Your Questions About Solar Energy Generators For Home

admin answers:

This is a question with several differant answers…..

Depending on consuption if its going on a consuming structure co-generating

or a stand alone generation station. The most cost effective would be a hybrid

thermal/photovoltaic

the thermal would heat a closed contained liquid and make steam to turn large turbine.

$150,000US will get u quite the little generator. $1,000,000US u have a major player

my general rule is $15us per sq ft of heating/cooling space.

I am presently puting together the single largest solar project of its kind. Entire subdivisions of low cost modular homes with the entire roof as the mini-generating station. So if u put up say 400 units. When this hole subdivision comes on line u have a major Generating Station.

Maitaining a plant with no moving parts to wear-out, well except to send some one to clean the panels off once every 6 months wound not be much up-keep……

The panels have 20 to 25yr warrenties and 30yr life

some put up in the late 60’s r still generating.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_it_cost_to_build_and_maintain_a_power_plant_for_generating_electricity_with_solar_energy#ixzz1eVJOFNPl

admin answers:

Hey Wm, a 250 watt Hi Energy Discharge light? Is that outdoors for security? You said 3 to 18 hours per day, so I guess you’re thinking indoors. You can make a lot better use of lighting indoors if you use task lighting instead of whole house. I’ve wired a number of barns and outbuildings for friends and myself with solar, but we never use such a large light bulb.

For discussion, let’s assume that HiD will be on 6 hours per day. 250 watts X 6 = 1.5 kwh per day. If you have average solar insolation of 4 hours per day, then in theory you would need 400 watts of solar. In reality, there are always some losses at the battery, and inverter, plus you need to have extra to recover from several days of clouds. Something closer to 600 watts would be more accurate. Next question is how many days without good sun will you need the light? Let’s say three for example, (This is called “Days of Autonomy,”) Your battery will need 4 days worth, or 6 kwh. You could pull this off with 6 golf cart batteries, just barely.

If you’re wondering about cost, 600 watts of solar will probably run $2,000 USD, the batteries another $600, and maybe $ 200 for parts and an inexpensive inverter. Kind of expensive for one light bulb. The barns I’ve wired use 4 golf cart batteries and one 120 watt panel. Since the panel has a maximum current of 7 amps and the batteries hold 440 amp hours, we don’t need a charge controller. The rule of thumb is nothing over 2% of the battery AH capacity, so 440 AH X 2% = 8.8 amps maximum solar current. You can read more about this in Richard Perez’s book, I’ll list it below. Then we use a 750 watt modified sine wave inverter to run a few circuits of 18 watt CF outdoor spot lamps in standard sockets. This makes the entire project easy to wire up, with parts that can be purchased inexpensively off the shelf. And since we have a couple long strings of spot lamps in 2 places, plus a couple work area lights, and maybe a trouble light on a long cord, we don’t need 1.5 kwh per day, it’s more like one third that amount. The panel, batteries, inverter and other wiring parts cost less than $1000 USD. Then, in the daytime, we also have the ability to run small hand tools with the same inverter, like a drill or hand saw. Also, at night, we can plug in several strings of LED Christmas lights for partys, or whatever. You just can’t run these things all night every night. Another advantage of using 12 volts as the battery bank voltage is if you run low, you can recharge with a vehicle and jumper cables for a spell, or a small generator. So you have more flexibility with less cost.

Another consideration is low voltage LED lights. Our home uses small 12 volt strips under the kitchen cabinets, and in the bedrooms. They use very small amounts of power, maybe 1 or 2 watts per string, never burn out, and don’t cost any more than 20 watt hockey puck lights with holagen bulbs. There are lots of possibilities, but I’d think twice about that behemoth of a light you’re planning on using. I’ll list some good sources below to check out. Take care Wm, Rudydoo