Just in time for World Environment Day and my upcoming birthday, a dream of mine has been realised... On 31 May 2012 we had two solar panels installed on our roof! The fact that I was able to achieve this is proof that renewable energy solutions are becoming more attainable. I earn a meager income every month but have managed to save up enough money to have this installation done. Okay, so it is not powering my whole house, but it will be powering most of my office operations. I've now only worked one day on the new system, but it was a sunny day and I managed to go through the whole day without resorting to grid power. Currently just my computer and monitor is plugged in. The system is set up in such a way that when my batteries are discharged to a certain level, the grid power takes over (it is not good for the batteries to discharge entirely). Basically, I now have a 'green plug' in my office. From next week I will also plug my printer in to this connection and will monitor to see how things go from there. Because I don't use my pc over the weekend, on sunny weekends (like this one), I can charge my laptop and my cellphone on the green plug, not to mention other things in the house such as rechargeable batteries for our remote, toothbrush, etc.
I've had some people say that it will take a long time for me to recover what I spent on the system in electricity savings. To me, getting this system installed is about soooo much more than that! My business and home is now greener and I am no longer 100% reliant on Eskom. I can also rest assured that the amount I spent on this installation would be 100% recovered in an increase of the value of our home if we decided to sell with the system included. Also, this is just the start of my plans for expanding on the system when finances allow. To top it off, no monetary value can be placed on the satisfaction I get out of knowing I am receiving clean and renewable power direct from the sun.
From here on, it is only going to get cheaper to do such installations. As for me, I cannot get over how AWESOME it is to FINALLY have my own little solar system! :)
Thank you to Peter Burden of
Solarsells for helping my dream become a reality!
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI have only just put in a solar water heater and get similar pleasure from it.
I would love to know more details of your installation - panel area, inverter specs, battery specs, return on investment percentage?
Are you going to exploit net-metering when the Cape Town City approves this? And did you discuss the extra equipment you would need for this with your supplier?
Regards,
Peter Atkins
Hi Peter, 2 x 80W panels with 4 x 6v Trojan batteries and a 1200W 24v Victron inverter and a 10A solar regulator. It's just a start and I need to add more panels when my budget allows. Will have to see about the net metering, not sure I am set up for this.
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