I was looking today on AliExpress and found the Sodium Ion batteries are starting to appear. 18650s and other cylinder batteries as well as pouches. They are cheap, this would give 220AH and 49.7V nominal or 10.5KWh batteries for £1400. A LiPho of similar capacity would be 2.5x that.

The have some details of the voltage curve which looks quite extreme along with what sounds like great >1C charge and discharge and 1C sustained and 6000 cycles. These are looking really good for home solar systems.

My first solar project to get the hang of solar before I go larger scale.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/86015

> While gas made up almost exactly 40 percent of U.S. electricity generation in 2022, the share of renewables just surpassed 20 percent, comparable to coal and nuclear - showing that there is a long way to go still for renewable energy.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/39403

> Of the 47 Amazon sites in North America with any sort of solar installation, at least six saw “critical fire or arc flash events” in that timeframe. This means that the electrical fires or explosions occurred at 12.7 percent of the facilities. > > “The rate of dangerous incidents is unacceptable, and above industry averages,” an employee wrote in one of the internal reports according to CNBC.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/32299

> - Solar panels work optimally at around 25oC. > - This summer brought record-breaking heat, with temperatures reaching as high as 40oC in the UK. > - Solar panels become less efficient as temperatures rise.

What are all these solar panels doing in landfills already - they are supposed to last 25 years

“Lifting tariffs on roughly $335 billion in Chinese goods is not an America First strategy,” Rogers told The Epoch Times.

“In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It will harm American workers and provide little to no benefit in the effort to fight runaway inflation.”

“Supporting Chinese solar panel supply and production will only make America’s failing energy policy even worse,” he added.

One more reason to put solar panels on your roof

Biden’s action “only benefits” the Chinese solar industry.

“Today’s proclamation directly undermines American solar manufacturing by giving unfettered access to China’s state-subsidized solar companies for the next two years,”

“This sends the message that companies can circumvent American laws and that the U.S. government will let them get away with it as long as they’re backed by deep-pocketed political pressure campaigns.”

“By taking this unprecedented – and potentially illegal – action, (Biden) has opened the door wide for Chinese-funded special interests to defeat the fair application of U.S. trade law.”

Domestic producers, including a California company that filed a complaint with Commerce about unfair competition from Chinese imports, said Biden's actions would help China’s state-subsidized solar companies at the expense of U.S. manufacturers.

Voters will be very upset if this results in domestic solar panel manufacturers being driven out of business and unable to honor their 25 year warranties.

Neither can we.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/14163

> I think we have all just about heard enough about: > - the green new deal > - getting rid of fossil fuels > - soaring gas prices > - natural gas shortages. > > Time to have a good look at yourself. Are you: > - All talk, no action > - A constant complainer, or > - Action orientated > > To be honest, I personally tend to transition through all three stages: > - Initially I talk about a problem, but really do nothing about it. > - Then when the problem does not go away, I start to complain as to why somebody does not fix the problem, > - Then when the problem still does not go away, I finally get motivated to see what I can do about it. > > And I gotta say, I am a bit of a cheapskate: > - I drive small cars because I prefer them to large cars, but mainly because the are cheaper to drive - no matter how cheap the price of gasoline is. > - I drive a hybrid mainly because I got a really good deal on it when gasoline prices were cheap and nobody wanted to buy them. It cost me about the same as a normal car. > > Living in a sunny climate - I figured I should take a serious look at putting solar panels on the roof. After all, most electricity is generated by natural gas and coal - so if I could swap some of that out for solar - then in an ever so small way ( a mere drop in the ocean): > - it would help reduce the demand for natural gas > - less demand means lower prices > - lower prices make it more affordable for people that do not have the easy option of Solar energy > - less demand frees up natural gas for areas experiencing genuine shortages. > > I had looked at them in the past but did not move forward because: > - I was worried they would stop working in a few years - long before they had paid for themselves, and > - the economics did not seem to stack up. It always looked like it would cost me more then normal electricity (remember I tend to be a cheapskate) > > Times have changed - Solar Panels are now a viable choice. > > Affordable > First lets deal with the money side. Many solar systems offer a 25 year parts, labor, and performance warranty. With interest rates still low, if you finance it over 25 years - the payments work out less then I currently pay utility company. The cheapskate in me is happy. > > Warranty > I would not consider financing the panels over 25 years unless I felt confident they would last that long - or be covered by warranty if not. Here is what made me feel comfortable: > - manufacturer's warranty covering parts, labor, & performance for 25 years > - Installer offering a warranty for 40 years covering anything the manufacturer does not cover. Belt and suspenders - I love it > - Lots of people have been using solar panels for many years now and they seem to have worked on a lot of the kinks - I won't be on the bleeding edge. > - I know I am taking the risk the manufacturer won't be around in 25 years to honor the warranty - especially if they have a lot of warranty claims. Same goes for the installer's 40 year warranty - 40 years is a long time. But in the end I decided to take the risk. > > Nasty Surprise > I was surprised that most solar systems connected to the utility companies power grid (so you can draw power at night or on cloudy days as needed) do not work if the power grid goes out. I would really not be very happy if I had solar panels sitting on my roof capable of producing electricity - but I had no power because the utility companies grid was down. That would not make me anymore independent then I am now. I had to do some hunting around and eventually found a solution called a Sunlight Backup. > > The Sunlight Backup will only work when the sun is up and only provide as much energy as currently being generated - less if it is cloudy etc. But hey, if you have your fridge, microwave and a place to charge your phone - you are in a much better position then a total blackout. > > I was told it will not power an air conditioner because the start up power requirements are too high. But I still have some homework to do because I found a Soft Starter that claims to solve that start up energy problem. I will update this note when I find out one way or the other. > > String versus Mirco-inverters > I am told you want micro-inverters so you can easily add panels in the future if you need to. And if one panel goes out, the others keep working. Apparently with String - one panel down knocks out the whole system > > I am told it all should be up and running in 60-90 days. If all goes well I will be a little bit more energy independent and no worse off compared to if I kept paying the utility company.

