Anyone Into Renewable Energy? Solar, Wind, Hydro?

[TeamRush]

After I got disabled in the military, I went back to the farm area I was raised in, like most people do.
When I built my homestead, it had to pay for itself, so gardening, welding/machine shop, etc,
And the electric company wanted $15,000 up front, and to add $118,000 to my electric bill over the next 20 years.

This was for the privilege of getting power at 3× the average state rate, and when/if the grid worked out here in rural Indiana.
I backed into solar electric.
I believed the about solar not working, too expensive, etc, so I tried everything else before I went A BAD WORD-backwards into Photo Voltaic panels...

Now, if you want to attract a female, an indoor outhouse, running water & electricity is pretty well mandatory!
That's a STRONG motivation!

Now, I'm not the smartest guy in the world,
I was a US Marine for 16 years, they gave us helmets so we could get through doorways without bumping our heads,
Then they strapped those helmets on so we wouldn't loose them.
We weren't called 'Self Propelled Sand Bags' for nothing.
I have to do everything about 3 times before I read the instructions...

One thing a Marine knows is shovels, so I stared digging.
Garden beds aren't as easy as I remembered, it took about 3 years to turn 'Dirt' into proper growing soil, which is about how long it takes to make a robust compost system (4 stage in my case) to make sandy dirt into good growing soil.

Then it was a question of power, to pump water and do other work...
Since I built everything pretty well myself, I went through battery powered tools, gas powered tools, gas generator & AC tools...
All those batteries are dead in a few minutes of HARD work,
All those little gas powered tools have HUGE problems with carbs, fuel delivery, replacement parts,
A gas generator has its own issues, not the least of which is the noise...

So then it was automotive batteries & solar panels.
Now, Incant recommend automotive batteries (flooded lead/acid) for solar, the battery just doesn't fit the application,
But for many years it was the ONLY reasonably priced choice.

With panel price per Watt coming down significantly, and with new battery chemistry, it's MUCH more reasonably priced,
And with grid tied systems, batteries aren't even needed.

When you can run a homestead & machine shop mostly from solar electric, that fact alone should tell people it does work, and it's even competitive with grid energy cost (over time).

If you want to discuss this, I'm all ears, and I'll answer questions on how I've done things over time.

 

[Belizean]

Wow interesting subject. When I was an early teenager we moved to a third world country and off grid. I remember my dad getting a magazine or catalog every couple months called something like Mothers whole earth or something like that. My dad read all he could about others trying things. The batteries was the problem back in the early 70s We had gas stove, propane refrigerator and finally bought some really old kerosene freezer with a burning wick that needed trimming every week. Hand water pump to pump water 25 feet into gravity fed tanks for shower, toilet and sink. After 6 months of hand washing clothes, my mom put her foot down and my dad airfreighted a Maytag wringer washer in from the states. So twice a week my dad would fire up a small generator up for the washing machine. Lights were Coleman type lanterns and eventually gas lights

 

[TeamRush]

Mother Earth News.
It was OK, but a little soggy on tech for my taste, I'm a mechanic!

Manually hauling water is the single most back breaking job you will ever do, so when I got the well drilled, power for a pump was a VERY high priority.
The rural water main was a mile away, and they wouldn't even talk to me.
The first 2 years I plowed/disk with a '73 Jeep, pumped and hauled water with a '73 Jeep from a little lake or the river.

That '73 Jeep also hauled gravel from the river gravel bar to make my early driveway, set the walls up for my shop, dragged timber down for my raised garden beds, about everything a horse would have done in 1896 instead of 1996...
With a winch and hydraulic pump, air compressor & inverter, it supplied most of the power that didn't involve hand tools.

How I backed into solar was a small solar panel to recharge trailer winch batteries, which I used on 'Cordless' tools when the tool battery failed, I put a cord on it and ran it off an automotive battery.
Made for cheap tools from yard sales! Makes for cheap power tools on a trail/expedition vehicle, simply run them off the vehicle battery.

