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Solar power system on village house

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  1. #1

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    Solar power system on village house

    So I've made the leap to get a 5kw solar power system installed on my village house. Takes 2-3 days for technicians to lay the frames and attach the panels, attach the inverters and electrics. The installation is complete and turns out I had more than enough space for 20 panels needed for the 5kw system in slightly less than 350 sq ft of space.

    Sorry I'm not posting the exact panels set up due to the risk with all the craze about illegal structures....

    Today was the first full day of sunrise to dusk 6pm and it generated 30kwh for me. Peak power was yesterday with 4800watts at around 12pm. Considering my Tesla does 70kms with 15kw in real world driving, each day of full sunlight would cover 140kms of range for me which is way more than what I need for my commute. So those people making cartoons of how "dirty" our Tesla is being powered by a coal power plant can... regurgitate it! I suppose if I had cash to splash, I could extend out the "illegal structure" to cover my entire roof which can give me 10kw doubling my output right now. I think that's more than enough to power a 3 story village house even if there's 3 households. Imagine a setup on every village house...

    The guy who installed it for me is now helping me register with CLP for the power buy back program.... eagerly awaiting the exact price at which they are buying back at....

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  2. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by Titus:
    Sorry I'm not posting the exact panels set up due to the risk with all the craze about illegal structures....
    Its a bunch of panels, right?
    Whats illegal about it?

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    Its a bunch of panels, right?
    Whats illegal about it?
    I have it on a structure that's basically like a canopy to raise it 10 ft above the ground; hard to crop out everything to not reveal my location =P

    I suppose you could have the panels just lying literally on the floor of your roof but for max sun exposure, they should be elevated above your neighbors structures and at an angle to the south

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Titus:
    So I've made the leap to get a 5kw solar power system installed on my village house. Takes 2-3 days for technicians to lay the frames and attach the panels, attach the inverters and electrics. The installation is complete and turns out I had more than enough space for 20 panels needed for the 5kw system in slightly less than 350 sq ft of space.

    Sorry I'm not posting the exact panels set up due to the risk with all the craze about illegal structures....

    Today was the first full day of sunrise to dusk 6pm and it generated 30kwh for me. Peak power was yesterday with 4800watts at around 12pm. Considering my Tesla does 70kms with 15kw in real world driving, each day of full sunlight would cover 140kms of range for me which is way more than what I need for my commute. So those people making cartoons of how "dirty" our Tesla is being powered by a coal power plant can... regurgitate it! I suppose if I had cash to splash, I could extend out the "illegal structure" to cover my entire roof which can give me 10kw doubling my output right now. I think that's more than enough to power a 3 story village house even if there's 3 households. Imagine a setup on every village house...

    The guy who installed it for me is now helping me register with CLP for the power buy back program.... eagerly awaiting the exact price at which they are buying back at....



    Remember to wash your panels, mine need to be done every 12 months in a very clean environment, I suspect HKG you'd need to clean them A LOT more regularly. Performance can drop off 50% due to dirty panels. Keep an eye on that.

    Also, you don't achieve peak quality sunlight all day, maybe 3 hours during a sunny cloudless day, as I have a similar sized system that faces north (southern hemisphere) for optimum sun capture.

    Nice one Titus, I'd be interested to know what the CLP pay you per kwh, as we are getting around 11cents aud per kwh, reduced from 33 cents aud per kwh over here. Making me think, that I might double our present capacity and add battery storage, while diverting my power from the grid altogether. I'd rather just use my own power and store anything left over for use during the day when demand requires it ( cloudy days). I'm quite fine paying for power at night ( night tariff) so it's just a matter of how I set the system up to benefit me $$$$ wise.

    All of the owner occupied homes in my cul de sac have PV installed, it's pretty popular out here.
    Titus, emx, Mefisto and 2 others like this.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyhook:
    Remember to wash your panels, mine need to be done every 12 months in a very clean environment, I suspect HKG you'd need to clean them A LOT more regularly. Performance can drop off 50% due to dirty panels. Keep an eye on that.

    Also, you don't achieve peak quality sunlight all day, maybe 3 hours during a sunny cloudless day, as I have a similar sized system that faces north (southern hemisphere) for optimum sun capture.

    Nice one Titus, I'd be interested to know what the CLP pay you per kwh, as we are getting around 11cents aud per kwh, reduced from 33 cents aud per kwh over here. Making me think, that I might double our present capacity and add battery storage, while diverting my power from the grid altogether. I'd rather just use my own power and store anything left over for use during the day when demand requires it ( cloudy days). I'm quite fine paying for power at night ( night tariff) so it's just a matter of how I set the system up to benefit me $$$$ wise.

    All of the owner occupied homes in my cul de sac have PV installed, it's pretty popular out here.
    Thanks for the heads up on the effects of dirty panels; will keep you posted on the actual rates with CLP
    emx and Skyhook like this.

  6. #6

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    There was talk of CLP offering a HKD$4 kwh feed in tariff, but not confirmed.

    Titus likes this.

  7. #7

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    How much did the setup cost you?


  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by SpeakCantonese:
    How much did the setup cost you?
    The guy I dealt with charged me 100k with everything including all the run around and paperwork for CLP registration. Bear in mind he gave me an "early adopter" discount. Yes it's more expensive than if you Taobao some solar panel and inverters and hook it up yourself but to be eligible with CLP or HKE, there's some installation technicality; the power companies have guidelines that aren't public as of yet about how/where to install the system to prove that it's tamper-free (ie I'm not rigging the system to cheat). They used Canadian Solar branded panels, not sure what brands the Taobao ones are. BUT this cost doesn't include the frame for attachment of the array. He's also done a lot of work in Macau and is familiar with the CLP/HKE people in the field so saves me the hassles of runarounds.
    emx likes this.

  9. #9

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    I'm curious how your electricity supply switches between solar and mains? Does the solar system plug straight into your current wiring?

    I'm super jealous... would love a setup like yours on my village house.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Titus:
    I have it on a structure that's basically like a canopy to raise it 10 ft above the ground; hard to crop out everything to not reveal my location =P

    I suppose you could have the panels just lying literally on the floor of your roof but for max sun exposure, they should be elevated above your neighbors structures and at an angle to the south
    So, if your neighbour installed panels these should be elevated above yours, or ?

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