Updated my #solar generation/consumption graphs to include how much of my generated energy I actually consume and how much it's saved me.

Alt...

A graph showing the electricity imported, generated, exported and consumed in a day for my house.

We installed our #solar panels around August of last year and it’s going well. We’re using zero kWh/month and have about 900 kWh banked with FPL. It’s very cool to know that the a/c and my pottery kiln are running on solar power.

If you’re thinking about it, especially if you’re in the Sunshine State, I highly recommend going solar 🌞 The panels can also act as shields for your roof during storms. #Florida

Alt...

A photo of our roof showing one solar panel attached to our metal roof, with a tree and blue sky in the background.

Anyone have recommendations for a small #solar setup? I'd like: regulated 5V 2A, doesn't have to be USB, but USB-C / PD would be a bonus. ~50Wh of battery, and something like 20-40W solar panel, less than 1m in length. If a folding panel, works ok if the panels don't all see the same amount of light. Must be able to charge battery and deliver power at same time. The more water resistant the better. Cheap is good. I'm trying to avoid buying something massively overkill.

So semi-successful test of switching our #solar / battery system off-grid this morning.

On the positive side it happily switched over and we ran with the grid disconnected for 5 minutes or so.

On the negative side, the system seemed to stop generating from the solar while off-grid (which isn't optimal).

Hey-ho, ticket already opened with supplier and manufacturer 🤨

New #blog post: Looking at performance over the third year of our #solar install

We've now had solar for 3 years, this short post takes a quick look at the system's performance over the past 12 months.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/third-year-of-solar.html

#electricity

So we just discovered that there's a constant 1.43A current flowing from AC mains (grid) input through our voltage regulating device and out into the earth connection. That corresponds to a load of ~330W, or an extra 240kWh on our monthly electricity bill! (When most of our domestic load is actually running on solar+batteries anyway.)

Current (😁) working theory: 10 years of way-past-rated-capacity voltages (e.g., 12V and 792V) have blown something inside the regulator. We have an unused backup device. We'll try to switch to it tomorrow and see what happens.

#solar #power #electricity #offgrid

RE: https://wandering.shop/@adapalmer/116602085281035534

#Solarpunk #solar #stewardship

New #blog post: Changing The Way I Track Solar Value

We originally invested in a #solar install in the hope that it'd reduce our energy bills.

Over the last few years I've tracked savings by using the real-time cost of our current #electricity tariff.

The problem is, we *wouldn't* be on that tariff if we didn't have a battery, so isn't a great expression of the savings we're deriving.

I've switched to using the average prices of a Fixed price tariff instead.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/changing-the-way-i-track-solar-breakeven.html

Much nerd excitement, this is day 7 of not importing any electricity from the grid.

100% our own solar generated power (including storing and using from the battery)

This includes multiple clothes washes, multiple dishwasher runs, cooking, and all our hot water (heat pump) for a family of 5.

I wonder how long we'll be able to keep this going?

#solar

Ah that point when a toot gets enough traction that people start replying to it, and then my notifications go even more bonkers.

I do love all the #Solar nerds here on fedi!

#SolarPunk

Trump’s war on Iran is driving up bills again.

But governments don’t have to choose between war profits and people’s lives.

Here are 4 ways to protect households and speed up a just transition

https://act.gp/3QKVdFL
#oil #gas #war #solar #renewables #rent #transport #food

we can have a better world

we literally just have to TRY

#climatechange #solar #rewilding

Alt...

A solar farm in Minnesota planted native wildflowers between its panel rows. Five years later, total insect populations tripled. Native bees increased 20-fold. Not only did insect populations boom, soybean fields next to the solar arrays got twice as many bee visits as fields farther away. Two of the things we usually think of as competing turned out to reinforce each other. One study, published in Environmental Research Letters in late 2024, tracked two utility-scale solar sites built on retired farmland in southern Minnesota, where the developer seeded native prairie species between rows of panels in 2018. By 2022, the sites looked less like industrial energy infrastructure and more like remnant prairie. Goldenrod soldier beetles colonized the goldenrod stands. Bumblebees nested in the soil. Monarch butterflies passed through during migration. The wildflower diversity grew sevenfold; insect diversity grew eightfold. This matters because, like it or not, utility-scale solar is going to take up real space. The US is on track to cover roughly six million acres in panels by 2050. The default approach is turfgrass, gravel, or herbicide-maintained bare ground, which is ecologically dead. The Argonne study shows the alternative isn't more expensive or harder to maintain. It's just a different seed mix.

