Solar power small farm Isan

[Tagged]

Im about to decide to invest in sun energy for our small farm project. We need big enough capacity to run well pump, water system and a AC trough night with lights, fridge and so on. Shouldnt be to big. 

 

What do I need ? Where can i get it, and who can install, and in best case get a complete package at what cost? 

[johng]

8 minutes ago, Tagged said:

AC trough night with lights, fridge and so on. Shouldnt be to big.

AC and fridge will need "big" batteries and inverter.

[FarFlungFalang]

Yeah good question!Some nearby bush monks we help out now and then recently set up a pretty simple system and I used to set them up for GPS bases for surveying and other than keeping a sharp eye out and asking locally,I did a quick lazada search and found shed loads of stuff with prices.

[Tagged]

2 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Yeah good question!Some nearby bush monks we help out now and then recently set up a pretty simple system and I used to set them up for GPS bases for surveying and other than keeping a sharp eye out and asking locally,I did a quick lazada search and found shed loads of stuff with prices.

Im a complete idiot when it comes to AC DC and whatever, and would like to have an up to date system for future. I also looked in to car batteries as an possibillity ? I see used Tesla batteries is getting popular for solar energy use. 

 

 

[sanmyintmaung]

6 minutes ago, johng said:

AC and fridge will need "big" batteries and inverter.

Newer Solar direct drive refrigerators use water packs instead of batteries as storage. It uses the sun’s energy to freeze water or other material and then uses the cooling from that “ice bank” to keep the refrigerator cold during the night and cloudy days.

[Misab]

2019:

If you are on the grid (which means the energy your solar cell produce makes the meter run backward during daytime and you use from the meter during nighttime)  No needs for expensive batteries.

 

Solar power will lose 20 % when converted to AC, which is the power you normally use.

 

10  Solar Panel  a  340 watt. =  3400 watts per hour with full sun     (1 day (6 full sun hours) will produce about 20.400 watt    (24000/20% =   apprx. 17.000 Watt,   AC)  or 17 kgw.  X 30 days  =  510 kgw in one month,  one year 6.120 kgw.

Expect power from solar cell in rainy season to drop from 100 % to apprx. 30 %.

 

10 solar panels  a 340 w.    each  6.000              60.000         

Inverter  1 phase  (5.000W)                                 44.000 

 

Charge  controller                                              4.000

 

Pay for installation apprx.                                 40.000

 

                                                          All        148,000   B.

 

 

One solar panel weight 20 kg   x 10  panels  200 kg.

Panel  measure:   1,70 meter x  1 meter              (1.656  x  0.77)

 

Good Luck with your green foot print

[Tagged]

We are completely off grid, and our first tought was diesel generator, then on grid, but we do not own the land connected to it, and we need at least 20 poles, and 200 meter with line x 2 to get on the grid, as well a deal with the neighbours. Alot of work with digging, cement, rigging and of course when rainseason,,,,,,, so it is either diesel generator or solar power. 

[johng]

1 hour ago, Tagged said:

so it is either diesel generator or solar power.

I'd go for both.

[Tagged]

1 hour ago, johng said:

I'd go for both.

I guess thats the solution! 6 months a year we do not need aircon, and if we produce ice as well we have cooler for food.

[Tagged]

So who in Isan Korat, Chaiyaphum and Petcabun deliver tip notch solar power equipment and do help with installing and give advises? Contacts please

 

I when I have time figure out what needs, and start setting up the central with diesel generator first, as education myself, but some help on the way would be appreciated. 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Tagged

[ireckonso]

The first thing you need to do is an energy audit of your current and future needs. You can buy a lot of expensive kit easy but will it fit your needs or be a white elephant like most unplanned solar installations.

[MikeN]

There is a recent post on the CTH forum from a guy who was faced with a big bill for a 1.5km electric connection, so he has got a preliminary quote for a solar setup from a Chiang Mai company for around 500k. He is planning for up to 3 air cons, pumps, water heaters etc, so quite a large set up.

 Perhaps find his post on CTH and send him a pm for the contact details ?

[CharlieH]

I would advise extreme caution ! I wont name names but a close friend went through such an installation and it never ever worked.

The whole thing ended up being scrapped and a messy court case, he lost HUGE !.

 

All looks great on paper in a proposal, installed operational and functional is a whole different thing.

Unless you can go visit an actual working installation and real customer in your province, I would be extremely weary.

[Crossy]

@Tagged are you really only 200m from grid power?

