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Old 04-26-16, 08:18 AM   #30
randen
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada
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The solar panels 10 kw's worth should be showing up this week. 4 kw's will be covering the pergola the rest 6 kw's will rest on the flat roof. The first order of business will to have the 4 kw pergola interrupt the grid supply and power the home while the sun is available.

My summer usage is about 20 kwh per day. As we head into the winter the geo-thermal units (3) starts to really flex their muscles and 100 kwh per day. Now I must qualify this as I'm also factoring in my business usage running a machine shop and running a geo-thermal (DIY) there as well.

I have a spread sheet on my usage in 2009 the price was $0.13 /kwh and we had been notified April 1st the price is now $0.26/ kwh Doubling in seven yrs. Without going to deeply into the math and ROI its going to workout nicely by installing the solar.

Now batteries I see some anecdotal information. I'm currently working with large format Nimh that were manufactured in 1999. Under load testing they are shown the have still a 80 to 90 % of their capacity remaining. Now yes they do have some internal losses during storage. How ever Lithium batteries have not demonstrated this loss during extended storage. These chemistries are completely different and light yrs better than Lead-acid.
Better yet you can actually buy them now and they are not pie in the sky just around the corner technologies. I can go down the scrap yard and buy 20 kw's of battery out of a volt or leaf and put them to work. If I treat them properly in a residential type charge discharge they will last for decades.

Randen
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