In the month of August we produced over 1.8 MWh (Megawatt hours) of power on the farm. During the summer I expect to see some of the highest values of solar power production. But our loads have also been quite high, running the air conditioners and such. But when the loads are low, the extra solar power goes into the batteries for using later and during the night time.
We may see some completely different trends this winter with power usage. As we heat using a central wood furnace, but I also plan on growing indoors again so we shall see. And probably the wattage that comes into the panels will drop as well when the sun drops further down during the winter time.
But during late the summer, this is probably the max this array will see until next summer around June and July.
Array A production stats:
PV: 756.3 kWh
Load: 1823 kWh
Grid Import: 1104.2 kWh
Battery Charge: 232.1 kWh
Battery Discharge: 207.3 kWh
Array B production stats:
PV: 1071.8 kWh
Load: 1842.8 kWh
Grid Import: 917.6 kWh
Battery Charge: 334.7 kWh
Battery Discharge: 281.7 kWh
Totals combined for all arrays:
1828.1 kWh (1.8 MWh) produced for the month of August
As a comparison, here are some things you can power with 1828 kilowatt hours a month:
You can charge and drive an electric vehicle 5687.7 miles a month.
You can run a refrigerator for an entire month without issue.
You can do 20-40 loads of laundry a month.
You can power 25 LED light bulbs for 12 hours each day a month.
You can cut 3625 wood logs using an electric chainsaw.
You can charge a cell phone 16,216 times in a month.
You can power around 5 server racks (really depends on the servers in that rack though)
You can run 0 ASIC Bitcoin miners continuously.
disclaimer: all of the above statements were formed from answers based on queries to iask.ai... so I have no idea how accurate some of these comparisons are
Array A build:
System Size = 5.5 kWp DC
Panels = Sungoldpower Monocryalline 60 cell (12 Panels, 450 Watts each)
Mounting System = Brightmount EG4 screwed into 6x6 timbers
Wiring: 1x 8 AWG 19 strand PV direct bury wire pair
Inverters = Sol-Ark 15k all-in-one (240V)
Estimated First Year Production
7,408 kWh
Battery Backup = 48 3.2v EVE LF280 LiFePO4 280AH batteries
Battery Management system = Daly Smart BMS 16S 48V 500A
Battery Capacity = 45.696 kWh (840AH)
Propane Generator = Briggs and Stratton Power Protect 26kw
Array B build:
System Size = 9 kWp DC
Panels = Sungoldpower Monocryalline 60 cell (20 Panels, 450 Watts each)
Mounting System = Brightmount EG4 screwed into 6x6 timbers
Wiring: 2x 8 AWG 19 strand PV direct bury wire pair
Inverters = Sol-Ark 15k all-in-one (240V)
Estimated First Year Production
14,815 kWh
Battery Backup = 48 3.2v LiFePO4 290AH batteries (unknown brand)
Battery Management system = Daly Smart BMS 16S 48V 250A
Battery Capacity = 47.328 kWh (870AH)
Propane Generator = Briggs and Stratton Power Protect 22kw
I plan on doing these solar production posts once a month, as a journal and for people interested in the stats of my solar aray. Will do a September update a few days into November.
Thanks to @ksteem for inspiring me to make a post like this, along with using their posts for some good guidelines for producing my build lists. And figuring out how I want to format all of this information.
Posted using STEMGeeks
Nice post. Interesting to see that despite the differences in geography/location and weather (storm season for us), we produced very similar amounts of energy for the month. Your 1.8 MWh vs. my 1.6 MWh. The competition is on, lol! Rain, Rain Go Away.. :) Hoping the winter sun difference isn't as much with us further south here in central Florida.
Oh yeah I bet many of your days have been overcast. Luckily we have had mostly sunny days, when debbie passed over it was dark for a few days but besides that mostly sunny here.
Hah yeah, we shall see month to month how our stats play out.
I am curious too about the sun intensity and how it will be affected when its lower on the horizon this winter.
!BEER
This made me check my solar panel production for the first time in months. Granted mine are just rooftop solar panels but we produced 1.2 MWh for august and 1.3 MWh for July.
Oh nice! Yeah its fun to see the stats I think.
Cool stuff. I really ought to post some stats about our system. We have 8kW of panels and a 5kW inverter plus a battery. Since it was installed in March we have generated nearly 5MWh and exported a lot of it.
BTW I would say that mWh is milliwatt hours.
It would be cool to see.. as @ksteem says its interesting seeing stats of arrays from around the world. Different latitudes and different numbers.
Oops.. OK thanks for pointing that out. Edited.
Solar energy is a great way to run electronic items at home and if you spend it once, then you can use the energy for many years without any problem.
Yep it is nice, looking forward to its return on investment. My batteries are suppose to last over 20 years.
Nice! Great stats for you got there!
It’s impressive how much energy you’re producing and storing, especially during peak summer months.
By the way, I just realized the small squares in your blog page banner are your solar panels! 😅
Hah yup @takuri paid a lot of attention to detail when it came the art commission they did for me. I really love it.
It sure is.. never thought I would say I am producing megawatts. Sounds like something a power plant would do.. lol
Megawatts is indeed a lot of power.
I'm just curious, will you be using that excess electricity for mining crypto or something? You don't have to answer this question if you're not comfortable doing so.
