Posted October 22, 20159 yr After looking at my pharmacies growing electicity bill and cost of diesel for our standby generator I knew I had to do something. A good friend of mine had recently opened a game lodge and gone full solar and assured me that solar had come of age and was cost effective in the medium term. I first changed 120 x 4ft fluorescent tubes to 16w led tubes as well as changing 20 x 50w down lights to 6w led. I put a time clock on my external signs as well as a light switch and ran them from 6pm to 10pm only. As my business only operates from 8am to 5pm a battery free grid-tie system was the obvious choice. I decided to install a larger inverter than needed initially so that I have capacity for expansion. Phase one installation was as follows:- 1 x Socomec Sunsys B20 three phase 21kva grid-tie inverter 45 x 250 watt panel array
October 22, 20159 yr Stunning to hear another person have found that solar is the way forward. COngrats on going the solar route and with your investment.....it is only going to give you a greater return year on year.
November 3, 20159 yr Well done GdeBeer. As per Mike, it is music to my ears also. And with you first started with reducing ... awesomeness.
November 3, 20159 yr Awesome. great return on investment. I would just suggest that you drill a small hole on each side of the panels and run a wire through them and connect them to your alarm system. Worst thing that can happen with an installation like that is midnight shopping.
November 3, 20159 yr Yes, protect the panels but more importantly, check that they are insured for theft and / or damage like storm, hail etc. Not all insurance policies may cover it under the building's insurance. And the there could be a question of legality of the installation, when it comes to paying out a claim. Ps. No, I am not a broker but I do know these installations are expensive and not the norm on policies as i.e. bursting geysers. They may attract a additional premium / excess.
November 3, 20159 yr Author Yes. I'm well insured and have placed a beam system on the roof that covers them properly. Our armed response is aware of them as well. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
June 19, 20168 yr On 2015/10/22 at 11:38 AM, Gerald_db said: Phase one installation was as follows:- 1 x Socomec Sunsys B20 three phase 21kva grid-tie inverter 45 x 250 watt panel array Have you managed to calculate the cost savings on this install. Been almost a year now and you should be really enjoying it... I see you are top of the list for efficiency most days in the PVO Southern Africa group!!
June 19, 20168 yr Author Hi Mark. Total generation from 1st August 2015 until 31st May 2016 (10 months) = 14.515mWh. Our cost for commercial 3 phase power in this town is currently R1.55/kWh. Total savings thus far till 31 May = R22498 for 10 months ie R2250 monthly. The latest eskom increase will take that to around R1.77/kWh in the next few months. What I have found since monitoring with an Efergy is that the inverter has an on-grid power consumption of 850W and a off-grid consumption of 140W. It is a 21 kVa unit that is only running at 55% of its capacity hence a fairly high percentage of self-consumption (I guess also as it is 3 phase). I am in the process of adding another 15 x 255 panels to bring it up to 60 x 255 watt. A cheap option as I spent the bucks for the big inverter initially. The conversion of my business to 100% led tubes was the best money I spent however saving 1200kWh (R1800.00) monthly for a spend of only around R35k inc vat. Hope that helps.
June 19, 20168 yr It does... in a few years when the payback happens you will be smiling... Do you cover your usage during the day?
June 19, 20168 yr Author Daytime winter useage covered but nights not. Summer with aircons only 33%. However both the nearly cold led tubes and the shading of the array on the roof has halved there amount of aircon I need. Normally in summer would need 4 or 5 x 60000btu splits running. Now never more than 3 and we have had a scary summer. These winter days are using none just extractors hence big unexpected savings there. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
June 25, 20168 yr Author Flying today. Clear sky and crisp cold air helping as well. http://pvoutput.org/intraday.jsp?id=49819&sid=45346 Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
September 29, 20168 yr Hi Gerald Very interested in your setup - so by grid-tie you mean feeding back into grid or not? We are thinking of doing this on my Dad's farm and if one can feed back into grid it makes a lot of sense otherwise not really at all.. I only have experience with off grid setups really...
October 1, 20168 yr Author Yes. I'm rural and not a direct Eskom connection and do backfeed a bit on the weekends when the shop is closed.Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
October 5, 20168 yr Author Clear skies and cold air yesterday had my system peaking at nearly 18kW from the 16.3kW of PV. The output on the right in the image is per phase on a 3 phase system.Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
May 18, 20177 yr Author Records can be good and bad. Sunday last, 14th May, Eshowe experienced huge storms including 141mm of rain. And a first for my business system, the 60 panels created zero generation. First time in nearly 2 years. Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
June 21, 20177 yr I think that this is still awesome........and to have 1 day of no generation in 2 years, is freaking great in my books.
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