[clug] OT: Solar power recommendations and advice

[Michael Still]

Felix Karpfen wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:02:29 +1000, Michael Still wrote:
> 
>> I am having a 2.2kW system fitted in 8 days. I asked Armada for a quote,
>> but they were prohibitively expensive compared with solargain.com.au.
>>
>> At the time I built this spreadsheet to help with the comparison:
>>
>> http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?
> key=tgxDOSnFVzZITU1yzHSk0vw&single=true&gid=0&output=html
>> Note that orange rows are companies with online prices that don't
>> operate in the ACT, and are just there for comparison.
>>
>> I guess I'll have more of an opinion in 8 days.
> 
> Two comments:
> 
> 1. Based on the info in your spreadsheet, the "Canberra-solar-panel-
>    picture" has changed beyond recognition since I looked into it (c.3 
>    years ago!); and
> 
> 2. Please put me on the mailing list for any performance data that 
>    you collect and publish.

There isn't a mailing list... I hadn't thought that others were 
interested. I'm tracking total power draw for the house at the moment 
(and gave a talk at CLUG about how a few months ago). I'll add total 
power generation as soon as the hardware comes online, which will be 
several weeks after install if I understand the site inspections required.

Here is the graph of total power draw for today (compared with yesterday):

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=lc&chs=600x400&chd=e:WoUJTbTiThTYXLWoWuVVTZTdTZUFUAT7VQVVVZTgUDUAT-TdUZVfVYWvUAT7TaTfTcTcT7WrVVVUTeTgTYUAT4ThTaVTVW__UAT-TdTeTcTZTcWqWoVQTZTcTbUGT6UDTeVcVRVZUGUDUETeTjTfTeUIWhVWVMTdTdTbUFUPTdTgVmVXVYUzVncBVHVXWYWEZnZXWzVGXgWtX6YIYHY7YvZiZoXiXbkEkqWSghnxZsZYYnXK____XWXkY1YkYxYQWeXWXtXXW.YtYeZRZcWkWmXlW5l0ZgYvYrY1YwYy______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________,T1T6TsTPTQTLVYWgWcWdTJTJTKTKTxTuVLVOVKTOTNTxTyTOTJVKVMW2TzTwTNTQTLTOXWWqWcTNTMTJTMT3TwWoVIVOTLTMT5URTyTLTMVLVIWpTwTNTOTSTJTpWcWkVFTOTRTLT6TyTw__VNVLTRT.TwTvTQTJTPVPWmWgT4TYT6T5T.UiUgVqV3VzT0T2__UlT0V8W7XJU7VbWkV8V4V6XzaVbLaPXVkWlvXEaBcxdDcmWlWqWoZ2Z4YmY5ZIjZYtaMaHZBY0YsY0ZyeyZpYjYxYsYhZIl9XOWmWlY1YrZwZmZ2YtXsYhV-XPXUWeWoYrZIZMaNZ0Y9ZCYaYMYuX3YDX
QXTY0YtYwZmZvYoXHW3XfYJZ8ZZYkX7YXWIWIZQ______ZGY7eoZqXrXpXHZKa1aybXbZanaEaXaCZ8Z3ZlZyW0____XHXmZyaAZPZFXuXrYXYTYOZPZNZKX8YSX.YyXQYPYIX.aua5a5YpZAZKZza5YhYlWsXAXiZsaiZylQjWX6XAXOYgYCXCjzjqUAT7VQUcWxVwVxTsTwUeUNUSVtVkVfTiUPUGUETjTfVfWBWI&chtt=Sensors&chdl=%3DWatts%20today|%3DWatts%20yesterday&chco=0000FF,00FF00,FF0000,dd5500,ee11ff,88ddff,44cc00,bb0011,11aaff&chxt=y,r,x&chxl=0:|-30|-25|-20|-15|-10|-5|0|5|10|15|20|25|30|35|40|45|50|55|60|65|70|75|80|85|90|95|100|1:|-1.5k|-1.2k|-1.0k|-0.8k|-0.5k|-0.2k|0.0k|0.2k|0.5k|0.8k|1.0k|1.2k|1.5k|1.8k|2.0k|2.2k|2.5k|2.8k|3.0k|3.2k|3.5k|3.8k|4.0k|4.2k|4.5k|4.8k|5.0k|2:|00:00|04:48|09:36|14:24|19:12|00:00&chg=0,20,5,5

The spikes are kettle use.

Cheers,
Mikal