#pv

euroweld@pod.geraspora.de

Lebanon - 10 Years later

Show, dont tell

Some of my dear readers will surely remember that I moved to Lebanon 11 years ago and spent a full two years there. At a time when the world was still "halfway" in order. With almost €80,000 in my luggage and 2 suitcases (one of which contained my computer), I moved to a place where nobody wanted to go.

Right from the start, I was shocked at how everyone there took the constant power cuts for granted. As if it was the most normal thing in the world for the power to go out. Stupid!

So I did what you do when you're used to 24-hour uninterrupted electricity: I immediately bought a photovoltaic system with storage! Off to Zahlé and bought the iKube F150. Cash! $9,990! Two days later it was delivered. This was the FIRST PV system in the village where I lived! EVERYONE told me I was completely crazy to spend so much money on electricity because diesel and gasoline for generators was so cheap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-PQtHy0i_E

I didn't care at all. I lived in the first house within a radius of several kilometers that had electricity 24 hours a day without interruption. But I had to make some alterations to the house: All the lights that were there were 200WATT!!! In general, EVERYTHING there was designed to waste energy. Fridge, TV, lighting... everything.

So off we went to Beirut to a large DIY store and did some major shopping: I bought 4 and 7 watt LED lamps, an A+++ fridge from Germany, a flat screen and a few other small items. All so that the battery doesn't run out at night. And lo and behold: the battery (3kW) lasted the whole night until sunrise. Then it charged again. Day in, day out.
As time went on, a few people from the village came to see the "German" and take a look at the system. They all still thought I was completely crazy.

But now, in 2024, everything suddenly looks COMPLETELY different!

The crazy German was right after all!

This is what the village looks like today, now that you can only get 2 hours of public electricity, gasoline and diesel have become expensive and rare and the whole country is on the ground.

Every star is a house with a PV system installed on the roof or in the garden
Bildbeschreibung hier eingeben

After I returned to Germany, I gave away my photovoltaic system to the family I was living with. However, they have since sold the system to their neighbor. You can see it on Google Maps.

What I want to say: Photovoltaics is NOT crazy! It works! It provides free electricity! It is quiet, clean and cheap.

#Lebanon #Solar #PV #Photovoltaik #Photovoltaic

kennychaffin@diasp.org

My Solar Power Exploits

I've been to User Mode and seen the Promised Land. :) It just seems the Closed Loop management of the Inverter and Batteries were 'fighting' each other. Don't know any other way to explain it. Have gone to Open Loop User Mode on the Inverter and allowing the Batteries BMS to manage themselves. I've given the a couple of good full charges and the functioning/operation of the batteries seems much better. My current readings from Solar Assistant:

#solar #power #solarpower #energy #batteries #inverter #PV

kennychaffin@diasp.org

My Solar Exploits

Well.... I'm kinda very disappointed and discouraged at this point.

I had another Under Voltage Error that shutdown/switched the system to Grid. This is the second one of those.
Checking the 5 batteries directly on their displays I find numerous Under Voltage and Over Voltage errors many of which must have been momentarily and not enough or brief enough to not shut down the entire system.

But my take-away from this is that "The System is only as Strong as it's Weakest Link" which is in this/all? cases a single Lithium-ion cell!
One cell not performing properly can shut down the whole system. We Need Much More Robust Error Management!

The system/battery should have the ability to bypass a single bad cell or lock out the battery from the system without completely stopping/switching/blocking system operation.

Beyond that the support and assistance from SunGold Power has been abominable. This is mostly due to language barrier and their lack of serious customer support (even worse than American Companies!! which is saying something!!) they will do just about anything to avoid replacing or warranting their products unless you threaten to Charge-Back via your credit card company. (not my direct experience but an acquaintance in the Solar Community with this same Inverter as mine). And they've stonewalled/ignored me since last week on the battery issues I'm having - #2 Undervoltage Error and #5 not charging/discharging in the same manner as the other four batteries.

Bottom line is Cannot recomment Sungold products by an stretch, but beyond that I'm feeling that this whole industry of DIY Solar (possibly barring the extreme highend systems) is just NOT READY FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION.

No where near plug and play. So far I've had to almost constantly babysit this system to keep it running. Very Disappointed.

There is good news though....I just got my latest Xcel Power Bill and I actually saved approximately 50% on my electric bill compared to last year's same bill. The average temp was slightly higher so that resulted in a lower Natural Gas bill but that is not factored into the 50% savings which is electric only.

Given this that "only a 16 year payback" term! LOL! Sheesh is this even worth it? Dunno.. Having fun but ...taking too much of my time, and I'm expecting knock on my door any minute from the City Code Enforcement people saying I have to stop. :)

We'll see. Onward and Upward. Two additional solar panels due to arrive at the end of the month ... that will complete my collection I believe. :)

Enjoy!
Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

#solar #power #solarpower #pv #offgrid #mysolarexploits

kennychaffin@diasp.org

My Solar Exploits

Been having an issue or some confusion wrt one of my five batteries. It's not acting like the others and either hogs or supplies extra power to the system and as a result ends up with a significantly lower SOC - State Of Charge. Maybe it just needs a few full cycles but I'm a bit unsettled by it and the vendor (Sungold) I'm working with is a bit difficult both in communication and in support/returns/etc. I think Amazon has spoiled everyone though they too are getting a bit tougher...have refused to cancel a couple of my high-end orders of solar panels so I'm a bit upset with them as well. (even though the panels worked out and I have two more arriving at the end of the year). Should be getting my Xcel power bill in the next day or so. Should prove interesting even if I had two unscheduled/wanted solar issues that caused the system to switch to the grid (not even noticeable when this happens :) :) :) ) for some 10-20 Kw of grid power but I also got two near full charges of the batteries when this happened. (but also revealed the problem mentioned).

I wired in my breaker/cutoff for the batteries so now I can quickly disconnect them if needed and have breaker protection for the entire string and the inverter in addition to the individual breakers on each battery.

also, my six solar panels in the snow from last night.

#solar #power #solarpower #pv #offgrid

opensciencedaily@diasp.org

India set for 16 GW of solar this fiscal year amid falling module prices


Falling PV module prices are set to enhance investment returns for the 45 GW of solar projects that have been awarded since fiscal 2021, with expectations for 16 GW of new capacity in the current fiscal year, says CRISIL Ratings.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/11/22/india-set-for-16-gw-of-solar-this-fiscal-year-amid-falling-module-prices/
#industrial, #pv, #markets, #scale, #commercial, #utility, #residential


ditje@diasp.org

#ditje_climate #pv #Photovoltaik
Die Sonne ist weg und es kommt nix mehr rein. Heute hat die Anlage genau ein Jahr produziert.

PV

Ertrag: 3600,67 kWh
Eingespeist: 1312,93 kWh

Wir haben ca. 40% mehr verbraucht, weil wir teilweise elektrisch heizen und einiges auch ins Auto geladen haben.
@Paula Gentle on Friendica