Solar newbie from Ohio

[superduty_5.9]

I have been interested in solar for 5+ years. I have been watching the prices go down and have made it more attractive. I originally wanted to go with a partially off grid system but now I like the smaller grid tie systems.
A little about my situation: 2100 sq. ft. home built in 2001. All electric except for propane forced air furnace. Family of 5. Average monthly kWh is 900-1200. I keep indoor temp 67* in winter and 74* in summer with A/C. I try to conserve electricity but with my larger family it it

[superduty_5.9]

Must have a word limit on this site.

[bcroe]

An all electric home is a good candidate for some grid tied PV solar. If you go all out some of the latest mini split very
high efficiency heat pumps can compete with propane, natural gas not so much. Do allow for snow in your array design.

Here in NW IL latitude 42 deg, currently looking single digit outside temps, the house is 73 days and 69 nights using an
over the edge solar system. No KWH or propane bought so far. Bruce Roe

[superduty_5.9]

There must be a word limit because it will not let me post the rest of my story.

[SunEagle]

There must be a word limit because it will not let me post the rest of my story.

There shouldn't be a word limit for any post. What are you trying to post? Are you adding web-links or pictures?

[PNPmacnab]

I'm not judging. Got a chart from DUKE my electrical company yesterday and live in your general area. I have the same numbers and they say I am twice the usage of my neighbors.

[superduty_5.9]

There shouldn't be a word limit for any post. What are you trying to post? Are you adding web-links or pictures?

I just have a paragraph that I wrote in Wordand have multiple times tried to copy and paste and will only leave half at first now only one word.

[inetdog]

I just have a paragraph that I wrote in Wordand have multiple times tried to copy and paste and will only leave half at first now only one word.

Your problem is almost certainly that your Word document contains formatting and/or special characters. Try saving the Word file as plain text or composing in TetxPad, Edit, or similar ASCII editor instead.
Any formatting that cannot be done using the toolbar of the entry page usually cannot be done by pasting.

I have noticed that the Forum seems more sensitive now than it used to be to non-native tag ([xxxxx] ..... [/xxxxx]) strings in entered text.

Turn on WYSIWIG editing if necassary by hitting the "A with underline button" and then click the "Source" button on the upper left to see what you are really pasting.

[superduty_5.9]

Need advice! I am not rich and can not drop $10-15k on solar. I want to maybe spend $2k with a few panels and add-on as I get the cash. I don't want to invest into equipment and then not be able to use it later on a bigger system. Don't know if my co-op elect company offers net metering but I would like to grid tie to offset some of my elect usage. I already have back up power. I have a 100kw diesel generator and will have (almost) free heat next winter with my boiler project. Is there advice or can someone point me in the right direction. This will be all DIY!

[SunEagle]

Need advice! I am not rich and can not drop $10-15k on solar. I want to maybe spend $2k with a few panels and add-on as I get the cash. I don't want to invest into equipment and then not be able to use it later on a bigger system. Don't know if my co-op elect company offers net metering but I would like to grid tie to offset some of my elect usage. I already have back up power. I have a 100kw diesel generator and will have (almost) free heat next winter with my boiler project. Is there advice or can someone point me in the right direction. This will be all DIY!

I would contact your co-op electric company and ask them what the minimum about of solar you need to install to get a grid tie connection.

Unfortunately in most states the POCO's require more than a few panels which makes it very hard to start small and grow.

Even if you could start small some POCO's and towns require a new permit for every installation including all that grow an existing system. That adds more cost to a project then doing all at once.

[superduty_5.9]

I am going to ask my co-op to see if there is a net metering program. If not then I will install a small grid tie inverter and just not tell them. There are smaller grid tie inverters that just plug into an outlet. The county that I live in is not zoned. Does not require a permit for anything at all. Thanks for the reply.

[SunEagle]

I am going to ask my co-op to see if there is a net metering program. If not then I will install a small grid tie inverter and just not tell them. There are smaller grid tie inverters that just plug into an outlet. The county that I live in is not zoned. Does not require a permit for anything at all. Thanks for the reply.

There are at least 3 issues with those plug in grid tie inverters.

The first is that they are not made well and fail sometimes causing a fire. Your home insurance company will probably not pay you for damages due to that fire due to them not being UL listed.

The second issue is if you do not have a grid tie contract with your POCO your meter will not recognize any power that you generate that goes out to the grid and subtract it from what you purchase from the grid. It will just add what you generate to what you purchase so you will be paying for your excess generated power.

A final warning would be that if your POCO sees a change in your usage (since you now generate some of your own power) they will come out to investigate and see you have installed a grid tie pv system without their approval. That could lead to them to fining you for illegal installation or turning off your power until you remove the pv system.

[bcroe]

Out here in the Wild West the PoCo here has never noticed my radical usage changes; probably won't yours either.
But if the reader happens out on a sunny day and sees your meter turning the wrong direction, there will certainly
be an investigation. In addition, most meters will charge YOU for the power no matter which way its turning.

Its pretty hard to find a way to do any meaningful solar for $2K. Payback in any event will be many years. Bruce Roe

[jflorey2]

Need advice! I am not rich and can not drop $10-15k on solar. I want to maybe spend $2k with a few panels and add-on as I get the cash.

You are going to run into several problems.

1) The installation costs are going to be similar. Every time you add on, you'll have to pay the truck to come out and do more work - that adds up fast.
2) You will either have to choose an inverter that allows room for expansion (more expensive) or do a microinverter system.
3) Most incentives don't allow you to keep coming back to get a little more money each time.

In most places, it's actually cheaper to get someone else to do it, because then you'll be eligible for state/federal tax breaks and rebates.

But if you really want to do it, and you don't mind paying the extra money, what I would do is:

1) Design your (final) system to cover whatever percentage of your power needs you want to cover. If you are paying a tiered rate, for example, decide how much of the highest priced tiers you want to avoid paying. There are about a dozen examples of how to do this elsewhere on the forum.

2) Do the electrical design for the final system. Get someone experienced to look at it and approve it. (It will need to be approved later anyway by the AHJ.)

3) Install all the racking at the same time (much easier this way.)

4) Run all the conduit and wiring at the same time. Install the appropriate breakers at the load center, run wire etc.

5a) For microinverters, buy only the panels, inverters and array cabling you can afford at first. (If you go Enphase, for example, the thing they call the "Engage cable" is quite pricey, so don't buy more than you need. Bolt them on. Buy more cable/panels/inverters as you can afford them.

5b) For string inverters, buy sufficient panels to fill out a string. Usually that will be 7 panels or so. As you expand you will first "fill out" that string (i.e. expand to 12) and then later will add more 12-panel strings feeding into your combiner (which you installed in step 4.)

6) Get appropriate inspections and approvals and start it up.

[superduty_5.9]

I'm waiting on a call back from my co-op electric company on their net metering program or if they have one. No info on their website and one person is assigned to give out info by phone. My neighbor and I have discussed buying a pallet of panels and splitting the cost. We kinda want to start our own co-op of sorts and help ourselves and other neighbors with their solar installations. We eventually want to be off grid but the costs of batteries is a factor at first. We will try and learn from a grid tie system and then hopefully eventually graduate to a big enough off grid system. Anybody think this is a good idea? Thanks