Thanks guys,
Our electric company is a small co-op and doesnt offer the best incentives for solar right now. Nearby Duke power has all the incentives. We called and verified with their renewable energy rep exactly what they offer.
I already have a generator that can backfeed and run the house via a panel interlock. But gas, propane, and natural gas will run out or be difficult to get if there is a natural disaster, etc. hopefully the sun keeps coming up.
As far as I know our power has never gone out for more than an hour or 2 in 5 years. I also have insurance on my car I hope to never crash type argument.
system goals:
offset some electrical costs
emergency backup for long term "situation" that hopefully never happens natural disaster or whatever.
Just another layer in our preparedness onion. Lol
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1) yes
2) as Mike mentioned there are other bimodal invert system but battery size is dictated by the load, battery characteristics, and array size.
some companies are not very familiar with grid tie bimodal systems.
The cost of the batteries are high, lead acid is cheaper but other inverter systems that can use lead acid batteries are more costly.
If you don't have Time of Use rates why are you considering battery ? if just for backup, how often are the outages? you could get a small automatic generator on the critical loads for less money than the bimodal system. Though with the bimodal system you would get other incentives, like 30% tax credit and possibly a state battery incentive depending on the state you are in.
Also are you sure you don't get net metering where you are located?Leave a comment:
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Several companies make Hybrid Inverters:
Outback/Radian
Schneider Electric (XW series)
Sunny Island
All work with conventional batteries, but there is a minimum size to support your loads, the batteries have to be able to supply the 120Hz peak surge when generating the sinewave, too small of a battery and it fails.
Going direct from PV you your house wires without a battery, doesn't work so well, because of clouds and starting surges that a simple PV panel cannot support.
One of the major GT inverters has a option for a single medium powered outlet, in case of grid failure, but you have to flip the switch manually.Leave a comment:
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New With Questions
Hello,
I'm new, just approved yesterday, and I've got questions.
We're in the preliminary stages of getting quotes etc. a grid-tied system.
Like people here have mentioned before we were a bit surprised to find out the array is 100% useless if the grid goes down. I figured we could at least produce power during the day if the grid was down. The protecting the lineman argument is invalid and stupid in my opinion because it's 100% fine to utilize a whole house generator with a transfer switch to isolate the generator from back feeding the grid. The other argument I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't realize at 1st and that is variable output of the panels.
I feel this is glossed over by the install companies when they are all caught up in trying to sell a tax credit. As soon as the questions get hard these guys give up. We actually had a guy come to our house and expected us to sign a contract for a $20K system that day. lol, really? does this happen?
I have no interest in a system that can't help me during a power outage, disaster etc. Power is cheap where I live and we don't use that much, we also get no local incentives and the power company only buys the power back at 33% of what they sell it for.
Enter the hybrid system!!! they want me to buy the StorEdge inverter which is only compatible with 2 SUPER EXPENSIVE batteries LG Chem and Tesla Powerwall (Heard the Powerwall is not even available here)
I have 2 simple question that I hope are simple to answer for the experts on here:
1. If I have a hybrid system using a Solar Edge StorEdge battery ready inverter and I have the $6500 LG Chem battery installed as part of the system will the PV charge the battery while the grid is down (assuming sun etc.)? If not why? Is it also unsafe to charge a battery while the grid is down?
2. Is there another inverter/system that will allow me to use a smaller cheaper battery to mainly stabilize the power delivery. So the grid is down but during the daytime only I'm able to charge the battery at a higher rate than i'm using it so I can essentially run the house off the PV without stability issues. The battery being a buffer for clouds passing over etc.
I feel there is little thought when it comes to grid tied systems and power outages.
I feel the cost of those batteries is outrageous. We don't have more expensive peak rates in the evening or anything that justifies a $6500 battery and $2000 to mount it to the wall and run some wire.
I hope this forum can help because i'm wearing these solar companies out with questions that seem simple to me but apparently no one else has ever asked them.
I guess i'm just supposed to sign, pay, and hope for the best with the 1st set up they quote. Ask for a different panel and they can't get it, but I can buy it online from 10 companies.
Please help!
Thanks
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