I’ve been experimenting with my newish solar battery

Represented here is the end of the charge cycle yesterday at about the same time the sun started to set

I’ve been powering the freezer with this 2 kWh battery, and every morning there is ~50% charge left, and so far every day I get it up to 90% (by choice) from solar alone

I can also do a load of laundry or two, and some vacuuming, without being even connected to the grid (if I get the timing right)

Of course this is clear summer weather, so this won’t be the same all year

(This is far from sufficient to power the entire house, it’s just an experiment)

Essentially, 1-2 kWh that aren’t drawn from the grid on a daily basis

#solar

Alt...

Photo of the battery display panel. The numbers read: Charging time 29 min 90% capacity Input 320 W Output 0 W

Dear #lazyWeb, what's the most cost effective way to buy batteries for my #solar panels? Ideally I'd like to be able to take them with me easily if I move house.

#solar #PV I need to make a call on buying a battery for our solar system, but I don’t know what info is important and how to size it — it’s quite an expensive decision.

Anybody got some advice or useful links 🔗 ?

EDIT All sorted now, thanks Fedi friends!

Aleppo, Syria. #Solar #solarpunk
Got this sent to me

Alt...

Eine Luftaufnahme eines dichten Stadtgebiets mit zahlreichen Gebäuden mit Sonnenkollektoren auf den Dächern. Die Straßen sind sichtbar, mit Fahrzeugen gefüllt, und zwischen den Gebäuden ist Grün zu sehen. Der Ort ist als Aleppo gekennzeichnet.

"In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month.

“Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.”

The shift has been dramatic. Before the solar project launched in 2022, the village of about 130 people had no restaurant, no easy way to move around, and little communal infrastructure. Now solar revenue pays for meals, a village “happiness bus” for elderly people, a table-tennis facility and cultural activities.

The village deliberately chose to spend solar income on welfare rather than individual dividends, a decision Jeon says residents made themselves rather than being persuaded."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/16/south-korea-solar-power-renewables-revolution

#SouthKorea #SolarEnergy #Renewables #Solar #SolarPower

The U.S. and Israel's war on Iran has left developing countries using Chinese tech and trade, like solar panels and EVs, better able to weather fallout than those relying on American-backed supply chains. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/04/08/world/trump-lost-asia-to-china/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #donaldtrump #china #supplychains #iran #us #israel #trade #evs #solar #cleanenergy

The UK avoided the need for gas imports worth £1bn in March 2026 thanks to record electricity generation from wind and solar.

Wind generation hit a new record for the month of March on the island of Great Britain, up 38% year-on-year, while solar nearly matched the output of last year’s exceptionally sunny spring.

Reform UK is so out of touch.

#Wind #Solar #EnergyCrisis

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-record-wind-and-solar-saved-uk-from-gas-imports-worth-1bn-in-march-2026/

New #blog post: Adding A Balcony #Solar Install to our garage

We've had solar for nearly 3 years now, but our easterly exposure has been niggling at me: output starts waning around lunch so the afternoon feels wasted (particularly after a cloudy morning)

So, I've added some west facing panels to the garage using a plug-in solar kit

This post talks about the install, setting up monitoring with #telegraf as well as results in the week since

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/adding-plugin-solar-to-our-capacity.html

Iran War World News

Pakistan will keep flooding the country with cheap solar power to replace oil. Unfazed by Trump closing Hormuz with his ordinance incontinence.

Uruguay doesnt care

Ethiopia already banned gas cars

Trump PAID a company building a windfarm a $BILLION to stop building.

Oil is forest fires and war
Solar power is cheap

Here's another block arriving, without fees, again.

End oil, end wars, end trump, end billionairism.

#climate #iran #solar #war #oil #billionaires #coup

Brilliant news! The UK's Labour Government are going to make "plug in solar" legal.

Grab some panels from Lidl, hang them off your balcony or out your window, plug them in to your mains. Done!

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-go-further-and-faster-in-becoming-energy-secure

#Solar

I also recommend folks check out (and support!) Solar United Neighbors-- they're an advocacy group that helps navigate issues around solar install regulations and they run solar co-ops to get cheaper pricing by having people go solar together!

https://solarunitedneighbors.org

#solar #climatechange

On the plus side, once you've got your solar panels and associated support kit (batteries, inverters, etc...). They do tend to have a very good operating life, and as long as the atmosphere keeps letting sunlight through, will continue to generate power.

Maybe we should all be installing some more solar while the supply chains are functioning...

#Solar
3/3