Who’s Using Solar Power To Run Their Aquariums? Paying $.30/kWh in lower NY.

PeterC99 · Mar 14, 2024

sfmacguy said:
Solar + Storage setup for house is amazing, and no regrets. Would do it again, and would add more batteries!

I am not ready to live with only an electric car at this point, as I commute too much, and wasnt offset enough for the charging.

Thanks! Time for me to install solar!

Peair · Mar 14, 2024

PeterC99 said:
Price of electricity in lower New York has just gone up to $.30/kHw. Cost of running my aquarium keeps rising. Thinking about getting solar panels to lower my electricity costs but realize there is a large upfront outlay.

Wondering which Reefers have decided to get solar panels to provide electricity for their homes and how’s it working out for them?

I never thought about running solar on my aquariums, maybe I should look into it, I had solar panels on my roof when I lived in Florida to heat my pool, it did not work real good to heat my pool in the Winter and some Spring and Fall, worked very good in the Summer, but I think it would be different or better if it was in the inside of the house, I think not as much demand as a pool.

PeterC99 · Mar 14, 2024

Peair said:
I never thought about running solar on my aquariums, maybe I should look into it, I had solar panels on my roof when I lived in Florida to heat my pool, it did not work real good to heat my pool in the Winter and some Spring and Fall, worked very good in the Summer, but I think it would be different or better if it was in the inside of the house, I think not as much demand as a pool.

Where are you now?

Peair · Mar 14, 2024

PeterC99 said:
Where are you now?

Camp Lejeune Jacksonville, NC area.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2024

PeterC99 said:
Would you recommend the Powerwalls, especially the Powerwall3?

In my case, the benefit of a battery is that it would allow islanding in a power failure, but the added expense was huge and we opted to not do so.

Johnd651 · Mar 15, 2024

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
In my case, the benefit of a battery is that it would allow islanding in a power failure, but the added expense was huge and we opted to not do so.

Same situation as @Randy Holmes-Farley . When we installed, the cost of the needed powerwalls would have doubled the project, and the tax credits (since in our case, they were dependent on what our actual tax amount owed to NY was) would not cover the added cost. Also, the ROI in the 10 year warranty period on them was not there at that point.

Paul B · Mar 15, 2024

I installed 22 panels on my house about 10 years ago. That was my last house and I installed the system myself so it hardly cost me anything and with the rebates, The system paid itself back in about 6 months. It saved me a third of my bill and I am on Long Island NY.

I had to put this mesh around the panels because squirrels nested under them and ate through the wires and made a large hole in my shingles and tar paper.

albano · Mar 15, 2024

I have 35 panels on my new home, (on back/southern facing side, not visible from street) just turned on this year…I also have a 20k generator for backup, since the panels produce for the grid, not my own house/fish tank!

PeterC99 · May 10, 2024

Installed solar panels last month and had my first month without an electric bill! 20% of my electricity use is to run my 90 gallon aquarium.

Dragen Fiend · May 10, 2024

Grats! I'll be doing a ground mount system running bifacial panels. Higher performance for us NY folks in the winter months. Solar is the way to go if you can do it. Being financially free from rising prices is something people never factor in.

PeterC99 · May 10, 2024

Dragen Fiend said:
Grats! I'll be doing a ground mount system running bifacial panels. Higher performance for us NY folks in the winter months. Solar is the way to go if you can do it. Being financially free from rising prices is something people never factor in.

What are bifacial panels?

areefer01 · May 10, 2024

PeterC99 said:
Installed solar panels last month and had my first month without an electric bill! 20% of my electricity use is to run my 90 gallon aquarium.

Nice! Did you add storage? Also is what is NY buy back rate? California pretty much just killed the Solar industry with Net Metering 3. Anyone installing solar at this point, in Ca, might as well add the storage since you won't get anything when you are in the positive generation window.

Dragen Fiend · May 10, 2024

PeterC99 said:
What are bifacial panels?

Split cell panels. Essentially it has solar cells on the front and back to capture more energy. You won't see much increase in performance during sunny days. Potentially 5-10%. But for winter or cloudy days it can get up to 20% compared to standard panels. Its only useful for ground mount. You won't get any of the benefits mounted to roofs for obvious reasons.

PeterC99 · May 10, 2024

areefer01 said:
Nice! Did you add storage? Also is what is NY buy back rate? California pretty much just killed the Solar industry with Net Metering 3. Anyone installing solar at this point, in Ca, might as well add the storage since you won't get anything when you are in the positive generation window.

I’m looking to add storage now and appreciate and advice.

I get a 1 for 1 kWh credit for every kWh I produce. The buy back rate after my consumption is pretty small so I sized my system to my needs.

PeterC99 · May 10, 2024

Dragen Fiend said:
Split cell panels. Essentially it has solar cells on the front and back to capture more energy. You won't see much increase in performance during sunny days. Potentially 5-10%. But for winter or cloudy days it can get up to 20% compared to standard panels. Its only useful for ground mount. You won't get any of the benefits mounted to roofs for obvious reasons.

This very interesting - didn’t know this existed.

Where in NY are you? Have a nice torch for free if you are interested.

Dragen Fiend · May 10, 2024

PeterC99 said:
This very interesting - didn’t know this existed.

Where in NY are you? Have a nice torch for free if you are interested.

Nice torch! Thanks for the offer. But I just picked some up so no space left. So feel free to give away to another fellow NY!

Upstate, Buffalo area. Soon to be moving further out. Hence the solar panel plans. Ground mount 17kw solar array with 20kw backup batteries. Got to use that 30% tax credit before it goes lol. I do have some panels on the shed to charge batteries for any outages.

14 foot reef · May 10, 2024

I installed 64 - 430 watt panels on my home in NC. per Duke energy, my grid I built is the largest they will allow on a residential property
So far today 3:00pm I have consumed 58.1 kWh - I have produced 61.8 kWh - I have imported 26.8 kWh from Midnight to sunup, and I have exported 26.8 kWh. a net export of 3.7 kWh
So far today I'm ahead of my usage, but once the sun goes down I'll start going back wards on savings.

THis was the best investment I've made in a long time, my electric bill on average for 1 year has went from $600 per month cost prior to solar to and average of $225 per month.
We are very happy !!!! No starage batteries here because I can't produce more than my house uses.
My system is 850 gallons and Apex Neptune says $210.00 per month is my tank cost.

PeterC99 · May 10, 2024

14 foot reef said:
I installed 64 - 430 watt panels on my home in NC. per Duke energy, my grid I built is the largest they will allow on a residential property
So far today 3:00pm I have consumed 58.1 kWh - I have produced 61.8 kWh - I have imported 26.8 kWh from Midnight to sunup, and I have exported 26.8 kWh. a net export of 3.7 kWh
So far today I'm ahead of my usage, but once the sun goes down I'll start going back wards on savings.

THis was the best investment I've made in a long time, my electric bill on average for 1 year has went from $600 per month cost prior to solar to and average of $225 per month.
We are very happy !!!! No starage batteries here because I can't produce more than my house uses.
My system is 850 gallons and Apex Neptune says $210.00 per month is my tank cost.