Living Off Grid – What Electric Power Outages Mean For Solar’s Potential in California
The recent blackouts in California have millions of people looking for ways to keep the power on. Some bought portable generators, but there was a huge spike in interest in another technology – solar panels and home batteries. Lauren Sommer of member station KQED reports.
LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: Power is out at every house on this block in the Berkeley Hills. You could tell ’cause all the cars are parked outside the garages ’cause the garage doors won’t open, except for one.
HOWARD MATIS: Well, it works.
SOMMER: Hi, there.
MATIS: Hi.
SOMMER: I’m Lauren.
MATIS: Hi, Lauren.
SOMMER: The lights were on at Howard Matis’s house during the last PG&E outage. His fridge…
MATIS: Which you can see – fully powered and cold.
SOMMER: That’s because inside his garage…
MATIS: OK. We can go up here.
SOMMER: …Are two Tesla Powerwall batteries, about four feet tall, mounted on the wall.
MATIS: The whole house – everything – everything is powered by these two batteries.
SOMMER: The solar panels on his roof keep them charged. Solar alone won’t usually work during an outage because it’s still connected to the grid. But batteries let you wire a house to be its own little island, a 24-hour microgrid. Matis bought this system because he expects California’s fire problem to get worse.
MATIS: I lived through one disaster, and so I know what a wildfire is like.
SOMMER: Matis lost his home in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. Some of his neighbors died trying to escape. People there are more fire-aware now. The power lines are buried underground. But they’re not immune from PG&E’s blackouts. Matis is still frustrated with the utility.
MATIS: I’ve talked to PG&E in the past, and I realized they didn’t know what they’re talking about.
SOMMER: Folks from the utility beg to differ. But other companies see an opportunity in that resentment.
ANNE HOSKINS: We’ve had a very big uptick in – I guess we would call them leads.
SOMMER: Anne Hoskins is chief policy officer at Sunrun. It sells solar and battery systems.
HOSKINS: We have a better way than relying on this, you know, over-a-century-old system.
SOMMER: Hoskins says the batteries aren’t just for emergencies. Homeowners can use them every day to store solar power, unlike portable gas generators.
HOSKINS: They’re loud. They’re dirty. And that also contributes to the problem, in our view, that we’re facing, which is climate change.
SOMMER: But batteries are pricey. A Powerwall costs more than $6,000, plus installation. Hoskins says state rebates and federal tax credits can knock thousands off that price, and Tesla is offering a discount for Californians affected by the blackouts. Still, there’s the potential for wealthier homeowners to buy their way out of these blackouts, leaving everyone else feeling the brunt.
HOSKINS: How can we build a system so that all those investments that people are making can bring a benefit to the grid as a whole?
SOMMER: Hoskins says that’s possible. You can have a bunch of solar and batteries in people’s homes that can feed into the local grid and supply everyone. It’s called a virtual power plant. Sunrun is planning one in West Oakland, where 500 low-income households will get solar and batteries. The idea is that making power locally means you don’t need as many big transmission lines to bring it in from far away.
Read more of Lauren Sommer, KQED report => https://buff.ly/2NM45Xk
#California #OffGridLiving #LivingOffGrid #ElonMusk #PowerWall #Solar #Panels #Batteries #PGE #Wildfire #Blackouts #Discounts
Sacramento, California (November 11, 2019) – The Guide to Off Grid Living announced today that it has launched a new website, Living-Off-Grid.com, to educate people that want to buy a rural piece of property and build an off grid homestead in Arizona, California, New Mexico, New York or Texas.
“Today’s world is full of high-technology gadgets, computers, cell phones, cloud-based services that are all dependent on electricity, but as more than 2 million people found out in California, that can change instantly overnight and without warning,” said Robert Hoskins, Editor, Guide to Off Grid Living. “Our Guide to Off Grid Living is written specifically to help people learn how to survive as long as the sun is shining and the clouds are raining.”
