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<p>Not sure if its geo-blocked for some, but last night on ABC their resident science show, Catalyst, were looking at home storage. Besides a lot of stuff I've covered here, they had a more in-depth look at Reposit, and also the future of batteries: zinc-bromine.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H001S00'>http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H001S00</a></p>
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<p>If you can't see it - the Zinc-bromine stuff is great, because its quick to charge and about as efficient as lithium, BUT being liquid in the current configuration, not very small or practical for some application.</p>
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<p>Except some smart cookie at Sydney University has thought about making the liquid into a gel - WHICH IS ALSO FIRE RETARDANT - which means they can make the scale much smaller. And cheaper than lithium.</p>
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<p>Advantages? Well, what about 5 minutes to charge your smartphone, on a battery that lasts days instead of hours? Could be integrated into buildings and make superstructure a storage medium in itself. Fucking rad.</p> -
<p>Overcast nearly all day today, still drew off just over 14kWh - enough to fill the battery almost twice, considering efficiency ratio.</p>
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<p>Have signed up with Reposit, and will change energy providers to one that has GridCredits as part of their scheme. In essence, this is the "selling" bit where I get more than the 5-8c / kWh off my current energy provider. When an "event" happens, I can sell for up to $1 per kWh.</p>
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<p>It'll be interesting to see what we use out of the battery. It is quoted as "5 hours of the average house" but what if they mean the average house in the USA?</p>
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<p>Dunno. Sitting tight, waiting for the last technical bit to be fitted. Then the stats will flow for all devices.</p> -
<p>Will do.</p>
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<p>BTW if you're looking at Solar and maybe want to see what someone in your area is doing, check this out:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://pvoutput.org/listmap.jsp?sid=17459'>http://pvoutput.org/listmap.jsp?sid=17459</a></p>
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<p>PV output uses the API interface for some of the more modern inverters, allowing people to see what everyone else is doing. I found a random Kiwi generator, and clicked on the "map" option to see he's in Whanganui (nice town).</p>
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<p>You can look through all these people who have put up stats, maybe find someone in your region, and see how they're operating. Depending on aspect, shade, landscape etc you might get similar results.</p>
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<p>This is a link for NZ:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://pvoutput.org/map.jsp?country=167'>http://pvoutput.org/map.jsp?country=167</a></p>
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<p>I'll be putting my system up on PV Output at some point, once I figure out the API doco (Postman not helping me - keeps returning errors).</p> -
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/05/welsh-home-installs-uks-first-tesla-powerwall-storage-battery'>http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/05/welsh-home-installs-uks-first-tesla-powerwall-storage-battery</a></p>
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<p>Definition of optimism - someone put in a powerwall & solar.</p>
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<p>In Wales.</p> -
<p>Just had a completely random call from some old fluffybunny in Melbourne. He had our number, and I wondered why - after we moved house, we kept the same ISP, who does our landline, and I asked for silent number years ago.</p>
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<p>So this prick had left a message, and the only reason I called him back was to find out how the got the number.</p>
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<p>Then I remembered that we had to get a new number (moved exchanges) and therefore all the settings were blown away as it was technically a new account. FFS. I also discovered the guys who can help with that are only Mon-Fri business hours. Gah!</p>
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<p>Anyway, he had a good old rant and rave about the Powerwall and why did I choose it, how did I know it would do what they said, what about Depth of Discharge factors and all that shit. Then he finished off by calling the government fucking fluffybunnys and how he'd tried to set up his own 100kW solar farm but got blocked at every stage by bureaucrats.</p>
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<p>Fucking stalkers!</p> -
<p>Today was generation of 24.7kWh - not bad as, looking at the bills, my summer is peak at around 25kWh on average, and that was with the old pool pump and old habits.</p>
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<p>I thought I'd grab some of the output (screenshots) of the online tool that the SolarEdge inverter provides. At some point I really need to get that API going...</p>
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<p>In any case - see attached image:</p>
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<p>[attachment=1960:timeofday.png]</p>
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<p>Left image is today. You can see a few dips here and there, as cloud cover moved around the place and interrupted the level of light. But overall, once it hits what I call "useful light" at around 11AM, its still delivering fairly consistently at that 2kW+ level.</p>
