I recently gave a Solar PV estimate for a customer who was building a remote camp, and unfortunately they decided to go with a generator as their power solution. I expect that at some point down the road they will go solar, as living with just a generator is inconvenient, noisy, and over time very costly. I know, because I lived it. When we first built our timberframe, passive solar, home, I went out and bought a very quiet and very efficient Honda Generator. This was to be our power solution for years to come, but after about a year of running the generator, and racking up 1200 hours on the new machine, I decided for many reasons that this was not a final solution for us. The next step in our power evolution was to add an inverter/charger, and a battery bank. This way the generator would run only for a short period of time everyday, servicing large loads, like laundry, and recharging the battery bank which would service smaller loads, like lights. This was a vast improvement over the stand alone generator solution, but it too was costly in gasoline, and was adding wear to the generator at too fast a pace. We finally had the capital to add a solar array, and we could not be happier. The generator now only runs in the darkest winter months, and our batteries are much healthier, as they reach float on a regular basis, which due to the longer slower charge rate was just not feasible with the generator.
I feel like I lost a job due to the lack of understanding about what solar pv is capable of providing. The generator solution has a much lower initial cost, which is enticing, but it is a poor investment in the long run, less convenient, noisy, and less environmentally friendly. I thought I would put dollars to my own scenario to illustrate. As you can see at around year 6, solar pv pays for itself, and by year 10 the battery/inverter/charger solution starts to pull way from the stand alone generator solution. This analysis does not include any tax credits or incentives, assumes a 7000 hour life for the generator, and factors in the life cycle for the batteries.
I feel like I lost a job due to the lack of understanding about what solar pv is capable of providing. The generator solution has a much lower initial cost, which is enticing, but it is a poor investment in the long run, less convenient, noisy, and less environmentally friendly. I thought I would put dollars to my own scenario to illustrate. As you can see at around year 6, solar pv pays for itself, and by year 10 the battery/inverter/charger solution starts to pull way from the stand alone generator solution. This analysis does not include any tax credits or incentives, assumes a 7000 hour life for the generator, and factors in the life cycle for the batteries.
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