Northwest Ohio, I need help designing system

[gary c]

I should also note. we have heated with wood for 38 years. We have a Fire Chief wood burning furnace with a cold air return, barometric damper and 4 tiles for outside air so we use all outside air for the fire box. We can maintain a 80 degree difference between the outside and the inside temperature of the house within a 4 degree range for 8 hours on one stoking of the furnace We have an 80 gallon hot water heater with a brass liner that runs through the furnace with a circulating pump that runs for an hour each morning. I generally turn the electric hot water heater off later Nov through early March.

[bcroe]

Gary, Just about everyone going off grid is heating with firewood, is
that your plan? I heat with the latest heat pumps, which are very
efficient. But it works because I collect a big summer KWh surplus
on my net metering plan (no extra charge here in N IL) and take it
back in winter. There is no way off grid to store the 13,000 KWh
summer reserve I will need for winter. Is your plan a battery of
20KW maximum discharge rate? Check the KWh capacity.

Also check the stickey on ways to reduce snow accumulation on
your panels. good luck, Bruce Roe

[organic farmer]

... I have enough generation 18Kw to go off grid. I want to stay connected and use the grid as a back up through the first winter.

That sounds like a good plan to me.

also dont delay on planning how you are going to perform 'equalize charges' on your battery bank.

[gary c]

I have 34 540 watt bifacial panels , ground mounted. The local utility is a coop (privately owned) and NOT solar friendly. Being privately owned they do not have to go by the laws Ohio has passed to encourage solar. In order to have generation to supply my winter needs I will end up producing about 174% of my annual usage. If I net meter I have to go with the utility's supplier since they require 120% or less. There is a $2000 connection fee and a $100 per month net metering charge. They also will "negotiate" my metering rate. Bottom line I think I have enough generation 18Kw to go off grid. I want to stay connected and use the grid as a back up through the first winter. I am looking for a inverter that is around 6Kw and I plan on around 20Kw of battery back up. The inverters I was looking at have a max input and could not take 18Kw. Are all inverters like that? I am pretty much doing this myself because everyone I've talked to wants to sell me a bunch of things I don't want or need. I do have an engineering firm that will design the system once I have components. So many questions. Micro inverters for example? Is there someone I can hire who will work with my needs. Thanks for reading. Gary.