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<p>Right image is the best to date (2nd Feb) which basically had no cloud, and wasn't too hot. That thing just cranks up to over 3kWh from 10AM - 4PM, with the odd dip due to reading inconsistencies, or sometimes excessive temperature. Bloody amazing that its still picking up good light (over 1kW) until 6PM then trailing off.</p>
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<p>The key thing to note is that lab testing of a 5kW system like mine for a Sydney latitude are rated at 19.5kWh per day generated across the year. Most of those calculations are done on a 3.9 "peak sun hour" average. I believe that figure does take weather (cloud) into account, but I've also seen calculators that quote Sydney sun as 4.8 hours per day.</p>
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<p>The lab tests are a few years old now, and I think the technology, particularly micro-inverters, has nudged that figure up a little because panels are simply better at catching the light. My array faces almost right on NNW, and to the east is the ridge I've mentioned which basically excludes morning sun. However, being northwest I reckon I've got the best of sun from about 10AM onwards, year-round. If I make 5+ hours a day, the ROI will be a doddle.</p>
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<p>But those wet weeks we sometimes get here .... :ireful: When that sort of thing happens, it'll be a case of tightening the belt a little on power usage, and selling what I can out of the battery to maximise income versus spend on grid.</p> -
<p>Hit 31.86kWh today, despite a little cloud between midday and 2PM. Main thing was air temp didn't get up past about 28C allowing the panels to get near their most efficient output.</p>
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<p>Autumn and Spring should actually be quite good months for power reselling, given I use about 25% less power than summer and the temperatures are actually better for solar panel peak efficiency. Less daylight of course, but maybe better bang for buck overall.</p> -
<p>Here's a bit on the Reposit thing I keep talking about in regard to GridCredits:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/resposit-power-gridcredits-trade-homes-energy-on-grid'>http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/resposit-power-gridcredits-trade-homes-energy-on-grid</a></p>
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<p>So the feed-in tariff for most electricity companies are 5-8c / kWh under current rules (older schemes, which are expiring this year, were 40-60c! Then again their systems were more expensive, and quite a bit smaller). If I can start selling at a higher rate than I pay, then I can use the battery purely for generating profit, and buy power back in the evening, knowing I'm still net zero.</p>
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<p>We'll see.</p> -
<p>Got the battery management hardware installed and firmware update to the router today, so I can actually track input/output rather than just power generation</p>
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<p>Only been running a couple of hours all up after being out of commission all day (lot of wiring for the sparkies) so the power stats today aren't great.</p>
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<p>But now I can see consumption, I can start looking at habits. And I tell you, that fucking ducted air con is a big threat at this point. The fluffybunny who built this house probably bought the cheapest, nastiest piece of inefficient shit he could find, based on what he did with the other bits and pieces.</p>
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<p>[attachment=1962:20160209_solaredge.png]</p> -
<p>Along with changing habits do you reckon you'll end up replacing other gear to get more efficiency? Guess it'd be tempting if you had some appliances that were juice monsters... hope the air con isn't as big an issue as feared.</p>
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<p>I've taken care of some things already - LED globes everywhere in the house (except that <em>one</em> light fitting Mrs TA wanted in the guest bedroom :mad1: that thankfully isn't used that often).</p>
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<p>In the First World Problems category the TVs in the house are all LED and therefore much cheaper to run than a similar-sized plasma, and each of them is 32", 42", and 55". Obviously when idle they consumer bugger all (the 55" is 0.3W idle, the others a bit less) but when running that obviously cranks up to 146W in case of the case of the 55". But look at it this was:</p>
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<p>If I ran that TV for a solid two hours, it would use 292W, which is 0.292kW, so about 6% of what the solar panels can provide on maximum, or around 5% of the battery capacity if the sun has gone down.</p>
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<p>I have network appliances (network switch, modem, VOIP, Wifi, backup storage) that runs around the clock but I've tried to balance best-of-breed with green credentials in that department. At least one of them is probably due for replacement, and I can also put timers on some of that stuff in order to cut down standby during the midnight-6AM period. Just sometimes I get woken up because something at work has fallen over, and people be bitchin at me to log in remotely and fix stuff.</p>
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<p>The other AV equipment (Sonos PlayBar + SUB) consumes a bit more on standby because of the way the amplifiers are configured to start up instantly via the Wifi or TV connection .... you know what? I should make a list of this stuff and figure out what the bad ones are :think:</p>
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<p>Thanks for the idea PK! One thing I might have to kill is the TiVo - continuous consumption of 40 watts = 8 of my LED lightbulbs running all the time!</p>
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<p>Here's another shot of the system right now. I believe this means the house is consuming 0.67kW, of which 0.65kW is coming from the battery, and the remaining 0.03kW is coming from the grid.</p>
