You do understand that being off grid is usually much more costly then to have a grid connection for your electrical loads.
I live in Greece and the monthly electrical bill is around 100 Euros (almost 100 dollars).
most people here don't even try to use solar energy because of the long term investment. Net metering has more fans.
But I believe that living in a country with 300+ out of 365 days full sunshine is a pitty to don't even try to reduce electrical bill or to run devices when there is black out. Investing money to 8+ year lifetime equipment can pay you back. This is my first milestone.
I live in Greece and the monthly electrical bill is around 100 Euros (almost 100 dollars).
most people here don't even try to use solar energy because of the long term investment. Net metering has more fans.
But I believe that living in a country with 300+ out of 365 days full sunshine is a pitty to don't even try to reduce electrical bill or to run devices when there is black out. Investing money to 8+ year lifetime equipment can pay you back. This is my first milestone.
I agree with you that using the sun to provide power makes a lot of sense. What I am saying is that when you look at the cost of a solar/battery system and calculate the cost of kWh it can generate the price comes to over $1/kWh which is much more than what it costs buying power from the grid in most places but not all. So you might have a good reason to go off grid but most people just don't understand the true cost of a system that can get them the power they want for less then a grid connected system.
That's something I'm looking for. The less equipment for my normal use.
Thanks
High watt rated loads (heating, cooling, cooking, cloths dryer, etc. ) tend to draw the most power even for short times. That usually requires a big battery system and increases the cost.
While the price of a solar/battery system has come down the price range is somewhere between $1500 to $2000 for each kWh a system can safely produce. So if you use 10kWh a day you might be looking at $15000 to $20000 just to install a working system. Then after a few years the batteries wear out and you need to replace them adding to the original cost.
Until battery prices come down you end up paying a lot just to run your basic "comfort" loads. If you just want to use the system to power small watt loads or shift your usage to a time when the POCO charges you very high prices it can be hard to justify going off grid.
Try to determine what loads you really need to run off the battery system before you purchase anything. That way you won't be wasting your money by building an inefficient system.
I live in Greece and the monthly electrical bill is around 100 Euros (almost 100 dollars).
most people here don't even try to use solar energy because of the long term investment. Net metering has more fans.
But I believe that living in a country with 300+ out of 365 days full sunshine is a pitty to don't even try to reduce electrical bill or to run devices when there is black out. Investing money to 8+ year lifetime equipment can pay you back. This is my first milestone.
Have you considered meeting some or all of the energy requirements of some tasks by means other than electricity, such as conservation, fossil fuel(s), or (heaven forbid) some lifestyle adjustments or maybe some passive solar ?
Folks around the Mediterranean (and particularly Greece) have been meeting a lot of their energy and lifestyle needs quite elegantly for millennia without PV.
If it was me (and it sure ain't), I'd have started with a goal of only using electricity for tasks that cannot be done any other way. I can heat water with the sun, or even natural gas more effectively and probably cheaper than PV, but it's tough to run the computer screen I'm looking at (or the one you're reading this from) with natural gas or firewood.
Q: What's your annual electrical usage in terms of kWh ? Do you know ?
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