A Solar Power Example for Nassau

Contributed by Mike Russell

Here is some advice from a resident who has partly achieved a renewable energy lifestyle. He wishes to remain anonymous as it is still illegal to generate your own power in the Bahamas:

Solar panels in the US are around $4/Watt.  On a big purchase, you can get them down to around $3.75, but I have rarely seen them lower than that. You have to add the cost of shipping - about $500 per pallet for 20 panels).  There is no import duty on solar systems in the Bahamas, only stamp tax, but this may be contested.

There are many brands of solar water heaters on the market and all of them are pretty good.  I would stick to a US-made system with an insulated tank. There are lots of Chinese systems available but their quality is often questionable, although the price is a lot better. 

Almost everybody uses Grunfos circulation pumps, which are German-made and last forever.  On the photovoltaic systems, inverters now have a 10-year warranty, and solar panels carry a 20-year warranty, but there are lots of systems over 30 years old that are still producing power.  Inverters generally have to be replaced after 15 years.

The system on my house cost me about $17,000.  I did all the shipping, clearance, trucking and installation (with three helpers), and it took me about 5 days.  You could figure that my system would cost about $20,000 for the equipment landed in the Bahamas plus labor to install. 

The panels can be seen on my roof from the street, but no other equipment is visible, because I take the power into a sub-panel inside and the inverter is mounted there. 

My system generates about 18Kwh per day on average, which is 540Kwh per month. This translates into about $173/month, or $2073/year in savings on my power bill.  At that rate, the system will pay for itself in less than nine years at current electrical rates. 

You have to figure that the cost of power is never going to come down, and the system will operate for at least 20 years, so you are making power valued at $41,472, ($17,000 divided by 129,600Kwh, which is about 13 cents per Kwh).

Systems in California cost a lot less because there is a rebate system there of about $2/Watt, but when you are buying power from BEC at .32/Kwh, solar systems become costworthy at a lot higher initial installed price. 

The answer to all of this is to get BEC on board, and have them credit the power you produce and put back into the grid through net metering.

Comments

[jackwelsh]

Solar energy can be utilized in cooking purpose, water heating, home lightening etc.. it's a renewable source of energy.
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jack
http://www.goinggreenbuzz.com

[Noel Rodman]

Right On Mike, I have almost the same system on my house and these types of systems are just what the Bahamas needs in order to make power affordable. Whenever BEC decides to allow net metering, everyone will enjoy the FULL benefits of their private power system, and not just benefit during the daylight hours. I hope the Bahamas can "get it together and catch up" with the rest of the world when it comes to alternative power systems. Noel Rodman, Sandyport, Nassau, Bahamas

[dextercath96]

I like solar power generator. I think there are lots of solar around the world. I am pretty sure that solar power in Nassau will make a lot of solar power system in the house of its residences. http://www.sunpowerport.com