Solar Panels

[gmiller261]

Tom,

I appreciate the effort. I will absolutley keep you informed.

I'll call the Sosua office today. If it is open, I'll ask about used and new cells.

Again, thanks for the help.

Gary

 

[Keith R]

Gary,
If you wouldn't mind, we'd here in the Forum would also like it if you post here what you find out so we can all learn from your experience.
Thanks!
Keith

 

[Ohmite]

Yes lhtown I agree.
I've been downsizing appliances and doing without power hungry machines for years anticipating the day when I can be energy self sufficiant. It worked in my case, but there are many things people want and have that I can live without.

 

[gmiller261]

I'll make any and all information I receive available to this site.

It is important to me that 'free' energy is exploited. It is a shame that PV and fuel cells isn?t a commodity by now.

It is like anything, there needs to be a sufficient number of buyers to lower the cost, which will allow more people to use it.

I can also assure you that I do try to minimize excess energy waste but several of my energy needs are necessary.

I would be ecstatic to think I could feed the grid any excess power that could help people that do not have the ability to generate power.

IMO, using diesel to generate power is horrifying. The sound alone in paradise is ?nails on a chalk board? to me and then there?s that nocuous smell.

O well?..

 

[gmiller261]

This is an interesting article I ran into today.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031009/95794_1.html

They do not have wafers to piece together, yet, but they say they will.


and the following says that the small pieces are $.75 each in groups of 10,000. I emailed them to find out how many of these pieces could make a wafer.

http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=6844


Gary

 

[gmiller261]

Even better. Satellite solar cells 20% efficiency

http://www.spectrolab.com/cells/product.asp?dept_id=5&pf_id=15

Can anyone help me determine how big (in terms of watts/volts) a panel I could build with the above link information?


Gary

 

[mountainfrog]

solar vs. diesel

Of course anyone who lives here has thought about solar power sooner or later.Black outs and high bills help in the process.
Due to our remote living place we had to make a choice, too. There were not any power lines near when we moved here.We opted for a diesel based system and have not regretted it so far. The 16 kW six-cylinder-diesel only runs 2 hrs. a day charging the 16 batteries (We recently had to replace them after 50 months!). They supply the two Trace DR 3624 inverters which give us 110/220 V throuhout the day.
We store diesel fuel for a 7-month supply, costs are about 3000 RD monthly, the generator was bought second hand 7 years ago. One Trojan T-105 -deep-cycle (golfcart battery) was about 70 $ (10/2003).
Solar power requires a costly investment when it comes to running pumps (deep well pump, pool pumps), which at our place is done while the
diesel is on duty. BTW, I have to open the front door to listen whether the
electronic Siemens device has started the Diesel automatically at 7:30 p.m. as it should. But it always does...
I for one would not connect to the faulty grid.

 

[Michael Strong]

Diesel Genarator

Good post i have to make a choice too. DO you mean 3000 RD$ a month based on the current Diesel price? How many gallons does your Genarator consum an hour? I could even live with 5000 RD$ a month since my powerbill hits RD$6000 every month.

 

[XanaduRanch]

Diesel vs. Solar

Michael, we have just recently installed a diesel planta. It's much bigger than MountainFrog's but we didn't want to compromise here, and wanted power to spare for neigboring properties. 45KW vs her 16KW.

Noise? Purrs like a kitten and I can still here the ocean waves from 3miles away. Fumes? Installed it downwind at a corner of the property so that's not an issue. Plus it's been well maintained and there is no visible exhaust what-so-ever. Cost? We're burning about 1 gallon or currently 66pesos per hour of operation, or two 200 gallon tanks permonth at a cost of RD$17K each (US$340). That's not cheap, but it is in line with our previous costs with EdeNada and we have power to spare and share.

I do want solar, But I also don't want to compromise too much about having to turn the TV off so I can microwave some popcorn. To do that I need lots of solar panels. It is doable! And I will! When I have an extra US$20K-US$25K on hand. You bet!

But for now, here, diesel suited my needs more inexepnesively. And it's a more proven technology. As to the environment? Well, properly maintained it's only marginally more disruptive proportionally per kilowatt than watching the Smith-Enron plant in Costambar belching huge clouds of sulfurous white-brown smoke into the air. And keep inmind while solar is environmentally friendly, the process used tomake those photovoltaics is definitely not. You're exchanging one form of pollution (gaseous hydrocarbons and soot) when generating the electricity with another (caustic chemicals in the groundwater) needed to make the product.

Name your poison!

Tom (aka XR)

 

[mountainfrog]

Fuel Costs etc.

Michael,
our outdated Kubota GV-1160-60B consumes 2 G/h. That takes the monthly fuel bill to about 85 $.
Of course one has to add appr. 25 $ for the replacement of the batteries.
The inverters and the diesel itself also need to be considered
(maintenance, repairs and replacement).
But for me self-sufficiency and 24/7-supply is the main factor, I would hate to depend on a mickey-mouse -infrastructure.

 

[XanaduRanch]

What? I do not understand!

