Solar tracker is s small thing that adjust your solar panels always in the right position for getting close to the sun. It sound like something we really need it, how can our solar energy for homes live without them! Hold on, I think that if the tracker is needed part it should bundled with solar energy for homes, but it’s not the case. So, we are in our own way!

In the big picture we can say that during spring/winter you solar energy for homes will have more power 40-50%, and Fall/Summer 30-40% depend of where you living. So, we will have average more annually power production 30-40%, not bad right. But just a minutes, there is no free lunch!

Without doubt we want the better solar energy for homes, and the solar tracker is not free, there is a cost. Many factors including the size of photovoltaic array, and the solar tracker systems (active or passive, active are Single-axis and Dual-axis while passive is just only single-axis it use heat from sunlight, I will bring more information next time) will giving us range of its cost. There is no magic formula and on top of that normally the rebate program will apply base on the installed watt not the production watt, so we will not the fully benefit from extra power that produced from solar. But do not confuse for that, all we have to do is to put all the produced power against all the cost together (with rebate program) then, we will know exactly $us/kWh.

Normally what we get in summary is 20-25% annually less cost. It not the same figure as more power produced, due to the rebate program. In principle the solar tracker will give more solar energy for homes, if you are grid on you can get fully benefit by resell extra power to local utility. But if you grid off, you have no opportunity to resell them, so you have to utilize them at your homes.

By : Pett Martin : love to talk about solar energy for homes

I just back from visiting my friend solar energy project. By mistake of battery ordering, he got different battery capacity. It is the same voltage but different the current! With some reason over there, he cannot change them. So, the show must go on he have to use them and the problem is here!!
He connect the battery all together with mixing them up, in the overview it look okay. But some piece of them is not working in the good performance. With some wiring he got two battery different current in series 12V/100AH and 12V/150AH , here the point, the charge controller is working under the average voltage. So, the small current 100AH will be getting the longer charge, it mean overcharge but the bigger current 150AH is never full charge. When the battery is being discharged, the 100 AH battery will go flat ,then its voltage will fall well before the bigger one 150 AH battery. The inverter will eventually cut out but not before the 150 AH battery is excessively drained. So, the small one always work too much, while the bigger is too relax. At the end it will reduce the battery life time, and his solar solar energy is never in the best operation.
Well, I gave him some comment ask them to avoid the series battery wiring with different current. And trying to make the parallel wiring for mixing two battery. Because the battery will be operate under the same voltage, and the current will be shared. But the best is to get every battery in the same capacity/same type. But it is not for his cases.
So, in general you can wiring the battery in parallel , after that the charge controller will take care them.

By Pett Martin : I love solar energy

Some of us may or may not heard a news for a big project of solar energy couple day ago, a big consortium plan to build the electricity power from renewable energy , to put it exactly  will be solar energy and wind energy …  both together.

The project called Desertec involves a consortium of about 20 firms—including many big German company such as Siemens , Deutsche Bank , and energy companies like RWE—the project will cost around €400 billion ( the fund come from Europe, so it Euro currency), this is what  Torsten Jeworrek  said ( He is a Munich Re board member).

He said the initiative aimed to “present concrete plans in two to three years’ time,” and start the flow of energy to Europe within a decade. Munich Re will lead the project, and the meeting in July will formally establish the group.

He believes that it will be the largest green-energy project in the world, could provide around 15 percent of Europe’s energy needs. But German firms can’t do it alone—The Desertec would require cooperation among a number of different governments and firms.

We ( I mean you .. yes you’re my investor..and me) quit familiar with solar energy, we put solar panels or solar cells mostly on the roof. But they not doing that, they will use the technology called concentrating solar power CSP. This is not Hi-Technology such array of photovoltaic but Low-Technology , we should proud that our DIY at home is the Hi-Tech thing!. So, it will use mirrors to harness rays from the sun to produce steam and drive turbines that make electricity. The power would then be delivered to Europe through high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables. This idea has existed for years, but the high cost of building the infrastructure has kept investors away.

According to the report from Greenpeace mention that the 1 sq km of land is enough to generate as much as 100-130 gigawatt hours (GWh) of solar electricity a year using solar thermal technology. This is the same as the power produced by a 50 MW conventional coal or gas-fired mid-load power plant. Over the total life cycle of a solar thermal power system( I don’t know exactly how long, should be 40 years), its output would be equivalent to the energy contained in more than 5 million barrels of oil. Sound interesting!

The solar fields and wind turbine will coverage from north Africa to the Middle East while Europe will installed only the wind turbine, of course it gonna be politic effects that will come from taking benefit from underdeveloped country to developed country, it may impact to local people/ some animal, bla bla bla. It is always like this, the big investment bring the dark side together with the brightness. But this is beyond my topic here!. So, the Desertec consortium will have to make sure that African countries involved receive ample compensation.

By Pett Martin: who always enjoy to talk about solar energy