Solar Electric Power for Off-Grid Homes

Living in an Off-Grid Home

Bright Green Energy has designed a number of complete stand-alone, off-grid, solar and wind powered energy systems catering for all sorts of needs.  Off grid systems represent a huge range of possibilities. What could be more versatile than your won on-site generated electricity? 

There are all sorts of configurations possible and they may include a mixture of electrical generating sources.  The options include:

• Solar PV modules;
• wind turbines;
• small hydroelectric generators;
• diesel or petrol generators;
• hybrid systems comprising of two or more of the above.
   

We receive lots of requests to design off-grid power systems and we are happy to help you.  However, there are four essential steps that you need to perform first.

STEP ONE - BASIC FACTS.

Make sure that you know what power you need!  It sounds obvious, but there is a huge difference between watt hours and kilo-watt hours.  Make sure you understand the difference.

For example, if you want to run your house off-grid and you need "2000 kW Hrs" of electrical energy then you may not have understood the difference!

 Just to be clear: 2000 kW Hrs is 2000 Hrs  x 1000 Watts of electricity per hour or 2,000,000 watts. If this was a quarterly figure then dividing by the number of days in the month you will arrive at another huge number. For example, let's assume that your electricity bill reading from Jan-March is 2,000,000 watt hours. Dividing this by the number of days in the quarter (91) then we end up with 21,978.02 watts per day? What the hell does that mean exactly? It means nothing unless it is attached to the duration (TIME) of use.

2,000,000 Watt Hours is the amount of electricity you used in a three month period. The term watt-hours is used to assign a cost value to each watt used. You pay for consumption. That is, for each watt of electricity consumed, you pay a price assigned by the electricity company. You have to bear in mind, that if a bulb is rated at 65 watts, for example, it will use 65 watts of electricity for every single moment it is switched on. Hence the reason why electricity is charged according to time and why you receive your bills stating WATT HOURS or KILO WATT HOURS.

STEP TWO - DETERMINE THE ELECTRICAL LOAD

If your electricity bill is really 2,000kWh per quarter then you need to switch off all your appliances and examine every single appliance to find its rating in WATTS. At the same time think about the amount of time (HOURS) you use the appliance. This is better known as a LOAD CALCULATION.

The process of working out your electricity consumption is the basis of your calculations to size a solar or wind powered system. What we're after is the total watt hours per day or per week. As you can see 2,000,000 Watt hours is a lot of energy and to meet that demand you will need a lot of solar panels, approx 100 or more. Can you imagine that and think of the cost! Scary!

STEP THREE - DETERMINE THE SIZE OF THE BATTERY BANK
 

Once you have worked out your LOAD REQUIREMENTS then next step is to size either your battery bank or the physical size and rating of the solar PV array required to handle the load.

At all times you need to be prudent and do not ever assume that the load requirements are final. Take another look at your load and reduce it again. Keep going until you you get rid of everything that you can do without. Now, you need to examine when the individual loads are operating and work out the total PEAK LOAD DEMAND.

Get in touch with us and we'll help you design a system that meets your exact needs.

If you need an "off the shelf" system then consider the following. Call us for pricing.

STEP FOUR - DETERMINE THE SIZE OF THE SOLAR PV ARRAY AND/OR WIND TURBINE (HYBRID SYSTEM)
 

Once you have worked out your LOAD REQUIREMENTS then next step is to size either your battery bank or the physical size and rating of the solar PV array required to handle the load.

At all times you need to be prudent and do not ever assume that the load requirements are final. Take another look at your load and reduce it again. Keep going until you you get rid of everything that you can do without. Now, you need to examine when the individual loads are operating and work out the total PEAK LOAD DEMAND.

NOTE: the above guide must only be treated as such. It is not meant to be used to design a working system as other factors must be taken into account. Bright Green Energy is not responsible for systems designed using the guide. If in doubt consult Bright Green Energy or another expert.

Get in touch with us and we'll help you design a system that meets your exact needs.

If you need an "off the shelf" system then consider the following..

PLEASE NOTE: IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOUR HOME IS PROPERLY INSULATED AND THAT ALL APPLIANCES AND LIGHTS USED ARE ENERGY EFFICIENT.

The power generated by the Solar Medium Energy Package can run all of the following appliances and gadgets (though not all at once!)

• low power lighting
• stereo, tuner, CD and DVD player
• small fridge
• TV and VCR
• computer, printer, and scanner
• kettle
• various power tools
• microwave oven
• toaster
• vacuum cleaner
   

Remote power systems are ideal for providing energy to rural properties, holiday homes, alternative power systems and small community power supplies. If you live in an area where there is no electricity and connecting to the electricity grid is not an option, most likely it is far too expensive! The UK is unusual in that it experiences good wind conditions so wind power is certainly viable. Coupled with sunshine, a solar and wind solution provides a reliable, safe, environmentally friendly and user-friendly source of electricity for a very long time. A solar and./or wind power solution will need little maintenance simply because there are no moving parts. Component failure is very rare and come with superb guarantees, solar panels offer a 25 year warranty as standard. Best of all, you are generating your own electricity for free!

We offer a customised design service and are able to design a system that meets your exact needs. Everything we do is ecological responsible and sustainable. We offer complete, efficient, cost effective, and environmental systems.