I suspect there is an ulterior motive here. I just ordered solar panels (USA made) panels for my roof. No shortages, no delays. But I have noticed there has been a push in the business media to remove the 25% import tariff from China. This would drive USA manufacturers out of business and make all our warranties worthless.

Plus once China has driven the local manufacturers out of business, they would just jack up their prices like they have done with so many other things.

Remember all the deals Hunter Biden did with China. Not to mention the 10% for the "Big Guy"

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By the end of 2020, an average of more than 31% of free-standing households in Australia had panels on their roof.

Both Queensland and South Australia average close to 40% of free-standing homes powered by solar and the report notes that a significant number of localities in those states have densities of rooftop solar over 50%.

Although the amount of power generated at this stage is very small – around 100,000 times less than that supplied by a solar panel – the researchers believe the result can be improved in the future.

Solar is already the cheapest form of new electricity generation in 16 US states, plus Spain, Italy and India.

“Today, subsidy-free solar power has become cheaper than coal power in most parts of China, and this cost-competitive advantage will soon expand to the whole country due to technology advances and cost declines,” said Xi Lu, Associate Professor, School of Environment, Tsinghua University and co-corresponding author of the paper. “Our results demonstrate that the economic competitiveness of solar power combined with investments in storage systems could provide extra benefits for grid dispatch, which will be especially important for operation of future electric systems in China.”

Despite the green image, putting solar facilities on undeveloped land is often not much better than putting subdivisions there. Developers tend to bulldoze sites, “removing all of the above-ground vegetation,” says Rebecca Hernandez, an ecologist at the University of California at Davis.

The appeal of parking lots and rooftops, by contrast, is that they are abundant, close to customers, largely untapped for solar power generation, and on land that’s already been stripped of much of its biological value.

A typical Walmart supercenter, for instance, has a five-acre parking lot, and it’s a wasteland, especially if you have to sweat your way across it under an asphalt-bubbling sun. Put a canopy over it, though, and it could support a three-megawatt solar array, according to a recent study co-authored by Joshua Pearce of Western University in Ontario. In addition to providing power to the store, the neighboring community, or the cars sheltered underneath, says Pearce, the canopy would shade customers — and keep them shopping longer, as their car batteries top up. If Walmart did that at all 3,571 of its U.S. super centers, the total capacity would be 11.1 gigawatts of solar power — roughly equivalent to a dozen large coal-fired power plants. Taking account of the part-time nature of solar power, Pearce figures that would be enough to permanently shut down four of those power plants.

One reason such facilities are still scarce is that building solar on developed land can cost anywhere from two to five times as much as on open space. For a parking lot canopy, says Pearce, “you’re looking at more substantial structural steel with a fairly substantial concrete base.” It’s like putting up a building minus the walls. For a public company fixated on quarterly results, the payback time of 10 or 12 years can also seem discouragingly long. But that’s the wrong way to look at it, says Pearce. “If I can give you a greater-than-four-percent return on a guaranteed infrastructure investment that will last for 25 years minimum,” that’s a smart investment.

Solar panel blinds are a supplement to transparent solar glass/panels when using the window to generate electricity. Solar power panels are designed to harvest sunlight to produce energy, while the essential function of window blinds is to block direct sun’s rays from entering inside.

Solar panel blinds are cleverly combining these two divergent functions. An innovative startup called SolarGaps has introduced solar panel blinds, which it claims can cut down energy costs by up to 70 percent. For every 10 sq. ft. of window space, these solar window blinds can generate 100 watts of power (you could roughly power three laptops with this much electricity).

These solar blinds can be installed either inside or outside, and you can control their angle and positioning using an app that will also inform you of the energy generation figures. It includes a setting to automatically optimize the angle of the blinds according to the position of the sun.

For you "Do it Yourself" folk.

DIY rules right.

