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@NTA said in Ashes 2019:
@MajorRage said in Ashes 2019:
@NTA 40 up here is 50 down there fella .... Take your pick!
We're all pretty much fucked at this point. I'll buy some land up in the high country with what remains of a water supply.
Move to Canada? 4 seasons, loads of fresh clean water?
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@MajorRage said in Solar Power and Storage - a nerd's view:
@NTA said in Ashes 2019:
@MajorRage said in Ashes 2019:
@NTA 40 up here is 50 down there fella .... Take your pick!
We're all pretty much fucked at this point. I'll buy some land up in the high country with what remains of a water supply.
Move to Canada? 4 seasons, loads of fresh clean water?
Or New Zealand
In any case, best not to think about it too much, or worry about petty shit.
EDIT maybe even the feedback loops will get too much for even those places to hold, or overpopulation and migration to those areas will destroy them anyway. @TeWaio probably has a better handle on all that.
Once we're reduced back to Hunter-gatherer status the place can recover.
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@NTA Well, if climate change is your thing, I'm no sure a country that exposed to the ozone free summer sun is a place to be. My 70 year old Mum doesn't go outside during summer between 11 and 4 anymore.
But I don't know enough to really comment further than that.
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I got a quote a few months back from HRV Solar, to get 6kW of panels put on my roof. I think they are a partnership with Vector for solar.
Anyway, I should say was a partnership not are, as I just got an email stating that effective immediately, they have ceased that business and any quotes are now invalid.
I'm spending too much money on a kitchen and bathroom refurb anyway, so maybe can look at options again towards the end of next year.
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@Stockcar86 Try Harrisons -or do it yourself. I'm DIY this time around.
Are you north facing? Pitch of roof? 6KW isn't really enough for most households.
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Going to resurrect this as I need some info.
Does anyone have any experience with self powered tracking arrays of PV panels? Maybe you @nta?
Obviously I want to get the most out of the panels and I have heaps of space so wondering if anyone has used them either commercially or residentially. I'm not sure what the pitch is on the new roof although it will be north facing, so might work O.K. but you can get large productivity increases with tracking.
More moving parts and maintenance, but at least it is ground level.
Dunno.
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@Snowy I don't have a lot of experience with this personally BUT I know that you've got 2 added levels of cost: ground mounting and panel tracking.
At commercial sizes - where you're ground mounting anyway, the extra cost of tracking isn't such a burden to IRR.
But for domestic users? Hmmmm... Depends on the situation.
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@Snowy trackers are very site specific. Solar in general is. Some sites you're better off cramming in fixed axis, others suit spacing them out with single or dual axis trackers. I wouldn't have thought that they'd make sense on a domestic north-facing roof though
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@voodoo said in Solar Power and Storage - a nerd's view:
@Snowy trackers are very site specific. Solar in general is. Some sites you're better off cramming in fixed axis, others suit spacing them out with single or dual axis trackers. I wouldn't have thought that they'd make sense on a domestic north-facing roof though
Not all of it is. 1930 bungalo with add ons and a complex roof structure where I could have east, north, and west facing panels which doesn't seem very efficient. I have done that one before and was looking for better solutions. I'll know more when the house is on site and I have pitch and orientation.
Maybe just fixed, but an array that isn't roof mounted? I can clean them easily too.
@NTA Is ground mounting really more expensive than roof?
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@Snowy said in Solar Power and Storage - a nerd's view:
@NTA Is ground mounting really more expensive than roof?
Typically, yes. First you probably need a geotech survey depending on local authorities. Posts and frames have to be standalone structural (maybe concrete footings etc), wind factor is different, channeling for power cable and then of course the extra cable itself. All adds up.
Of course in some cases it makes absolute sense depending on all the factors involved.
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I've seen estimates of an extra 20c per watt installed here - so AUD$8k for a 40kW system with no tracking.
But that assumes a certain size of array.
On a roof they're just battening on a couple of aluminium rails and dropping cable into the house, by contrast
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@NTA and then seeing how much work is needed to get the optimal pitch? But I guess the railing system would have scope for that to a certain extent. With the current situation we are keen to really look at solar etc, but we also desperately need to extend up and/or out. So we've kept putting it off.
Keen to hear how things progress @Snowy.
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@Paekakboyz pitch can be important - my roof for example is optimal for October/November which is great as it isn't too hot and there tends to be a lot of sun. My roof is probably around 30 degrees pitch where a lot of modern builds are 23ish.
NOTE: adjusting the pitch on the roof by adding extra framing = extra cost. If your roof isn't flat, generally go with what is there. If you're going to extend, then I'd suggest getting good passive design done at the same time including the right pitch on a north-facing roof.
Ground mounts without tracking have to determine their pitch at time of install. I've seen two general options in either single-post and rail frame like this, which looks to be about 3.0kW-3.6kW depending on panel size:
To the ground-frame ones which are an option if you have more space - the one in the picture is quoted at 28kW which would run about 4 households at peak:
Solar Power and Storage - a nerd's view