Prepping for new PV Installation on former off-grid homestead

[koselig]

Hi All!
Our property had been completely off-grid at one time, powered by solar and LP. A previous owner had to get grid power for their mortgage, so when we came here there were two panels in the house: one on the PV inverter, and the other connected to the box outside. Over time this became a hassle to manage, so I consolidated everything to the "on grid" panel and started planning a future grid-tied installation.

This is a forest property, so the buildings are somewhat spread out, and I would like to ask your advice to help me design a battery-backed grid-tied system for the new generation! We have no visible neighbors so we can place panels anywhere to get good sun exposure, and because we are in a snow belt inland from Lake Superior in Minnesota, I want to avoid mounting panels to the roof.

At the driveway we have a short post with the main panel connected to 200A buried service.

Directly across the driveway is our workshop which is also my office and studio which has computer and music equipment. It has a panel running from a 90A breaker on the main panel. It is heated year-round.

Roughly 150ft from the shop is the cabin we live in with a 100A panel.

There are other smaller outbuildings which are also powered from breakers on the post.

We are making a modest addition on to the cabin to make a family home, and as part of this there will be a pretty standard sized 2-car tuck under garage at the same level as the basement which houses the panel. The new garage will be heated.

So where I need help is:
Where should everything go in a master-planned PV system capable of powering this property? Panels can go anywhere, but where should the inverter, charge controller, and battery bank go? In this scenario would the inverter need to run to the panel on the post, since power to the shop runs from there? What sort of convenience pre-planning could I do between the basement and the new garage if some equipment should end up in there?

I am sure this raises some questions about the location of things, etc. I can make a drawing if it would be helpful.

Cheers all!
Patrick

[Ampster]

What are your goals in terms of energy. Are you looking for a cost effective way to reduce the cost of energy or are you looking to be net zero ? I see that it will be a battery backed grid tie system.

[Mike90250]

I have a separate pair of outbuildings , one for the solar gear & batteries and one for the generator. I wanted to be able to survive one incident and allow the remaining gear to keep things running until recovery..

If you have batteries, you need a generator, even a 3kw generator is good, because it will prevent your expensive batteries from being trashed in an outage. The grid never goes down on a sunny day, always a ice storm or some nonsense that is likely to keep your PV out of production till weather improves, if the PV survives the blowing debris.

If you plan on Lithium based batteries, they want to be kept above 40F. You can design an insulated box or compartment for them. They cannot be charged below frost ( 32F )
Lead acid can go down to freezing with no restrictions, but you start losing capacity. Lead acid is a good way to start off, and do all your learning and mis-configuration with them, ruining a expensive set of Li batteries is painful.

Solar array will have to deal with snow, clearing and disposal of. keep that in mind.

[bcroe]

In snow country, with a ground mount possible, I suggest you study
the STICKY
SNOW TOLERANT PV MOUNTING

under SOLAR PANELS FOR YOUR HOME. These examples can serve to reduce
snow clearing efforts by 90%, and maintain production through the winter. Once
you start construction, it will be too late. Bruce Roe

[bcroe]

Where should everything go in a master-planned PV system capable
of powering this property? Panels can go anywhere, but where should the inverter, charge controller,
and battery bank go? Patrick

If your wiring involves long runs, the most efficient/least expensive way to do it
is with high voltage DC runs, put your lower inverter output close to your meter.

With the grid available, any batteries will be a dead loss, high maintenance, and of
extremely limited capability. Get a generator, batteries would require one anyway.

good luck, Bruce Roe in snowy IL