Newbie considers alternate energy sources

 We are fixing up a cabin in a remote location near a stream.  While we do
have electrical service there, we have been thinking about trying to augment
our power needs with solar or water power, and feed some back into the grid
to offset power costs.

The stream is about 150' away and runs pretty strong in winter and spring,
and would certainly turn a small water wheel, which I believe I could
fashion.  In summer, there is a lot of solar that could be tapped (although
the price of the panels and installation is prohibitive so far).

My main concern is to find a way of converting these differing power sources
into a single storage medium that would work to use for residential power,
and to feed the grid when we aren't around to consume the power.  I
understand it will be some method of converting generated current to battery
storage and I have done some preliminary searching, but am not finding any
simple-speak sites that might explain how such a setup might work.  Can
anybody point me to the right info?

Thanks

 
Have you checked the legal situation to make sure you can put a water
wheel on this stream?

I personally think that if you have met your heating needs by other
methods (wood stove, solar hot water heater), that you have built the
cabin shady so you don't need air conditioning--that your
electrical needs will be so low that it is not cost effective
to bother with electicity.

--
Jonathan Grobe Books  
Browse our inventory of thousands of used books at:
http://www.grobebooks.com

 Sounds like a cool project, but somewhat unique because of the
combination of water and solar. PV systems get sized by measuring
electrical power consumption in kw-hr per day. Get a kill-a-watt meter
to start. Rule of thumb is have enough batteries for 3 days of cloudy
weather. Search for the pvwatts program from nrel, which will tell you
how many pv panels you need at your latitude for your power reqs. Read
about grid tie inverters.... some brands and models can handle grid
tie AND battery charging, but they are scarcer and expensiver. Other
keyword is 'microhydro'.... I'll now turn the thread over to someone
that knows how to have the hydro charge controller charging the
batteries at the same time the pv charge controller was charging the
batteries. If they both start fighting each other trying to get 2
volts more than what it thinks is the battery voltage, but its really
the other charge controller, then you have a problem. I'm interested
in the solution myself. Over.

 

Mamba wrote:


Before you do any of that ensure you have first class insulation of the
property. NOT token (a couple of inches) insulation, or you're simply throwing
energy away.

Graham

 

Mamba wrote:


You'll be amazed how little it really is. Look at an insolation map.



And will continue to be for decades if not forever.

Graham