The Toolkit

Diesel is a subscription. See the costs.

Diesel is a subscription. This chart shows what five years of it costs against buying your own sun.

How this is calculated.

Generator-only cost is capex plus five years of fuel and maintenance — fuel scales with size, run-hours, and diesel price. Solar is capex-heavy but near-flat (an AGM battery is re-bought mid-term). Hybrid runs solar by day and a right-sized generator for the deficit, cutting fuel sharply. The lines meet where owning the sun overtakes renting the diesel.

fuel/yr  = genKva · 0.25 L/h/kVA · runHours · 365 · dieselₙ
genCost  = capex + Σ(fuel + maintenance)
solarCost= panels + inverter + battery (+battery re-buy @ yr 3)
hybrid   = 0.6·panels + inverter + gen + 0.5·battery ; 0.4·fuel

Questions

Why does hybrid often win?

Solar carries the day load; a right-sized generator covers rare deficits — so you buy less battery and burn far less fuel.

What maintenance is assumed?

Generators: a percentage of capex yearly (editable). Solar: panel cleaning and one inverter service — near-zero fuel-side cost.

Does this include battery replacement?

Yes — AGM banks are replaced in the model; lithium typically survives the 5-year window.

Need this done in the field?

Talk to our engineers

Fuel and equipment prices are editable assumptions, updated periodically by our team.

Built by NewHouse Energies — free for the industry.