Every month it is good to check your solar data to see where and what is going on. This month has been a very cold month so the load has been the highest of the year. This is a type of worse case scenario which is always good to see what needs to happen in order to be fully off the grid. This time of the year having later sunrises and earlier sun sets means you will be tested when it comes to battery storage and what the solar panels generate with regard to power.
When we look at the load this month the demand was 217Kwh more than last month, but the solar supply was up by an increase of 107Kwh compared to last month. The imported power from the grid which has been the highest yet was 661 Kwh an increase of 134Kwh compared to last month.
The discharge is what I find concerning as this was 340Kwh up from last month from 288Kwh. Any discharge is not great as that is money being thrown away. This equates to more than 50% of what was used via the grid so one could imagine if the extra battery was not fitted last month this would have been much higher.
The kitchen ie the stove needs to be gas and from these figures it is clear that another 2 batteries are required along with a few more panels. I would go as far to say 3 batteries would make this an off the grid kit. 3 more 5Kwh batteries would allow for another 15Kwh daily storage which is an extra 450Kwh monthly which removes the discharge which is wasted electricity dumped.
Adding the extra batteries and solar panels would be sufficient for every month we have had thus far besides this last month which would be touch and go. Converting the stove to gas would be the big game changer which ultimately means remodeling the kitchen. I have no choice, but to go off the grid due to the craziness of having to pay penalties for going the solar route. City power our electricity supplier would like to charge me R30K next year in March as a "registration" fee and charge nearly double whatever I consume from the grid. This is not going to happen and have 7 months to prepare.
This week I will chat with my solar installer and see if we can make some tweaks for the coming month. The solar system switches on to the grid support at around 3 am in the morning and is charging the batteries until 10am so reality is the system is reliant for 7 hours daily. This last month equated to grid use of an average of 22Kwh daily and this is what needs to be explored and tweaked.
Checking the sunset and sunrise times in August there is not much change from July and there is roughly 30 minutes more daylight. September things improve with an extra hour as the days get longer with earlier sunrises and later sunsets. I do think the system I have currently will be self sufficient for the peak summer months and need to make the changes hopefully prior to Christmas so we are off the grid long before March.
