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Jeffinpa
Jeffinpa Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
We bought a farm in PA and are building a home on a hill there. We have completely unobstructed east, south and northern exposure in what is a corn field. We are planning on ground mounted solar panels, lithium ion batteries and a propane generator for backup. Heating, cooking, etc. will not be electric but there might be a few days per year that we run the AC. Being a farm, we also need to run a very small machine shop once in a while. Love to get some ideas from the experts here on what I should use and what I have wrong. From other posts it seems that starting with 48 volt is better than 12. Help is much appreciated.
Off grid - 17 kW ground mounted panels, (42) Aquion S30 batteries
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  • froggersix
    froggersix Solar Expert Posts: 35 ✭
    #2
    look at the cost of connecting to the grid first. solar power is very expensive so you need to know what your bidding against.
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  • Jeffinpa
    Jeffinpa Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭
    #3
    Agreed and did. Somewhere around $75,000. It's a very long driveway in and line is required to follow driveway/farm lane.
    Off grid - 17 kW ground mounted panels, (42) Aquion S30 batteries
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  • froggersix
    froggersix Solar Expert Posts: 35 ✭
    #4
    then you need a killowatt hour number to go for to design the system around. its best to measure but that's not easy when you don't have the stuff your gonna run. you need to know about if you need 220 too for well pump or whatever. machine shop might be better off just running a generator when needed instead of making a really big system to run it that you don't use most of the time.
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  • Jeffinpa
    Jeffinpa Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭
    #5
    I agree again. We are currently living in a townhouse while we build so I think I have to go with averages plus x% buffer. And design so I can add on. Agree on machine shop. Good idea. Maybe the few times we use AC too.
    Off grid - 17 kW ground mounted panels, (42) Aquion S30 batteries
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