09-07-2009, 05:15 AM
Bullwinkle...
My former father in-law has lived off grid above Ninole for 20plus years now.
I've heard nothing but good things regarding his PV setup (though initially very costly) and there's always plenty of cold beer in the fridge inside the AC cooled house. It all depends on how your system is set up and to what magnitude. That being said, I've seen some really useless small set ups too, not worth much more than keeping some batteries charged and an hour of T.V. running time or other small tasks and something that is really only intended for sailing or camping, but people still tried to use these under powered systems for houses. My hats off to you as you kept the pipe dream alive long enough to become a practical reality.
Even today with the low $ per watt costs on an array it will run minimum $20k - $30k for an acceptable full house setup, otherwise one will have be very careful about how they use the energy.
20 years ago it would have cost well over $100k for an equal PV system.
Just in the last year PV panels have dropped down below $1.30 a watt from well above $2.20 a watt last year (varies slightly by source news) and next year it's expected to drop down to $ 0.60 a watt as the increasing demands for solar PV become even greater.
I would agree with you, if starting such a venture 20 years ago and not spending nearly if not more than $100k on a correctly sized system, one would have been living not far removed from not having power at all and it would have sucked big time.
There are far more efficient solar/PV collectors already in production as we speak in the thin film and ink printed PV manufacturing side of the industry, some at less than $0.10 watt (but not publically available for perhaps another 2 years or less). Solar times have already changed dramatically in the past year alone and the next two years will emerge publically all the systems that were only a wonderful dream 20 years ago and a practical thought 5 years ago and today are all available to industry and municipal interests. Times have changed for the Solar revolution.
Again, my hats off to you for trying and keeping the dream alive, it did finally pay off. PV is now less expensive than coal power and in another 20 years energy will be perhaps only a concern from a decade past fleeting memory.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
My former father in-law has lived off grid above Ninole for 20plus years now.
I've heard nothing but good things regarding his PV setup (though initially very costly) and there's always plenty of cold beer in the fridge inside the AC cooled house. It all depends on how your system is set up and to what magnitude. That being said, I've seen some really useless small set ups too, not worth much more than keeping some batteries charged and an hour of T.V. running time or other small tasks and something that is really only intended for sailing or camping, but people still tried to use these under powered systems for houses. My hats off to you as you kept the pipe dream alive long enough to become a practical reality.
Even today with the low $ per watt costs on an array it will run minimum $20k - $30k for an acceptable full house setup, otherwise one will have be very careful about how they use the energy.
20 years ago it would have cost well over $100k for an equal PV system.
Just in the last year PV panels have dropped down below $1.30 a watt from well above $2.20 a watt last year (varies slightly by source news) and next year it's expected to drop down to $ 0.60 a watt as the increasing demands for solar PV become even greater.
I would agree with you, if starting such a venture 20 years ago and not spending nearly if not more than $100k on a correctly sized system, one would have been living not far removed from not having power at all and it would have sucked big time.
There are far more efficient solar/PV collectors already in production as we speak in the thin film and ink printed PV manufacturing side of the industry, some at less than $0.10 watt (but not publically available for perhaps another 2 years or less). Solar times have already changed dramatically in the past year alone and the next two years will emerge publically all the systems that were only a wonderful dream 20 years ago and a practical thought 5 years ago and today are all available to industry and municipal interests. Times have changed for the Solar revolution.
Again, my hats off to you for trying and keeping the dream alive, it did finally pay off. PV is now less expensive than coal power and in another 20 years energy will be perhaps only a concern from a decade past fleeting memory.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.