Making the best of Global Warming

Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs

<< < (5/9) > >>

BillTodd:
I've been experimenting with a couple of panels and cheap LA batteries for a couple of years now.
It's currently running my network and freezer (using just over a kWh a day) . I have to split them east & west either side of my roof.

The intention was to see if a cheap dc system could pay for itself in a reasonable time period , which it probably wiill in another year .

However, based on my low electricity usage and the difficulty of using it to capacity, I can't see hard nosed economic argument to keep it nor expand it , even I buy an EV (other than my bikes) and cover the roofs in panels . I simply don't have long enough live :lol:

I think anyone thinking about PV as an investment needs to do their sums ... carefully.

vtsteam:
What are panels going for these days per watt?

BillTodd:

--- Quote from: vtsteam on July 06, 2025, 06:40:22 AM ---What are panels going for these days per watt?

--- End quote ---

I bought second hand solar farm panels which works out to be £0.25/w . New more efficient panels seem to be nearer £1\w

Biggest problem in east England is average generation of 17 to 20w/m2 (annual mean) and the end of the lucrative feedin tariffs (peaking around 42p/kWh and now more typically 5p)

Using all the available power is important to maximise returns, with EV charging being good because it replaces expensive petrol.

Joules:
Huge variation in prices Steve, I used Renogy 100W panels, in my case they are a manageable size costing about £69.00 per panel. However I could have bought 440W Jinko panels for £68.00 so about £0.155 per watt. For me the panels are too large and heavy to handle on my own, but that cost per watt !!! They also wouldn't have provided the higher voltage I wanted as my Renogy panels are 4 in series then parallel with the other 4, making best use of my charge controller or in this case the Bluetti built in one.

Ade, rain dropped temperature here and sun just came out, our 800W array just peaked at 850W, so I was 100W down during heatwave.

Bill, interesting take on your view, I never saw this as an investment but something that interests me. As Steve Jobs book title "The journey is the reward" It also helps I have great support from my wife, who was in engineering.

BillTodd:
Hi Joules, yes I fully understand the enjoyment value (being able to stick two fingers up to the power company is priceless) .

I just think it important not to be fooled by the lure of 'free' power (I know a couple of people that fall into the category!)

And I get a kick out of crunching numbers ...

Navigation

 Message Index

Go to full version