Apr 1st, 2023

Author: donich_admin

Solar in March

As the days lengthen, the solar is producing more and more. We are now starting to produce from around 7am (very small amounts) pushing up to either full production of about 12.5KW if it is sunny, to around 8KW if overcast during peak hours of around 11am to 5pm. Production then continues until about 6:30pm though in diminishing amounts.

R has bought some fancy smart plugs to monitor the drain on key sockets but basically at the moment I can run the whole house at prime periods with all four big appliances on (dish washer, washing machine, dryer, oven) and still make more electricity than we use. Come summer we will have the air con on which is a big power draw but the delights of that is that when it is hot in the offices and we need it – it is because the sun is shining outside!

The battery is also working well – if we get two back to back sunny days, it recharges itself completely and then runs the house itself overnight until such time as the sun comes back up.

I am well impressed with this though important to note that we can not be completely off grid with this set up because due to the climate here there are three months where we don’t make bugger all. But yesterday – last day in March – we were 100% energy independent.