Advice on Off Grid Solutions/ Solar

[AbdulGani10]

Hi Guys…
Hope everyone is well

My family and I are planning to move one of these days into a freestanding house and we were looking into the costing of going off grid for electricity supply as well as a borehole installation for free water. Ideally the off grid solution should be solar, that powers the house in its entirety, regardless of load shedding or not and that’s effective over a long period given it will probably be a high price. Ideally want a solution where it’s a once off situation and then maybe battery replacements for the inverter once every 8-15 years or so… anyone know of a trusted source that I could go to get a quote on this in Johannesburg, also a possibly of a maintenance of said system on a contract? Also if anyone knows of the ball park figure to expect to pay to install and maintain said systems at a time I’d appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[The_Analyst]

Depending how handy you are and how much spare time you have over weekends, you can wire up an inverter yourself to a new panel designed by an electrician. The electrician will then need to sign the COC after they inspect your work, and you can rewire the house circuits into your new panel.

Leroy Merlin has some stupidly good prices on 650W solar panels right now @ R2k each, and have a 10kWh LiFePO4 battery for a steal at like R25 000. I don't know how much electricity people in Joburg use, but in Durbs, 2 of those batteries and 10 of those panels will be more than enough for a family.

Go for a decent inverter like a SolArk which can blend power with mains when you're suddenly drawing more than your inverter can output. The cheaper ones are also a lot louder which can be irritating. You can also usually parallel inverters.

Edit: A basic pre-populated panel, wires, fuses, surge arrestors, etc would probably set you back around R5k.

I haven't paid anyone to do this for me. Anyone with the going labour rate?