You guys really consume a lot. The solar panels are the best power supplies for now just that it is too costly. Weldone boss
We do, but we also produce a lot.
Yeah it is costly. thanks
You're doing a great job keeping track of your consumption level, at least it will help you make informed decisions regarding your activities if the need arises.
Ah thanks, yeah it does help me better understand our energy usage.
I just quicky googled what a refrigerator uses daily and googled said 1-2 kWh xD
So you can run many many refrigerators with your 1828 kWh :P
Can you see how hot your solarpanels get at peak hours? Because that can reduce your efficiency on your panels :/
Hah that is true.
I would need to take my infrared thermometer to check. Probably over 100F.
Next hot day I will check and let you know in the next post. But since my panels are suspended by framing, they probably do not get as hot as ones placed on house roofs. With airflow passing under mine it probably helps them to stay a little cooler.
Here people can sell that to the Electricity companies and then that amount gets adjusted when they use more from the Grid. So basically you store what you can, but then give the extra to them and borrow from them, when you need. Solar / electric vehicles are definitely going to save this world in near future.
Oh nice.. I hear its worth doing it some places. But where I live its not really worth selling back to the grid, as they have strict requirements and pay you only pennies on the dollar compared to what you pay for using their power.
They sure are, really cool seeing that stat about how far I can drive with all that power produced.
That actually surprises me about the LED lights. I would have guessed it would be a lot more than that given the touted benefits of switching over to LED.
Ah yeah.. I would think a lot more too.
It’s really strong that it can power 25Led lights for twelve hours in a month
I like it!
Hah yeah.. probably more than that.. just what the AI said.
Solar energy is something I have been thinking about for a long time. But I haven't taken any steps yet. I am constantly researching solar energy. It is said to damage the area and soil where it is located, and to damage the structure of the soil. This aspect is bad.
That's why my favorite right now is wind panels. Wind panels also kill living things by hitting them.
Ah, I researched it for a few years before getting started on big projects. For awhile I just did single 12v battery and 300w of solar panel kind of setups.. But now my two arrays are much bigger and serious builds.
Not sure how its bad for the environment. I guess trenching for cables is not good.
Yeah wind energy probably is not much better, from what I have read using solar is the way to go for cost saving.
This is looking great! Congrats on creating some power 💪💡
Thanks!
Without a doubt, you have made the excellent decision when investing in all this solar equipment. It is wonderful to be able to see the results and statistics of energy generation.
My congratulations for the great work, dear friend @solominer
Ah yeah I think so too. Over time it should be interesting looking back at all these stats.
thank you
Sending love and curation Ecency vote.
thanks man
🎉 Upvoted 🎉
❤️ @bhattg suggested sagarkothari88 to upvote your post ❤️
What is the highest temp in summer for you?
Probably 100F (37C).. heat index with the humidity closer to 125F (51C).
37 is hot actually but not hotter compared to what we experience sometimes.
Or... you can bring Power to the Hive (but just a little) :-)
Interesting. I have older installation with just 400W panels, very small space for them, suboptimal (shadow-wise) etc. and not to mention that I can get at most 1MW/year from 1kWp that's installed.
You stated 11kWp for second system but it looks like 9kWp (20x450).
Gotta love proof of stake, such low power usage... Oh cool, about two years ago I tried spinning up a VPS and started to replay the blockchain but it kept stalling and would not progress. I think the disk IO was too poor on the VPS's I was looking at.
I would be willing to run a witness at home, but I want to keep my IP address private. And I have yet to be successful in setting up a VPN client working on Linux. If I can figure out that part, so I can keep my privacy I would be open to trying out running a witness at home.
Ah damn, yeah shadows can be hard to deal with. I was very careful to space out my panels to stop shadowing. But I have a whole field to work with, so its easier for me.
Thanks for pointing that out, I indeed miscalculated. Edited the post :-)
No worries, these days setting up a wireguard should be pretty easy. Although keeping things private isn't. There's a lot of mistakes that can be made which will reveal your "location".
This is indeed awesome. Most importantly, I like the fact It gonna save cost of electricity which sucks.
Thanks, it indeed does save me electricity.
welcome sir. Good one.
Wow, I wish we had solar, 249 light bill this month.
We still have a power bill too. But luckily its dropped anywhere between 30%-50%
That solar array is a powerhouse! Producing 382.24 kWh in August is super impressive. I don't have solar, I heard the battery get weakened as time goes on
Thanks! I produced a bit more than that.
Yes lead acid batteries tend to do that. But I have lithium iron phosphate batteries which should have over a 20 year life.
My 6 panel array in Alamosa worked great.. until winter.. and going from 18 hours of sun to 9.. then we had to supplement with a generator.. especially when it was a few cloudy days..
Ah yeah, winter will be a whole new experience when it comes to these panels. Still need to buy some gear to remove the snow from the panels when it happens..lol
We have generators too, but they are not perfect and its better when we can just get by on solar.. But good to have them regardless.
1.8 mWH must be a lot to be able to do all that. You appear to be a Solar tech guy, we would need you in Africa... 😊
Yeah it is quite a bit..
With all the sun y'all get solar should be the way to go.
Good stats my brother, so you know how much power is used so much, with stats like it can make you know how much you need 😊
Thanks, it sure is good to know.