Going on the Grid-How much?

[Cord]

I'd suggest getting the easements established now. All you need is one neighbor to say no and this could kill future electrification. I got my easement established just a month ago. The utility established it, but I had to pay for surveying. It was easy to layout the route because it would follow a established trail. This wouldn't be true if you were just cutting through a woods. It took nearly a year to get the easement established because the utility doesn't have income to motivate them. There was probably a dozen e-mails where I gently pushed them. But I got it done and there is a future route for the line to follow.

 

[coralhead]

How many amps do you think you will need? If you only need 40 amps (well and power tools) and you only need 120 volts, maybe you could have them put the transformer and meter on the public road (for free) and use one insulated 000 aluminum wire and one bare aluminum wire and run your own line the 1200' feet to your place.

Wild idea- could you have the power company do their "free" installation on the power pole by the road and put your meter there. Next, find a "step up" transformer and run your own high voltage line 1,200ft to your place, then install another "step down" transformer there. Yes- you would need to pay for two "extra" transformers but maybe you could find them used for a reasonable price.

This was how it was done on a small cay I was caretaker on in the Bahamas. We had the power generation via solar and diesel and distributed around the buildings/houses with step up/step down transformers. The cay was 18 acres and had one step up and two step downs at the point of uses.

 

[3930dave]

There are 3 other land owners that will have poles on their properties which involve easements that I didn't mention. I will most likely get a diesel water cooled 1800 rpm generator for back up. But running a generator 24/7 with low hr. warranties is not going to happen.

Once your inverters are sized for max intended load, then it's mostly a teeter-toter tradeoff between battery-bank size and generator runtime/frequency. Agreed, constantly running a generator is neither desirable nor economical.

Pls let us know what you end up with, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is interested.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Old Guy in Tenn]

I recently checked on the cost to run power to our Tennessee property. The nearest power pole is 3500' from our property line at the top of the hill, in a neighbor's pasture next to a barn. Our access road is about a mile to get to the same spot on our land, from the main road with power lines.

The power company charges $8/ft, with the first 500' "free". Getting power across the pasture would be about $24,000 plus the cost of the easement. That neighbor won't sell an easement unless the court demands it. Getting power down our access road would be about $38,000, plus the additional easement to make room for the lines. The neighbors along the access road would be willing to sell easement at a reasonable price.

So, it would be in the neighborhood of $40,000 to bring in power. We can put in all the solar we need for less than 1/2 of that. I am leaning toward solar.

 

[mike69440]

I recently checked on the cost to run power to our Tennessee property. The nearest power pole is 3500' from our property line at the top of the hill, in a neighbor's pasture next to a barn. Our access road is about a mile to get to the same spot on our land, from the main road with power lines.

The power company charges $8/ft, with the first 500' "free". Getting power across the pasture would be about $24,000 plus the cost of the easement. That neighbor won't sell an easement unless the court demands it. Getting power down our access road would be about $38,000, plus the additional easement to make room for the lines. The neighbors along the access road would be willing to sell easement at a reasonable price.

So, it would be in the neighborhood of $40,000 to bring in power. We can put in all the solar we need for less than 1/2 of that. I am leaning toward solar.

Battery cost will kill you, that's why I,m still connected, even with a big solar array.

 

[3930dave]

20k USD bought this battery array in 2016:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/367749-check-out-my-new-battery-2.html

I could easily live with that.

Rgds, D.

 

[mike69440]

20k USD bought this battery array in 2016:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/367749-check-out-my-new-battery-2.html

I could easily live with that.

Rgds, D.

My problem is our system is 5X bigger and battery cost to cover that just freaked me out, still on the darn grid. I hate making all that juice and practically just giving it back to the ELECTRIC CO-OP

 

[fitter1]

I'd suggest getting the easements established now. All you need is one neighbor to say no and this could kill future electrification. I got my easement established just a month ago. The utility established it, but I had to pay for surveying. It was easy to layout the route because it would follow a established trail. This wouldn't be true if you were just cutting through a woods. It took nearly a year to get the easement established because the utility doesn't have income to motivate them. There was probably a dozen e-mails where I gently pushed them. But I got it done and there is a future route for the line to follow.

This is so true and did happened. I hired the same lawyer that did the original title search when I bought the property almost 40yrs. ago. Turned out I always had the right of way to erect power lines written into my original deed. Lawyer cost was minimal, happy about that. Power is going in after mud season. Contract from power co. is in the mail for me to look over and sign. It appears my cost is not as bad as I thought. Thank you all for your input...Ken

 

[3930dave]

This is so true and did happened. I hired the same lawyer that did the original title search when I bought the property almost 40yrs. ago. Turned out I always had the right of way to erect power lines written into my original deed. Lawyer cost was minimal, happy about that. Power is going in after mud season. Contract from power co. is in the mail for me to look over and sign. It appears my cost is not as bad as I thought. Thank you all for your input...Ken

Congratulations Ken.

So did that old Right of Way reduce the connection distance quite a bit, or did the utility finally get reasonable with their charges ?

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

My problem is our system is 5X bigger and battery cost to cover that just freaked me out, still on the darn grid. I hate making all that juice and practically just giving it back to the ELECTRIC CO-OP

Big system you have there.

For off-grid, I'd run the numbers on using an auto-start diesel gen to keep the batteries up. Over time, you can scale back generator use as you build up your battery array.

..... just one scenario to consider......

Rgds, D.