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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="567388" data-time="1458983570">
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<p>That is, if the wife stops using the fucking oven on cloudy days :ireful: I go away hiking with the boy and THAT shit goes down...</p>
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<p>Ok I give up... was this a serous comment?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="573098" data-time="1460935913">
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<p>If it interferes with my financial goals, it is looked down upon.</p>
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<p>Is that so hard for a neo-liberalist like you to understand? :)</p>
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<p>I just think losing 50% of your house and other assets might not be a good plan in the scheme of financial goals....</p> -
<p>Well, that's a risk whether I have solar panels or not :)</p>
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<p>Anyway, because that oven started shitting itself, and they don't make replacement parts for it any more*, we bought a new one on the weekend. Given what that cost, I've earned the right to bitch a little about the usage.</p>
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<p><span style="font-size:12px;">* 5 year old oven, made by Westinghouse BUT it was built in Italy. The company that made it went bust, so no more spare parts. Fuck.</span></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="573134" data-time="1460938853">
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<p>we bought a new one on the weekend. Given what that cost, I've earned the right to bitch a little about the usage.</p>
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<p>But did it cost more because of you or her?</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="573166" data-time="1460940854">
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<p>Her. I was happy with the slightly lower-priced model, but it was only 5-burner and didn't have a defrost mode.</p>
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<p>We use the sun to defrost as well, we just cut out the middle device.</p>
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<p>5 burners? pfft.. I can see why you avoided that nonsense!</p> -
<p>Surely you'd be looking at either an induction top if staying electric or (if you use the oven a lot) go gas?</p>
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<p>Ovens aren't the most efficient devices and using one for defrosting is plain silly on both energy consumption and food safety grounds.</p> -
The oven is a standalone 900mm electric twin fan Smeg, with a gas 6-burner hob.<br><br>
Love the gas cooktops - can't really get my head around induction for stir-fry of any kind. Primal urge for flame? Dunno. Its kind of the fossil fuel we want to have, though the gas hot water is going for solar as soon as I can manage it.<br><br>
Tried to talk the wife into fan forced gas oven, but she doesn't dig it. And, as Hooroo said above somewhere: its another fossil fuel.<br><br><br>
The defrost function for the oven is not used frequently, and only raises temperature to about 30C in most ovens. It is a better result than the microwave in my opinion. -
<p>Just spoke to the solar city guy and they can provide a Panasonic in a few months time. 11K - seriously expensive - so will have to work out the repayment time. Might work if I go off grid 'cause that will save $53 a month as well as the usage but need to do some sums to see if it will save over a reasonable time.</p>
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<p>Tesla still not available in NZ through vector but probably not too far away. Have heard that the cars will be available soon too, along with a whole charging station setup. All rumour but will be great if they do it, I will be in.</p> -
<p>Off-grid needs careful consideration. Lithium battery systems aren't known for their off-grid ability at this point. They're more in the consumer arena to support shifting solar power into night time.</p>
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<p>Think about it this way: what is the longest overcast / rainy period you can remember in the last couple of years? Compare that to your average daily use - will the battery cover e.g. 4 days? Keep in mind your solar system will still create a bit of power, because it is the amount of light that counts. But you need to be a fairly frugal user to get away with Panasonic's 8kW battery for more than a day IMHO, and realistically, with a maximum power draw of 2kW you'll be lucky to get the kettle on.</p>
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<p>Most people who go off-grid, even in Australia, look at having 30kWh of storage in lead-acid (AGM) batteries minimum in order to survive, and trust that their panels will do most of the work. This is an interesting article comparing off-grid situations in Sydney and Melbourne:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/can-you-go-off-grid-solar-energy-storage'>http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/can-you-go-off-grid-solar-energy-storage</a></p>
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<p>Of course, everyone's situation is different, but a rainy week can derail your shit in a hurry.</p>
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<p>The other thing about staying connected to the grid, in addition to it being a fallback, is the ability to sell power. There is a movement based on community networks, or micro-grids, that make your battery worth even more.</p>
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<p>At present in Oz we get a feed-in tariff for any excess solar power. This is similar, but using the battery storage - it is worth more because its a reliable energy source, where the panels go in and out depending on sunshine. </p>
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<p>Effectively the battery can be tapped by a power company and the power sold at market rate, which you pocket. Much better value than the FIT of a few cents.</p> -
<p>Thanks Nick. Was thinking more off grid for the house that I am building. We then have 22 acres to put a solar array on and will have a wind turbine along with 2 batteries interlinked from 2 different buildings.</p>
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<p>Anyway will get one in the current place (on grid) and see how it all works out before I take any big steps. I have already put 3 phase in the new place so can be grid connected then turn it off later after a trial period and some research done.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Snowy" data-cid="575113" data-time="1461707833">
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<p>Thanks Nick. Was thinking more off grid for the house that I am building. We then have 22 acres to put a solar array on and will have a wind turbine along with 2 batteries interlinked from 2 different buildings.</p>
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<p>Anyway will get one in the current place (on grid) and see how it all works out before I take any big steps. I have already put 3 phase in the new place so can be grid connected then turn it off later after a trial period and some research done.</p>