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<p>[attachment=1963:20160209_solaredge2.png]</p>
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<p>So that is pretty low consumption considering two TVs are running, and this PC with spare (LED) monitor, fridge, and fairly normal lighting with a ceiling fan or two. If that continues for the hours I don't have sunlight, then I'll get about 8 hours out of the battery.</p>
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<p>But considering, once everyone goes to bed, that there is only one TV running, and its the smallest, as well as less lights, computers etc... well, the battery might last longer than anyone expects.</p>
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<p>Ideally, it would get us through to morning including breakfast, then the panels take over again.</p>
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<p>So many stats to collect.....</p> -
<p>First compelling stat produced: ducted air con is, as expected, a power hog. Running at fairly low speed, I tested turning it on and refreshing the stats, and it started sucking 5kW without breaking a sweat.</p>
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<p>So that'll be worth monitoring, particularly the wife's inability to stand anything over 23C.</p>
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<p>Might mean mitigating the heat on the western side of the house with some form of exterior window blinds to lower the heat transfer.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="557607" data-time="1455012224">
<div>
<p>First compelling stat produced: ducted air con is, as expected, a power hog. Running at fairly low speed, I tested turning it on and refreshing the stats, and it started sucking 5kW without breaking a sweat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So that'll be worth monitoring, particularly the wife's inability to stand anything over 23C.</p>
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<p>Might mean mitigating the heat on the western side of the house with some form of exterior window blinds to lower the heat transfer.</p>
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<p>Thats the thing I've found when looking at it. The solar / powerwall combo is great, so long as your house is REALLY smartly built. Double glazing, insulated walls, underfloor ground source heat pump etc. Most houses - even those supposedly up to modern stardards, are stunningly shithouse at keeping whatever heat / cold you have inside from leaking. Even simple shit like having your living rooms face the right way.</p>
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<p>I fricking love Grand Designs (the TV show) and all the eco houses on that the power sources are the least of the cost, its the insulation that sends the price way up. </p>
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<p>Lets face it, you'll test run it for 3 years, learn all the ins & outs. And then buy a block of land & build a new build using all the data you've pulled together to get a house that barely draws anything using all the cash from your click-thrus on your blog.</p>
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<p>Hell, it'll be an episode on Grand Designs.</p> -
<p> :lol: I'll have to do it solo - wife says she's never leaving this house!</p>
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<p>If I <em>was</em> to go on something like Grand Designs, without shadow of a doubt it would be a earth-sheltered house. Energy efficient, basically fireproof, no need for air con or heating, and accessible for self-sustainability. Throw some panels on a couple of Powerwalls in there, and you're off-grid for life.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.baldwinobryan.com/'>http://www.baldwinobryan.com/</a></p>
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<p>In terms of power consumption, I think early on I said my annual average was 22kWh / day which costs me roughly $500 / quarter after discounts. The sparkies, who are specialists in solar installs, said that for my house size, that is pretty bloody good. Some of the places they've installed power were spending $900 a quarter on power (equates roughly to 40 kWh/day) in a house not much different to mine. That indicates to me that some people go overboard on the shit they buy to run without really thinking about the consequences. I'd LIKE a 75" television, but I don't really NEED a TV that big. My consumerism has limits :)</p>
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<p>The guy from the inverter support team (who provide the web portal) said I should expect 80-90% savings, and that would mean ROI is 8.8-10 years. I'm going hard for 8 years, and the Reposit stuff should help.</p>
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<p>The ducted unfortunately is here to stay, but we don't use it much except summer and winter, which we can cut down a lot if the wife just puts another layer on. To install a couple of split systems would be a few thousand, then the ROI just extends outwards.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="557614" data-time="1455016558">
<div>
<p> :lol: I'll have to do it solo - wife says she's never leaving this house!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If I <em>was</em> to go on something like Grand Designs, without shadow of a doubt it would be a earth-sheltered house. Energy efficient, basically fireproof, no need for air con or heating, and accessible for self-sustainability. Throw some panels on a couple of Powerwalls in there, and you're off-grid for life.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.baldwinobryan.com/'>http://www.baldwinobryan.com/</a></p>
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<p>I fricking love those.</p>
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<p>All you have to do is find a non earthquake area, so anywhere in NZ other than the North Island. Or South Island.</p>
Solar Power and Storage - a nerd's view