Home server on solar energy, is it possible? – Part 2
A home server that runs 24/7 is noticeable on the energy bill. But what if it turns on solar energy? Is it possible, what are the costs and is it profitable? In this blog I will take you into this study. I am new to this world (have seen some videos and read things here and there), so maybe I’ll make mistakes. Do you see points for improvement? I like to hear them 😊
In the previous blog it turned out that we need 100 watts per hour (or while 2.4 kilowatts per day).
What would be required to run this device 24/7? Had I not done this preparatory work, I would probably have gone for two 100 watt panels, but would it have been sufficient?
For now the idea is to place the panels behind in the garden on a small rack. Because of this they will not be the most effective, but for this test it should be enough, right?
I assume that the panels will produce a maximum of 75 watts each. I came across a movie of someone who had bought a 100 watt panel, and usually got 80 watts out of it (hmmm, and now I can find the video again).
150 watts for a device that uses 100 watts? And then also the loss of 12 to 240 volts conversion, this does not look so good.
In the summer period, the panels will generate more than in the winter, since the sun shines much less then. For that reason I start with a maximum of 8 hours of sunlight per day and an average yield of 50% the capacity of the panels.
8 * (200 * 50%) = 800 watts per day instead of the 2.4 kilowatts per day. Even though the machine would only use half, in the winter period it does not deliver enough.
In the summer, more sunshine and more hours of sun … .. would it be enough? Before we leave for 14 hours of sunlight and 65% yield. 14 * (200 * 65%) = 1.8 kilowatts. That comes close, but not enough.
What would really be needed? The maths the other way.
Required = 2.4 kilowatts (or 2400 watts)
Hours light = 8
Yield = 50%
Required / hours of light * (100 / revenue)
2400/8 * 2 = 600 watt panels. Oops. That is much more than I had thought …
Now that these numbers are known, we can make a cost estimate in the next section.
