Installed 555Wp of PV today

[JeroenH]

Living in an urban enverinment in a rental apartment, wind is no option whatsoever, I'm afraid. Still wanting to produce at least a part of my own energy, I had to look for something unobtrusive, silent etc.: Solar.

So, I saved money (took a while), found the best deal, fretted over it for some time, and then just did it.

After the back-breaking work of hauling 300+ kg of material to the roof the installation was a breeze.

A few pictures:

Installing the first panel (Sharp 185Wp)

The smiling guy: that's me

Alle three panels installed

No subsidies, incentives, etc. All paid for from my own pocket. Paybacktime (in money terms) is uncertain, that depends on how the energy prices develop. Could be anything from 10 years to never. Paybacktime (in energy-indepence terms): priceless.

Over the years we've worked hard to reduce our electrical consumption. Energy efficient fridge, CF lights, laptop computer, etc. That way this PV-set should produce about half of our yearly electricity needs.

Maybe it's not in the spirit of fieldlines, as I did not develop or invent anything, but assembling the set and then watching the kWh-meter sure felt good.

Not all is lost, I am ordering the minigen from windstuffnow, maybe I can so something small with that.

[JeroenH]

Forgot to mention: the PV-set is grid intertied, no batteries. The grid hardly ever goes down where I live (last time must be several years ago) so I felt batteries would make the whole operation much more expensive with no better result.

Inverter is a Soladin 600:

http://www.mastervolt.com/product.asp?ID=772&rd=VNDem

Also, I did buy a data cable for the inverter so I can monitor its performance.

[willib]

looks like great fun , good luck with that

not to change the subject but what happened with those 20mm x 10mm magnets ?

did they ever become  a generator?

interesting site

keep us updated on the output of the solar array.

what is the rating of the array?

[JeroenH]

not to change the subject but what happened with those 20mm x 10mm magnets ?

did they ever become  a generator?

That is going ahead slowly. I'm having trouble cutting the steel, my jig saw keeps breaking blades. I've switched to the good old Dremel with cutting blades and that seems to work better, although it eats time and blades.

With the solar project finished I intend to pick this up again. Expect some questions on the board ;-)

[dinges]

Hi Jeroen,

Glad to see the panels are coming along. Soon you'll have the satisfaction of being able to produce your own power (partly). And yes, I have the same problem as you. When the windgenerator is finished, I can put it in the livingroom and admire it. Because there's no way I'll get permission to put something up here. Great.

As far as cutting the steel goes, I still recommend a local laser cutting company. Make some smalltalk with them, explain what you are doing, that it's a hobby project and that there's no rush, and they'll probably cut it for you for very little money. But we've had that discussion before

Am at the moment working on a motorconversion. I'm beginning to favour them more than the standard axial flux genny. Much less machining required, and motors generally are built very robustly. All that's needed is building a new rotor with permanent magnets. And perhaps a rewinding. But still, much less working than a build-it-from-scratch axial flux genny. Just my opinion. Check out my diary for a description if you're interested.

But better start working on that axial flux genny too, or Willib will bug you till you do

Peter.

(ah, now I see why you've installed those PV panels during the soccer worldchampionship. A huge fan like you, if there would be a powerfailure you'd be without TV. PVs are excellent backup to make sure you can finish watching the rest of the game).

[JeroenH]

keep us updated on the output of the solar array.

Certainly! Of course, yesterday was a beautiful day. We installed the array in the evening. Just woke up.... it's raining. Must be the same effect that provides several windfree days after raising a new windturbine. Oh well. Still a few months of summer left.

what is the rating of the array?

555Wp (three 185Wp-panels).

[JeroenH]

A huge fan like you,

Was it the orange shoelaces that gave me away? ;-) (for the uninitiated: the national color of the Dutch (soccer team) is orange)

PVs are excellent backup to make sure you can finish watching the rest of the game

I don't have batteries and also no island-inverter, so watching TV would be difficult during a power failure. But that's OK, my small 20Wp system is still in operation, during the summer months that system does an admirable job of powering my laptop, a 12V DC CF light and a radio. So I could still listen to the game on the radio.

[Titantornado]

Looks like a good setup, though, judging by the shadows being cast in the second picture, I hope they are pointed in the right direction.

Looks to be an evening installation, and the panels appear to be facing South-East, yes?  

[JeroenH]

The panels our pointing due south. It was quite late in the evening and the sun was very close to setting, that's why the shadows are looking 'wrong'.

It's a flat roof, so I had complete freedom in locating the panels.

[JeroenH]

The first week with the panels on the roof has past:

Used 11kWh this week, produced 8kWh with the panels. That's over 80%! And they did that while the weather wasn't really sunny. Can't wait until the the summer really arrives, then we should see some serious kWh's!

[JeroenH]

I have made a simple website on which I post any news and statistics regarding my solar electric system:

http://www.jharingman.demon.nl

The website is Dutch/English language. If you would like to comment on the site (or point out spelling errors or something, English is not my native language) you can post it here, of send an e-mail to the address listed on the site under contact.