Solar power systems for the home

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Correct me if I am wrong, but the reason you can't use 100% solar energy is because you aren't allowed to store the energy you produced? So you are forced to use grid energy essentially whenever it's dark out.

I wonder if you could MacGyver 12 car batteries together and use that, unbeknownst to the authorities.

You could add a battery system (like the Tesla powerwall), we didn't since it would have had to go in the basement and in 2013 that became a swimming pool. With a battery system I'd guess we'd store a lot more of our excess production during the day and utilize it when we were not producing power.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Stats from our solar in March:

Overall power usage of 295.11 kWh, of which solar accounted for 40% of that at 116.92 kWh.

The solar itself produced 355.12 kWh and 238.2 kWh was exported onto the grid.

A lot of the power usage when solar isn't available was the furnace turning on in the early morning and on cloudy/colder days, plus the oven/electric stovetop as another big draw. Looking forward to the warmer months when the furnace won't even go on, could easily see solar going well over 50% of our coverage.

Just want to chime in and say that is pretty impressive Bigtime, considering you are in a SFH and a family of four (?).

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Just want to chime in and say that is pretty impressive Bigtime, considering you are in a SFH and a family of four (?).

Thanks! Correct on the family of four. We don't use our dryer anymore, do the rack drying thing. Two loads of laundry a week, one dishwasher cycle usually, and an electric stovetop/oven. With the laundry and dishwasher we've started running it during the day when making enough solar to cover the energy. All LED's in the house as well, one fridge/freezer and a single desktop computer.

[GGG]

Is your 295kwh net (Enmax - solar) or Total?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by GGG

Is your 295kwh net (Enmax - solar) or Total?

Total.

[Azure]

Are you looking at adding a Powerwall?

With prices getting cheaper, I'm wondering what the payback actually would be.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

You could add a battery system (like the Tesla powerwall), we didn't since it would have had to go in the basement and in 2013 that became a swimming pool. With a battery system I'd guess we'd store a lot more of our excess production during the day and utilize it when we were not producing power.

Do tell

[Smartcar]

I expect he's referring to the flood and everything in the basement would have been wrecked.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Total.

That is an amazing total. Nice work.

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Total.

What was the total install cost? and when was it installed?

[JD]

Two loads of laundry in a week for 4 people? Can I send my wife for training at your house?

[Bigtime]

Here's the March billing period from our system:



This is a 47.3% decrease from the same billing period in 2020.

[ken0042]

I'm still very much in awe of how you can be consistently under 300 kw/h per month in use.

[CroFlames]

What does a solar system cost these days for a typical Calgary home?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

What does a solar system cost these days for a typical Calgary home?

Panels are around $225 each, inverter can be around $2000, optimizers for each panel around $100. Plus install, permitting, and some other items. So it will vary based on the size of the installation.

[Calgary14]

Bigtime, if you dont mind sharing what was the total cost of your system and what is the average monthly savings?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

What does a solar system cost these days for a typical Calgary home?

Depends if you want to include Pluto or not.

[sa226]

I need to check my basement for a grow op because we're using almost triple that.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by sa226

I need to check my basement for a grow op because we're using almost triple that.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

We're in an average size home (~1700 sq feet) and it doesn't seem like we are energy wasters. Run almost quadruple what Bigtime uses on most months. WFH, online school, and devices/phones/computers must really be a draw.

[PaperBagger'14]

Your biggest electrical draws in your home are almost always heaters (dryer, dishwasher, oven) and motors (garage door, furnace fan) as well as appliances that use one or both of the above.

Things like computers, chargers and the like do add up though but not as much as you'd think.