 

It may be more economical to talk with your local PEA to see what solution they can offer if you're only looking at a small supply (5/15) with gas cooking and no water heating.

 

Does your access easement (that permits you to get to your land) go in the right direction? There may already be a clause in place for power supply.

 

Even a 5/15 supply can give you 3kW 24/7/365 (except when it's off).

 

[farmerjo]

200 hundred metres of  PEA power if you did yourself wouldn't come to more than 60,000 baht max,just make sure holes are dug and whoever makes the concrete poles has a hiab so when delivered drop them straight in.

You could entice the neighbours by offering the back side of the poles for their cables.

7x poles(150mmx150mmx 6 metres) at around 1500 baht then cable and your odds and ends.

[Tagged]

1 minute ago, farmerjo said:

200 hundred metres of  PEA power if you did yourself wouldn't come to more than 60,000 baht max,just make sure holes are dug and whoever makes the concrete poles has a hiab so when delivered drop them straight in.

You could entice the neighbours by offering the back side of the poles for their cables.

7x poles(150mmx150mmx 6 metres) at around 1500 baht then cable and your odds and ends.

I will get down there in 10 days, and start making decissions, and also talk to the family. We where about to get a deal with road solution there, but now the owner suddenely did not have money, and my parents in law, will not let us pay for the whole road, since they wanted us to help only when they started to talk about it. Therefor I do not want to be hostage of their goodwill. I know all about this from where Im from, and how bad it can turn out when somebody thinks they being taken advantage of, or they deserve more. 

 

I think a combination of solar energy I can develop by years, and also have a diesel generator for our night needs. We will need an backup generator anyway. 

[farmerjo]

6 minutes ago, Tagged said:

Therefor I do not want to be hostage of their goodwill. I know all about this from where Im from, and how bad it can turn out when somebody thinks they being taken advantage of, or they deserve more. 

The same happened to me,i moved a road and later they came back and said it had to be 4 metres wide,i got an excavator in and trimmed my dam to make it the correct width.

Since then the dam leaks and makes the road impassable at times.

They came again wanting stone put down and i told them to <deleted> off.

I had done more than my duty and then they stop coming and improved it themselves.We have a good relationship and they were just testing the waters.

I would make the road,it's in your best interests. 

[Assurancetourix]

On 1/11/2020 at 3:40 PM, Tagged said:

So who in Isan Korat, Chaiyaphum and Petcabun deliver tip notch solar power equipment and do help with installing and give advises? Contacts please

 

I when I have time figure out what needs, and start setting up the central with diesel generator first, as education myself, but some help on the way would be appreciated. 

I have to go see the 2,000 W installation that a friend had installed on the roof of his house not far from Nong Khai (on the road to Tha Bo);
he told me that he paid 65,000 baht in all , for this installation of 2,000 W;
obviously with 2,000 watt we use neither AC nor water heater.
He has no air conditioning system in his house.

However he has a small swimming pool;
Everything that is electric at home is powered by this new installation which saves him at least 1,000 baht per month;
if we calculate correctly, after 5 years he has repaid his purchase.

and icing on the cake, it no longer has a power outage which still happens too often;
In my village, Sakon Nakhon province, I have about 3 to 4 power cuts per week; so I really want to mount the same system but can be a little more powerful; 3,000 Watt should be enough to be able to use occasionaly a water heater .

[johng]

For hot water you could use a long lenght of hose painted black which re circulates water into a larger insulated holding tank (maybe solar pump assisted) during the hot months even an exposed to the sun holding tank will get quite warm and drastically reduce the power needed to heat the water up  for showers.

[Tagged]

16 minutes ago, johng said:

For hot water you could use a long lenght of hose painted black which re circulates water into a larger insulated holding tank (maybe solar pump assisted) during the hot months even an exposed to the sun holding tank will get quite warm and drastically reduce the power needed to heat the water up  for showers.

I think those holding tanks circulate themselves right? No need for pump?

cold water goes down, warm water goes up? 

 

At least that what I think I can build. 

 

Saw this system in Spain, but did not look in to it yeat. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermosiphon

Edited January 13, 2020 by Tagged

[Thaifish]

Help please from Burriram, I am considering putting a 3000kw Solar system in. I am not a Sparky or Electrician but seem to know more than the local guys if you know what I mean.. Reason 1 is to drop my power bill as a lot of my consumption is in the middle of the day 2nd power outages which happens with the start of the wet season in April and thirdly go green a little bit.

