads at night. e.g. run A/C and pump water while the sun shines.