“Even if you live in a suburban or a downtown urban environment, almost anyone can prepare themselves and their family to live in a world without water, gas or electricity from the local utility company, which might vanish overnight, whether it be just for a couple of days or many months at a time,” Hoskins continued. “Imagine what it would be like to live in a house with no utility or grocery bills.”
For shelter, the site provides insightful information that beginners can use to research, plan and build their first off grid home, cabin and/or shed.
Off Grid Living – How to Build a Shed, Cabin, Tipi, Yurt, Earthship, Tent, Wilderness Shelter, Bunker, Tiny House or Steel Building for an Off Grid Property
For energy, the site details how to harness solar energy to produce electricity, heat, hot water, lights and ovens for cooking.
Off Grid Living – Installing Solar Power to Produce Off Grid Electricity
For food, the site details how to plant organic raised-bed gardens, how to build aquaponic gardens/fish farms as well as how to raise chickens, ducks, rabbits, bees and other live stock to put food on the table.
Off Grid Living – How to Build a Greenhouse to Support an Off Grid Aquaponic Garden and Fish Farm
For water, the site details how to collect water utilizing rainwater harvesting systems using rooftops and collection barrels and cisterns, how to build a fresh water ponds for raising fish and aquatic plants and how to drill your own well if the water table is close to the surface.
Off Grid Living – How to Install Rain Barrel Cisterns to Collect Rainwater and Store It to Provide Water for an Off Grid Homestead
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Contact:
Robert Hoskins
Living-Off-Grid.com
512-627-6622
Off Grid Living – Installing Solar Power to Produce Off Grid Electricity
Sacramento, California – PG&E announced that many of the northern counties of California will see a power shutoff beginning at midnight Tuesday; a second round of outages is expected to impact the Bay Area starting at noon Wednesday.
“The power will be turned off to communities in stages, depending on local timing of the severe wind conditions, beginning with counties in the northern part of the state,” PG&E said in a statement.
After days of warning, Pacific Gas & Electric confirmed Tuesday afternoon that 800,000 customers across 34 California counties would be left in the dark starting at midnight.
To help homeowners without power, PG&E offers customer both solar incentives for installing solar power and well as rebates for adding solar battery backup banks for their solar power arrays so that they will be able to generate their own electricity, even when the power grid has been turned off.
Guide to Off Grid Living – How to Select between Mono-Crystalline vs Polycrystalline Solar Panels
The utility planned the shutoff as a precaution due to “unprecedented wildfire risk,” the company said in a Tuesday night press conference.
“The power will be turned off to communities in stages, depending on local timing of the severe wind conditions, beginning with counties in the northern part of the state,” PG&E said in a statement.
Off Grid Living – How to Size a Generator to Back Up an Off Grid Solar System
PG&E said it would communicate with affected customers directly via automated calls, texts and emails. It also created a map of affected areas, which you can check for your neighborhood. PG&E’s site was intermittently down Tuesday, so we’ve put some of the maps in the gallery at the top of this story.
PG&E said the shutoffs would begin just after midnight early Wednesday morning. PG&E meteorologists forecast high winds to last until midday Thursday, but power could be out for several days longer.
“Before restoring power, PG&E must inspect its equipment for damage and make any necessary repairs. That process cannot begin until the severe weather event has subsided,” the company said.
The outages could last “five days or longer” in some areas.
“It’s also important to remember that some of our customers may experience a power shutoff even though the weather conditions in their specific location are not extreme,” said Sumeet Singh, PG&E vice president of the Community Wildfire Safety Program in a Tuesday night press conference.
“The reason why this happens is because of the inter-connected nature of our electrical grid and the power lines working together to provide electricity through cities, counties and regions. We’re working directly with state and local agencies to help prepare our customers and the public for this safety event,” he added.
