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Off grid solar is really amazing. I lived on a boat for a year with a homebrew solar set up and have another one on the land I bought last year. Nuclear makes

Off grid solar is really amazing. I lived on a boat for a year with a homebrew solar set up and have another one on the land I bought last year. Nuclear makes sense for grid power, solar makes sense for distributed/point power.

rhdunn 1y ago
In Wales I've seen things like speed warning signs have a combined small solar panel and wind turbine -- I'm assuming they also have a small battery as well. This makes sense as it is expensive running power to remote areas, whereas these are self-contained.
IshKebab 1y ago
What about the winter? I have solar on my house in the UK and it generates enough power to be off-grid from about March to October, but November - February it would be impossible. There are way too many cloudy days. There was a whole week in February where it didn't generate more than 2 kWh on any day. At more equatorial latitudes you could definitely rely on it more. And it's not really an issue for grid solar yet because we're far from the point where there's more solar power than we need, even in the middle of summer. But eventually winter will be an issue.
- msgodel 1y ago
  Yeah up north like that winter is hard and I'd imagine it wouldn't work well. It's a little funny to hear places like Canada and the UK talking about solar. Even here (I'm at the same latitude as Syria) you have to avoid some things in the winter to keep everything on line. Having to ration power like that is part of the reason I don't think grid solar makes sense anywhere. To get the behavior you need You'd have expose consumers to the fluctuating prices and most people find that extremely unpleasant (many probably more than just maintaining their own array and infrastructure.)
- KaiserPro 1y ago
  > What about the winter? London here, energy independent march-october, with peak grid dependecy in january of about 50ish percent. If I doubled the array from 5 to 10 kwhr, I _probably_ could remain independent most of the year.
  - IshKebab 1y ago
    I have 6.5 kW peak. Even at 10 kW sometimes you'll only generate 2 kWh per day, so unless you have extremely low needs (in which case why do you have 10 kW of solar panels?) you can't.
    - KaiserPro 1y ago
      > Even at 10 kW sometimes you'll only generate 2 kWh per day Of course! but I'm not after total independence, just extending the usable time I _am_ independent.
- bergie 1y ago
  On a boat one option is to follow the sun. We make 100% of our electrical consumption from solar, though we are considering to add a small wind turbine to the mix.
  - IshKebab 1y ago
    No that doesn't help. The problem with winter isn't really that there isn't enough sun, it's that there are too many cloudy days. For example in January there were like 10 sunny days when I generated about 20 kWh (plenty) but also 12 cloudy days when I generated under 2 kWh (not remotely enough). If it was sunny all winter I could easily go off-grid.
    - bergie 1y ago
      Like said, follow the sun. For example, summer in Europe and winter in the Caribbean. Or just Cape Verde.
  - msgodel 1y ago
    Unfortunately I can't think of a place to put the turbine that wouldn't make the boat unusable for sailing. It's no big deal now that I only use it for recreation again so even if I'm way over budget I won't notice except on long trips. I have bought one for land and am planning on setting up a separate system with it.
    - bergie 1y ago
      Lots of people have small 300-500W wind turbines mounted on a pole in the aft of the boat. Ketches often have them on the mizzen mast, Neither of those is a good alternative on ours, so we are looking for a rigging-suspended option like the old Ampair and Windbugger setups.
    - pabs3 1y ago
      Would putting it at the top of the mast make sense? More wind up there too.

rhdunn 1y ago

In Wales I've seen things like speed warning signs have a combined small solar panel and wind turbine -- I'm assuming they also have a small battery as well. This makes sense as it is expensive running power to remote areas, whereas these are self-contained.

IshKebab 1y ago

What about the winter? I have solar on my house in the UK and it generates enough power to be off-grid from about March to October, but November - February it would be impossible. There are way too many cloudy days. There was a whole week in February where it didn't generate more than 2 kWh on any day. At more equatorial latitudes you could definitely rely on it more. And it's not really an issue for grid solar yet because we're far from the point where there's more solar power than we need, even in the middle of summer. But eventually winter will be an issue.

msgodel 1y ago
Yeah up north like that winter is hard and I'd imagine it wouldn't work well. It's a little funny to hear places like Canada and the UK talking about solar. Even here (I'm at the same latitude as Syria) you have to avoid some things in the winter to keep everything on line. Having to ration power like that is part of the reason I don't think grid solar makes sense anywhere. To get the behavior you need You'd have expose consumers to the fluctuating prices and most people find that extremely unpleasant (many probably more than just maintaining their own array and infrastructure.)
KaiserPro 1y ago
> What about the winter? London here, energy independent march-october, with peak grid dependecy in january of about 50ish percent. If I doubled the array from 5 to 10 kwhr, I _probably_ could remain independent most of the year.
- IshKebab 1y ago
  I have 6.5 kW peak. Even at 10 kW sometimes you'll only generate 2 kWh per day, so unless you have extremely low needs (in which case why do you have 10 kW of solar panels?) you can't.
  - KaiserPro 1y ago
    > Even at 10 kW sometimes you'll only generate 2 kWh per day Of course! but I'm not after total independence, just extending the usable time I _am_ independent.
bergie 1y ago
On a boat one option is to follow the sun. We make 100% of our electrical consumption from solar, though we are considering to add a small wind turbine to the mix.
- IshKebab 1y ago
  No that doesn't help. The problem with winter isn't really that there isn't enough sun, it's that there are too many cloudy days. For example in January there were like 10 sunny days when I generated about 20 kWh (plenty) but also 12 cloudy days when I generated under 2 kWh (not remotely enough). If it was sunny all winter I could easily go off-grid.
  - bergie 1y ago
    Like said, follow the sun. For example, summer in Europe and winter in the Caribbean. Or just Cape Verde.
- msgodel 1y ago
  Unfortunately I can't think of a place to put the turbine that wouldn't make the boat unusable for sailing. It's no big deal now that I only use it for recreation again so even if I'm way over budget I won't notice except on long trips. I have bought one for land and am planning on setting up a separate system with it.
  - bergie 1y ago
    Lots of people have small 300-500W wind turbines mounted on a pole in the aft of the boat. Ketches often have them on the mizzen mast, Neither of those is a good alternative on ours, so we are looking for a rigging-suspended option like the old Ampair and Windbugger setups.
  - pabs3 1y ago
    Would putting it at the top of the mast make sense? More wind up there too.