February Solar Update

For the month of February we only saw 710.2 Kw produced from our solar installation. This is down from 825.4Kw in January which I suppose should expected due to 3 less days with February having 28. My kids also failed to witch over from the mains to solar for 3 days when we were away so in theory we lost 6 days of production. This averages out at around 32 kwh per day which is just on reaching my target of generating 1Mw monthly.

There is still too much discharging happening which is just lost energy due to the batteries being full and energy is being dropped. This is roughly 180 kwh per month that is being thrown away and I need more batteries to keep this stored.

This week should see battery number 4 back in service which gives an extra 5kw storage and I think I will purchase 1 more which will hopefully mean we are not throwing too much away. Supplying back to the grid is not an option yet and have to see this as a positive having too much power for the day time consumption. I just need to work out how to get through the night by getting the balance of storage by having the right number of batteries.

On the plus side the energy for the house required will drop considerably as my daughter and grand kids have moved out into their own house this weekend. Suddenly there are 3 and not 7 so consumption during the evenings will drop with 2 less air conditioners running.

On Tuesday I am having a switch installed that will automatically switch over between the grid and solar installation which will maximise its use having less down time. The system should drop down to around 30% battery storage before switching over and I have been switching it over way before that level in case I forget. If we have load shedding I can switch this over manually, but with an extra two batteries I don't think I will need to.

The good news and upside is I could be off the grid this month with very little investment required on my part. The suppliers still have a credit on my account so I would only need to spend around another $700 to make this happen.

I still have not received an electricity bill from the utility supplier even though I was in their offices back on December 17th. This is nearly 3 months ago and I am giving up on this as a lost cause and making sure I am off completely. It is no wonder the infrastructure is collapsing when you cannot even receive a utility bill and have to chase them.

This month I do think we can achieve the 1mw target depending on the daily house demand ad more importantly be off the grid or closer to being off permanently. This is always going to be a work in progress until you can manage to be self sufficient and is actually really good fun as you are continuously leaning.

Posted Using INLEO