Well, I've been busy here. Like I said, I got new projects going that is outside the scope of "renewable energy" forums, so have little time to participate. When our present battery bank wears out we will not be buying another one. I've designed and built a dual redundant, failover co-generation CHP setup using 900 rpm diesel power that will be replacing our present system this coming summer. I can put the entire system in for less money than what it will cost to replace our present batteries in a few years. I have the first unit built and tested and sitting in my shop. It has a Cummins 4BT power unit. The units are 25 kVA prime, each. I'm building a second unit for redundancy and peaking - have it about half done right now and trying to get it done before spring. It took me 2 1/2 months to build the first one. I'm hoping to have the second one done by April so we can fire up the excavator in the spring and start construction on our new power plant.
The XW inverter is "smart" enough, has AC coupling capability, and has good enough controls and monitoring to be able to use it as the "grid" and "brains" for the system to tell the Cummins Power Command system how to control and sync the CHP units. We will have full 200A service to both our house and my shop when I get it done.
Our new system will eliminate having to burn wood for primary heat, provide us with virtually unlimited power with totally automatic control, used staged generators to cut fuel burn when only one is needed, and eliminate the expense and headache of batteries. Sure, it's not really "going green". But I could care less about "going green" except when it comes to saving green on off-grid power costs. And the type of system I have designed is in common use in remote Alaska villages and South Pole Station in Anarctica for many, many years. The US becoming the largest oil producer on earth pretty much made so-called "going green" obsolete as far as I'm concerned.
The XW inverter is "smart" enough, has AC coupling capability, and has good enough controls and monitoring to be able to use it as the "grid" and "brains" for the system to tell the Cummins Power Command system how to control and sync the CHP units. We will have full 200A service to both our house and my shop when I get it done.
Our new system will eliminate having to burn wood for primary heat, provide us with virtually unlimited power with totally automatic control, used staged generators to cut fuel burn when only one is needed, and eliminate the expense and headache of batteries. Sure, it's not really "going green". But I could care less about "going green" except when it comes to saving green on off-grid power costs. And the type of system I have designed is in common use in remote Alaska villages and South Pole Station in Anarctica for many, many years. The US becoming the largest oil producer on earth pretty much made so-called "going green" obsolete as far as I'm concerned.
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