This is a really bad idea. Stick the solar panels on your roof instead

The EU is betting big on its “solar rooftop initiative.” According to some estimates, rooftop PV could provide almost 25% of the EU’s electricity consumption — more than the share of natural gas today. These installations can be deployed rapidly while also shielding consumers from high energy prices, the EU argued. In fact, this shift could make energy cheaper compared to today’s levels.

What they found was that the "green roof" improved performance by as much as 20 per cent at peak times and by 3.6 per cent over the length of the experiment.

learned to be more efficient, reducing the overall cost of power

Sunlight Backup In this use case, the Enphase Energy System provides backup using IQ8 series microinverters when the sun is shining. The system does not include any IQ Batteries. The system can support PV branch circuits rated for up to 64A continuous current output.

An Enphase Sunlight Backup system provides backup when the sun is shining. The system provides backup for up to 4x 240V or 8x 120V circuits. The system consists of IQ8 Series Microinverters, IQ System Controller 2, IQ Combiner 4C, 2x IQ Load Controller and other accessories as needed.

This might bring the start up Amps of the HVAC down so it can be run by the Sunlight Backup. More investigation to do

He said his sheep were slightly lighter stocked than the average in the district but were cutting an "amazing" amount of wool.

"It is actually quite astonishing. Some of the sheep look fantastic. They're growing exponentially and the wool cuts are in the top 5 per cent in the district."

There is one commonly installed solar inverter, the SMA Sunny Boy US line, that allows you to pull power from your solar panels during the day in the event of the blackout. These inverters have a built-in outlet that supplies a limited amount of power directly from your solar panels while they’re producing during daylight hours, after you physically flip the inverter’s Secure Power Supply (SPS) switch. This won’t be able to keep all of your appliances running but might be enough to keep a few critical loads active during a daytime blackout, or potentially to allow you to charge your devices during extended outages.

Relying on solar-plus-storage as a resiliency tactic against grid blackouts is a very real way to keep your essential appliances up and running, given that you have the correct setup to island. As a reminder, in most cases you’ll need some form of energy storage, solar panels, and appropriate power electronics (including a solar and/or storage inverter and sometimes an automatic transfer switch, or ATS) that interface properly with your panels and battery in order to safely create an energy island on your property during blackouts.

Of course, you will only be able to produce energy when the sun is shining: during the night or on cloudy days, it will be essential to watch your consumption carefully

https://www.energysage.com/solar-inverters/compare/?id=4243&id=2456&id=2441

https://www.energysage.com/solar-inverters/sma-america/2456/sunny-island-si6048/

https://www.solarelectricsupply.com/sunny-island-6048-us

We love to think of solar power as an abundant and renewable resource that works even when everything else stops. And, at Enphase, we believe that should be true.

But it may come as a surprise to many: if you have a traditional solar setup on your house, there’s a good chance it will be inoperational if the utility company’s power grid goes down. That’s because, despite conventional wisdom, a common residential solar system still relies on the utility’s grid even as it produces solar energy in real-time. This happens for two main reasons. First, to keep a Energy Savings system functioning properly, it uses the utility’s power as a consistently regulated power source. Second, it’s for safety reasons — most systems detect a blackout and shut down to avoid pushing power back to a line where utility workers may be working.

If you have a traditional solar setup on your house, there’s a good chance it will be inoperational if the utility company’s power grid goes down.

So the threat of your solar system going down is real. It’s been this way for as long as solar has been around. Most of the time, it’s an inconvenience just like every other building without a backup battery or generator experiences.

But sometimes it’s more than inconvenient. As recent natural disasters in Puerto Rico and Houston have shown us, losing power isn’t always simply an inconvenience — it can be a matter of life and death. As the public watched Puerto Rico suffer through long blackouts that lasted weeks or even months, people everywhere began to realize that traditional Energy Savings systems were just as dark as everything else.

At Enphase, we see the catastrophic results of blackouts after storms or other events, and we just can’t settle for the same old story.

That’s why our new solar technology — Ensemble™ energy management technology — is being developed to be 100% grid agnostic. That means when the grid is up, it can communicate and function just like a grid-tied system, and enjoy the benefits that comes with having the grid’s support. It also means that if the grid goes down, your Ensemble technology system goes fully independent — it, essentially, becomes a solar island. It doesn’t need the grid to operate, and at the same time, ensures the system produces the power you need while maintaining safety and security for your building and the utility lines connected to it.

Any home or building in any situation has the opportunity to stay up when the grid goes down.

But it’s not just for those alarming situations like natural disasters. The grid-agnostic solution Ensemble technology enables means that any home or building in any situation has the opportunity to stay up when the grid goes down. This can also be great in rural areas or in developing countries where the grid can be inefficient.

Working in harmony with Enphase IQ7™ microinverters, Ensemble technology will power a system without a grid whenever sunshine is available. And if you were to pair it with Storage — our backup battery — you’ll have a fully functioning, completely self-contained grid.