Stand alone solar power

[mashman]

V2G is a developing technology. If these guys are accurate Tesla's soon to be announced "million mile battery" will enable Tesla's entry into this market. Interesting theorising.

Perfect for an automated fleet.

[MarkH]

As above, looking for opinions from people who have Off the grid installations and comments re Installation cost,ongoing costs, obsolescence etc. Is only for a one bedroom bach.

One source of information about a suitable setup could be from people that use solar panels and batteries for a motor-home. I've been looking at some videos and other sources of information for motor-homes and it seems pretty common to put solar panels on the roof and charge a bank of batteries. They often save power by using gas cylinders for stove/oven and using a very efficient 12V fridge and LED lighting. You can use an inverter to provide 240V AC power for things that need that, but you can charge a phone or tablet with a charger that powers from 12V - better than turning 12V to 240V and then running a mains charger. A laptop may also be able to get a 12V car charger to use instead of the mains charger that came with it.

If you can bring your power usage down enough then it wouldn't have to cost a fortune to have off-grid power.

[SPman]

Geez - payback period is long over there. Our first 1.5Kw system 10 yrs ago took us 2.5 yrs to pay off - but we had a 40c/Kwhr feed in tariff. We added another 3 Kw system 5 yrs ago and that is now paid off, even though the feed in tariff dropped to 8c
/Kwhr. I assume there are no incentives in NZ to install PV. A local we know was quoted $50k to get power in for his new house - 5Kw system, batteries and a wind generator cost him $22k. Solar hw with LPG booster and gas cooking.

[MarkH]

A local we know was quoted $50k to get power in for his new house

Yeah, that would make going solar with batteries a super easy decision. Fifty grand is a huge cost to be hooked up, followed by regular bills. A solar system would be paid back twice over before day 1, you'd have to be a fuckin' idiot to not go solar in this situation.

[Laava]

Well, I had a conservative estimate of $30k for a solar setup and just decided that I could use the money better elsewhere. $30k will pay for my power mains in and then many years of power after.
I also only had 72m of trench to dig so it was not too far and it also gave me a chance to drop in a conduit for future fibre or phone plus a couple of power feed for my little shed and water tank went back up the trench 15-20m each.
Also, as we are with Contact, they do a bach supply that has no charges other than what you actually use which will make it a bit cheaper again.
Will post in again when the bills come for trenching and cables...