Off grid and solar

Martyn1981

Just a thought, and I warn you, a weird idea but .....

...... I think some up and coming BEV's might have a 'standard' 13A socket feature ...... bear with me here as I may have lost my mind.

If you need transport anyway, and would consider a BEV, and there is somewhere nearby, on the way to work, near friends etc etc where you can charge it, then it could be your emergency leccy supply, allowing you to skimp a little on some of the 'just in case of worst' spending.

Probably too daft, but I thought I'd mention it.

pile-o-stone

If you are ground mounting your solar panels, you might want to look at the new 400w bi-facial panels that are available, especially if space is at a premium. Here is a link to some:

https://www.bimblesolar.com/solar/individual/LG-390W-bifacial-solar?sort=p.price&order=DESC

These panels have a glass back sheet so they absorb sun which bounces back from behind the panel. Great for low light and cloudy conditions. If you cover the ground beneath the panels with white gravel you'd bounce more light back and also stop weeds from growing under the panels. I'd look at fitting at least 10kw of panels so that you get reasonable generation in winter. You'd also need a fairly substantial battery to store excess solar for the evenings. I'd look at fitting a tesla Power Walls 2.

I'd also look at fitting a wood burning boiler stove (if you haven't already) and connect it to a large thermal store. Buy an iboost type device so you can divert summer excess energy into the thermal store (once your battery is full). I'd look at fitting the largest you can afford and have space for in your home. A larger tank allows you to store hot water over a few cloudy days

https://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burning_stoves/Akvaterm-Standard-Thermal-Stores.html

If you don't have time to keep feeding a wood stove, then consider a pellet stove. These have a hopper that can be filled with wood pellets and left for a day or two to automatically operate.

I think it's almost definite that you'd also need a wind turbine. You won't generate enough solar in winter to sustain a reasonable western lifestyle. The key to living off the grid is energy storage. You will need a battery to store electricity and a thermal store to store heat.

You will also need to bear in mind that when you're connected to the mains you can have lots of electrical items on at a time - kettles, TVs, central heating pumps, fridge, freezer, computers, routers, etc. etc. I've seen our usage go upto 8kW at times. A kettle element is 3kw on its own. With solar and a battery you definitely can't. You'd have to get rid of high power devices like kettles, toasters and tumble dryers and manage your usage so that you run electrical items one at a time rather than all together.

You will also need a diesel generator that automatically kicks in when you run out of power.

To be honest, I'd look again at the costs and merits of fitting the mains electricity connection because to live off-grid will cost you more as far as the initial infrastructure installation is concerned and the convenience of grid energy may outweigh its on-going costs. This is especially true if you make your house as energy efficient as possible and so are a low user of electricity.

kareieemkhan

When we talk about living off-grid in Karachi, it doesn’t represent a rustic or an isolated lifestyle. Rather, the term only means being independent in terms of power generation and not relying on the regional or national electricity grid for power utility needs. In fact, people living right in the city center can also start living “Off grid” by cutting their dependence from the power grid and switching to alternative energy sources like Solar Systems to meet their power requirements.