Off-grid living - just joined forum.

[Cjpetrie]

Slowly building a completely off-grid place in central Texas.

[SunEagle]

Slowly building a completely off-grid place in central Texas.

Welcome to Solar Panel Talk. I am sure there will be a number of people here interested to learn the details on your off grid system.

[daz]

Slowly building a completely off-grid place in central Texas.

Welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

[Sunking]

Slowly building a completely off-grid place in central Texas.

Why would you do that? You can buy from the POCO at less than 10-cents per Kwh. Why do you want to now pay $2/Kwh the rest of your life? Do you not have commercial power available?

[SunEagle]

Why would you do that? You can buy from the POCO at less than 10-cents per Kwh. Why do you want to now pay $2/Kwh the rest of your life? Do you not have commercial power available?

Maybe he lives out where the POCO don't roam.

[Raimond]

Why would you do that? You can buy from the POCO at less than 10-cents per Kwh. Why do you want to now pay $2/Kwh the rest of your life? Do you not have commercial power available?

"PoCo Energy Group, founded in 2000 by Carlos Ruffino, serves commercial and industrial clients with sites across the state of Texas." Does POCO provide residential energy as well?

[inetdog]

"PoCo Energy Group, founded in 2000 by Carlos Ruffino, serves commercial and industrial clients with sites across the state of Texas." Does POCO provide residential energy as well?

POCO = POwer COmpany, generic.
AHJ = Agency Having Jurisdiction, the agency whose rules the inspectors enforce. Actual names change from place to place.

[Sunking]

Maybe he lives out where the POCO don't roam.

That is why I asked if commercial power is available from POCO. That is the only way you can justify off-grid battery. Otherwise it is Nucking Futz to go off grid.

[Raimond]

POCO = POwer COmpany, generic.
AHJ = Agency Having Jurisdiction, the agency whose rules the inspectors enforce. Actual names change from place to place.

Thank you...

[avibp]

it is Nucking Futz to go off grid.

You must not be aware of the impending doom of the electrical grid after the nuclear zombie attack!

-kidding

Many people want to be off the grid for many reasons however, you have intrigued me as to your position.

Am I correct that you are saying that a self powering house/compound/factory is not economically smart as the costs are too high due to batteries (and panels?) ? 'cause that would be a bummer. I (ignorant is indeed my position) want to eventually power my place with solar power and pump some back to the grid so the grid pays me. Does my position reflect my ignorance efficiently? Dang, I hope not ! ! !

I just got here. Be frank, but gentle please!

[SunEagle]

You must not be aware of the impending doom of the electrical grid after the nuclear zombie attack!

-kidding

Many people want to be off the grid for many reasons however, you have intrigued me as to your position.

Am I correct that you are saying that a self powering house/compound/factory is not economically smart as the costs are too high due to batteries (and panels?) ? 'cause that would be a bummer. I (ignorant is indeed my position) want to eventually power my place with solar power and pump some back to the grid so the grid pays me. Does my position reflect my ignorance efficiently? Dang, I hope not ! ! !

I just got here. Be frank, but gentle please!

A grid tie pv system has pretty good payback if you live in an area that the Utility costs are very high like Southern California. What also helps is having a Net Meter rate which allows you to "sell back" to the Utility 1 for 1. Some places the Utility will purchase your excess power for a fraction of what you purchase it from them. You are still getting something but the payback gets extended by years.

What Sunking was eluding to is the "off grid" idea. That is where your equipment costs go through the roof and equates to costing you $1.0/kwh instead of $0.10/kwh. The costs is mostly due to batteries but also includes battery chargers and cabling. Anyone that wants to disassociate themselves from the Utility by going off grid will pay many times more then if they stayed connected. They are only fooling themselves into thinking it is cheaper to be totally independent of the Utility.

So if a Grid Tie system is possible and has an economical payback then by all means go for it. If you want to go off grid then the justification has nothing to do with saving money.

It has to do with the lack of any Utility grid within miles of the place you want to power up. Even then a solar pv "off grid" system is still way more expensive then having a generator using either LPG or Diesel fuel . While both are more expensive than power purchased from the Utility they are cheaper than using batteries.

Hope that helps you.

[Green&Nerdy]

Sunking, do ever have anything constructive to say? Or is smarmy the only thing you know. Some of us just want to make changes. Some of us want to change the world. How about saying hi and starting a conversation instead of starting right out the gate with all of your nay saying.

[Mike90250]

Sunking, do ever have anything constructive to say? Or is smarmy the only thing you know. Some of us just want to make changes. Some of us want to change the world. How about saying hi and starting a conversation instead of starting right out the gate with all of your nay saying.

This website is NOT powered by unicorn farts and rainbows. We aren't ashamed to point out flaws in
the education system. We occasionally got D's in class for punctuation errors. But we won't say YES to a bad idea. And nobody is paying us to create the right answer. We'll gladly point to how you can locate the information (90% of the time it's in a sticky on this site).

[russ]

This website is NOT powered by unicorn farts and rainbows. We aren't ashamed to point out flaws in
the education system. We occasionally got D's in class for punctuation errors. But we won't say YES to a bad idea. And nobody is paying us to create the right answer. We'll gladly point to how you can locate the information (90% of the time it's in a sticky on this site).

100% agreed!

Saving the world is everyone's concern - unfortunately the population wants to be saved along with it and that complicates things greatly.

The green community is generally composed of people that like simple and easy answers - something they can understand?

The real answers are usually far more complicated and difficult than garbage put out by Al Bore.

[FloridaSun]

100% agreed!

Saving the world is everyone's concern - unfortunately the population wants to be saved along with it and that complicates things greatly.

The green community is generally composed of people that like simple and easy answers - something they can understand?

The real answers are usually far more complicated and difficult than garbage put out by Al Bore.

100% agreed!

greens seem to think in simplistic thoughts.. like wow... global warming.... like it's never happened before. Seems to me it's just another catch phrase, something to take over for the past ecological movements which did well to stop DDT, air and water pollution in America. Now, 'global warming' is the whim of the day and everyone is dead set on making less polluting energy when the real problem is using too much energy in the first place, a population of many who want their conveniences without thought to waste plus a world population who wants to follow in those footsteps.
Survival of human beans depends on adaptation to earth energies, not always controlling them. I think it might be hilarious if science learns how to cool the planet... only to have one big massive volcanic eruption put the planet into another ice age.... hahahaha, trying to outwit nature.... very rarely a winning proposition.
Unicorn farts and rainbows come along with horse sh*t and floods. All part of life. "Some of us just want to make changes. Some of us want to change the world." Some of us want to change physics and not look at reality.