Getting paid for solar

[Neal]

I'm in Casa Grande until April and last year electricity was a bit expensive. I didn't use solar as there was discussion back then about electricity being cheap, not the case here. This year I'm using my tools via Magnum ME-BMK and Victron stack to use solar from 9 AM until 4:30 PM. This allows all inverter loads including battery charging to be handled by solar while that big yellow orb in the sky is doing the work. With 10 panels on the roof (1800W) it's almost a crime not to use solar. It's been working great for a week now, SOC has not dropped below 100%. I actually wanted to switch to battery at 7 AM and let solar do the recharge work but I did something that triggered LBCO one day (11.0V set) and haven't retried yet. I had hoped to cover some of the morning's more expensive demands (coffee, microwave, etc.) via 900 aH of battery muscle.

With that said, it's a shame I can't be credited for electricity I could push back into the system. It could probably pay for one's stay to help supply the electrical grid from RV's with solar. Not using solar when solar panels are available is unfortunate. Hopefully this would change someday for electric companies to take help from those with solar.

 

[Retired]

I read about a few skoolie conversions where they used 2 Prius battery packs to store solar. The batteries had the capability to store all the power the panels generated.

Its better to store and use the power you generate vs selling back to the utility .

My home electricity provider is a coop. I pay 10.5 cents a KW, no peak useage.

If I were to sell back to them, I would only be paid what they pay for raw electricty. Currently thats 2.6 cents KW.

Can you increase your battery capacity?

 

[Gronk]

When I was in Casa Grande last spring my last electric bill (for only THREE weeks) was $155!! Temperature was over 100 degrees every day with bright sunshine. Even with two ACs running it would still get to 80 degrees in my trailer.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

When I was in Casa Grande last spring my last electric bill (for only THREE weeks) was $155!! Temperature was over 100 degrees every day with bright sunshine. Even with two ACs running it would still get to 80 degrees in my trailer.

On occasion I is nice to see how others live. When I did stay two months in an RV park last summer, my electric was 32 dollars a month. And no I wasn't using my solar. Details: 105 degrees outside 95 in. And counting the days when I could return to the high county.

 

[Neal]

One thing I need to figure out and probably could if I got my lazy arse out to the meter to take meter readings is what I'm really saving by using solar. I should take readings on a day without solar, readings on a day with solar but the real question is when days are marginal such as clouds or I use a high demand device such as convection oven, broiler, microwave and don't get back to fully charged (100% SOC) what is the cost for the high amp charge hit against shore power? For example, it probably takes little power to maintain a charged state but if I only get to 90% SOC and I draw max amps to charge, what is that costing me?

I'm showing about 6 kWh/day of solar intake so that's obviously 6 kWh I'm not paying for.

In the end I won't have a baseline to compare to in order to realize savings but at least I'm putting all this hard earned solar to use. Crime not to capture solar in AZ.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

@Neal really solar is a way of life. No Way it will keep up with unmodified habits.

 

[Retired]

I pay 10.5 Cents a KWH, so if you are generating 6KW per hour, then you are saving 63 cents an hour.

That doesnt seem right.

Year round my home averages 30KWH per day electricity use. Some cold winter days its 70 KWH+, some mild days its less than 10 KWH.

 

[Neal]

I googled casa grande and it’s around 11.6 cents per kWh. So it seems futile but I’m sure the campground is charging much more. Probably not worth doing this which was my same conclusion last year and didn’t.

 

[Retired]

If I sell electricity back to my provider, they pay 2.6 cents KWH. Thats what they pay for raw electricity. I have no peak usage, its all the same price 24/7.

I use so little at home, solar isnt a good investment for me unless I needed it for outages, then I would need a Tesla battery wall as well.. All my utilities are underground and the substation is less than 1 mile away.

You would do better figuring out a way to shade your coach.

 

[Gronk]

I googled casa grande and it’s around 11.6 cents per kWh. So it seems futile but I’m sure the campground is charging much more..

Neal, the campground I was in there has the price at .18/kw for a winter rate and .20/kw summer. Naturally, the last bill I had was when they switched from winter to summer rates.