Posted on 05/13/2024 11:04:59 AM PDT by TexasKamaAina
States like California, New York, and Massachusetts have passed climate policies specifically intended to jump-start this battery industry. But this year, for the first time ever, the fastest-growing energy storage market appears to be Texas, a free-market-affirming red state that officially cares little about solving climate change. Nonetheless, the state’s low-regulation, business-friendly landscape has created ideal conditions to build batteries quickly and at scale, just like it previously incubated thriving wind and solar markets.
(Excerpt) Read more at canarymedia.com ...
How are those solar panels after a hail storm like Ya’ll get in TX.
My brother lives in Allen, TX. He has replaced the roof on his 3 times in 20 years.
OR in rural locations you could get a diesel, propane or gasoline generator and a really big tank for the fuel.
Almost everyone here in NH has a back up generator now. They are hard wired into your main panel through either a Gentran switchbox or a whole panel disconnect.
I have the first kind. It powers ten 15 amp circuits. Two or those power my well pump.
I have a Honda gasoline generator. My house is 50 years old.
The issue with gasoline is that IF its a big enough power outage sometimes the gas stations do not have power.
Most newer rural houses have propane heat. So, they also have a propane backup generator. Then they usually have a big underground tank. That you can run your house for a couple weeks.
Natural gas is typically not available unless you are in the cities or really large towns. I am in neither.
I am also in NH and have a backup generator for critical circuits, but I am researching a scalable, off-grid PV system for our home.
Starting with feeding our garden, chicken and duck house and our sunroom. Later on, expand to critical circuits like well pump, furnace, freezer and refrigerator and selected lighting.
We had a company drop out of the blue a year ago and tried to scam us with a grid tied monster way out of our price range and no battery backup. You have to watch out for these scam artists.
At least that’s the fantasy that the left pushes.
I was thinking about building an array but I can’t convince my wife.
There are several YouTube videos out where people build a south facing array.
It is no different than building any other type of deck or small barn structure.
Then rent a ditch witch or small excavator to run the line to the house.
Then hire an electrician to hook it up.
My advice to you is to do a deep dive in the peak solar hours you get per day and how much that changes each month. I found this tool to be spot on: https://tsi.tyconsystems.com/html/nrel_lookup.htm. Then do a deep dive in your power consumption habits, how much it changes according to the seasons, how much of it is in the evening, etc.
The total # of kWh you consume in January (based on your power bill), divide that by 31 to get the average kWh you consume per day. Divide that by the peak solar hours you get per day in January to see how much kW in solar you need for whatever your target is. Then do it for February, then March, etc. Also do a deep dive in practical steps to take to save on power (caulk seal cracks, add insulation, etc.).
Your battery storage will depend on if you consume enough power at night to be worth getting batteries anyway. It may not be feasible. Or it may be feasible to get a large battery stack like I have. Maybe get enough battery storage for low power consumption nights, so that you're not paying a lot to try to win the battle on a few high power consumption nights. Or maybe you have high power consumption most nights, so that getting a lot of battery storage would give you a high ROI.
And if you decide to go solar, I suggest doing it like I did in two phases. Phase I was a small solar array, one inverter, and small battery stack. My inverter was one that can opt not to sell power to the grid and also one that records a lot of telemetry in 5-minute candles. After having solar for a year in Phase I, study the data to see if it's worth adding onto it in Phase II. How much solar to add in Phase II? How many batteries? How much more inverter capacity? The goal is to invest enough in each portion to take advantage of the economies of scale, but not go so far that you're fighting against the law of diminishing returns. Exactly how much will depend on your power consumption habits and the solar activity in your area. You'll be able to determine that by looking at a year's worth of data collected in Phase I.
And before you add more solar in Phase II, look at other steps to save on power. It was at this point that I replaced both my A/C and natural gas furnace with a variable speed heat pump. And I replaced my natural gas water heater with a hybrid water heater (built in heat pump). Thus, I went all-electric, with high efficient appliances. Maybe going all-electric isn't worth it to you. But it is for me where I get plenty of solar and also where our winters aren't frigid for months. This was also at the point that I decided to replace my wife's car (which needed replacing anyway) with an EV. Our driving habits and how much charging that would need was part of my math on how much to upgrade in Phase II to take advantage of economies of scale without fighting the law of diminishing returns. I settled on averaging about 80% of our power needs being met from homemade power (less than that during 4 winter months, more than that during the other 8 months).
