Quite interesting to see how the start of spring has changed things with earlier sun rises and later sun sets. Nothing has been changed or tweaked yet which was only going to happen next month.
Priorities change and finding a new off shore bank account after my current was is being shut down due to regulation laws. This kind of sucks and we roll with the punches as the travel costs involved would have paid for the 2 batteries I was planning to install. Those will have to happen in October now as this is an extra $2K plus a few bits (12 solar panels and wiring etc) so maybe $3k in total. I need to find out if the system could handle an extra 2 batteries and another 2 following that for the winter months. Maximizing the solar panels will help fill the batteries as I know someone who has an extra bank of panels just for winter so it is possible and would not overload the inverter.
The 2 extra batteries would give the system an extra 300kwh storage per month (10kwh per day) which if installed for this month would have taken me virtually off the grid. The solar system discharged or threw away 296kwh of energy which is not great when you purchased 404kwh. The throw away is worth R654 ($38) and would rather have that being used vs buying from the grid. The grid cost would have been only R238 or ($13.5) for this month which shows you how close this month would have been and why the power companies hate us.
The electricity supplier charges on 3 different levels with level 1 for 350kwh or below R2.21 per kwh, level 2 R2.71 for 350-500Kwh and level 3 for 500kwh and above R3.22 kwh. Calculating what each battery will save me and how quickly the investment return is the key here for now.
If I had invested on 2 more 5kwh batteries this would cost roughly R34k ($2k) without all the installation and extra panels I am planning to install. The savings each month would be in the region of R700 ($40) so in roughly 4 years the batteries would have paid for themselves via the savings. I would say 3 due to the annual increases so this is actually pretty good.
The R30K registration fee we have been threatened with has had no updates since this has been legally challenged so we shall see what else they are cooking up. There will always be something so you cannot be complacent and why come hell or high water this house will be off the grid by March next year.
What is scary to think if I had not done this investment what we would be paying monthly for our electricity. A quick calculation shows we average roughly R3500 monthly excluding the average 20% increase per year so next R4200 and then R5000 monthly in year 3. Allowing for the increases the system would have returned the investment within just over 4 years which is better than expected. If you have the sun or daylight I recommend anyone doing this as even on overcast days this is worth the investment.
The plus side is that the investment comes back to you when you sell the property as this is some serious value to the next property owner as very few houses have a system this size. Each month that money is being saved this is going into my pocket which makes the total investment all the more worthwhile and expect the entire system to come in under slightly less than $20K when this is finished.
There is always that government carbon footprint controlling idea hanging over all our heads and what difference this may make. Having a property off grid using solar should get me some brownie points if this happens which I hope it doesn't.