Solar Generator Benefits: Peak Shaving Savings

Let’s say you are looking to purchase a solar generator (a power station + solar panels) and you are looking at some models that, at their current price and your current budget, need a spouse sign off.

You already used all the classic, “It will help during a power outage by…” arguments but feel like you just need a little more umph to get that exasperated sigh followed by, “Go ahead, buy the thing.”

So let’s talk about how you can put your solar generator to work for you on a daily basis to save you money. Instead of just sitting around waiting for an emergency, you can employ something called “Peak Shaving” to make your money back by reducing your power bill.

(For clarity, we are only using portable power stations and solar panels in this example. There are lots of ways to peak shave, some easier than others. For a thorough discussion on peak shaving, don’t click here because I haven’t written the blog post yet but when I do, I think there will be a link right about here).

Utilizing Peak Shaving with a Portable Power Station

Peak shaving in a nutshell is when you use a power station or a solar generator for our use case to power your devices and appliances during the peak demand hours and then recharge to use again during off peak demand hours or, as in our case, using solar to recharge your system.

In practical terms, electricity is more expensive during the day (peak hours) because everyone is using electricity during the day. Electricity is cheaper at night (off-peak hours) because there are less people using it. 

Peak shaving tries to move as much of your electricity to things like solar generators during peak and then use the cheaper rates at night to recharge your system. Or, in this case, using solar panels and pass through charging to keep your battery running and charged. 

Where I live, peak hours are from 5 am to 9 pm. I get charged $0.26 per kilowatt hour during those hours but only $0.18 during off peak hours. So the more things I move to a power station during peak hours, the less I will sob over my power bill. 

So how does Peak Shaving look in the real world?

My little office is freezing cold in the winter months in Oregon requiring me to run a space heater. Generally, when it's butt-freezing cold, it is clear and sunny most of the day so I could use solar panels and a solar generator to practice peak shaving.

My space heater is 1500W and I run it for 8 hours at $.26 per kilowatt hour. I do math things and I discover it costs me $3.12 which in a month is over $90 and in a year $1,080! Heating is expensive!

How Much Can Peak Shaving with a Solar Generator Save?

So the big takeaway is to put on my winter pants, coats, and gloves, right? Wrong!

Let’s say we take the solar generator that we are going to buy anyway and put it to use. Let’s say I get the Anker SOLIX F2600 and enough of a solar array that even on a cloudy day, I am getting 50% of potential solar input. 

My office has a great sun facing roof. I plop my panels on a simple wooden frame, run my cords down through my window and right into my power station so it is recharging while I am using it. Clever, right?

Now, with 50% solar input efficiency, I can run my heater for about two hours before needing to switch (don’t fully drain your batteries because it is not good for them). Even at 50% solar capacity (about 500W input), my power station is recharged in about 6 hours but by then, the day is done and I exit the office.

Now obviously I don’t use my heater year round or everyday but for the sake of our use case, what does that set up save me in a year? I reduced my use by a fourth so I save $270 a year. Do that for 7 years and you paid for your power station. 

Now, obviously, this isn’t massive savings, but with a more ideal set up with more solar panels or  in a more dependably sunny location, the savings can be more significant. If we can get up to 85% solar input ( about 850W), that would increase my run time to about 4 hours and give me a savings of $540 a year. 

That’s a plane ticket to somewhere warm.

Peak Shaving with a Solar Generator Takeaway

Obviously, there are a lot of variables here. Maybe I only need the four hours of heat and can rough it after that or maybe where you live the peak rates are higher or lower. Or, I buy a much more efficient heater so it pulls less and everything runs longer. Also, if the power goes out when my power station is low, I just figuratively shot myself in the foot. 

The main takeaway here isn’t that peak shaving doesn’t save a ton of cash, but rather, it is to put your emergency investment to work for you instead of just sitting in your garage. It’s to make you feel smug when your energy bill is less than expected and you can say out loud, “Wow, honey, that solar generator is really making a difference.”

So let’s chat about which solar generator is right for you and your situation. Send us an email with any questions you have and we will get back to you as soon as possible.