SOLAR POWER ENERGY(Keywords: solar power energy, solar power panels, solar water pumps, solar heater) SOLAR POWER ENERGY is free and the technology now within everyone's reach. The decision “to go solar” is not an easy one, and there are many pitfalls. For some it might be a desire to “go green”, of another “saving money” with the increase in power costs projected to increase exponentially in the world within the next few years. For me, it was simply the provision of electricity, it’s not something we can easily live without, both as a business and personal point of view. In South Africa frequent outages, power surges and brown-outs (low voltage) have become regular features of the scene, destroying electrical equipment. For others simply it may be the fascination of getting “something for free”, rather liking sailing or gliding as a sport. For me it was a bit of all four. From a money-saving point of view, the first decision is, when your geyser next bursts, to go for solar hot water. Over and above the cost of the geyser (not much more than an ordinary geyser), it does not cost a king's ransom to add the vacuum tubes necessary to heat your bath water. About R10,000 ($1500) in South Africa. With a direct saving on you electricity bill of about 20-60% per year (depending on how a big bath your enjoy!) at current energy costs it makes financial sense.
IN OUR VILLAGE...In Hilton, there’s a double wammy of gross municipal inefficiency, coupled with gross national grid inadequate supply. Not a happy combination. Electricity outages usually last about five hours, occasionally over 24 hours, and often occur twice a week in Hilton. Threats of load shedding in the winter from the national supplier, Eskom, loom. Add to that 26% annual increase in electrical costs, it makes sense to go solar...
SOLAR WATER PUMPSImproving the water circulation from the heat manifold to the water storage geyser improves the efficiency enormously. This is done with the use of a small solar water pump driven by a 12 volt solar power panel.
SOLAR POWER PANELS
What is important is to ask up front precisely what your needs are; don't allow someone to sell you the most expensive system on the market if you only want to run a few lights and your computer.
SOLAR POWER ENERGYAt first glance, we decided we wanted light and clean electricity for our computers when there was a power cut. However, on Christmas eve (midsummer in the Southern hemisphere) when the power went out for eight hours, with a fridge full of goodies, we discovered to our delight that the system we had bought could also run the fridge. You probably will find you want your system to do more than you initially desired, so it's best to go bigger in the beginning. Lightning strikes are a problem so we were advised not to buy a cheap Chinese system but to purchase a local manufacturer who builds in lightning protection. A little more expensive, but I feel the right decision. Then there’s the regulator, to make sure the batteries aren’t over-charged. We eventually settled also for local over Chinese for various technical reasons. Next there’s the mounting of the panels on the roof. There I had to go it alone, design and build a framework to hold the panels. It took two full half-days with the dedicated help of a friend, with much head scratching, to build the framework. My experience: don’t buy too small. We started with a 20A regulator and very quickly realised that we would want to add on. A 60A regulator costs only $100 extra. We can now expand from 4x90W panels to 16 panels. Four panels are providing about 10% of the energy (60kwh per month) for a family of six. The total cost? About R35,000 ($40,000) for the batteries, panels, inverter and regulator. In many countries, the USA included, expensive batteries are not necessary, and you can pump your excess power into the grid when you have an excess, and use grid power when the sun sets. LED LIGHTSAnother fairly large, unexpected, but totally important factor is changing over to LED lights. They are expensive, but with a life expectancy of 15 years, it’s a must for us all, whether you go solar or not. A 6w spotlight outside our home is providing more light than the previous 150W globe. But the interior LED lights are quite different to incandescent and CFLs, and take a bit of getting used to.UNINTERRUPTED POWER SUPPLYFor me this has been a very exciting new venture. I can’t say the solar power is at this stage cost effective, but it’s lovely having clean electrical energy without the frequent dips and surges in voltage and outages that our utility provides. The inverter also acts as a UPS for our computers when Eskom suddenly goes out. Our electricity bill, with two geysers, both solar, is now less than $50 per month. It will rise in the winter months, but there is less cloud cover in the winter in our area making the solar power panels and solar water heaters more efficient despite the shorter sunlight hours.
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