I started with DC coupled, panels produced in DC, batteries were high amp/low volt DC, and everything was pretty well connected on the DC side of things.
Now I'm mostly AC coupled, panel production is immedately converted into AC, and when I need DC I just use a rectifier/transformer like all the wall transformers (wall worts) everyone uses...
A regulated power supply charges batteries, cheaper and more flexible than a 'Battery Charger' which gets quite expensive for the new battery types.

AC coupling is stupid simple, 3 wires in parallel (like any 240VAC home appliance) on the AC side and you are off to the races.
The new stuff is stupid simple, even someone that needs a helmet strapped on can do it.
With full size panels running around .50/Watt and declining, and commonly handling 1,000 volts or more in series, doesn't take long to get a LOT of power real quick!
Series means 2 wire hookups on the DC side, so that's stupid simple also.
High volts (low amps) means reasonable size wire, instead of huge high amperage cables, so that cost has come way down.

AC coupling is also expandable, you can start fairly small and work up as you need more power,
While in DC Coupling, you often have to start over for larger wires, bigger terminals/switches/breakers/chargers & inverters to make more power.

It's all in your application and how you want to do things, but since I was more or less forced into it,
And this is my first big upgrade in more than 20 years (from DC Coupling to AC Coupling), and the price was about 1/5 what DC Coupling would have been.

Since the home is wired exactly like every other grid powered home, no need for exotic energy/fuel appliances.
It's wired exactly like every other common home in America, and supports the everyone has.
The only difference is the 'Utilities' room, pressure tanks & water pumps, batteries and inverter.
The difference is I own my 'Utilities' instead of pay on a monthly basis.

Most people have a 20 year 'Break Even' point, where current utility costs reach purchase/operation cost of off grid.
With the rate increases we had, mine broke even in 9 years, and more than paid for the upgrade over the next 12 years, I'm still ahead of what the utilities would have charged me.

 

[TeamRush]

I bet a BUNCH of folks out west/south west wish they had solar PV to offset some of the air conditioning bills!
Record heat waves out there, even rolling blackouts because of air conditioners.

As long as I can beg, borrow or steal a dollar, the A/C will run!
Old fat guys are like that...

Since we like mechanical systems, I wondered if there were a few that extended into something like solar... I guess there are a few...

 

[Belizean]

From what I have heard, read SoCal's problems are somewhat self inflicted. They do have plenty wind and sun there.

 

[TeamRush]

While most won't believe it, California is still trying to recover from Enron and what big energy did to it.

Solar electric isn't really effective between 6pm & 8pm,
Too hot without enough direct sunlight for full power panels,
And of course big energy is fighting the trans Rockey mountain power transfer tooth & nail...
(Or any attempt at modernizing the power grid that might lower prices they can charge)

The big natural gas producers can't (won't) get gas over the Rockies efficiently for fill in times, and much of the solar is direct PV with no storage (like hot salts for boilers or batteries).
Neither were particularly effective until recently, and recently California has been pretty much broke,
And the big energy isn't going to invest in infrastructure in a state that won't let them dump pollution whenever/where ever they feel like it...

I'm pretty happy with my off grid, and built for redundancy, no lack of A/C when I want it!
I just upgraded the batteries to LiFePo4, which quadrupled my useable storage capacity, decreased space, weight, dangerous chemistry and corrosive vapors, and made maintenance a 'Look See' thing instead of a corrosion cleaning nightmare every week...

This winter I upgraded my panels from the low power, high amp parallel connected mismatched panels,
To something more uniform, high volts/low amps, DC to AC coupled.
MUCH easier to wire this way, and since I was replacing 20-22 year old panels with 2017-2018 versions, MUCH more productive per sq.ft.

We are actually only using about half the panel racks we have, and I'm trying to figure ways to store our over-production at this point.
Making a LOT of hot water is one way, higher energy batteries are another.
Considering an EV (car) for the wife, that would be another way to use the excess production...

Not many people complain about too much power, but most people didn't start 20+ years ago completely off grid either, and build big enough for a home and machine/welding shop.

I still have a semi truck load of excess panels, and more than half a truck load of excess inverters from a bankruptcy sale, so I have 'Spares' for about the next 200 years!

Let's see if the new form will support pictures...

Panels by the truck load at about 1/4 market value per Watt...

