My Solar Heat is BETTER than Yours! ;)

[kirbinster]

Thought I would post a couple of pictures of my solar heating system:

Yup, my "Solar Heater" is an 85,000 BTU/Hr ELECTIRC Heatpump that is fed by my 10KW PV solar Array.

I also have 80sqft of true solar mats I am playing with

 

[pooladdict]

HOLY Crud BATMAN

Can you boil eggs in pool with that much?



Rik

 

[andysutt]

Wow...

are those ran in parallel or series, and thats way to much for my little pool either way!

 

[KurtV]

krbinster.
Neat setup. Why did you go that way instead of "traditional" solar for pools? Are you using that power for other things when you aren't heating the pool? Aren't the photovoltaics much more expensive than a traditional setup?

 

[NWMNMom]

Cha-Ching!!! Ok yours probably IS better than mine, but that looks spendy, mine does the job for me AND mine is cheaper than yours. Do you know how many pairs of cute shoes a girl can buy with the difference in cost??? lol

 

[kirbinster]

I did not install the system to heat the pool, I installed it to generate electric power - I already had the heatpump. The system is expensive, but at the time I installed it the rebates in NJ were70% of system cost, and with the power savings and sale of SRECs the system will pay for itself in 4 years, after that it will be a cash cow! I have had it for close to 3 years already.

NWMNMom - do you have any idea how many shoes I can buy with the money this thing will kick-off after year 4

 

[andysutt]

Ok... literate me... what is SRECs?

 

[kirbinster]

An SREC is the right to claim you produce 1 megawatt of solar energy. If you are a greenie you can retire these and get a good feeling inside. If you are a more "normal" person you can sell these for about $200-$250 each. A 10 KW system like mine generates about 12 SRECs a year having a value of between $2,400 and $3,000. This is almost twice the value of the electricity you generate. Thus, my system kicks off a total of about $4,500 in value a year.

 

[NWMNMom]

Ohhhh, then I need one of those!!!

 

[Rob]

I'm going to park a large hot air baloon above your solar array for the summer, that will learn ya!

 

[tenax]

low yield thermonuclear warhead will fix that

 

[chriszke]

That IS an impressive system you've got setup.

One that actually pays you to run it (once you've reached the breakeven point).

I'm very impressed.

 

[crazycanuck]

So the question is.. how much do one of these setups cost?? and how does that compare to wind generation?

 

[KurtV]

The cheapest I've ever seen 10KW worth of PV panels is about $40K. Without the 70% subsidy that kirbinster got they would probably never pay for themselves.

 

[The Mermaid Queen]

Cool! um, well... I guess HOT!!!

 

[matt4x4]

That's exactly it Kurt - without a 70% reduction, you're repairing things before they're paid for.
Up here in Canada, we get a small kick back, and I believe our government has just passed it so they're eating the tax - probably only one of the two taxes though
I looked into wind turbine power generation a while ago, the price on those is actually starting to drop off rapidly and I may be installing something at a point down he road - only one minor setback - our government - even though they just made it better, it's still a ripoff up here - they get you with a base charge no matter what you produce, the rest is netted - how does the return in the US compare, can you actually make money on it or get credit against base charges? Oh, and I believe we get dinged for every KW we push into the grid - transportation charges!?)
With regards to the solar cells - the setup that Kirbinster has looks to be 1st generation, they've also come a long way in solar, but at a price too dear for me, however, a friend has a setup which produces about 3 times the power for the same area as a 1st generation setup, also, the longevity of the panels has increased dramatically.

 

[kirbinster]

Matt what do you mean about first generation? These panels are about the most efficient on the market today. They are Sharp 185 Watt panels.

 

[matt4x4]

1st generation

By 1st Generation, I mean the typical Photovoltaic (PV) panels made through cutting fragile wafers and protecting them from the environment, outside of improving the efficiency of the cells over the years, in basic principle, nothing has changed with first generation PV panels - yes, Sharp is the one of the best, but the new emerging technology has gen 1 PV panels beat by a mile when it comes to efficiency and longevity.

A friend is involved in testing other solar applications, PV casting, string ribbons, there are solar windows in the infancy stages. For about 45 years now, we have been working with one style of solar panel, over the last 5 years, Solar technology has advanced by leaps and bounds making current technology obsolete. Much of it is currently not attainable by the general public (gen 3 and 4), second generation panels already are available, these panels are not as sensitive to environmental damage, their life span is over twice that of a 1st gen PV panel, efficiency is improved by close to 50% and the purchase cost is relative to the increase in efficiency. Install costs are lower, as a bonus, you require less area to produce the same amount of electricity.

There are other types of Solar collectors being developed - Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) for example, although currently less efficient than PV, CIGS benefits from greatly reduced production costs, no solar degredation, and many other benefits such as a possible silicone shortage. CIGS will provide a much more affordable product on a per KWhr consumer cost, CIGS is the technology you've probably heard about as "Solar paint" - well, it doesn't stop there, it can be incorporated into just about anything, your entire building can incorporate CIGS to become a solar collector, the exterior shell of your car can be a solar collector, once efficiencies are improved, imagine driving forever, only to "charge up" on a rainy day! Anyways, this technology is still a little while away - say 3-5 years, but from the progress I've seen over the last 5 or so years, when it's time to re-shingle my roof (which isn't that far off), there will be some materials available that are going to blow a solar geeks mind, and at an affordable price point to boot.

 

[JasonLion]

There are all kinds of things under developemnt, and some wonderful advances in the lab, but I am unaware of anything actually shipping to the public that is any better than what you are calling first generation panels.

 

[kirbinster]

Agreed. What I have is the best that is currently available. They do make panels that are incorporated into roof tiles, but they are not as efficient, and there are thin film flexible membranes, but again their watt per sqft is lower. Please let me know if there is anything that generates significantly more watts per sqft on the commerical market. I know Sharp does have some 210 watt panels but their head engineer told me my panels are much better as they have skimped on silicon on these newer panels and they will fail much quicker.