Florida Solar install thoughts -- after hurricanes
I have read through several opinions about energy generation including solar, LG/natural gas generators and gasoline/diesel. Previous post by vagrantprodigy07 prompted these thoughts.
I have also experienced several hurricanes (never a Cat 5) and the annoying aftermath.
So here's some rough numbers:
We live in north central Florida.
Our current house runs 50-70 kwh depending on air conditioner use, heat outside, etc. When we went through Irma, I used an old generator I've had for several years (5500 watt) that ran our freezer, well (220v) some lights and kept phones charged. It runs on gasoline.
A generac LG generator to run every thing would be between 5-7k, as far as I can tell, not necessarily counting installation. A friend has a similar setup. It clicks on automatically and seamlessly.
Solar for our stuff, without a battery, roughly 23k. Really several times what a generator would be.
So why would I want solar instead of the others? Skipping over the environmental aspects of all that, there is a more pragmatic part: No fuel needed, per se.
Irma was an unusual storm for us, and each hurricane is different. This one came up the state after a nor'easter already saturated the ground the day before, so the flooding we saw up here was beyond anything ever recorded. Houses under water, completely submerged that had never been wet in 100 yrs. Bridges closed, roads underwater that were MAJOR roads, and power outages everywhere.
Gasoline does not store well, it has ethanol and non ethanol gas is hard to come by, so we had about 15 gallons. That lasted 2 days. Then the adventure to 1. Figure out how to get around (still flooded), closed roads and bridges, despite my having a good 4x4 sometimes you need amphibious vehicles; 2. Find a gas station that had power, gas, and then get in the 1 hr long line to fill your vehicle and your little portable gas containers. For maybe another 2-3 days. And needing to go back to work soon even if you don't have power.
My friend, on the other hand, his generator failed because IT flooded, too. So a day or 2 for repairs, then more LG needed; it holds about 3-5 days for him, I don't know his energy use. Then of course, there's a local LG shortage. His enormous generator mostly sat out of the hurricane.
Now we can get by without much; it isn't fun but we did well with candles, books, games etc. However, after every damn hurricane I've been through there are 2 main things. A giant mess to clean up, and incredible heat/humidity to do that work in. Air conditioning and showers are what I really need after running a chainsaw through that mess. Not having water flowing or air conditioning is the worst. Or enough cold beer.
So solar panels, assuming they don't get damaged from the winds (usually the winds aren't cat 5 level so I suspect the wiring would usually be damaged), have the keen advantage of not needing fuel. You can't easily fuel up your big or little generators in a big storm or minor apocalypse.
Thoughts?
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