A customer has great incentive to install a PV system. However, the utility will not allow them to interconnect as their service is from a "secondary network" style connection. This gets technical, but so far the utility won't budge.
Not being able to send power into the grid is not really an issue as the building would always consume what is produced. However, serving load without utility back-up when the system is not producing or even "modulating" is a problem.
My take is that a battery system would need to be employed. Batteries would need to be sized to "buffer" the output, which would feed load through a transfer switch. The transfer switch would route utility power to the load when the PV system was not producing. The load would have to be able to see short power interruptions without consequence - the controller could possibly provide a mechanical system a warning it's coming. This might be a air handling fan.The utilization voltage would be 480/3.
Any ideas as to 1) sizing the batteries if I serve a 35kW load that runs 50% of the time 2) price difference (assuming $7/watt installed with standard grid-tie) and 3) % efficiency loss?
Obviously the goal is to use everything produces without oversizing batteries required.
Does the reduced efficiency also reduce the amount of batteries I need as the system can't put out near is rating?
Thanks for discussing!
Not being able to send power into the grid is not really an issue as the building would always consume what is produced. However, serving load without utility back-up when the system is not producing or even "modulating" is a problem.
My take is that a battery system would need to be employed. Batteries would need to be sized to "buffer" the output, which would feed load through a transfer switch. The transfer switch would route utility power to the load when the PV system was not producing. The load would have to be able to see short power interruptions without consequence - the controller could possibly provide a mechanical system a warning it's coming. This might be a air handling fan.The utilization voltage would be 480/3.
Any ideas as to 1) sizing the batteries if I serve a 35kW load that runs 50% of the time 2) price difference (assuming $7/watt installed with standard grid-tie) and 3) % efficiency loss?
Obviously the goal is to use everything produces without oversizing batteries required.
Does the reduced efficiency also reduce the amount of batteries I need as the system can't put out near is rating?
Thanks for discussing!
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