Energy Balance
Yesterday, we achieved a new record in daily solar power output, at 5.9 kWh produced in one day. Our solar panels technically have a peak output of 910 Wp, and close to 800 W were produced during midday (the panels are mounted flat, and are not angled perfectly at the sun). Needless to say, it was a very sunny day. Averaged across the last 31 days, we produced 3.4 kWh per day - still not bad.
How does solar power compare to the other energy sources we have? Let’s look at some stats (31 day average from May 6th to June 5th):
Energy Source | Energy per Day | Relative Contribution |
|---|---|---|
From Solar | 3.4 kWh | 40% |
From Shore Power | 4.7 kWh | 55% |
From Diesel Generator | 0.4 kWh | 5% |
From Hydro Regeneration | 0.0 kWh (still testing) | 0% |
Total | 8.5 kWh | 100% |
We are visiting harbours and marinas almost every day, and we try to avoid using the Diesel generator and charge from shore power instead (at least the grid mix in France is low CO2). We only use the generator if we have to motor a lot in one day (but we can always become better sailors and reduce the need for motoring).
Our power consumption per day is still quite high (8.5 kWh on average), but it includes everything - electric propulsion, electric heating (spring mornings can still be quite chilly at the coast), cooking, navigation systems and autopilot, refrigeration, etc.
We don’t have an exact breakdown of power consumption, unfortunately. The propulsion and heating parts are highest, and are very variable - the highest daily consumption was 21 kWh. But on days where we don’t use the motor, and we don’t heat (hopefully soon a thing of the past), we only consume about 3-4 kWh of energy (this includes cooking 1 meal a day).
It still always brings me joy to look at the Victron screen and see that we’re charging our batteries from solar (all screenshots in this post are taken from Victron’s VRM portal, the same information is available via a display on board).
