The Greening of Gavin

To Grid or Go Off Grid. Why Not Do Both?

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Want to go off grid, but not too sure if it’s right for you?  Well why not make your own small off-grid power supply and supplement your grid connected system by putting it to work in your garden or garage?

That, my green friends, is exactly what I did some time ago.  Here is a schematic of the system.

Standalone+Solar+PV

 

It is pretty simple, mainly because solar is simple to put together.  I’m not an electrician, so if I can make a very low voltage off grid system (12 vdc), then anyone can.

small off-grid system

two 110 watt 12 vdc solar PV units

The two 110 watt panels that supply the system was the prize for winning the Renew magazine Sustainable Living Blog award.  I made my own brackets, and mounted it on the arbor where my grape vines are growing.

off grid solar PV

Fitting the frame to the panels

It has two 105 amp hour AGM (absorbent glass mat) 12 volt batteries that supply energy to my water pump for the irrigation system and to this small 240 vac inverter.  I use this to charge my electric bike and low-wattage power tools when I am doing some woodwork in the garage.

240 vac inverter

240 vac inverter

 

It’s a handy little system that can also be disconnected and wheeled inside in case of a blackout.  It would run our fridge for a couple of days if push came to shove.  Great in emergencies and does away with the need for an emergency petrol generator.

Anyway, if you want to learn more, my system was just featured on the popular One Step Off The Grid blog, written by fellow Climate Reality Leader and friend Emma Sutcliffe.

The post is titled Greening a grid-connect suburban home with small scale energy storage.  It is a great overview of the system, and our lifestyle.

Wait until you get to the end of the article as Kim drops a clanger.  It’s worth a laugh for sure!

7 Years of Solar on Our House

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This month we celebrate 7 years of solar PV on our house!  I was an early-ish adopter of grid-tied solar PV.  It was installed in September 2007, and has generated a whopping 26,001 kWh over those 7 years.  All without a glitch.

7 year of solar in our home

Yours truly, turning on the system for the first time – 7 years ago

That is an average of 10 kWh a day, which considering the system size of 2.8 kW, is fairly good.  During winter on a cloudy day it generates about 2 to 4 kWh, and in summer on sunny day we can generate up to 24 kWh.

We use between 10 – 12 kWh a day in our home, and the rest is exported to the grid.  I get paid 66 cents feed-in tariff per kWh that I export and now pay about 25 cents for every kilowatt-hour that I import from our retailer.

And the benefits?  Well, lower electricity bills for one and a big grin on my face every time I look at the car port roof!

We also are very precious with electricity in our home because everyone is aware that we generate our most of our own.  We use it sparingly because we know that if we can live within our means – consumption wise – we don’t pay anything for it.

7 years of solar

View from our gate when it was first installed

Even though the rebates have change since I first bought our system, and the feed-in tariff has been scaled back by all state governments, it is still worth getting solar on your roof.  Just as the million other residential solar owners around Australia!  Even without these government incentives, you still lower your power bill, and therefore your greenhouse gas emissions if you haven’t paid a little extra for GreenPower.

Obviously, the bigger the system, the more electricity you will generate.  If I had the money at the time for a larger system, I would have filled the entire roof space.  They are just so cheap now.  Unfortunately, because of the rebate at the time, I cannot add any more generating capacity to this system legally.  If I did, I would have to pay back the $8000 government rebate I received, and forfeit the premium feed-in tariff.  It is not worth my while, plus we don’t use that much electricity anyway.

7 years of solar

View from our main roof

There you have it.  7 years old, and many more solar birthdays to come.  If you want to read the post that I wrote all those years ago after it was installed, click-through to “The Solar Revolution – Photovoltaic“.

So chime in via comment if you have solar PV on your house.  Share with us when it was installed and how big is your system.  I am sure those sitting on the fence would love the encouragement!  Also let me know if you are pleased with your system or you have had issues with the installer.  Call them out.  Happy for a name and shame as well!

Owning solar makes every sunny day even more wonderful!

The Great Kilowatt Challenge eBook – On Sale!

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A year in the writing, The Great Kilowatt Challenge eBook and companion worksheet are now available for purchase at my eBookstore!

Here is the book blurb;

The Great Kilowatt Challenge

The Great Kilowatt Challenge eBook

The Step by Step Guide to $aving Easy Money off Your Power Bills

Want to save some easy money off your power bill, but you don’t know where to start?

Are you sick of paying a small fortune on seemingly ever rising  electricity costs?

Do you want to take back control?

Well you can right now!  The Great Kilowatt Challenge is an eBook and worksheet designed to help you get control of your electricity consumption and lower that bill.

The step by step four week challenge will help you gain a better understanding of how to determine which appliances and behaviours within your home are costing you the most money, and how to turn that around back in your favour.

The companion worksheet is available as downloadable content within the ebook.

This comprehensive eBook is exclusive to The Greening of Gavin readers only.  You will not find this excellent guide anywhere else on the web or at other ebook retailers until a few months time.

Get it before you receive your next electricity bill.  You won’t regret it!

For more information about what the ebook offers, head on over to ebookstore.

 

A big shout out goes to Pam for proof reading it, and to all the beta testers who participated in the very first Great Kilowatt Challenge in 2011.

From that original and successful series of blog posts came the idea for the eBook where it saved many readers a lot of money off their power bills.

The worksheet, which is found as a link within the eBook, has full instructions for entering your meter data, and assists in automatically calculating your daily electricity usage and cost.  It couldn’t be any easier than that.

I have also included a weekly feedback option within the eBook where the challenge participants can share their results and ask further questions if needs be.  I don’t expect that everyone will share, but the option is there if you want it.

Anyway, thanks for being patient with me while I put this eBook together.  It is well worth the wait!