... our outdated Kubota GV-1160-60B consumes 2 G/h. That takes the monthly fuel bill to about 85 $. Of course one has to add appr. 25 $ for the replacement of the batteries. The inverters and the diesel itself also need to be considered
(maintenance, repairs and replacement). But for me self-sufficiency and 24/7-supply is the main factor, I would hate to depend on a mickey-mouse -infrastructure.

You are using twice the fuel per hour for a 16KW generator that I am for a 45KW. I assume your figures are in dollars. US$85 is RD$4250 at 50:1. That's 64-1/3 gallons of diesel, which is 32 hours at 2 gallons/hour, which is about 1 hour of electricity per day.

What in the heck can you do with one hour per day from your generator? You can NOT charge your batteries on 1hr/day. Not without having them explode once a week, anyway, Please explain this.

Tom (aka XR)

 

[mountainfrog]

Figures

You are right, it should read:
2 Gallons/day (or 1 G/h).
During these two hours in the evening our 16 batteries are charged (appr. 130 A at 24 V), the pool pumps run, the deep well pump tops up the cistern and the washing machine is switched on.
Then the 2 Trace DR 3624 inverters take over in order to supply us with 110 / 220 V for the next 22 hours.
We do not have air conditioning (although we have a fire place which we have used a lot in recent weeks), but on the other hand are not very energy minded.
The system has served as well for the last 7 years.
BTW, you can see the batteries/inverters at www.samanave.com
M?frog

 

[Michael Strong]

Tnx you all

That sounds promissing. I would save Money or pay nearly exactly the same with 24h/day power. I think i 'll go for a 20 kw Generator. Thank you everybody.

 

[Criss Colon]

It not only sounds "Promissing",it also sounds "Impossible"!!!!

I can see no way that you can charge batteries for your inverter in 2 hours,and then use them to provide 22 hours of inverter power???????Wow! I want some of those batteries!!! I have a 20 kilo planta,that uses somewhat less than 1 galon per hour.If the power goes off,I use the 3.6 K inverter,with 8 batteries for 2 or 3 hours.I then power up the generator to heat water,wash clothes,run pumps and air conditioners,and charge those 8 batteries.After 2 or 3 hours on the gererator,I go to EDESUR,if it is "ON"! Reason being,due to the inefficiency of inverter systems,it is cheaper for me to use my excess "planta" power to recharge my batteries,that to use EDESUR!
Since I have a water well,electricity, stockpiles of food,water, fuel,and a "Shotgun",I can pretend I live in Idaho!!!!!!!!

Cris Colon

 

[mountainfrog]

It does work.

Well Chris,
you may have seen our set-up on www.samanave.com, so at least the system exists.
Our Siemens "logo!"- timer lets the Diesel run for 1:55 hrs per day and this has worked very well for the last 7 years.
Our draw during the day is not that much (fridge, TV, computer, alarm system, water
pump 0.5 HP occasionally ...).
By 7 p.m. the batteries are normally down to 24.6 V (measured while in service), so we drain them to appr.one third of their capacity, which I consider the lowest limit.
We now use Trojan T-105 batteries.
We had used "Trace"-batteries which lasted 50 months(!) but learned that Trace does not make batteries ....
I am not a missionary but seeing may make you a believer.
Welcome at Samanave.

 

[juiced]

No free ads. You need to talk to Rob about a classified.

The Environment Forum Moderator :glasses:

 

[dust3317]

Solar Panels for a Public School

Hello everyone! This is a great forum. My name is Dustin and I am a current Senior at a public high school in Minnesota. For one of my classes I am trying to put solar panels on our school. I have done some research looking for federal, state, and private grants. There aren't many out there. If any of you have any great resources or grants yourself it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Tom F.]

dust

Send me an email since this isn't DR related (I don't like to upset Robert). tmforbes@yahoo.com I have worked with solar in the DR and am a high school teacher in NYC. Tom F.

 

[Tom F.]

General

Going back and rereading my posts a few years back. I apologize for posting that price on used solar panels. I found out later it was the wholesale price to a few long time installer scattered around the country. It is not a good idea for a business to sell used panels. It made sense to me.

For Dust,

The Dominican Republic was and probably still is somewhat, one the countries of the world where the disemination of photovoltaic stand-alone systems has been most successful. I last worked in the DR in 1999 but stay somewhat connected to what is going on in the solar world. There are estimates of between 100,000-200,000 rural households not connected to the grid. I estimated in 1999 probably 20,000 1-2 panel systems have been installed since the mid-80's. Since the mid-90's probably 5,000-8000 systems are functioning at any given moment. The devaluation of the peso really but a dent in the work and rual electrification still lingers in the background. Until the grid sysem problems are resolved, and real projects will be small and scattered. Tom F.

 

[gogogadget]

solar panels would be quite efficient in the dominican republic. It is much closer to the equator than it is back here in the united states.

I've had mixed results with solar panels, they aren't very efficient is humid climates this far north, but when i move to dr, I plan to buy a full system.