The Alternative Energy Thread - Generators, Solar, UPS, Wind

[AkbarGr8]

An added advantage of lithium batteries is extended life (pylontech is rated to have a life of 10 years) and the ability to use them daily / drain them to power your home during peak hours without affecting / impacting life. Much higher rated cycle counts.

If you can afford lithium, go for it! Space saving and no maintenance/ fumes are an added bonus.

[saqibhassan95]

Are tubular batteries longer lasting? worth it?

yeah for sure

[saadaqib00]

Thanks a lot for the detailed information!
I have a better understanding now of the subject matter.

[AkbarGr8]

Solar panel cleaning day for a raised structure. Used a pressure washer + extendable rod with interchangeable brush / mop. Results came out fantastic MashaAllah

Before

After

[capsat]

@AkbarGr8 to have optimum production during long sun hours in summer you shall do it twice a week. For your own advantage.

my neighbour 3 houses away have 18 kwatt set up 12 kw ongrid 6 kw hybrid. his KE Payable bill turned out to be 865 units. highest since Aug 2022.

on eid 3rd day at neighborhood gtg he was crying about high bill no saving even after solar panels. Over my question of how often you wash the panels he taunted me just like our lahore crown member used to do. I suggested please speak to your installer for how often panel cleaning is required. since then he is missing Saturday morning saw panel washing at their roof top in progress.

[AkbarGr8]

I closely monitor units production / physical condition of the panels thanks to roof camera. For me a sweet spot / best bang for buck cleaning cadence cycle is once every 2 weeks.

This changes like say last week there was drizzle which absolutely ruined the panels and I had to clean mine after only 7 days.

But yes, having panels clean is critical to optimal performance. Cleaning panels mounted on L2/L3 structures is much easier compared to a raised structure.

[AABBDDuullaahh]

If you're interested I can also offer an alternate design to this.
A combination of hybrid plus on-grid. With the possibility of extension of solar power up to 12kW.

You can visit my website: pemcoeng.com
Drop me a WhatsApp message and I'll be happy to share an alternate solution. You may then choose if that's any better or not

Also if you wish, a similar spec'd Ongrid can also be done with a slight discount. ( ~1.66mil - 18 longi panels)

[abart]

some people have installed the garden sprinkler around the panels , they also do well job if you just run them every day for some time and i really like this idea

[AkbarGr8]

I looked into this and decided against it as the nozzles are prone to clogging. Bird droppings are super difficult to remove which definitely require brushing to clean.

[capsat]

the garden sprinkler around the panels

with passage of time sprinkler path remain clean rest of area develop layered scaling. Glass surface of panel require scrubbing by all means.

[umans]

For uplift structure, better oversize PV and occasionally clean panels after 2 months or so. In my opinion it is not worth taking risk to do such things at height.

[a.mustafa98]

Aoa,
I got news that local meters will be installed by K-Electric from now onwards instead of imported ones. I want to know if there is a difference in performance or tariff between the two?

[saqibhassan95]

I want to know if there is a difference in performance or tariff between the two?

There's no difference
infact local meters are 100% accurate
lesco, mepco, iesco etc are already using single/3 phase meters manufactured by Pel, microtech industries, Vertex electronics, transfopower industries etc
Recently I got sonoff device for energy monitoring
This one

It's made in China
so it has nothing to do with local single/3 phase meters
To my surprise, the device was showing same stats as vertex and transfopower meters, not even 0.1% difference, even as low as 11 watts were the same on the device and meters
So no need to worry

[capsat]

clean panels after 2 months

with such long period of zero cleaning you are risking performance depletion. Performance drop as high as upto 35 to 40%. humidity, dew and dusty wind factor create layer(s) which block the wafer exposure for optimum performance.

@babarhyd @raza1 please offer comments Thank you

[umans]

Local ones are pretty accurate, thay can even detects upto 10 hormonics. They can save upto 12 months of data and multiple seasons can be defined. They are multiple othete features that DISCOs ate not using.
I was involved in development of first locally designed and manufacturerd energy meter more than decade ago. It is still in production and working in field

[AkbarGr8]

This is great news, if true. Cost would be lower too. My friend paid 100k recently for the imported unit.

Do the local meters have sim cards? Apparently the imported units can transmit data to KE wirelessly and there is no physical reading.

[AkbarGr8]

I have the same exact sonoff device for my electric geyser. Switches it on / off per my liking and monitors / logs the electric consumption also. Truly a life saver!

On a side note, since I have excess solar capacity, I've shifted my entire house holds water heating to electric. Across two geysers, my daily consumption averages between 6 - 8 units. My gass bill has now reduced to a minimum of 200rs / month due it being used for cooking only. A worthy investment considering prevailing gas shortages / rate hikes expected in the future.

[AkbarGr8]

Do you know why KE resorted to using the imported meters? Makes no sense.

[umans]

No, I donk know about KE policies.
BTW we built GSM and Zigbee meters as well that used to send data to server for logging purpose and can be operated by sms as well. Actually DISCOs deliberately discourage such options because they don't want to reduce meter reader role for obvious reasons.

[AkbarGr8]

Sounds good, thanks for the insights. Hopefully with the switch over to local units installation in KHI will be much sooner. @waqar747 FYI.