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What is the best use for excess solar power? Or how to turn the excess into cash


DeepBass9

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Mine works of a permaculture type of system though, with animals in the loop so the soil is well fertilised (took years to get it that way mind you). Here are my bokkies eating off the remains of the autumn crop. I feed them lucerne and grass bales on that same patch over winter, and then plant the seedlings into the fertilised mulch (they spit out the stalks they don't like). You see that pic above of the lettuces is similar. Thick straw mulch = no weeding or digging.

bokkies.jpg

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2 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

I don't agree with you disagreeing. :D

DB is right. Just last weekend we chatted to a small business that sells parts and all for growing stuff with no soil. She said same as what DB said.

We ran an experiment for 2 years. My soil based plants did't grow as well or as quick as the hydroponics and aquaponics did. My plants picked up a sickness and I had to replace the soil. And the aquaponics setup could control the temperature much better since the tanks have heaters in. So I lost some plants in winter by my brother-in-law didn't

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Just now, cvzyl said:

But in data centre terms 20mb is nothing. Reasonable sized sites should pull that link down (web server) and data centres for storage of files will be even worse.

Unfortunately connectivity in SA is real shit, that is why data and web servers are normally located in the US, Europe, Eastern Europe. Cheap and fast connections.

20Mb is still a lot, on a backhaul ;)

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Just now, DeepBass9 said:

Mine works of a permaculture type of system though, with animals in the loop so the soil is well fertilised (took years to get it that way mind you). Here are my bokkies eating off the remains of the autumn crop. I feed them lucerne and grass bales on that same patch over winter, and then plant the seedlings into the fertilised mulch (they spit out the stalks they don't like). You see that pic above of the lettuces is similar. Thick straw mulch = no weeding or digging.

bokkies.jpg

I don't have that :(

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Just now, The Terrible Triplett said:

I know. :) 

Question was asked to put it in perspective.

Ok, so I ran a project for a friend, who had to build a small (11sqm) DC as part of their security project. Project budget was 2bar. 1.2 of that was for security infrastructure. Our part of the DC, without the network feed, servers and walls+ceilings was R 167,456.82 in December. Another contractor build the fireproof room so I'm not sure what the 4-layer fireproof walls and ceiling cost. We did the raised floor, aircon, racks, fire suppression and electrical + network points inside the server room. The client already had servers, some of them cost about R20k, some of the NAS's probably R200K. I know the CCTV DVR was R140K. They have a 100GB fibre link, and I have no idea what it cost. 

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2 minutes ago, DeepBass9 said:

If you can get a free source of anything organic, even your lawn clippings, newspaper, sawdust you can use that method : https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/no-dig-gardening/

 

There's even a thing called humanure if you have a strong stomach.... :o

I did that in my greenhouse, but I had about 400 sand bags with plants in, so I couldn't keep up with natural compost methods, and had to supplement with hydroponic food. And this is where the full-on hydropinics and aquaponics won hands down. the whole system was a "closed loop system" so the plants got more food constantly, instead of mine which ran on timers every few hours of the day. And I used a BOAT load of water. No well or borehole. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
5 minutes ago, DeepBass9 said:

No idea. I would be pumping water flat out if I could, but my borehole is very low with the drought. Basically my batteries float from just after 1-2pm.

I don't have a borehole, but would have done that as well. Interestingly, on the farm, the borehole pump runs on 16x 200W panels and it used to pump 20Kl within 3-4 hours. Now it runs 3 days to fill the same tank!

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6 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said:

........, the borehole pump runs on 16x 200W panels and it used to pump 20Kl within 3-4 hours. Now it runs 3 days to fill the same tank!

Careful of running a pump so that it beats the water. Depending on its construction it can snap a shaft as it operates alternately between  load and then no load.

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1 hour ago, Sidewinder said:

The splines of my 3ph 1hp motor went after around 4 years. Is this normal? Was using the pump 2 - 3 times a week.

I would expect it to last longer than that. With submersibles that are installed at a shallow depth (<30m) It is a good idea to throttle them back by about 10% so that there is a bit of back pressure. Over 30m the water column does the job.

I have modified a motor's  worn spline into a hexagon and then machined the ferule to fit and added a grub screw. It not something I would normally do but both the pump and motor were well used. 

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  • 1 year later...
On 2016/09/28 at 3:05 PM, DeepBass9 said:

Done and done. I have Tilapia in a pond in my greenhouse. Hang on, I'll take a pic.... 

I use the tunnel to make seedlings which are then planted out, either under shade net or in the field depending on the plant. I have lots of lettuces currently. The fish dam is there for thermal mass to stop the plants frosting in winter and to keep the fish warm. We harvest the fish from time to time, usually at the end of summer when they are nice and big. That little one in the pic is the dumbest fish in the damn as he was the only one caught. Still small, about 250-300g. We kept some big ones from last season so I hope to have some 1kg+ fish by autumn.

tun.jpg

vis.jpg

 

let.jpg

With the new laws in place. I looked twice at this picture. :)))

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