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That is great....also the future and how we should be living. This is why Telsa are now trying to build smaller power walls that actually hold MORE power.
Like you say, with strict manag
ement, if it would be possible to live without the need of WAPA. Imagine if a large % of the island did this...lol
The technology is here. The size of the actual battery doesn’t matter much for the house usage. Per it’s size the Tesla batteries are unreadably energy dense. The technology price is what matters. For VI with abundance of sunshine price is the only factor slowing down the transformation. We actually could eliminate 95% of WAPA Propane energy generation if more solar was implemented and energy storage dilemma was solved.
Posted : January 29, 2020 1:28 pm
Totally agree but as with anything, always comes down to cost and price....and I bet there will be a few people at WAPA who wouldn't want this..they would be pissed if their "payments" or salary was eliminated.
I always wondered why certain places in say, Arizona, Las Vegas etc are not the world leaders in solar living. Every time it comes down to the same answer - profits. So sad.
Posted : January 29, 2020 3:27 pm
I always wondered why certain places in say, Arizona, Las Vegas etc are not the world leaders in solar living. Every time it comes down to the same answer - profits. So sad.
Agreed. Mainland utilities fight solar by lowering the prices for electricity to the point that is not feasible to invest in solar. WAPA fights by jacking up prices on a few suckers that that keep buying electricity from them or charging a lot for grid net metering.
in both cases the problem is monopoly but in case of VI where power is extremely overpriced so it’s easy to shift to being completely off the grid. Even the net metering option with $50 customer access charge makes economic sense. If you live here year round and use AC or have a pool then investment in solar will break even in 5-7 years time. The system will work for 15-20 years.
Posted : January 29, 2020 8:31 pm
Unfortunately there are still many consumers in the VI where solar isn't feasible or practical, at least not complete solar. Commercial, condos, apartments, small houses with little roof or land, multistory office buildings. They are stuck with WAPA.
Posted : January 29, 2020 10:43 pm
Topic starter
Do you know how many panels you have or the size of your solar system in kw? I had Bruno come out earlier this week, he wants to add 10 panels and uses this as a battery back up https://www.fortresspower.com/lithium-iron-phosphate-battery/
Just waiting on a price.
Lastly, how long would your power walls last if you lost the Grid? Thanks for your help.
Posted : January 30, 2020 4:53 am
Totally agree but as with anything, always comes down to cost and price....and I bet there will be a few people at WAPA who wouldn't want this..they would be pissed if their "payments" or salary was eliminated.
I always wondered why certain places in say, Arizona, Las Vegas etc are not the world leaders in solar living. Every time it comes down to the same answer - profits. So sad.
Just like the VI, states have public service commissions that approve and regulate the cost of electricity for consumers. In Florida, the PSC awards power companies incentives for keeping their rates down, reducing outages and providing efficiency consultations with residential customers.
Anymore, the mainland US is a national grid with one power enterprise selling to another if there is a power generation issue. Many small utilities - public and private - don't even own generation units.
Power generated by water and nuclear is the cheapest per kw hour. Natural gas has come down in price since the mainland US now has an extensive network of pipelines carrying that resource directly to power plants. The network of companies from ground to your meter are interconnected through leadership - they don't compete so they can share, plot and plan together.
For many years, power companies across the US bought the patents for solar and alternative power generation technologies so these could not be developed as competition. Electricity generated by renewable resources such as solar and wind makes it harder to manage load because of constant fluctuations with no viable way to store electricity. Thus, there is a limited capacity for grid linked solar or wind generation.
WAPA is an antiquated municipal utility on tiny islands in the Caribbean/Atlantic. Rates are high because of its isolation, limited scale, few customers, merciless weather and steep terrain. Also the VI government does not routinely pay its utility bills placing the bulk of its operational financial burden on the backs of residential and commercial customers.
If too many rate payers divert to renewables - the VI government will raise taxes or fees to make sure the lights stay on in their facilities.
Posted : January 30, 2020 8:47 am
I have 24 panels. I don’t remember what they are related at but I see 5kw being generated in real life. So with 6 hours of sunshine per day I see 30kwh per day. This number is collaborated by my annual production for 2019 was 9600kwh.
your installer should carefully analyze your electric grid usage from WAPA bills and topography of your house, roof incline, exposure to sunshine before commuting to total number of panels. Don’t overdo the number of panels. It’s always easy to add more. If you planning on net metering you do not want too much energy give away. I suggest you go with individual inverters which is more expensive but improves panel efficiency.
Posted : January 30, 2020 11:19 am
Tesla provides about 15kWh of usable energy from fully charged battery. Two batteries store enough energy to run my household at bare minimums for about 40 hours without any sunshine. Typically on a cloudy day panels deliver enough energy to run the household during daylight and at least partially recharge the batteries. So if we had contentious 7 cloudy days I would need to fire up a generator or get help from the grid.
If I were to go off the grid I would add 7-10 more panels and another battery. Perhaps even 2 more batteries. Current system would not support running AC in off the grid scenario.
Posted : January 30, 2020 11:30 am
What are people seeing for solar prices? I got quoted $80k for 3 tesla banks and Bruno was well over $100k for ground mounted panels not including his travel time and the slab.
Nothing special. 4 bedroom rental with AC
Posted : January 31, 2020 9:21 pm
How large is the system? I also don’t know the cost difference between a roof mounted system versus a ground mounted system. We are having Mike Bauer install a 9.92 kW system with 32 panels on the roof plus a 18.5 kW Fortress battery pack. The cost is between $36K and $38.5K depending on the inverter size and includes installation and commissioning. The system is also eligible for a 26% federal tax credit, this compares favorably to a friends installation just north of Boston.
Our home is 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, plus a pool.
Posted : January 31, 2020 9:50 pm
What are people seeing for solar prices? I got quoted $80k for 3 tesla banks and Bruno was well over $100k for ground mounted panels not including his travel time and the slab.
Nothing special. 4 bedroom rental with AC
Three Tesla powerwall batteries should not cost more than $24k installed.
what size is your solar panel system? For $100K you can power an four apartment building.
Posted : February 1, 2020 7:26 am
This is with the panels. I think it was a 13.5 setup installed. The power wall prices are set from Tesla so not much difference there.
Posted : February 1, 2020 7:33 am
Unless the ground site work for the panels is enormous, it sounds like your quotes seem really high if it’s a 13.5 kW array. Is the something particularly special or difficult in the installation?
Do you have a breakout of the costs, batteries, inverter and panels?
Posted : February 1, 2020 12:57 pm
That is a really good price. Who does the install on the islands for Telsa? Or are you able to do it yourself?
Posted : February 3, 2020 11:39 am
That is a really good price. Who does the install on the islands for Telsa? Or are you able to do it yourself?
Tesla sells to the installers only. Pro Solar did my install. They were very competent.
Posted : February 3, 2020 12:23 pm
What are people seeing for solar prices? I got quoted $80k for 3 tesla banks and Bruno was well over $100k for ground mounted panels not including his travel time and the slab.
Nothing special. 4 bedroom rental with AC
This sounds very expensive. Could it be because of the ground install?
Posted : February 3, 2020 12:25 pm
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