My residential Solar + Mining farm

[cjclm7]

Excellent topic: using renewable energies for mining. This is a great Project. Thanks for sharing

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[NiHaoMike]

You must be retarded if you going to pay 40k for 10kW system lol

$1/W is the going rate for a few panels, you should be able to get them for even less in bulk.

[VyprBTC]

Anyone thinking about going solely strictly for mining, just stop it already lol.

I do have a 10kw panel on my house, we got it before I started mining, it is currently producing 20kw/day in the summer it was doing doing about 40kw/day.

Basically it barely offsets 1 rig lol. So if you're thinking you're going to plop down 40k to offset the power cost of 1 or 2 mining rigs.... you're a bad dude lol

You must be retarded if you going to pay 40k for 10kW system lol

It was what it was. Solar City is probably the most expensive, that's who we went with last year.

Done and paid for.

No fucks given.

[martyroz]

Anyone thinking about going solely strictly for mining, just stop it already lol.

I do have a 10kw panel on my house, we got it before I started mining, it is currently producing 20kw/day in the summer it was doing doing about 40kw/day.

Basically it barely offsets 1 rig lol. So if you're thinking you're going to plop down 40k to offset the power cost of 1 or 2 mining rigs.... you're a bad dude lol

You must be retarded if you going to pay 40k for 10kW system lol

It was what it was. Solar City is probably the most expensive, that's who we went with last year.

Done and paid for.

No fucks given.

No wonder you have such a pessimistic view of solar. $40k for 10KW of panels that make 20KWh in summer.

I had a record the other day - 141KWh off my 21.6KW of panels. 12th day of summer too.

[zukko]

A terrific project, if I had money, I would certainly have embodied something like that. Unfortunately in our climatic zone there are not many sunny days ...

[VyprBTC]

No wonder you have such a pessimistic view of solar. $40k for 10KW of panels that make 20KWh in summer.

I had a record the other day - 141KWh off my 21.6KW of panels. 12th day of summer too.

40 summer 20 winter.

[martyroz]

OK, I finally got around to installing;
- Another shelf
- 4 * exhaust fans (combined; 152W, 1,440m² (15,500 ft²) / min)
- 2 * 20A breakers
- 8 * outlets
- extra rig




The two 20A breakers, with 20A wiring, are wired directly to 2 * double outlets and allow for a maximum of 8A on a socket, up to 16A total (per breaker)

So that's 3,840W * 2 = 7,680W total.
My 4 smart plugs are rated to 2,400W so no troubles there in putting 1920W on each.

Thanks to my smart meter, I know exactly what I use currently. Right now I'm pulling a constant draw of 5,230W

You can see in this graph, grid-consumption is zero from about 6:30am to 4:30pm. This is when I'm self-consuming. Production is so high that I still manage to feed back to the grid around 75kWh. Seeing as I get credited for feeding in at a rate of 50% the grid rate, this effectively offsets another 37.5kWh of usage. So my 67kWh of grid-use is offset down to 29.5kWh, which is roughly $7 per day. Not bad for 5,230W constant draw! I wish they were all sunny days like this example.



I have 5 more cards at the post office, ready for pick-up. They will go straight into spare slots on these motheboards, bringing me to 5800W constant draw. Remembering that my new breakers are good for 7,680W, there is still room to expand! The limiting factor now is shelf space. But I think clearly there is room for 1 more rig on the left shelf.

More soon!

[hous26]

Can you give me the tl;dr.

How much was the solar panel set-up?
How much would your consumption cost on average monthly from your utility?
How much are you saving on average each month?

[martyroz]

Can you give me the tl;dr.

How much was the solar panel set-up?
How much would your consumption cost on average monthly from your utility?
How much are you saving on average each month?

Install cost was $14,000 USD

Normal consumption would be 4,650 kWh per month. At 18.3c this is $874 per month.

Subsidised cost is $14 daily = $434

Saving per month $480 (54.9% discount on 18.3c = 8.25c)

Solar pays for itself in 29 months (2y 5m 5d)

[grendel25]

So I'm thinking more and more about adding solar and yes it has to do with mining.  Now, before I would do this I thought about the condition of my roof.  It's about 15 years old so I figured I better re-roof before adding tons of solar panels.  Also, I operate as a small business S-corporation so I would account for such things as roof renovation and solar installation as business expenses thus reducing my tax obligation.

Any opinions on accounting for such home improvements as business expenses?  My opinion is that the driving factor of roof renovation and solar would be to reduce mining costs in an environmentally friendly way.  Surely this seems to be a legitimate business expense.

And to those who say don't get solar just for mining, I disagree.  Those mining should be the FIRST to look into solar because they will ROI faster from the cost savings.  Overages that would normally be fed back into the grid (with no credit in my situation) are more likely to be consumed in right-sized solar grids supporting mining ops. 









Sorry if this is considered a necro post but a lot of the info here is still relevant and I don't really like searching between so many threads for the same info and I really like this thread because of how relevant everything still is.

[Metroid]

Install cost was $14,000 USD

Normal consumption would be 4,650 kWh per month. At 18.3c this is $874 per month.

Subsidised cost is $14 daily = $434

Saving per month $480 (54.9% discount on 18.3c = 8.25c)

Solar pays for itself in 29 months (2y 5m 5d)

It's worth the investment only in places where the government gives you an incentive, something in return for the green energy initiative and is a viable place for maximum sunlight, for example tropical countries, also the khw must be greater than lets say $0.20. Australia fits perfectly well the requirements.

