The roof will look a whole lot different next week when another 8 solar panels are installed.
Last week I had my solar installer come over and discuss what we need to do this month to take another step getting off the grid. We are in a fortunate position compared to most other houses as we are so close to achieving this. The majority of solar installations in South Africa are smaller units more for back up power when the black outs or load shedding occurs.
We used a generator for back up power and you are seriously limited to what you can and cannot use. The big items for me was having the kettle and the hot water via the geyser which the generator cannot support as it over loads and cuts out. The air conditioning units also had to be turned off and this was terrible at night when you were trying to sleep during the summer months. When you are having regular power cuts which we were at the time you want to try and live a normal life as possible and why we decided to go for a much bigger solar installation.
With the electricity providers anti solar and using devious tactics through over billing and penalizing those who have other power sources it is clear we need to move off the grid with some urgency. Just yesterday I was reading that they expect the latest increase to be a minimum of 10.5% and I would suggest that is wishful thinking and expect a more realistic 15% - 18%. I was talking with one of my employees this morning and the house where he stays they pay roughly R4 per kwh which is $0.25c to give it some perspective and is in my opinion very expensive.
I received a shopping list from my installer detailing exactly what he needs to install 8 x solar panels and 1 x 5kwh battery. The extras add up and expect this to cost closer to R30K or $2K by the time this next phase is completed. I am so heavily invested now there is no point in holding back and the 300Kwh I purchase from the grid monthly via the solar inverter needs to stop as roughly the same amount is being discharged or thrown away. The extra battery will reduce this by 50% and in theory will be down to 150Kwh purchase per month and throwing 150Kwh generated power away. If the power supplier was playing fair then I could supply the grid instead of throwing this away, but the admin service fees are R1200 monthly ($75) and makes this exercise not worth the hassle.
Having another 8 panels means the batteries will recover that much faster when the sun rises on the morning and more energy will be generated. On cloudy overcast days we should still be able to generate enough power to still stay off the grid.
Here is the installers list of purchases which is the extras over and above the obvious like the battery and 8 solar panels with roof brackets. This all adds up rather quickly and I have to keep telling myself this is an investment offering a direct return in monthly savings and the value will be recovered when I sell the property. What we have will be unique as I have not seen any other property listed as being off the grid and this will be worth far more than what has been spent. Just think how much electricity prices will be in the next 2 or 3 years and by then with those constant increases this system would have recovered over 50% of the costs.