Game in the Brain

Our plant just ordered 100KWh of solar panels. We will be “energized” within the next 90 days. Its often touted

Here are some notes from the experience: 

From our solar deal, in the Philippines where electricity is 0.20-0.30USD per KWh and the cost of Solar Panels are <2usd per Watt (inclusive of inverters, frames, and cabling, no batteries) the ROI is just <6 years if the interest is at least less than 8%. That basically means its useless to buy solar with Personal Loans (24-36%) and to just pay for it upfront, where the ROI is <5 years.

Then it only matters if the KWh you get is the MINIMUM you consume in the peak solar hours (in the Philippines 10am-2pm). So if I get 5KWh pannels (20 panels), then at the MINIMUM I consume in the day is 5KWh or else I produce more than I can consume and that’s wasted.

Storing the excess with Batteries double the cost per Watt and making the ROI beyond any reasonable business would undertake. 5 years by Philippine Biz standards is Too long and most plans work in a 3 year span.

I wish the people certain solar would point this out ehemmm…

Since the rest of the world pays 0.1usd per KWh, then they need the total cost to be $0.9usd per Watt of panels. It took about 10 years to get there. Maybe 10 more years it may get there, especially since the efficiency of old Solar panels would down by 8%

• You need to consume during the Daylight Hours ALL the Solar you produce or else its wasted. Its a mark against your ROI. 
• The Solar Energy and Inverters need a current to “Ride”. Basically its useless in the looming power outage and every time the power is down it cannot do its job and earn its keep. You cant have a generator running because no one has made it in a way they are stable together.
• Batteries DOUBLE the USD per Watt cost, thus extending the ROI period. 
• Ideally below 1.8USD per Watt for Pannels, Frames, Inverter, and the Services to do all this. All IN including TAXES. 
• the closer one is to the equator the less TILT needed. So my bro in Jersey would need Tiltable programmed Solar Panels. 
• In the Philippines South Facing roofs are the most sunny all day around. Which makes the North cooler. 

A thought Experiment

Let say brother’s house in Jersey has good lighting. If he consumes 1,000kwh per month then we break that down by how many KWh he consumes per hour of the month (divided by 730 hours). At 1.4kwh he would need 5x 260Watt panels, inverters, frames and cables. If he spent $1400USD then his ROI (assuming $0.12 per KWh) would be about ~5 years. Anything high in electrical consumption should be moved towards the electrical Peak hours. If he runs a personal server which has a constant energy demand, this would make the ROI very certain.

Of course, $1 usd per Watt is not the going rate right now.