Well, the day finally came!
After much debate, consideration, and thought, we finally decided to go on grid. This was not a decision based solely on our needs, desires, or wants, but ultimately it was the benefit to the neighbors that pushed us over the edge. Since @jaguarlife and @ladyjag could save thousands of dollars if we got hooked up at the same time that they did, we decided it was one bill that we could live with.
HIGH VOLTAGE
It was sixteen days ago that we were preparing for power by getting our small pole set up and ready to go. Now, the power company came in and did their job, so we are good to go. We still have to test it out, but it looks like we've got power down on the land!
Here you can see them erecting the power pole on the property of @jaguarlife and @ladyjag. This is almost directly across the street from our driveway. After the power lines cross the street and hit this pole, the electricity then goes underground up to their house.
While the workers from the power company did their job, it was business as usual for us. They had their work to do and we had ours. Here you can see Monster Truck the Pepper preparing to help with a milking session of our doe Daisy. The little one named King on the ground next to him was the first goat ever born on our homestead!
It was neat to see the crew do their job. They had all sorts of special equipment and machines designed to get the job done, and we were able to watch them as they worked, while we were up to our own tasks. They started with the pole on the property of @jaguarlife, and then worked their way back to the existing line, which makes sense.
Once theirs was good to go, they put ours up and got our property ready. I'll get into more detail about the way that we did everything and why, as I wasn't particularly thrilled about the whole process, but I made it work for us and kept my personal goals in mind, not only those of the power company.
This was cool to watch, since the existing pole that they were hooking up to had to be replaced. Since it was old enough, they decided to replace it. While they took down the old one and waited for the new one, this rig held the power lines up.
Then they erected the new one and hooked the lines up to it. I suppose that they do this type of stuff all the time, but it was the first time that I actually got to observe it rather than just driving by.
In the end we had one actual pole put on our property and we now have power. Again, we were strongly leaning offgrid, but ended up making this choice. We're fine with it, it's just that we are attempting to avoid as many recurring bills as we can. When you weigh in the costs of solar panels and batteries, I think that we made a good decision, plus, we blessed our neighbors too! I'll try to provide a full video tour of this project and show you why we did the things that we chose to. Thanks for checking it out!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-power
Until next time…
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You can eventually get to the point where the grid serves only as a backup source of power...
now you have the best of both worlds, you can put up some solar panels and make the power company buy it back at retail prices.
Hope all goes well goes you. Looks like you are making good progress.
We are making progress, hoping to start actually building within the next month.
Good read. Yeah, I would use the grid until the SHTF and then implement my back-up solutions if I didn't have a continual, reliable source of power.
I'll have a variety of backups in place soon enough, Lord willing.
Great for you!
If I may ask, you didn’t have any electrical pole power before? How did you generate your electricity before?
We have not officially moved onto our land yet, but are staying nearby and preparing our land.
I meant it in a good way. I actualy wouldn’t mind without electricity, just relax in front of the fired fireplace, no phones, no TV, just like that.
Yeah, I like that lifestyle for sure.... maybe one day.
Great Post!
Congrats to you and that’s very neighborly of you.
Steem on :)
yeah - that it is!
Yeah! Congratulations! What have you been using for power up to this point?
And how long do you think it takes them to break even on putting up the poles? You probably don't know that, but they had a lot of equipment and manpower out there.
They did put a lot of effort into it. Technically we are staying next door to our land, but hope to begin building soon and then move down there, hence no power there until now.
That's right. Now I remember you saying that you were next door. Well, hopefully this is a major hurdle removed to allowing you to get on with things.
So what did you have for power before this?
We've been thinking of solar panels too but the estimates we got were craaazzzyyy expensive, we just can't do that yet. Hopefully the world will all go more in that direction, the power companies themselves turning to renewable energy. Here in NS we do use some tidal and some wind generated power but the majority doesn't come from renewable sources unfortunately.
Also baby King is toooo precious <3
Wish the power company over in Nigeria can turn to renewable energy to generate power. Too many resources over here which the power company don't pay attention to.
Good to have the electric installed. Here on Long Island if you generate your own power with solar, you can actually make money by back feeding your power to electric company. That may not be the case where you are, but worth finding out.
Here they will give you a credit, but never an actual payout.
A wind-solar unit to run the essentials may be a good option as a backup.
Good idea!
congratulations untumu @papa-pepper, eventually your work is achieved also on the goal.
The linst is very useful anywhere and anytime, the job you do is very helpful to all the people there.
Sometimes we change our plans so as to benefit our neighbours. We have done it by building an access road and paying to have potable water lines brought up the road. We really didn't want the water, but 15 families benefited from the pipes. You do it because itis the right thing to do.
Nice work yourself!
congratulations dear friends @ papa-pepper, this is a great step that they have given, with will, sacrifice and dedication everything can be done.
Great what just happened
Thank you for your continued encouragement my friend!
get solar cells, wind turbines,and batteries TOO.
never hurts to have backup.
I'll look into it. Thanks!
Wow - that's quite the story.
Don't bother feeling any guilt (or taking any crap) for going on-grid. Putting in solar or alternate energy doesn't have to be an ideological decision. If you're a homesteader, pennies count.
Thanks for that! We know how important every penny is!
Is good to see how they work things easily in the western world. Got machinery and tools to make the work easily.
Unlike in my country, the power company hardly do their job. The neighborhood are the ones to buy the pole with their own money and get to mount it on the ground manually without any equipment and takes weeks before the power station comes to fix the power.
There is no guarantee of seeing power after it has been fix cos the power grid goes off all the time.
Total blackout is what we get here
Most homes, companies and banks here in my country depend on solar, inverter and mostly generator to power up.
Thanks are way too easy in your country. Good one
Ouch. I'll appreciate it all the more now.
Well said my brother, time in steemit is worth it.
Lovely post
I wish you and your family well. I agree sometimes it is just best tostay on the grid. I don't know to much about generaters and solo heating. good post waiting inantisipation gor the update.thankyou @papa-pepper
I'm sure this decision wasn't made easily, but it's likely the best choice. Power on! @ironshield
Thank you for sharing. I just started following your homestead story. Is this the first time you got outside power on the land? Before that where did your power come from?
Woo! Congratulations on power @papa-pepper! Even tho you have lots of STEEM POWER! haha.
Did you know that you can regrow lettuce after it has been cut down to just the end of the stock? all you have to do is place the end in a small butter container filled with water!
To paraphrase Christopher Reeve who played Superman, “What makes Papa-Pepper a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely. “ 😉
POWER UP !
LOL - I get it!
POWER!!!!!!
if you get more and more renewable power sources are you not able to feed back into the net and make some money back?
and I do think that the nets will turn smarter in the future and run on blockchains so you might be able to make some future crypto by feeding power back into the grid or set up a neighbourhood grid
They will give you a credit, but never a payout.... Go figure.
then hopefully you will be able to set up a microgrid among eachother and have to pay the national grid less... wouldnt that be nice
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