Only after you've had solar for a year at Phase II (after the upgrades) do you look at the data again to determine if it's worth selling power to the grid. Every region has different fees they add to the bill for selling power, and different rates at different seasons for how much you make per kWh you sell. I started selling power to the grid half a year ago because that's when I had enough information to know that I'd make a little more from the grid sell than the extra fees added for the privilege of selling to the grid. And if in the future, the regulations change to make selling power not worth it, fine, my inverters have the feature to shut off the grid sell. Plus, my financial decision of whether or not to go solar isn't dependent on the grid sell to make going solar worth it. The grid sell is just gravy on top.
In other words, always be in the position where you're the one in control. If things change to where it's not in your advantage, you can part ways with the grid sell and go back to being a normal power consumer like everybody else (except you won't need as much power from the grid because your solar provides some of your needs). Also, I now have enough info on what it'd take to go completely off grid with my power if the Dims push it to that point where we have to sell our soul to get energy. Right now it's not worth it. I'm comfortable with $80/month power bills for an all-electric home and charging our EV to drive it on average 1,300 miles per month (not counting if we drive it on trips and charge it away from home).
Is the TVA grid Racoon Mountain pumped storage facility that stores the surplus generated by the Sequoyah Nuclear plant a battery?
That's not what I was talking about. I was talking about storing electricity as electricity, not converting it to another kind of energy (i.e. potential energy of mass at a higher altitude).
Is pumped water storage worth it? I don't know. I'd have to see the specs, like how much water (mass) we're talking about and high up it is above the turbines (head), how much kWh is used to pump it up there, and how much water evaporates and has to be replaced.
First of all, my wife's opposition to a solar array is because she thinks they are UGLY and does not want to see it ruining the view from the north facing widows of our house. Right now it is a 1-2 acre field and woodlands beyond.
I believe I have done all I can do short of replacing ALL the windows in my 52 year old home to make it more energy efficient. I have replaced all the doors except one.
Added over a foot of bonded cellulose insulation to the attic. Caulked, foamed around outlets and switch boxes on exterior walls. Insulated the box beam in the basement.
Heat pumps really do not work here in NH unless they are in a geothermal system. It gets too cold here in the winter.
I also added a Harman Pellet stove insert to reduce my home heating oil usage.
NH does have NET metering at $.06/KHW. I have not studied it but I believe the rate is locked in by state law for some time to come. So, it can not be lowered by bureaucrats without a law passed in the state assembly and signed by the governor.
What has personally given me pause is that the cost of the panels continues to lower and the efficiency increases.
So, the ROI continues to get to be a shorter time period.
I am not planning on putting panels on my roof.
My choice would be between a large static unit or a smaller unit that tracks the sun throughout the day.
I suspect it would be less expensive to build a larger static array. Also, there are no moving parts and no maintenance other than hosing them off occasionally.
The other major issue is that NH does not get the same amount of sunny days as a place like Santa Fe, NM or other locations that get over 300 days of sun per year.
As Peter Zeihan pointed out in one of his YouTube videos, solar panels make a lot more sense in CO than they do in MI. It is more sunny in the SW US than it is around the Great Lakes. In fact the upper elevation areas of NM & CO are maybe the most efficient place to install solar panels. They work better in cold clear climates. He actually compared the mountains of Co to Germany. Apparently, in Germany it is cloudy and overcast all the time.
The other issue with the installation of solar panels is in places that get frequent large hail storms like northern TX, OK, etc. The fact is that our financial decisions really should be based on the place we live and what Mother Nature inflicts on our environment.
Lastly, I have no interest in going OFF GRID. Therefore, I have no interest in adding battery backup.
The other factor contributing to my hesitation is I just turned 61. The property I have requires a lot of maintenance. I am not sure I want to live there when I am 71. Certainly not when I am 81. So, what is the point of adding a solar array IF I am going to be moving in ten years.
You gave a lot of factors for why NOT to get solar for your situation.
Keep in mind, though I tend to be analytical (like you).
I’m in Texas and have the same question re hail storms and solar panels. I’m right now in the middle of my 3rd roof replacement in 35 years. I didn’t think the storm was that bad but State Farm says we need a whole new roof.
My older brother lives in Allen
Has replaced his roof three times in about twenty years.
