residential solar info
tradexguy said:
Hi everyone,
Is there anybody who can tell me how mcuh power from solar cells I need for running my house appliances? I don't know anything about solar cells... how much they cost, an they be installed on an apartment roof? etc etc.
Thanks a lot.
JR :ermm:
The first thing that you would want to do is to reduce the amount of power your household appliances use. This is important because you will recognize a very significant savings in the cost of your solar electric system. For example, a SunFrost or Conserv(do not know DR availibility) refridgerator would save several times its expense in solar panels alone.
Another thing that you need to understand is that you do not need solar panels. You need a system, this system will include panels, batteries, inverter, charge controller and wiring components. If you have occasional cloudy periods of more than a couple days you also need a backup source of power (genset, wind generator, grid, whatever) or your system cost will greatly increase to deal with the few times you need the additional capacity.
Generally, figure the amount of electicity you need on average, in kilowatt hours, per day. Then divide this by the number of good solar hours per day on average(I don't have a chart with the DR handy, I'd guess 6). Then multiply this number by 1.33 (figure a 33% system efficiancy loss at least). This is the amount of solar panels you need in watts. A complete system in the US (I don't know DR prices, I suspect they will not be extremely different) currently costs about $6 or $7 per watt. If you do the math you can see why anyone living with solar electric uses high efficiancy refridgerators, compact flourescent lights, and generally a laptop over a desktop computer. Any form of electric heating (hot water) is a very expensive idea.
In practicle terms an average family of four in a sunny area of the US could expect to spend $15,000 to $25,000 for a solar electric system. This doesn't include any appliances that you replace, a genset or wind generator for backup during stormy weather, or costs to air condition a home. This does consider basic changes like an efficient refridgerator, lights, etc and you can't waste electricity. You might have other power hungry items like pool filters etc that would significantly alter this figure. A/C uses a lot of electricity so that would definately increase the cost.
Some people make do with much less by reordering their lifestyle around the solar. I live in a very sunny area of the US and get by well with a system that has cost me around $3000 with appliances (don't need ac here) and a cheap gasoline generator (planta) as backup. I really worked to do it this cheaply though. I always have my lights, cell phone, fridge etc as much as I need them, and run my computer(s) at least 10 hours a day.
I don't know what your situation in the apartment is. Assuming that it is acceptable to install the panels on the roof, you should have plenty of area. Solar panels don't need a great deal of space in relation to the size of the dwelling. The panels would need to be in good sun for most of the day (no shadows), would ideally be re-pointable with different seasons, and would need to be on a structure that could take the wind load.
Hope this answers your questions.
