what on earth does electricity cost near you?

[3930dave]

And if many people join you and get off the grid, it makes the financials of the power grid that much worse. I would assume you could use tax credits to move off the grid and that the tax credits were created by the same people who made this mess? If that is true, it is ironically funny.

What is criminal about this mess is that it does not seem the people who created this mess can be prosecuted criminally...

Later,
Dan

No accident, that many politicians start out as lawyers.... nobody is liable for anything. Good gig, if you can get it. Our provincial police "investigated" some instances of past problems - personally I wished they hadn't bothered wasting more tax dollars white-washing the story - the same police union had come out with major attack ads against the opposing party during the last election.

I am not aware of any existing tax credits to move off-grid. In my case, I'm willing to finance it myself. Govts and obviously utilities would prefer that people stay on-grid.

In my parent's era, electricity here was viewed as an essential service, that was reasonably priced. Things change.... I now live in a province where the govt views electricity instead as a break-and-enter tool to pillage our bank accounts. I'm not big on continuing to be a victim.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

I work in energy industry, in US. Being off grid is typically foolish. Years to recoup cost, by then you may have maintenance costs.

The advantage of being on grid, besides cheaper, is you have power all the time. At night and when wind doesn't blow.

Being off grid is either a novelty, or necessity.

Everyone I know off grid is due to necessity and some have really made it work well for them... to a last one it was a matter of cost... one guy in a remote area was quoted over 400k ten years ago and with numbers like that going off grid was a no brainer... and what a beautiful spot he has.

 

[3930dave]

Everyone I know off grid is due to necessity and some have really made it work well for them... to a last one it was a matter of cost... one guy in a remote area was quoted over 400k ten years ago and with numbers like that going off grid was a no brainer... and what a beautiful spot he has.

Classic reason for alternative energy use. Even at 1/10 of that cost, an off-grid system is quite doable.

Rgds, D.

 

[dmccarty]

...
I am not aware of any existing tax credits to move off-grid. In my case, I'm willing to finance it myself. Govts and obviously utilities would prefer that people stay on-grid. ...

Wow. Last time I checked, my state had a decent tax subsidy for solar and the Fed still does as well. I guess the Canada governments do want to keep you on the hook.

The hard part with going off grid is batteries. LiFiPo batteries might change things if the price drops but even the cost of lead acid batteries is expensive compared given how many batteries most homes would need. And the batteries have a limited lifetime so one will have to replace the batteries periodically.

We would have to put in gas for the clothes dryer and maybe the hot water heater. Solar hot water heaters were very expensive when I looked into them a few years ago, however, with the price drop of panels it might be cheaper to just use an electric hot water heater.

Then we need AC which is very difficult to do from PV. Possible but just increases the costs.

If we manage to sell everything and buy a boat, we will be off grid with a generator, PV and wind power generation. :laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[Zerk]

Alternative energy is good, if it costs to much to get power to you. Remote areas.

 

[3930dave]

Alternative energy is good, if it costs to much to get power to you. Remote areas.

That was the classic motivation, even 30 years ago.

Once the "service" fees become ridiculous, it doesn't even have to be Remote. A small industrial customer near here was quoted $15k to get their existing service upgraded. They said forget it, and purchased a used diesel generator for $5k. Even at our fuel prices, it will take them a while to get through $10k of diesel.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Wow. Last time I checked, my state had a decent tax subsidy for solar and the Fed still does as well.

Later,
Dan

Most of the major subsidy programs I can think of here were for grid-intertied systems. If your's include totally off-grid systems, that is pretty progressive.

We have central AC here, but don't use it much, even before our rates went sky-high. If I had to deal with heavy AC loads today, I think I'd be looking for an engine driven, nat-gas fired, compressor.

Rgds, D.

 

[Zerk]

That was the classic motivation, even 30 years ago.

Once the "service" fees become ridiculous, it doesn't even have to be Remote. A small industrial customer near here was quoted $15k to get their existing service upgraded. They said forget it, and purchased a used diesel generator for $5k. Even at our fuel prices, it will take them a while to get through $10k of diesel.

Rgds, D.

A person may go off grid during construction. But the money doesn't work out on an existing property that already has power ran to it.

 

[ultrarunner]

That was the classic motivation, even 30 years ago.

Once the "service" fees become ridiculous, it doesn't even have to be Remote. A small industrial customer near here was quoted $15k to get their existing service upgraded. They said forget it, and purchased a used diesel generator for $5k. Even at our fuel prices, it will take them a while to get through $10k of diesel.

Rgds, D.

But the $800 annual permit fee to operate a Generator would add up quick... at least here in California... the Hazmat fee for 180 gallons of Diesel in a double containment tank plus the fee to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the prohibition on operation of a non-compliant older generator not meeting the required Tier Standard

The Super Market adjacent to the Hospital has Diesel Rigs that come and go all hours and refrigerator trucks that idle and they don't come under either of the Generator Fee schedules mentioned above.

 

[check]

But the $800 annual permit fee to operate a Generator would add up quick... at least here in California... the Hazmat fee for 180 gallons of Diesel in a double containment tank plus the fee to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the prohibition on operation of a non-compliant older generator not meeting the required Tier Standard The Super Market adjacent to the Hospital has Diesel Rigs that come and go all hours and refrigerator trucks that idle and they don't come under either of the Generator Fee schedules mentioned above.

Gheez, Dave, I hope you don't have to pay those kinds of fees here in Ontario!