Green energy buffs living Off the Grid
By Lyle Griffiths
Up on the heights of Martinborough, Frank and Lisa Cornelissen have built their new home. Wanting to conserve energy and be as self-reliant as possible, they have installed solar panels, a wind turbine and created a battery storage area in a separate building.
“To begin with we didn’t know where to start,” says Frank. “We knew it was going to cost us $27,000 to link up to the transformer up at the top of the hill and then of course there would be charges for the power. We decided to pursue other options.
“We investigated solar panels and decided to purchase 12 x 315-watt Photovoltaic solar panels which could be ground-mounted. They could also be shifted if necessary.
“Our initial plan was to place them facing the Northeast to capture the most sunlight. But large trees on our boundary shaded the panels until 10:00 a.m. in winter.
“Eventually we realised that to gain the maximum amount of sunlight we would have to position the panels for both midwinter and mid-summer sun on the shortest and longest days. The panels are now set to latitude 40 degrees, but we have accepted the fact that there will always be some shading.
“The other dimension we had to consider was the angle at which to position the panels.
“Having tested the system, we have since installed another 11 panels each producing 400 Watts.”
The DC electricity generated by the panels is then sent to an Inverter Conversion unit which is housed with the batteries. This stores electricity in the batteries and converts to AC electricity to use in the house. … Continue Reading
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