So, I have my roof covered with solar panels. And Salt River Project, my utility, is threatening to at least triple monthly "basic connection fees" for solar "customers."
I've decided that's not an option for me. Before I pay such Danegeld, I'll get a bunch of batteries and drop off the grid entirely. (And I wrote as much in a letter to SRP's CEO.) The rate increase is still in the proposal stage and there'd be a period of some years before it'd go into place for existing "customers"...but, still, now is the time to start planning. As I see it, I have two main reasonable options for the battery: nickel-iron or something discarded from an EV. Nickel-iron would either be expensive to purchase or a significant investment in time to make, but it should last forever. A few surplus / used / whatever EV batteries would presumably be much cheaper, but have a much more limited lifespan. Part of me would be inclined to go the nickel-iron route and never have to deal with it again. Another part suggests to do things as cheaply as possible, even if it only lasts a few years, because battery technology is improving so rapidly. So...can anybody offer any suggestions? For example, what to expect to pay for EV batteries that're no good for use in an EV but still hold enough charge to be worth putting at the back of a closet? I'm assuming the battery output will go into the DC input on the inverter I already have for the PV panels, and that, in turn, means that I don't have to worry about matching voltages from different batteries. That, for example, I should be just fine getting a surplus Leaf battery from here and a Tesla battery from a wrecking yard there and so on until I've got enough amp-hour capacity for my needs, and that I can add and remove batteries later as the fancy tickles me. Is that a valid assumption? Anything else I should consider or start thinking about? Thanks, b& -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 801 bytes Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20141221/aab757b4/attachment.pgp> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