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<p>When I was working at the council, one of the guys had come back from Aus and he was building a new house on 20acres or so, was looking at going completely off grid with solar, a windmill and with a decent stream was also looking at some hydro, was costly outlay, but long term would be a winner surely?</p> -
<p>I might be able to do some micro hydro as well. We have a watercourse that runs through the property but will involve a small dam so haven't done all the research yet. Looks like some pretty easy to set up systems out there and yes costly initially but most of these things ROI is around 10-15 years.</p>
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<p>Certainly fixes the days of rainy weather problem as the spring starts pumping after an hour or 2 of rain.</p>
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<p>Just looking at the ROI for the battery (on grid where we are now) and it should pay off between 6-8 years (depending on how we use it, sunshine hours, etc). Think it has 10 year warranty, have to check that.</p> -
<p>There are instances in Australia where off-grid is the only sensible option. Was reading a case where a young family (I think they were GPs) wanted to build somewhere that power lines didn't go. </p>
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<p>To run the power in would cost about $200K so they put roughly half that money into making the house efficient, with appropriate devices, and enough solar and battery to keep them going.</p>
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<p>Because the land was pretty cheap it worked out only marginally different in dollar terms from putting a house on land closer to town. And they get the house they want, with a 20 year battery system, which gets wrapped up in the cost of the loan.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Snowy" data-cid="575113" data-time="1461707833">
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<p>Thanks Nick. Was thinking more off grid for the house that I am building. We then have 22 acres to put a solar array on and will have a wind turbine along with 2 batteries interlinked from 2 different buildings.</p>
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<p>On this - what kind of turbine? A few farmers here are developing "drought-proof income" by allowing wind farms on their properties. Means they've got money even if shit hits the fan.</p>
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<p>Wondering what the regulations are like over in NZ in terms of minimum distance from dwelling, etc. Realise you're after off-grid, but could be quite an earner.</p>
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<p>These guys are developing a consumer-grade 5kWh wind turbine:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.resau.com.au/main/page_ecowhisper.html'>http://www.resau.com.au/main/page_ecowhisper.html</a></p>
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<p>If I had a bit of acreage in the right location (i.e. windswept) I'd definitely be interested. Suburbia for me for at least 10 years from here though :)</p> -
<p>Interesting couple of weeks - got the new hardware hooked up for selling battery power back to the grid for $1 / kWh via <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.repositpower.com/'>http://www.repositpower.com/</a> but needs a few adjustments to the metering hardware before taking advantage. </p>
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<p>That's fine because there aren't any peak power events to sell on, at this time of year. In the meantime I'm selling out about 3.5kWh for every 1kWh I import, which is above the 2.5 ratio I need to stay cost-neutral. I'm actually eating into the daily connection fee at this point, so probably spending about 55c / day on electricity in total, compared to about $6 before the panels went on. Still in line with the payback time of ~8 years.</p>
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<p>I'm considering moving from single-rate tariff (~20c / kWh all day) to time-of-use (off-peak/shoulder/peak) to take advantage of some of the new Reposit control mechanisms, like topping up the battery at the off-peak rate of 11c + GST in order to kick off the day with power.</p>
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<p>Downside of course is peak rate on business days between 1PM-8PM of 32c / kWh :think:</p>
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<p>Anyway, I need to pull some data to have a closer look at it.</p>
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<p>In the meantime, I've attached the new interface which is pretty cool. Not as focussed on longer-term data graphing but I'm basically their Alpha Test Hamster for Powerwall, and going to a conference with them in a couple of weeks.</p>
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<p>[attachment=2021:reposit.png]</p> -
<p>That sounds awesome Snowy, love the combined approach of solar, wind and water. More hardware to buy and maintain I guess, but surely it gets you more reliable energy with three collection points?</p>
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<p>NTA, if you were to start getting speaking fees or see the website really kick off does that count toward ROI? :fishing: (but only a little bit!)</p>
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<p>One of the potential advantages of being an early adopter I reckon! It might even get a giggle or two at a renewable energy conference :hi: </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Paekakboyz" data-cid="577577" data-time="1462589679">
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<p>NTA, if you were to start getting speaking fees or see the website really kick off does that count toward ROI? :fishing: (but only a little bit!)</p>
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<p>Need to spend a minor amount to keep the website going, which is where my Google Ads help out a little ;)</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Paekakboyz" data-cid="577577" data-time="1462589679">
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<p>One of the potential advantages of being an early adopter I reckon! It might even get a giggle or two at a renewable energy conference :hi: </p>
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<p>This event will also have the big boys there, not just the startups. In some ways its a way for the energy networks to identify the disruptors, and for the disruptors to get into larger contracts with the networks.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.energynetworks2016.com.au/'>http://www.energynetworks2016.com.au/</a></p>
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<p>Play my cards right, and there might be a job in it. Not out on my own, as I think there is a certain scale that I can't account for without my own startup!</p>
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<p>I talked to the solar installer about the changes in the technology - particularly IoT - and he said it sounds like there is a niche to fill, but an individual would struggle, and need to be able to provide surety and backup.</p>
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<p>So unless I get my own startup going, that path may be too risky.</p>
Solar Power and Storage - a nerd's view