 

My first question... I Have heard that that some old meter readers (Issan) will not read a negative power consumption. That is the extra power going back into the grid from the solar system if not consumed will show as electricity actually consumed? Is it true that the meter will (can) continue to run forward costing you money even though the power is going back into the grid?

 

Second Question... I do not want to go down the battery bank back up. The cost goes up big time. Power outages mostly happen from 1300hrs to 1600hrs from experience. I am thinking I can still use the solar to run the A/C which uses 1900watt and having panels 3000kw might(?) keep it going if not to cloudy. I have good sun where I want to put the solar panels. My question is how will an A/C handle low watts. Will it damage the A/C unit if it does not get the full watts and 10 minutes later it has enough power to run?   

 

If anybody has thoughts on Inverters you can get In Issan or any ideas to help my project much appreciated...  

Edited January 17, 2020 by Thaifish
Inverter and thank you.

[Tagged]

1 hour ago, Thaifish said:

Help please from Burriram, I am considering putting a 3000kw Solar system in. I am not a Sparky or Electrician but seem to know more than the local guys if you know what I mean.. Reason 1 is to drop my power bill as a lot of my consumption is in the middle of the day 2nd power outages which happens with the start of the wet season in April and thirdly go green a little bit.

 

Hi, Im just learning now, and found some good channels on youtube to start with, and then I need to see what I can access in Thailand of different components I can use, and check the prices compare to where I come from. Maybe import some parts as well. 

 

 

[Thaifish]

Just a correction to my last post 3Kw system not 3000kw!!!.... Not many replies to this thread but anyway I will soldier on... I have found an inverter which I think will cover my needs and the quality looks ok as they sell in western countries with QA. They are made in Taiwan from what I can read .  They do not supply to Thailand so I might buy one and bring it back from Ozz in my bag in April. Just a start on my project...  I still do not know if the meter reader here in Issan will show if left over power from the solar being sent back to the grid will actually show the opposite and actually read as if you are consuming power. It is something I picked up on from youtube videos..??

 

A link to the inverter I think will cover my requirements.... Looks like you can add batteries if you want to go down that path...

 

https://mppsolar.com.au/product/hybrid-v2-5048-5kw-48v-inverter/

 

 

[khwaibah]

9 hours ago, Thaifish said:

Just a correction to my last post 3Kw system not 3000kw!!!.... Not many replies to this thread but anyway I will soldier on... I have found an inverter which I think will cover my needs and the quality looks ok as they sell in western countries with QA. They are made in Taiwan from what I can read .  They do not supply to Thailand so I might buy one and bring it back from Ozz in my bag in April. Just a start on my project...  I still do not know if the meter reader here in Issan will show if left over power from the solar being sent back to the grid will actually show the opposite and actually read as if you are consuming power. It is something I picked up on from youtube videos..??

 

A link to the inverter I think will cover my requirements.... Looks like you can add batteries if you want to go down that path...

 

https://mppsolar.com.au/product/hybrid-v2-5048-5kw-48v-inverter/

 

 

 

Just some food for thought. Yes the equipment from the west is far superior BUT the import fees levied by Thai customs will double the cost. The link https://www.facebook.com/kksolarcell/ is just one of many that can be found on FB. This company is used throughout. Buriram and Surin.

[ireckonso]

Have you done your power usage audit yet for your current and future usage ??????????? Sounds like you dont have a clue about the limitations of solar installations. A 3kw system isnt much power after figuring real world daily average kwh production. But hey spend the money the thai economy needs all the help it can get right now.

[johng]

There is a list of  approved inverters that you can connect to the grid..no need to risk importing stuff.

PEA_Inverter_list_29-Aug-18.pdf

[BritManToo]

On 1/10/2020 at 3:49 PM, Misab said:

10  Solar Panel  a  340 watt. =  3400 watts per hour with full sun     (1 day (6 full sun hours) will produce about 20.400 watt    (24000/20% =   apprx. 17.000 Watt,   AC)  or 17 kgw.  X 30 days  =  510 kgw in one month,  one year 6.120 kgw.

Expect power from solar cell in rainy season to drop from 100 % to apprx. 30 %.

 

Oddly, my 330w panel gets me 1KWH/day (Crossy has around the same output from his)

So your estimate is wildly wrong, 10 panels might make 10KWH in a day.

How about batteries, 5,000bht will get you 5KWH of storage.

 

So your 20KWH would need 20 panels and at least 4 batteries.