ALSO: Map shows neighborhoods impacted by PG&E power shutoffs
The weather this week is expected to be dry and windy, which makes the risk of a catastrophic wildfire high, PG&E officials said. The utility company wants to shut off power so its electric equipment doesn’t start a wildfire as has happened in recent years. Singh stressed that the shutoff is only implemented as a “last resort.”
The number of potential customers affected in each Bay Area county, according to PG&E, is:
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Off Grid Living – How to Build Sturdy, Long Lasting Fences for Off Grid Properties
California – Off grid property fencing is a time-honored part of security on the homestead. It’s used for all kinds of purposes. From keeping out big critters, like deer, elk, moose, coyotes, mountain lions or bears, to protecting crops from smaller critters like bobcats, foxes, opossums, rabbits, raccoons and skunks.
Electric fences are one of our favorite types of fencing for off grid properties. Today, solar chargers can be purchased relatively cheaply and prove to be an asset in security on the off-grid homestead. We have used it for such a wide variety of projects and fencing needs.
We’ve used it for protecting our flower, medicinal and vegetable gardens from deer and rabbits. as well as to serve as temporary fencing between pastures when moving livestock.
One of the main drawbacks of an electric fence, for some people, is you must check it daily depending on the use. A limb may be on the fence or grass may be growing up into it causing a short out.
There’s also the possibility of a broken wire which can shut down the whole fence. To help alleviate some of these risks and others, we prefer to use a barbed wire fence in tandem with an electric fence. Especially once you consider upfront cost, upkeep, and reliability.
Hog panel or cow panel fence panels in combination with T-posts can be very cost effective for providing a very sturdy fence that is difficult to knock down and can be used to enclose the entire property or the one acre tract that protects the house and backyard gardens.
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#OffGridLiving #LivinOffGrid #Howto #Build #Fences #HogPanels #CowPanels #WeldedWire #BarbedWire #TPosts #ChainLink #Solar #Electric
Solar Powered Lighting Systems for Off Grid Cabins and Sheds
One of the first things you’ll learn when camping or off grid living is that without electricity, it gets dark quickly.
But solar power is a great way to provide a wide variety of lighting and security systems that will let see what is making that big bumping sound in the backyard at 2:00 am in the morning.
Solar spotlights are powered by photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight to electricity on the atomic level. Each cell contains a thin, flat semiconductor panel with a positive charge on one side and negative on the other. Sunlight causes the semiconductor’s atoms to blow apart, releasing electrons; the electrons are recaptured as electric current between the positive and negative charges. The electricity then travels through a cable to power the spotlight. Solar energy is also stored in the interior battery for use at night or on cloudy days.
Solar spotlights are particularly useful in illuminating outdoor spaces where traditional extension cords or bundles of wiring aren’t practical, such as in formal gardens, large open lawns or residential entrances. Newer models offer light emitting diodes (LEDs), which illuminate more effectively and efficiently than old-fashioned incandescent bulbs. Whether you choose to light a wide area from above or train the beam from ground level on an individual object, such as garden statuary, you can easily install individual spotlights without hiring a professional contractor.
The foremost concern with installing solar spotlights is ensuring that enough sunlight reaches the photovoltaic cell. Spotlights today usually feature a long power cable between the cell and the actual light, so you can place the cell in a sunny spot that receives about eight hours of light a day, and position the spotlight where you want it.
For ground-level lighting, stake the cell in the ground so the cell faces the brightest sun, and then stake the light in the ground a few feet away from the object you wish to illuminate. Train the beam upward to focus on the object.
Mounting solar spotlights over entrances, garage doors or decks involves screwing the light’s baseplate into the vertical wall or post over the area you want to brighten, then angling the light’s beam downwards. With these types, the solar cell may be attached to the light’s hood or via a power cable; in both cases, the cell still needs to receive sufficient sunlight for operation.
Source: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/install-solarpowered-spotlights-79769.html
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Off Grid Living - Learning How to Live Off the Grid 