08-20-2020, 05:37 AM
Why would you need a 12,000 watt solar system? I have a 1,200 watt (ish) and don't use all of it's power. Granted that I have grid available but my house probably uses about 400 watts on "idle", about half of that is the kitchen frostless refrigerator. I'm not trying to sound judgmental just wondering why anybody would want to invest in that much potential power unless they were selling most of it to the utility company or mining bitcoin. Refrigeration and freezing can be extremely cheap on solar. It's the cooking and clothes drying that has a cost benefit from using propane. We line dry 99% of our clothes (as has been the custom for humans for thousands of years). I think our chest freezer was about $200 and the gizmo we bought to turn it into a fridge was $16 on sale. It can run on two 100 watt solar panels, a single 8-year old Kirkland 12v marine battery, and a sub-$100 inverter.
I'm not saying that this is a "recommended system" or that it has longevity, but it works. It does require several hours of sun per day to be effective. Absent that, one would have to supplement with grid or generator, or larger battery bank. I think the worst investment in solar power is in storing it, which is why I engineered my system to be largely free from energy storage, but also to be easily scaled differently if the equation or technology changes. Take the "free" energy while it's available when the sun is out. Use the cheap (grid) power when it's not. Grid-tie systems only benefit the grid owners. It's basically just pre-paying for a bunch of electricity and pray that they don't change the rules (like grid tie fees) in the future. Then just as you are reaching the break-even point in your initial investment, all of the equipment is at the end of it's lifespan.
I'm not saying that this is a "recommended system" or that it has longevity, but it works. It does require several hours of sun per day to be effective. Absent that, one would have to supplement with grid or generator, or larger battery bank. I think the worst investment in solar power is in storing it, which is why I engineered my system to be largely free from energy storage, but also to be easily scaled differently if the equation or technology changes. Take the "free" energy while it's available when the sun is out. Use the cheap (grid) power when it's not. Grid-tie systems only benefit the grid owners. It's basically just pre-paying for a bunch of electricity and pray that they don't change the rules (like grid tie fees) in the future. Then just as you are reaching the break-even point in your initial investment, all of the equipment is at the end of it's lifespan.