colonel4bin
08-04-2016, 11:36 AM
Hi All, it's been a while since I've cruised the forums and thought, since it might interest some, I'd share a little on what we have been up to....
Last summer I bought a small farm that is "off-grid". No telephone poles, no electric lines, no public utilities......Our property is an hour outside Lake Tahoe, within the El Dorado National Forest, in northern California. We are literally surrounded on 3 sides by National Forest boundary! While this made the property a gem to me, we were faced with the challenge of running our home and business on alternative energy sources.
In the beginning, I was told solar power would not be an option to power kilns and the like. Now me not being one to be told something can't be done, I decided to take on the challenge and see if we could pull it off. After an exhausting amount of research and with the help of the engineers at Iron Edison, a solar power/battery company in Denver, we came up with a solution.
In September of last year our solar array and battery went on-line and has been smoothly powering our glass studio for the past 10 months! 100% Green energy! Now the caveat with solar is obvious, the sun needs to shine for it to work. We live in an ideal location where the sun shines 300+ days a year, for a good 5-7 hours per day, this was key and very much lucky on my part.
Our system consists of 21 solar panels, capable of producing 300 watts each. A 500 aH Nickel/Iron - Edison Battery bank, a 6,500 watt AC/DC power inverter and 2 solar charge controllers. We built a "solar barn" to support the solar array and house the battery bank, which stores our excess energy for when the sun is not shining. We do have a small diesel back-up generator but so far, it has seen very little use, only in winter when sunlight can become scarce for periods of time.
Overall I have been extremely pleased with the result and wanted to pass along our journey for those who might be interested in a similar option. During the process I became very educated on solar energy systems and I still meet those who say you can't blow glass on solar power. I tell them, "stop on by and see for yourself!"
If anyone has any questions or would like to visit and blow glass on 100% solar energy, feel free to get in touch. http://www.LostDogStudios.com
A few photos are attached below.....
Garrett Keisling
Lost Dog Studios
86009
86010
Last summer I bought a small farm that is "off-grid". No telephone poles, no electric lines, no public utilities......Our property is an hour outside Lake Tahoe, within the El Dorado National Forest, in northern California. We are literally surrounded on 3 sides by National Forest boundary! While this made the property a gem to me, we were faced with the challenge of running our home and business on alternative energy sources.
In the beginning, I was told solar power would not be an option to power kilns and the like. Now me not being one to be told something can't be done, I decided to take on the challenge and see if we could pull it off. After an exhausting amount of research and with the help of the engineers at Iron Edison, a solar power/battery company in Denver, we came up with a solution.
In September of last year our solar array and battery went on-line and has been smoothly powering our glass studio for the past 10 months! 100% Green energy! Now the caveat with solar is obvious, the sun needs to shine for it to work. We live in an ideal location where the sun shines 300+ days a year, for a good 5-7 hours per day, this was key and very much lucky on my part.
Our system consists of 21 solar panels, capable of producing 300 watts each. A 500 aH Nickel/Iron - Edison Battery bank, a 6,500 watt AC/DC power inverter and 2 solar charge controllers. We built a "solar barn" to support the solar array and house the battery bank, which stores our excess energy for when the sun is not shining. We do have a small diesel back-up generator but so far, it has seen very little use, only in winter when sunlight can become scarce for periods of time.
Overall I have been extremely pleased with the result and wanted to pass along our journey for those who might be interested in a similar option. During the process I became very educated on solar energy systems and I still meet those who say you can't blow glass on solar power. I tell them, "stop on by and see for yourself!"
If anyone has any questions or would like to visit and blow glass on 100% solar energy, feel free to get in touch. http://www.LostDogStudios.com
A few photos are attached below.....
Garrett Keisling
Lost Dog Studios
86009
86010