Small Scale Offgrid Solar That WORKS!

A family home running off-grid on just 2.1kW of solar panels and 9kWh of battery storage sounds unlikely — until you see how the whole house has been designed around low energy use.
Near Meckering in Western Australia, we look at the practical systems that make a surprisingly small off-grid solar setup work.

Rather than simply installing a much larger solar and battery system, this family has reduced the electrical load in the first place.

Their electricity is mainly used for refrigeration, lighting and low-power appliances. Space heating, hot water and cooking are handled through a combination of passive solar design, wood heating, solar hot water and gas.

We look at the 2.1kW solar array, the change from lead-acid to lithium batteries, the 9kWh battery bank and the old manual-start generator that provides backup when required.

But the power system is only part of the story.

The house itself was designed around the available energy. A steel shed frame forms the structure, with straw-bale walls providing insulation. North-facing passive solar design allows winter sun into the building while reducing direct summer solar gain.

We also look at a simple wood heater that helps heat the house and the hot-water system. Copper pipe inside the heater allows hot water to circulate naturally back to the roof-mounted storage system without an electric circulation pump.

For farmers, rural landholders and anyone considering an off-grid house, shed, cabin or small farm system, this is a useful example of an important principle: reducing demand can sometimes be more valuable than simply increasing generation and battery capacity.

This video covers off-grid solar power, small solar systems, battery storage, passive solar house design, straw-bale construction, rural renewable energy, solar hot water, wood heating, generator backup and practical ways of reducing household electricity consumption. It shows how an off-grid energy system works in a real Western Australian home and why designing the building and lifestyle around energy use can reduce the amount of solar and battery storage required.

Watch next on Farm Learning:

Off-grid power stations and solar systems tested in real farm conditions
Small farm and rural property energy systems
Practical renewable energy, water and self-sufficiency projects

If you enjoy practical stories from real farms and rural properties, subscribe to Farm Learning with Tim Thompson.

If you’re living off-grid or designing a rural energy system, let us know in the comments what size solar array and battery bank you’re using — and what you’ve done to reduce your electrical load.

Share this with a farmer, landholder or rural property owner considering an off-grid system, and have a look through the related Farm Learning videos for more practical rural systems and technology.

Location: Near Meckering, Western Australia
System featured: 2.1kW solar array with 9kWh battery storage
Building: Passive-solar straw-bale home using a steel shed frame
Other systems: Solar/wood hot water, wood heating, gas cooking and manual generator backup
Funding: This video was made possible through funding from the Western Australian Government State NRM Program.

#OffGridSolar #OffGridLiving #SolarPower #RuralLiving #FarmLearning

00:00 Can 2.1kW really power an off-grid home?
00:19 The surprisingly small solar and battery system
00:46 Why their electricity use is so low
01:10 Solar tracking vs fixed panels
01:40 Lead-acid batteries: what went wrong
02:40 The new 9kWh lithium battery bank
03:46 What happens when the batteries run low?
04:19 Why the old generator is still manual start
05:05 Designing the house around the power system
05:26 Building a straw-bale home inside a shed frame
08:23 How passive solar design works
09:20 Heating the house without electricity
10:11 Hot water circulation with no electric pump
10:56 How much gas they use for cooking
11:32 The real lesson from this small off-grid system
12:19 Designing a lower-energy rural lifestyle