Someone doth protest too much, methinks.
My brother got some solar PV and a powerwall a few years ago, in Nu'uanu. His power bill is usually whatever the minimum is. He does wish that he had gotten two powerwalls right away though as there is some fussing around with the electric water heater, turning it on at the right time in the afternoon, then sometimes running out of hot water. If he simply had the battery capacity that would all be invisible.
Kinda crazy that it is not a deal breaker to just stick with the old electric resistance water heater.
Me being in the wilds of Puna with plenty of space and few nosy neighbors, I often contemplate batch-style (water tank in a glazed box) water heaters to pre-heat water before the electric resistance heater that uses excess solar PV power, finishing up with a propane tank style that guarantees usably hot water but uses little propane. When I do the math though for the same money and less labor I can just buy a couple more kW of PV. It being Eden Roc I will always have to have a propane water heater and a generator around for the cloudiest days and spending any extra money on PV will heat the water simply on good days and reduce generator usage on bad days.
My brother got some solar PV and a powerwall a few years ago, in Nu'uanu. His power bill is usually whatever the minimum is. He does wish that he had gotten two powerwalls right away though as there is some fussing around with the electric water heater, turning it on at the right time in the afternoon, then sometimes running out of hot water. If he simply had the battery capacity that would all be invisible.
Kinda crazy that it is not a deal breaker to just stick with the old electric resistance water heater.
Me being in the wilds of Puna with plenty of space and few nosy neighbors, I often contemplate batch-style (water tank in a glazed box) water heaters to pre-heat water before the electric resistance heater that uses excess solar PV power, finishing up with a propane tank style that guarantees usably hot water but uses little propane. When I do the math though for the same money and less labor I can just buy a couple more kW of PV. It being Eden Roc I will always have to have a propane water heater and a generator around for the cloudiest days and spending any extra money on PV will heat the water simply on good days and reduce generator usage on bad days.