Grid Tied inverters by the truck load at about 1/4 or less of retail value.

It's like a full on off road build, once you get started, it takes on a life of its own...

 

[TeamRush]

Now, some call me 'Paranoid'...
Which doesn't mean things can't turn to in a hand basket.

I was a US Marine for 16 years, 14 years of that a forward combat Marine.
I've seen places turn into WORSE than 'Mad Max' zones in a VERY short period of time.

I couldn't afford 'Grid' electricity, so I made my own,
But more importantly, I built to live within the limits of what I could REASONABLY produce.
Earth sheltered home, radiant floor heat, passive solar & geothermal temp control on the home...

I'm not a 'Tree Hugger', but then again I'm not going to waste any of a tree when In have to cut it down either...
By going earth sheltered the temp is reasonable for humans all year around, and I only have to offset body, cooking and living heat.
The biggest issue with earth sheltered is humidity, and dehumidifiers are MUCH cheaper to operate than air conditioners.

There is that whole almost hermetically sealed thing with poured concrete/earth sheltered also.
I'm not particularly worried about biological, chemical or nuclear threats,
But the place is pretty well hermetically sealed simply because it has to be water tight when earth sheltered...

Then there are things like maintenance & insurance costs along with heating & cooling.
Being poured concrete, it's pretty well tornado proof, flood proof, fire proof, and bug proof, so high home insurance can kiss my behind.
Then there are taxes, and BOY, in my state taxes can be assessed at 9 or 10 times actual market value.
The taxes are much lower.

Maintenance is pretty well non-existent, no roof to replace, no painting or siding, what is exposed is glass windows & stone.
We mow the roof to keep weeds from growing over the light pipes (a type of 'skylight') and that's about it.
I even used pavers (not permanent) for the patio and walks because they aren't taxed and require little to no maintenance.

Once you get used to no windows in the back rooms (bedrooms, bathrooms, utility room) it's like any other home with a high domed ceiling.

I don't believe in big houses YOU have to pay for, maintain & support,
That make you NO MONEY, so my money is in the shop, root/cold storage rooms.
No sense in having more then you need to be comfortable when you have down time,
But if you say busy, you would be surprised how little 'House' you need for meals & sleep.

Meanwhile, back at the ever expanding shop, greenhouse, storage places for garden produce, things that make money...
I can be just as happy with my down time in the greenhouse or shop working on my junk Jeep as I can puttering around in a big house,
And greenhouse/shops are tax deductable as a business!
Work smarter, not harder when you can...

 

[TeamRush]

So, self powered, clean, deep rock water wells and the power to get that water up for use,
Tax deductable shops, greenhouses, root cellar & cold storage rooms (underground), and I rent pasture land or have solar panels on top them so I get paid twice for the same land...
With passive geothermal, the cold doesn't cost me anything, so again, energy efficient...

It's all in your application, and Marines know how to dig like groundhogs!
Throw in some machining and welding for a business, the business of produce gardening, rental pasture & row crop land (much lower tax rate), and it works well for me, and I don't have to maintain all the land myself when people rent it.

When you slaughter a hog or chicken, nothing but the sound escapes...
When on a homestead or farm, it's a logical decision to harvest water, wind, sun & geothermal energy just like you harvest crops or livestock.
Nothing but the sound gets away, and if I could find a market for that I'd sell that too!

House & garage/shop roofs are prime real estate for solar thermal (hit water) and solar electric (PV), and they already exist, are standing and waiting...
For those in dry areas with high water rates, water collection isn't a bad idea.

My north/south fence rows got tall posts, like 8' tall.
Drill some holes, stick a pipe through the holes, slap some panels on the pipes and you have a stupid cheap east/west solar tracker.
8' clears livestock and mowers, shading from weeds, etc.
And since you have to set posts anyway, why not get paid harvesting sun?

A timer, some micro switches, and an electric jack screw and younhave reliable AUTOMATIC sun tracking for cheap, forget the high dollar computer controlled ...
My first sun tracker was turning the hay trailer with panels laid out on it,
Then I added a old, big satellite dish jack screw to it and it became automatic (with cheap timer).
NASA didn't have to design it or approve it for manned space flight to have it work...