Large solar system for 30 Horsepower tubewell

[firefighter]

hello
i am a bit of a begginer at solar panels/systems, please can someone guide me to what requirements i would need to run a 30 horsepower electric motor. The motor is a tubewell motor used to irregate large plots of farming land.

Currently bills are amounting anywhere from

[Mike90250]

Ouch. How many spare acres do you have ?

A 30 hp motor, will consume about 900W per Hp, which works out to 27,000 watts. That would require a 30KW array to reasonably provide power, for daytime pumping only. I suspect you have a 3 phase motor,which will require a 3 phase inverter, and this is likely at 480V AC or higher.

Frankly, this is out of my range, and you are going to have to hire a local consultant, to design and permit a system of this size. And a large bank loan. There may be some plans for reduced costs, or Grid Tie, that you may discover, which if you don't irrigate daily, you could install a much smaller array, and "bank" your excess power till you need it.

[Sunking]

Ok you think electric is high from the electric company, wait until you get the bill to go solar. How does 10 to 20 times more than you pay now sound to you?

I can design and build you a system to run the pumps 10 hours per day and estimate the initial cost of $1,200,000 USD plus 10% management fee. Of that $1.2M, $225,000 will be in battery cost that need replace every 5 to 7 years.

Just PM me to arrange a contract and where to send a 15% good faith check to me.

[firefighter]

Wow - now that is shocking!

Maybe i should wait say 20 years when the technology if much more available and cheaper!!


I was given a quote from a chinese company with the following;

Pure sine wave Solar power Inverter
and Peak Output Power
= 20000W/40000W

Solar Panel
= 100W*32

Solar Charge Controller
= BPS20000C

System voltage and Charger current
= DC48V-AC120V/220V 180A

Price(USD)
= $13,997 - at a crap rate would be (

[russ]

I believe you learned something about the honesty (or stupidity) of that company. You would have zero recourse with it being in China.

Their quote is so bad as to be silly.

Russ

[firefighter]

Unfortunately there are no such rebates that i can get my hands on, the government simply dont do that kind a stuff... if anything they'd charge me for having a solar system installed!!

Not sure of the exact specs of the motor but im assuming that it would use more power on startup and a little less during use?? This i need to confirm with a local engineer who installed the motor initially.

I would appreciate ant other thoughs you may have.

[russ]

The actual current draw of the motor is what you are interested in - if you can get your hands on a meter that will measure -

1) amps when running to all three phases
2) amps when starting (in rush current) - that takes a meter designed for the mpurpose not a cheap one.

The motor probably draws 5 times the current on starting that it does running - possibly more. That sets the inverter size.

The 13,000$? It costs something like 5$ US (and up) per DC watt installed in the US today. You couldn't buy a 3 kW system for that amount. Possibly they thought you meant a 3 kW motor - even that would be way off.

Panels by themselves - you might find 1.75$ per watt plus all associated equipment, racks etc.

Russ

[Mike90250]

Something like this, since you have Grid power there already, would be a site to install a Grid Tie system, if your utility would allow it. That gets rid of the need for HUGE batteries and chargers (more stuff to replace and go bad) and you only have PV panels, and the Grid Tie inverters. Since you don't pump 25/7 (I hope) and have been subject to demand shut-off, the utility should jump at the idea of someone feeding their grid 20KW of power when they fall short on a sunny day. you would still switch your pump off, and feed power to them, when they really need it. After the crush , you go back to pumping. You may even get a price break, if you sell during daylight when they need it, and pump at night when they have excess power, and possibly get a discount on power.

[Sunking]

Go ahead with the Chi-Com offer. You are already a slave to them, you just do not know it yehn. Get in early and maybe they will have some use for you when they come and collect.

[john p]

IF only this was possible "Pure sine wave Solar power Inverter
and Peak Output Power
= 20000W/40000W its a 30hp (22.5 kw)motor

[Naptown]

The quote only shorted him about 27KW of panels from what I read the panels are only 3200 watt.