Solar power question

[eco4560]

I have a 1 kW system. I've kept an energy audit for the past month (inspired by The Greening of Gavin).

There have been many many cloudy days this month - so the system generated only 15 kW for January.

My question is - if I add another 6 panels (1kW) is it simple maths and that will double my energy generation? Or is it more complicated than that?

I used 10.4 kWh/day on average through January. Sadly there isn't enough room on my roof to fit enough panels to generate enough electricity to cover that. So it's back to the drawing board to work out how to get it down even further. I'm currently looking into those infrared remotely operated power points that allow you to easily turn off appliances that are on standby.

[pebble]

Adding another kW is only useful if you have the battery capacity to store it. What is your battery set up?

Do you want to post what appliances etc you have? We could trouble shoot reducing consumption.

[Grasshopper]

Adding panels would depend on the size of your inverter and their position as to the out put.

I have a 1.5 kw system and a solar hot water system,I'm still grid connected.
My bills have been reduced by 3/4s.
I have all my electricals are connected to 3x power board surge protectors I got from Aldi for $25,these gets turned off every night.
I dont use any lights at night except a standard lamp with a fluro bulb just while we eat.
I try and avoid the elctric stove and oven and cook outdoors on gas or by fire.
With my system after talking to an electrical engineer he says I could add 2 more panels to the existing 1.5 kw inverter and have nearly a 1.9 kw system,they would need to be exactly the same brand and size of the ones I already have and be positioned in the same plane and location as the existing. (the sums are about $1000 for 2 more panels, saving me nearly $400 a year). The idea is the inverter could cope with the extra power and it would increase quite significantly what I output.
Its on the to do list
The other thought is to get a small wind turbine battery set up to run a few things,which might be a better back up if TSHTF in a post peak oil zombie apocalypse and its kinda cool and similarish in price(and I get a lot of wind so would produce day and night) downside is batteries that will need replacing.
Im also looking at stand alone solar fridges and freezers and would love a solar pump to a gravity fed header tank.(to be totally self propelled)

[eco4560]

Thanks guys. Pebble I'm on a grid connected system. The inverter I had installed with the panels has the capacity to 'plug and play' with another 1 kW.
I think it is stuff on standby 24 / 7 that is putting it up - which is why I'm thinking that if I could go from room to room with a remote at the end of the day and turn stuff off that doesn't need to stay on that it'd make a difference - like the microwave that gets used a few times a week but is constantly on.
I have solar hot water with an electric booster (which is turned off whenever the sun is shining), a gas stove top, but electric oven which gets used once a week. A big fridge freezer that the kids stand in front of for far too long before deciding that there's nothing worth eating. Dishwasher (that I really should learn to do without...). Small telly that I watch the news on but not much else at present. Grey water system (Nubian) which doesn't appear to pull very much power. A dryer that gets used once a month when school uniforms don't get dry in time because of the rain. And more computers than any sensible woman should confess to owning in a public place!
I'm pretty pleased with myself to be honest because the last time I looked at my energy consumption was a few rental houses ago and it was well over 40 a day at that point.

[gardenlen]

eco?

do you use storage batteries? as you are aware solar only works in the sun and then only at its peak if you keep the panels as clean as.

maybe consider adding in wind as well the wind blows night and day.

second hand forklift batteries can be obtained lots cheaper than new batteries they are tested to 80% load capacity. just to me unless the extra power produced can be stored for those rainy days it might all be fruitless.

len

[pebble]

Eco, I have a really small system (12V) and I turn stuff off when I have finished using it. I don't have a microwave, but to give an example, I would switch it off when I finished using it and then back on when I needed it again, rather than just at night (esp if you are having cloudy days). I do this with things like stereo and TV too, but it gets tricky if you want the thing to remember time/date settings, or radio stations. I'm imagining the computers are the hardest thing (I have a laptop so it's easier), but I do things like turning the printer on only if I am about to use it and then off again when finished. Having switches within very easy reach (permie zone 0 ;-) ) is important.

Also the fridge/freezer will be using alot of power. Can you get a smaller one? Or for the fridge anyway, lots of food doesn't actually need to be in the fridge.

[gardenlen]

with fridge/freezers and washing machines, if you are grid connected run them on a separate grid circuit, and use solar for the rest. one lady bought 12v fridge and freezer and runs an esky so she need not open the fridge and freezer through the day. 240v appliances like washers and fridges can be converted to 12vdc

len

[permasculptor]

We recently had the climate smart electrician here and the fifty dollars was well spent as you get the device to measure the amount used and the same monitor allows you to see what takes how much to run.You also get 4 remote power points (which also give surge protection).
the power hungry devices are the heaters (water, clothes ,space ,oven etc).
you will save heaps if you monitor and adjust your usage ,like only boiling the appropriate amount of water in the kettle,washing clothes in cold water,filling the oven instead of just one tray of biscuits, jumpers over heaters etc.The sparky told a story of one house in Noosa that had a wall of glass door fridges to house a six pack of beer and his power bill was three grand per quarter. I have a chest freezer with an added thermostat/control that holds two 19 lt kegs that only takes .4kw to run most of the savings comes from the fact that the door is on top so the cold doesn't pour out every time I get a beer.

[eco4560]

Having switches within very easy reach (permie zone 0 ;-) ) is important.

That's my problem - to turn off the microwave I have to pull it out of it's spot to get to the power point. For computers and TV's it involves crawling under / behind tables and I just know that I'll do it a few times then give it up as a bad joke!

Len - how hard would it be to rewire the house to do what you suggest?

Permasculptor - I had a climate smart service about 2 years ago and have my monitor - which I do love. It died a year ago and I have only just figured out that I had to put new batteries in the transmitter - it was hidden behind a panel in my power box so I couldn't see it. So it's working again. They didn't offer the remote power points when I did my service and once you have had a service you can't have another (I tried though....)

You are right about heating - I left the oven on overnight by accident one night and used 30 kW of power!

$3000 a quarter! My word... My last bill was just under $300 and I still think that is too much!

What are others using per day? If you have never audited your power I'd strongly recommend it - learn to read your meter and get into the habit of opening the power box and write down your reading every day when you walk past.

[gardenlen]

you'd be better talking to a sparky, i had it done once it didn't seem to get involved into an actual rewire just splitting a system that is there, in the long run well worth the while, we are building now so will have him run 2 circuits as we will also have elect water pump. so in case we can get some solar wind going (all stand alone) and with gas cooking and heating the big users will be separate. our quarterly bill is now around $170 got a note from teh power co' congratulating us on using 25% less than the average for the district.

got no idea how people get up into the thousands, let alone high hundreds.

when wiring we are putting all power points at least waste height so we can get to them behind computers and tv to turn them off, and with microwave be sure it is in easy reach, a sparky left to his devices will not get it right.

len