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With increasing energy costs siphoning money out of the pockets of the inhabitants in Aroostook County, many people are beginning to consider alternate energy sources to either augment their grid power or replace it altogether.

There are several options for providing your home with an alternate form of renewable energy: Solar, wind, or water. With each system, a battery bank would be employed to store the electricity, a charge controller to maintain them and an inverter to convert the 12 volts DC to 120 volts AC. The only thing that would be different is the energy-producing portion.

Solar is one of the most costly systems to install, but requires the least amount of maintenance.

Wind turbines are more efficient than solar and, depending on how much you are willing to spend can produce very high currents with very little wind.

If you have a running stream on your land that drops about two feet over one hundred feet, then a water turbine may be the best choice for you.

Regardless of which source of power you choose, you can be assured that you will always have power even when the grid is down. You can also receive credits on your electric bill for the electricity you generate and don’t use by sending it back down the power line.

A good quality photovoltaic array (solar panel) system complete with inverter, batteries and several panels will cost an estimated $1200 - $1500. A system that size would deliver enough electricity to run all the lights in an average home (as needed), refrigerator, microwave oven, television, computers and stereos. Once the initial investment of the electrical components is in place, a person need only add more batteries and power sources (i.e. panels, wind generators, etc.) to increase capacity.

When choosing batteries, you must always use marine/deep cycle batteries. These batteries are different than car batteries because the lead plates in them are much thicker, allowing for more current to be drawn over time. Car batteries have very thin plates which allows them to deliver a sudden “snap” of electricity to turn the engine over. All deep cycle batteries are rated in "amp hours." Amp hours tells you how many amps of draw you can get out of the battery over an hour's time. For example, a reserve current of 80 amp hours would give you 80 amps of power over a one hour time period; 40 amps over 2 hours; 20 amps over 4 hours; 10 amps over eight hours. Simply divide the total amount of amps you are using by the amp hour rating on the battery and you will get a rough estimate of the time available from a full charge. If you parallel several batteries together, you can add their reserve current up. To determine how many amp hours of reserve current you need, total the wattage ratings of all the electrical appliances and light bulbs you expect to run off the batteries at any one time. Divide that figure by 120 to determine how much current you are using at 120 Volts, then multiply that number by 10 to determine what you will need for reserve current at your batteries and how many panels you will require.

It is helpful to understand a little bit of algebra when you are deciding what to purchase for equipment. For example:

Where: V= Volts; W = Watts; A = Amps

V x A = W W ÷ A = V W÷V=A

When increasing voltage, you will loose amperage:

When V x 10, then A ÷ 10

For example: When 50 amps at 12 Volts DC is inverted and stepped up to 120 Volts AC there will only be 5 amps available at the higher voltage. When voltage is increased, the amperage (or current) is decreased by the same factor.

Where: T = Total Amp Hours Available; C = Amps Drawn; B = Battery Time Available (hours).

T ÷ C = B

Batteries can be wired together in series or in parallel, depending on the voltage of each individual cell and the system requirements. When batteries are wired in parallel, voltage remains the same while reserve current is summed; when wired in series, voltage is summed and reserve current remains the same.

Converting to alternate energy may not be for everyone. While computers, televisions and other low current draw equipment will be powered easily, larger ticket items such as electric dryers, stoves, washing machines and water heaters would require too much power to make alternate power economically feasible. Washing clothes can be done with small, manual devices which use steam pressure from hot water to clean clothes while the unit is manually turned by hand; water can be heated by wood, propane or by a solar heat exchanger. Food can be cooked in a propane or wood-burning stove. As for drying clothes, they’ll just have to be hung up to dry like they used to be prior to electric dryers. While it does require more work to use alternate power exclusively, when one considers the amount of work required to make money to pay their electric bill every month, alternate energy starts to look pretty good.

It is impossible to explain all of the intricacies of alternate electric in this extremely condensed article, so please consult a qualified electrical contractor for assistance if you are unsure of how to apply the principles yourself.

(note: I did not need to interview anyone for this article, since I did the research and set my own home up with alternate energy to be used for emergency power.)

Northern Maine Wind and Solar was established by Fort Fairfield Journal editor/publisher, David Deschesne to assist those who aren't familiar with solar electrical design.  The catalog features simple designs and prices on complete solar electrical packages for small camps through whole house. Email us to have a free 8 page catalog mailed to you.