[Weswayahe]

Congratulation, nice and great project sir. I want do that too someday, until the price of solar panel more cheaper at my country. Because i think that alternative source power can make our mining activity more profitable for every month. Thank for info.

[jmigdlc99]

And to those who say don't get solar just for mining, I disagree.  Those mining should be the FIRST to look into solar because they will ROI faster from the cost savings.  Overages that would normally be fed back into the grid (with no credit in my situation) are more likely to be consumed in right-sized solar grids supporting mining ops. 

I completely agree. Everyone uses electricity, whether to heat your shower, watch TV, etc. Solar is a good investment whether or not you are into crypto mining.

It's worth the investment only in places where the government gives you an incentive, something in return for the green energy initiative and is a viable place for maximum sunlight, for example tropical countries, also the khw must be greater than lets say $0.20. Australia fits perfectly well the requirements.

Our country gives no incentive at all for using solar energy. Whats worse is that if you want to sell solar energy back to the grid they will only buy it from you at less than half the price they charge per kwh. But despite this, solar is still a profitable investment.

I have the same figures as posted by OP above, 2-3 years time to ROI.

[Marvell2]

Very cool.  I also have a residential solar system to assist with power cost for mining.  I pay a flat rate of $0.12 per kWh year round.  Currently have 84 260W panels and am in the process of adding an additional 48 280W panels.  The 84 panels produced the following numbers for me this summer:

March 2,391 kWh
April 2,121 kWh
May 2,268 kWh
June 2,578 kWh
July 2,846 kWh
August 2,475 kWh
September 2,172 kWh
October 2,152 kWh

My usage last month was 6,644 kWh, so the 48 additional panels will help, but I'll need another 100 panels at least to "break even".  And since I also constantly add miners, I don't think I'll ever "catch up".

I do all the work myself, so the cost is pretty close to $1 per watt and I get 30% Federal tax credit, so that makes it closer to $0.70 per watt.

hey im in the process  of specing out a 100 panel 300 watt solar array and also installing
the panels myself, I am debating on doing it using microinverters for each panel to supply full ac power rather than dc and then connect that to my sub panel. 

any thoughts on this ? I got a qoute from alibaba for 1000 290 watt mono panels with mounting stuff and the micorinverts already drilled and connected to the solar panel mounts underside for $10k or so( that
exculdes the ac connectors since i have to send measurements of my garage roof first) any

thoughts ?

[martyroz]

hey im in the process  of specing out a 100 panel 300 watt solar array and also installing
the panels myself, I am debating on doing it using microinverters for each panel to supply full ac power rather than dc and then connect that to my sub panel. 

any thoughts on this ?

From what I understand; Microinverters cost more and greatly improve performance in shading / partial shading conditions. They also allow for panel level diagnostics. They have more points of failure which is good and bad. Good because you know exactly what to fix and it doesn't knock out a whole string.

If you have shading issues, then absolutely consider them. Otherwise, String inverters have lower capital cost and higher rate of return.

[jmigdlc99]

String inverters have lower capital cost and higher rate of return.

For this sole quoted reason, I avoid microinverters. Theres lots of products out there that claim to optimize your panels along with many other features, but when it comes down to it, just step back and assess your purpose for building your solar array.

My opinion is that if you are in it to offset mining electricity costs and turn a decent profit then go with string inverters. If you are a efficiency hobbyist or a green peace person then go with microinverters.

[Marvell2]

String inverters have lower capital cost and higher rate of return.

For this sole quoted reason, I avoid microinverters. Theres lots of products out there that claim to optimize your panels along with many other features, but when it comes down to it, just step back and assess your purpose for building your solar array.

My opinion is that if you are in it to offset mining electricity costs and turn a decent profit then go with string inverters. If you are a efficiency hobbyist or a green peace person then go with microinverters.

Yea i was told by supplier the micro inverters add at least $120 to the cost of each panel

the fear of string connectors is if one panel or connector has an issue , breaks dies or loses connection the entire array becomes compromised.  Thats a big issue for me becuase my roof is really high, it could take days to get someone up there to fix it

[Marvell2]

hey im in the process  of specing out a 100 panel 300 watt solar array and also installing
the panels myself, I am debating on doing it using microinverters for each panel to supply full ac power rather than dc and then connect that to my sub panel. 

any thoughts on this ?

From what I understand; Microinverters cost more and greatly improve performance in shading / partial shading conditions. They also allow for panel level diagnostics. They have more points of failure which is good and bad. Good because you know exactly what to fix and it doesn't knock out a whole string.

If you have shading issues, then absolutely consider them. Otherwise, String inverters have lower capital cost and higher rate of return.

I do have shading issues on my garage which i plan to put 40 of the panels up on , my neigbor has a large tree, sometimes during the day it shadows parts of my mining garage roof.  The main house which has no shading issues is very high , and can handle at least 8 panels since its so big and unshaded , maybe go with string connectors there but again its hard to access the roof, a bad string of panels would be a nightmare to fix.

my plan is to use 20 or 30 of the 80 main house panels for the house and run the rest back to the mining
garage via conduit and berried cable.

[B1tUnl0ck3r]

Most sublime post of the year !!! Impressive, thank you very much... so much panels, so few rigs... much impressed !

aren't you afraid of fire hazard with the rigs so close to the ceiling that seems a little "weak"?

[martyroz]

aren't you afraid of fire hazard with the rigs so close to the ceiling that seems a little "weak"?

Yes definitely a risk to be mitigated.


I have resorted to turning off rigs and fans when the sun goes down
Z9 mini's run always.

It's the end of winter here - we get about 9.5 hrs full generation growing to 11.5 hrs in summer.