What's your power mix?

[Crissa]

My home's location precludes a large solar or even small wind installation. We have a tiny amount of camping solar but not enough to charge more than our 12v devices. So we depend upon our electric utility and truck in propane a few times a year.

This is my power company: https://3cenergy.org/understanding-clean-energy/ (scroll to the bottom for the energy content). Our utility uses nearly all renewable power and is planning on 190MW of batteries to come online in the next three years, and offers a slightly more expensive tier for solar/wind exclusively.

Pretty cool, really, but it's notable that the Central Coast of California was one of the last places to be linked into the larger network, and we're still not connected to the state's water system.

-Crissa

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[TheLastStarfighter]

We're around 65% coal, 15% wind, 20% other, but that's about to change significantly. Nova Scotia is being connected to NFLD's hydro, which will take us down to around 40-45% fossil fuels. The plan beyond that is vague, but I think they want to import more hydro.

Personally, I want to go near 100% solar. We have 1:1 net metering, so I wouldn't need storage. We live in a converted power company building, with our home, my wife's studio and 3 income rental units. We previously converted the building from oil heat to heat pumps, but that means our electrical bills are high. We'd need a large solar system to cover it, but it would likely be worth it since our power rates are among the highest in Canada. We also want to do a rooftop addition, and I have a dream that the Tesla Solar Roof will be available here at the same time we can do the addition and add solar, and we can go that route. It would look super cool. Just need to save a lot of pennies...

 

[msmirnov86]

In BC, Canada we are about 91% hydro, 4% biomass and 4% wind. Solar, gas etc under 1%. So a great place for electric vehicles.

 

[Newton]

No idea what my mix is.

Was able to get down to 4kwh per day for a day or 2. But other days were 15khw(when more people were home)

 

[Ehninger1212]

Here is Texas ERCOT Grid:

 

[Crissa]

Was able to get down to 4kwh per day for a day or 2. But other days were 15khw(when more people were home)

That's really good! The average Californian house uses 18kWh per day, of course this varies pretty wildly by what section of the state they're in. (And is lower than the nation).

Out here on the Central Coast, we tend to use less than the others, hence being so close to being able to replace with renewables.

A couple hours of the space heater being on or charging an EV really can show up there! Luckily, charging an EV can be shifted around pretty easily.

-Crissa

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

That's really good! The average Californian house uses 18kWh per day, of course this varies pretty wildly by what section of the state they're in. (And is lower than the nation).

Out here on the Central Coast, we tend to use less than the others, hence being so close to being able to replace with renewables.

A couple hours of the space heater being on or charging an EV really can show up there! Luckily, charging an EV can be shifted around pretty easily.

-Crissa

Californians: "Space heater"

Canadians:

 

[lancethibault]

Not sure what our current mix is, but our electric rate is $.108/kWh. Avg about 24 kWh of electric per day. High of 38 kWh/day when the AC was running all Aug.

	Daily Avg kWh	Monthly Avg kWh
Month
Jan	31	930
Feb	19	570
Mar	19	570
Apr	20	610
May	20	600
Jun	20	600
Jul	27	810
Aug	38	1,140
Sep	33	990
Oct	25	750
Nov	18	540
Dec	22	660
	24.36	737.27
	kWhs/Annually
	8,770

I do know Mtn View Electric is a co-op that receives all it's electric from the Tri-State co-op. Their intent for Colorado is to be on 50% renewable by 2024. No power from coal by 2030. And 100% renewable by 2040.

Right now because of the cost of electricity only being $0.108/kWh it makes adding solar to my house a hard argument...even with the tax credit. The break even date is 11-16 years.

If our rates start going up as we transition to more clean energy, then adding solar to the house might be more worth while. One thing Mtn View Electric does is they increase the grid connection fee instead of increasing the rate fee. If this continues it will be difficult to ever make the argument to go with grid connected solar. I'd have to make the argument to go completely off grid for electricity. Which might be doable someday, especially if the cost of adding solar also decreases. I had 6 quotes and meetings with solar installers about 4 months ago. Right now I'm looking at 19-25 panels depending on the panel capability and the all in install costs avg about $1k - $1.5k per panel. As panels get more powerful and more efficient it might also lead to less panels required. When it comes down to about $750/panel all installed, and it can provide me roughly 100% of my requirement, and I can break even after about 7 or 8 years, I'd be more keen to have it done.

 

[TI4Dan]

When I was still living in San Jose, I installed a 2.8kw solar system, it was in the days when a solar panel of 180w was considered pretty good. It cost me around 22K bucks to do it myself. I filed all the needed papers to become a generation plant with PGE (22 pages) plus permits with city and the inspections. It did make a difference with my electrical bills plus I wrote a check once a year for the power I used, very convenient.

 

[SolarWizard]

I’m under construction currently of 2200ft2 home that’s 100% off grid. No gas. Well plus water capture tech along with solar since I own a very large solar business