New to area. Looking to investigate solar panels to reduce electricity bills. Looking for any advice or recommendations for companies to use (or avoid) in the Sosua area.
- Thread starter Time4it
- Start date
Solar Panels
I don't know about companies, I installed my solar panels myself. I do have an advice for you which is to make sure that the panels are mounted properly with stainless steel bolts (through and through) and aluminum brackets, so you won't have to worry when the next hurricane comes around. Also try to, if mounted roof-top, minimize the distance between roof and panels, so as to not give forcefull winds a chance to blow underneath the panels....
If you PM me ,I can give you the name of the person who installed recently a solar panel system in my house at Cabarete.
He did a good job not only in the installation but also following-up with EDNORTE in getting the installation approved and contacting them because the first bill was not including what the solar panel producing.
Actually ,for the first bill ,EDNORTE was asking me to pay for the electricity that I was producing
Everything is fixed now.
He did a good job not only in the installation but also following-up with EDNORTE in getting the installation approved and contacting them because the first bill was not including what the solar panel producing.
Actually ,for the first bill ,EDNORTE was asking me to pay for the electricity that I was producing
Everything is fixed now.
I purchased the panels, at TraceSolar en Santiago. They have various brands and sizes available, and they import themselves in big numbers. I chose for the brand "SolarWorld" because they are made in USA.
The frames I build myself, using aluminum and stainless steel materials. It's my hobby to design and build constructions myself.
We also did the work ourselves. I have a "Stone coated steel" roof covering (shingle panels..thank you DR1!)) and imported the mounting hardware, and whats they called "roof hooks" to mount the rails on. No holes in the shingles was my main objective. It worked out great and I have some pictures and a video of the construction. I got the panels from a "sales guy" in POP. I can forward you his information if you like. He was very reasonably priced. I am "almost" 100% off grid....except for the pool pump. That will come later. I also installed a switch to turn off the incoming Ednorte power. This "switch" really helped the power bill cause at night, your meter turns to keep the batteries topped off! The house always pulls power from the battery bank. So there is no connection from to Ednorte to the house... ever...in case of power surges etc. I have an old trace inverter / charger that IS connected to Ednorte just in case we have long period of weather where the system cannot keep up. It only charges the batteries. Anyway...long story.
If I owned a house here, your approach sounds exactly like what I would like to achieve. I would personally opt not to get involved in a power selling arrangement with the power companies at least until they have a track record of honesty, fairness and fidelity.
Solar Wave [solarwavedr@gmail.com], 809-571-2447, Cell of owner...809-223-1368. Located on Main highway 2 buildings from Caribe Tours bus location and next to the place called Mi Solutions at the stop light entrance to Los Charamicos. Good prices and good technical installers.
I understand the concern based on my experience shared earlier.Still want to challenge the status quo.
The investment for selling the extra power generated is a "small" percentage of the overall cost of installing a solar system.
It's limited to the meter, have the proper inverter and have an inspection of the solar system.As part of the installation ,I have access to a web/mobile application which gives me real time and historical information about electricity produced and what I am using from ED:Very convenient to verify what I got charged for and the efficiency of the installation.
Waiting for more bills from ED before claiming victory ....
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For anyone who has installed Solar Panels--please 1)can you tell me what you expected Rate of Return in years 2) in percent 3)your annual electrical consumption 4) your annual production. Does the country DR have any subsidies. I am considering for my vacation/ Airbnb home. THank you
Payback is going to depend on if you are going for a reduction in electricity bills without local battery storage, or if you want to go the full battery, inverter/charger route and be off grid. Or something in between.
I personally would only go with feeding energy back to the grid to reduce my bill. I have not yet decided to install panels because my monthly electricity bill is not a problem at this time. Even that will depend upon your energy usage because there is a graduated scale of costs that the EDE's charge. The more power you use, the more you pay per kWh.
and remember tom factor into the equation of your fridge/TV/computer blowing yup due to spikes
My friend just paid ~15,000 to fix a fridge blown up by spikes
A regulator was installed.... after fixing the fridge
My friend just paid ~15,000 to fix a fridge blown up by spikes
A regulator was installed.... after fixing the fridge
If you really want to be off-grid, think about oversizing the solar panels.
I never thought about ROI when I installed the system. I did it because I was able to.
My house consumes on average 0.6 kW per hour, more during the day and less during the night.
This excludes the pool pump. The water heater and A/C units are the only things consuming from the grid.
I have a 48V system, 6kW inverter and 5kW of solar panels, 450Ah battery bank, an Outback FM80 and another small MPPT controller for the pool pump. The whole house consumption (and charging the batteries) is normally kept on the 4kW strings of panels. The remaining 1kW is going to the pool pump.
On summer sunless days and winter months, I can divert the 1kW string of panels from the pool pump and add them to the main 4kW strings to help with charging the batteries. I never charge the batteries from the grid.
And so the monthly bill is usually between 50 and 100 kW per month.
DOD of my batteries is on average 65 to 70%.
If it's sunny, around noon they will reach the absorbtion charge. They will get into float around 3PM.
I hope this will help someone.
I never thought about ROI when I installed the system. I did it because I was able to.
My house consumes on average 0.6 kW per hour, more during the day and less during the night.
This excludes the pool pump. The water heater and A/C units are the only things consuming from the grid.
I have a 48V system, 6kW inverter and 5kW of solar panels, 450Ah battery bank, an Outback FM80 and another small MPPT controller for the pool pump. The whole house consumption (and charging the batteries) is normally kept on the 4kW strings of panels. The remaining 1kW is going to the pool pump.
On summer sunless days and winter months, I can divert the 1kW string of panels from the pool pump and add them to the main 4kW strings to help with charging the batteries. I never charge the batteries from the grid.
And so the monthly bill is usually between 50 and 100 kW per month.
DOD of my batteries is on average 65 to 70%.
If it's sunny, around noon they will reach the absorbtion charge. They will get into float around 3PM.
I hope this will help someone.
gicamuci, most won't know the difference between bulk, absorption and float, let alone DOD. As an electrical engineer, I had to learn about this from experience when Edenorte provided power about 8 hours a day for the first years of my living here. 24/7 power a couple of years back reduced my thinking about alternative energy.
Aprox. DOP 350,000.00
Solar panels, inverter, MPPT charge controller, pool pump with its own MPPT controller. Installation included in the price.
Also included are some various devices so I can run the pool pump on the grid as well (ex. pump to waste when it rains a lot) and the diverting of 1kW of panels from the pool pump to the main 4kW strings.
Solar panels, inverter, MPPT charge controller, pool pump with its own MPPT controller. Installation included in the price.
Also included are some various devices so I can run the pool pump on the grid as well (ex. pump to waste when it rains a lot) and the diverting of 1kW of panels from the pool pump to the main 4kW strings.
Just quickly estimating in my head, thats about what 4k, 5k usd?
excellent and cheap!
and what are your electric bills looking like today?
especially during the summer months when you have to use the ac all day.