He called me up about a year ago to complain about how much his home owners insurance was going up
I’ve always appreciated your analytical approach to solar, and what living in a State that is conducive to such energy production can do.
One unanswered question in your case would be how much NOT having an EV would change the 80 twenty grid use you now have. Could you get close to zero grid use or how might the ratio change?
It would probably increase my overall homemade power average about 5% to 10%. So to 85% to 90%. As much power as it takes to charge my EV to drive it about 1,200 miles per month (local driving charged at home), and even given the fact that that charging the EV is my most power consuming "appliance" for my home (even more than AC for the home in the summer and heating the home in the winter), there's still one very important fact about charging the EV. That's the fact that I usually can postpone charging until the sun comes out. I can't ever do that with my HVAC and water heater.
For example, in the past 366 days (leap day Feb 29 adds a day in my DB query report so that it pulls 366 days instead of 365 LOL) from May 15, 2023 to yesterday May 14, 2023, we consumed 21,366 kWh, with only 4,136 kWh having to be pulled from the grid. Thus, homemade power gave us 80.6% of our power.
Of the 21,366 kWh we consumed, 4,560 kWh of that was for charging the EV. That's to drive us 14,593 local miles (1,216/month average). Still, the 4,136 kWh for charging the EV is 19% of our overall power demand, which is large. But I don't have to charge the EV every day. The EV's range when charged to 80% is usually around 230 miles (more or less, depending on the weather and if we have to run the EV's AC or heat, and assuming local driving miles which has some highway 75mph driving). Since we average driving it about 50 mph per day, we can charge it to 230 miles on a good sunny day with free power, then charge it more on future days only if the power is free or if we drive it extra and have to charge it on the constant powered circuit (which may or may not be free, but is always powered). My wife asks for a floor of 120 miles range. So 230 mile range top to 120 floor = 110 miles we can drive the EV on bad weather days before we decide to put the EV on the constant powered charger. That's 3 days in a row of bad weather driving before charging the EV means charging it from the grid. I can't do that with my other major appliances like the HVAC or the water heater.
As it stands now, my main hurdle from being 100% energy independent is winter. In my December power statement, only 53% of my power use was homemade. January was 44% and February was 62%. And January was a low local driving month (about 150 miles charged at home). So I can't blame the EV for January being only 44% homemade power -- it's about running the HVAC a lot (a few nights we had single digit low temps) while getting little sun. Last winter looked similar, except the numbers moved to other months (depending on which month has the cold spells). The other months out of the year are over 80% homemade power. March was 84.8% and April was 95.8%. Looking at last year every non-winter month (not December - February) my homemade power ranged from the high 80's to high 90's with the lone exception being November being "only" 81.6% homemade power.
If I was to try to improve on that, my next step would be to take down the sheetrock from my walls and add insulation. And replace my windows with triple-paned windows. Then study the power throughput for a year to see if I need more solar or batteries or both. (Probably more solar, since I'm looking at some days in the winter that failed to charge the battery stack, with some of those days being multiple days in a row -- too many days to expect a battery stack to hold enough power to get through unless I made the battery stack ginormous to hold power from the prior week).
But if I was to go that far, I'd probably opt to downsize instead, something my wife and I will probably have to do one day anyway. I can have a house constructed to spec with better insulation and windows, and both the refrigerator and hybrid water heater closer to the HVAC so that the heat from the fridge can be sucked in more efficiently by the HVAC during winter months, and the cold air byproduct from the water heater can be sucked in during the warm months (more efficiently than what I have mine doing now, considering that the water heater is some distance from the HVAC).
I'd also need more inverter capacity for the very few times our home is using more than 18kW AC power (i.e. hard cold spell means HVAC using 10kW, while we're running the hot tub at maybe 4kW, while the dryer is running, etc.). That doesn't happen often. But since I never tell my wife that solar restricts her power needs and wants, it happens a few times.
I live North of Allen near Prosper we just had golf ball sized hail twice this year so far. Both my roof and my large solar system both have hail ratings they both are fine. The panels are thin film with flexible gorilla glass. Baseball sized hail would maybe dent them but not golf, marble or racquetball. Last time we had really big hail the house didn’t have the hail.rated shingles the only place not.damaged was under the panels ironically. Now every sq ft has hail rated or.metal roofing on steel building aka the vehicle stable.
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