Not really noticed any difference between monsoon and winter though, sun is stronger when it's out in monsoon, still works out at around 1 unit/day/panel.

 

I've knocked 30 units/month off my leccy bill with a 330w panel, and a cheap Suoer GTI-D600 grid tie inverter.

(Total cost around 7,500bht including steel for the mount, reducing my bill by around 125bht/month)

Edited January 19, 2020 by BritManToo

[IsaanAussie]

I take the view that PEA prices are cheap and it takes a lot of connection costs to make solar competitve. However I have been thinking about looking into a mobile solar setup to be used to generate power to pump water on remote parts of the farm.

If I eliminate storage or at least delay it, I think an AC microinverter setup on a trailer will give me 220V AC that will power my existing power tools and pumps. Any one looked into this?  

 

[emptypockets]

On 1/17/2020 at 10:20 PM, Thaifish said:

Help please from Burriram, I am considering putting a 3000kw Solar system in. I am not a Sparky or Electrician but seem to know more than the local guys if you know what I mean.. Reason 1 is to drop my power bill as a lot of my consumption is in the middle of the day 2nd power outages which happens with the start of the wet season in April and thirdly go green a little bit.

 

My first question... I Have heard that that some old meter readers (Issan) will not read a negative power consumption. That is the extra power going back into the grid from the solar system if not consumed will show as electricity actually consumed? Is it true that the meter will (can) continue to run forward costing you money even though the power is going back into the grid?

 

Second Question... I do not want to go down the battery bank back up. The cost goes up big time. Power outages mostly happen from 1300hrs to 1600hrs from experience. I am thinking I can still use the solar to run the A/C which uses 1900watt and having panels 3000kw might(?) keep it going if not to cloudy. I have good sun where I want to put the solar panels. My question is how will an A/C handle low watts. Will it damage the A/C unit if it does not get the full watts and 10 minutes later it has enough power to run?   

 

If anybody has thoughts on Inverters you can get In Issan or any ideas to help my project much appreciated...  

Don't forget that it is a requirement that if the PEA supply goes down your inverter must disconnect from the supply for safety reasons, so it may not operate as you would like it to in a power outage. I guess you could but some form of manual or auto connect/disconnect relay to overcome this similar to those used for backup gen sets.

 

Has the OP considered running power underground instead of overhead? Get a ditch digger and go down at least a meter (I only went 500mm but I own all the land), install conduit, cables and appropriate warning tape/sand, job done. Not likely any farming operation would turn the soil over to a depth of a meter.

[Thaifish]

9 hours ago, ireckonso said:

Have you done your power usage audit yet for your current and future usage ??????????? Sounds like you dont have a clue about the limitations of solar installations. A 3kw system isnt much power after figuring real world daily average kwh production. But hey spend the money the thai economy needs all the help it can get right now.

Seriously thank you for the comment but hey! Just trying to come up with maybe using solar to drop my power consumption from the grid a bit and get a Return on Investment. My consumption is way over a 3Kw solar system. Yes a small system. My biggest power consumption is from about 10am till 4pm. It is just a return on investment and maybe being a bit green and hell yes helping the Thai economy at the same time. They need it! Im not a sparky sorry.. Just trying to gain knowledge from this forum.. I have 3x12vx40W solar system installed already running heat extractor fans in the roof and a circulating pump in the pool run on solar + house designed North/South with 3mt veranda and double insulation batts to keep the sun off the house . The solar panels are designed so I can change them to face the sun every 6 months for better efficiency.  I will definitely pay a visit to MP solar in Burriram for some advice and input. Thank you for the list of approved PEA inverters. Good point about the requirement for a back to the grid disconnect in event of a power drop. One thing I wish to do is keep the solar running while there is a power outage from the grid which happens every second day or so with the build up to the wet season April/March. 3 to 4 hours outage maybe.. There has to be a way to re-wire so you still have power and not electrocute the sparky fixing the breaker down the road. Worst case scenario I would turn off the non essential items like the fridge as I can cool my Leo with Ice...etc.. I am hoping that a 3Kw solar might still run one A/C drawing about 1900watt and I am sanook living here with that...

 

If you have read this far then I still have not had an answer to all of my posts regarding excess solar power... Maybe a question for PEA (useless)... if you have excess power going back into the grid (this being Thailand old style meters) will the meter run backwards or show the opposite as power actually being consumed. YouTube videos on solar feed back into the grid are showing this happens with old style meters.