Need a way to bottle or can excess solar production.

[Mattb4]

Not quite Aircon weather and with all the upgrades to my PV setup I am ending up with my batteries fully charged by noon. I don't have an interconnect agreement nor want one. So this leaves me with idle panels during some of the best production time when the weather has been fair.

Sadly you can not fill up a few 5kWh cans of fuel and hawk them to the Tesla tourists as they drive through. Or sell bottles of kool watts on a hot day to dehydrated joggers and the like. No way to make some easy return.

The next frontier for PV has to be a method besides storage batteries to allow easy portability and marketing of watts. Some idle thoughts.

1. A replicator that uses electricity to convert dirt into valuable products such as hairbrushes, beer steins and what nots.
2. Electricity to gasoline converter. Keep the old obsolete gas burner auto still working with this one.
3. Change base metal to gold.

One day someone will solve the electrical power must be used immediately problem.

 

[FLD]

I wish I could come up with a witty reply but I got nothing.

 

[MisterSandals]

2. Electricity to gasoline converter.

Making hydrogen is not that far off.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Alcohol is an option.

 

[MisterSandals]

Alcohol is an option.

Alcohol isn't the answer.

Alcohol is the question.

The answer is "yes!"

 

[Mattb4]

Alcohol is an option.

I could dig out the still and use an electric burner instead of propane to operate it. Not quite warm enough at night yet to ferment the mash though.

 

[AntronX]

Convert old window air conditioner into ice freezer using propane as refrigerant. 1 Ton of ice takes 122 kWh of energy to make (from 25°C water). With freezer COP of 2 that would take 61 kWh electrical. Use that ice for cooling in the summer.

 

[Mattb4]

Now that I think at it I could use excess PV electricity to harvest worms. Sell bait to fishermen.

 

[DIYrich]

Mine bitcoin

 

[Mattb4]

Mine bitcoin

Too expensive for all the computer equipment. But in the early days of Bitcoin it probably was a decent idea.

 

[ScrotpusGobbleBottom]

Not quite Aircon weather and with all the upgrades to my PV setup I am ending up with my batteries fully charged by noon. I don't have an interconnect agreement nor want one. So this leaves me with idle panels during some of the best production time when the weather has been fair.

Sadly you can not fill up a few 5kWh cans of fuel and hawk them to the Tesla tourists as they drive through. Or sell bottles of kool watts on a hot day to dehydrated joggers and the like. No way to make some easy return.

The next frontier for PV has to be a method besides storage batteries to allow easy portability and marketing of watts. Some idle thoughts.

1. A replicator that uses electricity to convert dirt into valuable products such as hairbrushes, beer steins and what nots.
2. Electricity to gasoline converter. Keep the old obsolete gas burner auto still working with this one.
3. Change base metal to gold.

One day someone will solve the electrical power must be used immediately problem.

Bitcoin mining??? oops been said already.

 

[Cronix]

Gravity battery? Use excess power to hoist very heavy objects high up, which are attached to flywheels, which is attached to an alternator. Release the heavy object, gravity pulls it down making the flywheel go weeeeeeeee and you can generate power from that with the alternator. Or do the same thing with water storage, but that's probably a lot more $$$.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

worms

 

[wiseacre]

I use excess power to make solar bricks

 

[MattiFin]

Gravity battery? Use excess power to hoist very heavy objects high up, which are attached to flywheels, which is attached to an alternator. Release the heavy object, gravity pulls it down making the flywheel go weeeeeeeee and you can generate power from that with the alternator. Or do the same thing with water storage, but that's probably a lot more $$$.

This has been suggested or ”invented” numerous times and the problem is always the same: it stores only tiny amount of energy.

 

[Cronix]

This has been suggested or ”invented” numerous times and the problem is always the same: it stores only tiny amount of energy.

That sounds like a scaling issue, which any of these suggestions will have, especially if you want anything actually useful out of the system.

 

[fmeili1]

Do you have enough space around your house? Maybe small hills? If both answered with yes -> Pumped Storage Hydropower

 

[MisterSandals]

One day someone will solve the electrical power must be used immediately problem.

You've heard of "FU money". This is FU power:

 

[robbob2112]

Well, seems like gravity storage tank and water pump/ hydro generator, more batteries, or invent cold fusion

 

[ricardocello]

Not quite Aircon weather and with all the upgrades to my PV setup I am ending up with my batteries fully charged by noon.

I just hit 100% battery on a beautiful day. I hate that (the 100%, not the beautiful day).

Why? Because I only drained down to 50% this morning instead of 30%, which would have probably worked for today.
Stupid weather forecasts are never right about cloud cover.
However, it was cloudy when I got up, so I guessed wrong.

Does everyone wake up and do this, or am I just obsessive about it?

Oh, and normally on Saturday mornings we use lots of power grilling bacon (electric). But not today.

 

[Doggydogworld]

Making hydrogen is not that far off.

The problem with H2 is equipment expense. You need to operate nearly 24x7 to get decent ROI. Daylight hours a few months a year doesn't work.

Bitcoin mining is another idea with the same issue, lots of expensive equipment sitting idle most the time.

You want a high energy product made with cheap equipment. Making tons of ice in the spring to help with summer cooling could work. Just need an insulated ice house to store it. And an easy way to move the ice in there as you make it. Better yet, just sell the ice if there's a market for it.

 

[MattiFin]

That sounds like a scaling issue, which any of these suggestions will have, especially if you want anything actually useful out of the system.

Thing is that it doesn't scale up favorably in any size or shape.
You can have 100 kWh storage battery for 10k usd (or even less from 2-hand EV batteries)
1 kWh is 3600 kJ. To store 100 kWh in weight lifted to tower you need:
1 metric ton weight lifted to 36 kilometer tower or
10 meter tower with 3600 ton weight.

I'm open to ideas how to build:
A) 36 kilometers tall tower for less than 10 grand
B) 10 meter tower with 3600 ton moving mass

 

[MattiFin]

More human-sized example: 100kg weight lifted to 2 meter height is 2 kilojoules or 0.55 Wh.
or about same amount of energy as thumnail-sized CR2032 button cell battery.

 

[ricardocello]

Thing is that it doesn't scale up favorably in any size or shape.

So your recommendation is to buy more battery, rather than coming up with these crazy ideas to use power,
because the economics of it make the most sense. Yes?

 

[42OhmsPA]

I just hit 100% battery on a beautiful day. I hate that (the 100%, not the beautiful day).

Why? Because I only drained down to 50% this morning instead of 30%, which would have probably worked for today.
Stupid weather forecasts are never right about cloud cover.
However, it was cloudy when I got up, so I guessed wrong.

Does everyone wake up and do this, or am I just obsessive about it?

Oh, and normally on Saturday mornings we use lots of power grilling bacon (electric). But not today.

You're not alone....
Sun came out, batteries nearly full, wasting energy so I don't waste power...