Use Solar As Your Backup Generator

Are you worried about losing power at your house, thinking about installing a back up generator?

I have another option that could be almost the same price and give you the back up power that you were thinking about, solar panels.

That's right you can now use solar panels as a backup generator, not only use it as a back up generator but have the solar panels feed the grid while its waiting for the power to fail.

Why would you feed the grid with power? Because the electrical company will pay you for the power you make, that's right the power company will pay you for the power that is made by the system. When the power fails and there is no grid to feed then you either turn a manual switch for the power to be transferred to the house or you have an automatic switch that is triggered that will push power to the house.

This system is called a dual system, the one difference between a normal feed the grid system is that you require a bank of batteries for the solar panels to fill so that when the power does fail there is something for the house to draw on to power it.

Depending on the size of the system will depend on how much of the electrical in the house you will be able to run, but even a small system will run the essentials to help you survive the power outage.

In a long power outage you would have to closely manage your power usage but every morning when the sun came out the batteries would start to be re-charged giving you more hours of power usage.

Even though most people would not be able to install a solar system large enough to power their entire house they would have enough power the essentials every day and throughout most or all of the night. Also it wouldn't matter how long the power was actually out for, the system would keep regenerating itself everyday and you wouldn't have to worry about running out of gas, diesel or propane.

In a world where climate change is making it more and more difficult to predict the weather and how we seem to be experiencing larger and larger storms think how nice it would be to know that you would never have to worry about living without the basic amount of power that you require to survive. Power to run your water pump so that you could flush the toilet and drinking water, run medical equipment if needed, sewage pumps, refrigerators, freezers,a  tv so that you could see the news, the oven to cook certain things, coffee maker, lights at night and your security system.

Having back up power where you didn't have to rely on the grid is almost an essential thing, the cost of solar has come down and now's the time to start relying on it.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Do photovoltaic panels convert 100% of the sun's energy into electricity?

Q:

Do photovoltaic panels convert 100% of the sun's energy into electricity?

A:

No they do not. In fact, the most efficient PV panels convert only about 20% of the solar energy they collect into usable AC electricity. That may not seem like a lot, but it is enough to generate more than 300 watts of electricity per 20-square-foot panel.

Solar panels actually work better in colder climates; they are the most effective in the winter time when there is snow on the ground and the temperatures are lower.

Ontario's Solar FIT Program

The average solar collector is a 10KW Solar P.V. System that costs between $60,000 and 80,000 installed. The Ontario Government pays the owner of the system a higher price for the power produced than what you are paying for the same electricity from Ontario Hydro.  Most people look at installing a solar system as an investment; the return on your investment comes over the 20 year Government of Ontario contract that you sign to feed the electricity grid.
This year the Government approved only 50,000 KW of systems for the Fit program.  I believe that amount has already been allocated at the time of writing this article.

 This is an excerpt from a newsletter that is distributed to all former, current and future clients of Village Builders Inc.  If you would like to receive this newsletter feel free to email me at www.robabbott@villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc