Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I crack up how you assume all solar panels come from China.

Oh! Sorry grump...78% made in China, 1% USA.

 

[Grumpycat]

I researched solar for a while, read the manufactures literature on how they claimed the equipment would perform and the expected degradation schedules on the various ones. There really is getting to be less buying options as companies have left the field. Based on the research I've done, micro inverter systems have less fall out due to a single panel degrading vs the single inverter system you have. A single panel on a single inverter system can cause the whole system to way under produce while the micro inverter system can still work near peak efficiency.

The current flowing through electrical devices in series must be the same for each device. So if one panel underperforms all panels in the series (called "string" in PV solar documents) must fall to the the same output.

A PV inverter must optimize current for maximum power conversion. The optimal current varies with solar illumination levels and temperature. Is something most do not expect. A string inverter must search for the optimal of the string as a whole. Can't account for one panel being slightly different due to manufacturing tolerances. Can't account for leaves on one panel reducing output, it has to reduce the output for the entire string as if every panel was equally blocked.

Is a very bad idea to replace one panel in a string, or to add panels of a different model or out of a different manufacturing batch. For the same reason it is a bad idea to replace cells in a battery. The panels are cells in a battery.

Enphase came to fame with microinverters, one per panel. The output is 60 Hz AC. Each panel gets optimized according to it's ability and solar illumination.

String inverters are simpler and less expensive than microinverters but at least one company, SolarEdge, has a solution that is coming to be known as "optimizers". Rather than a complex stand alone inverter at each panel SolarEdge uses a DC-DC inverter that optimizes the panel, then a simpler big inverter is used to feed the AC grid. All the advantages of microinverters at lower cost, but still more than a single string inverter.

 

[Grumpycat]

Years ago I thought about solar. I have lots of South facing buildings, lots of roof area.
Suppose a solar system grand total is $25K.
The average stock market return for the last 20 years was 8.91% (higher if you look at 10 or 30 year average). That's $185.65/ month for that $25,000.
My highest electric bill ever was $145 in 43 years. I don't have any maintenance, we've never lost power more than a few days.
Should I go solar?

If you play the stock market then you need to learn about "diversification", and I don't mean DEI.

Being reliant on a single source of electrical power is not a good idea if you have options.

My new house will have 15-20kW of PV ground mounted panels from day one. And some as of yet unspecified kWh of battery storage. It will be less than 10% of the cost of the home.

 

[Hay Dude]

I crack up how you assume all solar panels come from China.

Well of course they all don’t, but a lot do and we are buying every solar panel that can be made. Afterall, the world is going to end in 9 years, so we better, right????

 

[Hay Dude]

I wonder when folks talk about all the farm land solar is taking over if they've ever sought out the facts about how much farm land is actually used for solar.

Read the whole article. It's fascinating. Here's a tidbit.

The True Land Footprint of Solar Energy

In communities with active solar development, there is often debate about how utility-scale solar might affect existing land uses or natural resources.

betterenergy.org

Table 1. Average percentage of county in cultivated agriculture versus solar by region

As for myself, I didnt say it was taking farmland over. I said it was ugly when it takes farm land over.

 

[OzarkChris]

... The only problem is government will not allow the recovery or processing of such, no matter we can mine and refine those resources every bit as clean as anything else we do. ...

Yes, including fossil fuels!

 

[OzarkChris]

Well of course they all don’t, but a lot do and we are buying every solar panel that can be made. Afterall, the world is going to end in 9 years, so we better, right????

9 years? I thought it was 9 years 15 years ago, and 30, 40 and 50 years ago.

 

[OzarkChris]

If you play the stock market then you need to learn about "diversification", and I don't mean DEI.

Being reliant on a single source of electrical power is not a good idea if you have options.

My new house will have 15-20kW of PV ground mounted panels from day one. And some as of yet unspecified kWh of battery storage. It will be less than 10% of the cost of the home.

Must be building in a big city. As stated earlier, my 16.5KW system was ~$60k after tax rebates - over 30% of my 2400 ft2 house's current value (that was built in 2000). This does NOT include batteries which would have added close to $40K for 8kw worth of storage. Guess it really sucks to live there.

 

[Grumpycat]

Must be building in a big city. As stated earlier, my 16.5KW system was ~$60k after tax rebates - over 30% of my 2400 ft2 house's current value (that was built in 2000). This does NOT include batteries which would have added close to $40K for 8kw worth of storage. Guess it really sucks to live there.

Nope. Rural. No building codes, only a state septic permit requirement.

As such I also don't have to pay 50% to a PV specialist to "design" my system.

 

[two_bit_score]

Just to be pedantic, No, Ford did not receive a federal bail out. GM and Chrysler (Daimler) did.

Depends on how you look at it I guess.

https://www.cars.com/articles/report-ford-took-federal-funds-too-1420663183195/