Hello and Greetings from Austria!
No, that's not Australia but in Europe...
The reason I am here - I'd like to know if transporting solar energy via batteries is feasible - or a dumb idea.
Situation is as follows:
I have an orchard on a south slope with full sun all day long without anything shading the horizon. But there's nothing else, no grid. My apartment is a 15min drive away.
My original plan was to use a mobile power station like the Ecoflow Delta mini + 160W solar panel I can get at local hardware stores here, enjoy having minimum power at my orchard for camping out and call it a day.
But as you know the geopolitical situation fundamentally changed and Austria gets 80% of gas from Russia. I use it for heating and cooking and our power grid is stabilized by gas power plants. Prices have already risen sharply and there's no end in sight for either gas or electricity. However I have no way to install anything at my rented apartment which is too shady anyway.
So the new idea was to harvest solar power at my orchard, charge medium sized still portable LFP batteries and carry them home as supplement and emergency backup. No grid integration, just an inverter to plug in 230V appliances and reduce grid dependency.
The ultimate long-term goal would be to charge a future EV at the orchard but that's years ahead, my current car will hopefully last a few years before I go electric.
So what do you think?
I am aware that the elephant in the room is that I'd need twice the batteries in order to swap them between orchard (for charging) and home (for use). And that's where things get really expensive. Especially considering the battery market in Europe is fairly small and importing from China isn't really an option due to customs issues.
As for size - I had considered something like the Ecoflow Delta Pro with 3,6kWh. But two of these would be way above what I am willing to invest and they have lots of features I will never use. I am not an electrician or technician but a research scientist so I can do some assembly. It would be an interesting project.
A modular and scalable solution would be ideal, I have not looked into this too much yet but what's available here would be Pylontech 48V batteries, the 2,4kWh US2000 still seem very portable with 22kg and they can be stacked. Four of them (2x2 for swapping) would still be way less expensive than 2x Delta Pro.
As for solar cells, no idea yet. Not an issue as they will be mounted to the ground and space is basically unlimited. So it all depends on the batteries.
More Information:
Isolation number should be around 4 here - not great, not terrible.
Yearly PV specific yield about 1300 kWh/kWp, probably a little more in my specific location. Lat is 48.2 so winter days are fairly short just when power is needed.
Absolute minimum temperature would be -20°C but less than -10°C during the day is already extremely unusual and happens maybe once in 10 years.
Batteries would be housed in a proper enclosure, dry and well protected but not absolutely free of frost.
There's plenty of free area for ground mounted solar panels, they can be orientated in any direction and angle adjusted according to season. For start I had considered something around 1-2 kW of solar power depending on the batteries.
I have almost no use for DC, only for 230V AC
As for how much power I need - hard to say.
As grid integration is not easily possible due to regulations I'd rather power some large appliances like washing machine, fridge, dishwasher. I use about 2.500kwh per year, unfortunately mostly in winter due to artificial light for plants in my conservatory. There's no such things as too much power as I could switch from gas to electric for cooking and heating, at least partly.
Well, sorry for that text wall, let's see what you think.
No, that's not Australia but in Europe...
The reason I am here - I'd like to know if transporting solar energy via batteries is feasible - or a dumb idea.
Situation is as follows:
I have an orchard on a south slope with full sun all day long without anything shading the horizon. But there's nothing else, no grid. My apartment is a 15min drive away.
My original plan was to use a mobile power station like the Ecoflow Delta mini + 160W solar panel I can get at local hardware stores here, enjoy having minimum power at my orchard for camping out and call it a day.
But as you know the geopolitical situation fundamentally changed and Austria gets 80% of gas from Russia. I use it for heating and cooking and our power grid is stabilized by gas power plants. Prices have already risen sharply and there's no end in sight for either gas or electricity. However I have no way to install anything at my rented apartment which is too shady anyway.
So the new idea was to harvest solar power at my orchard, charge medium sized still portable LFP batteries and carry them home as supplement and emergency backup. No grid integration, just an inverter to plug in 230V appliances and reduce grid dependency.
The ultimate long-term goal would be to charge a future EV at the orchard but that's years ahead, my current car will hopefully last a few years before I go electric.
So what do you think?
I am aware that the elephant in the room is that I'd need twice the batteries in order to swap them between orchard (for charging) and home (for use). And that's where things get really expensive. Especially considering the battery market in Europe is fairly small and importing from China isn't really an option due to customs issues.
As for size - I had considered something like the Ecoflow Delta Pro with 3,6kWh. But two of these would be way above what I am willing to invest and they have lots of features I will never use. I am not an electrician or technician but a research scientist so I can do some assembly. It would be an interesting project.
A modular and scalable solution would be ideal, I have not looked into this too much yet but what's available here would be Pylontech 48V batteries, the 2,4kWh US2000 still seem very portable with 22kg and they can be stacked. Four of them (2x2 for swapping) would still be way less expensive than 2x Delta Pro.
As for solar cells, no idea yet. Not an issue as they will be mounted to the ground and space is basically unlimited. So it all depends on the batteries.
More Information:
Isolation number should be around 4 here - not great, not terrible.
Yearly PV specific yield about 1300 kWh/kWp, probably a little more in my specific location. Lat is 48.2 so winter days are fairly short just when power is needed.
Absolute minimum temperature would be -20°C but less than -10°C during the day is already extremely unusual and happens maybe once in 10 years.
Batteries would be housed in a proper enclosure, dry and well protected but not absolutely free of frost.
There's plenty of free area for ground mounted solar panels, they can be orientated in any direction and angle adjusted according to season. For start I had considered something around 1-2 kW of solar power depending on the batteries.
I have almost no use for DC, only for 230V AC
As for how much power I need - hard to say.
As grid integration is not easily possible due to regulations I'd rather power some large appliances like washing machine, fridge, dishwasher. I use about 2.500kwh per year, unfortunately mostly in winter due to artificial light for plants in my conservatory. There's no such things as too much power as I could switch from gas to electric for cooking and heating, at least partly.
Well, sorry for that text wall, let's see what you think.
