Need some advice on a New install of Home Solar

[Ampster]

Hi Ampster, I hope I could add some insights for you.

Thanks, but you may be confusing me with the original poster. That is good input for him. Personally, however I chose to go with a hybrid inverter with a DIY battery consisting if 56 modules from a Nissan Leaf.

[muON]

Thanks, but you may be confusing me with the original poster. That is good input for him. Personally, however I chose to go with a hybrid inverter with a DIY battery consisting if 56 modules from a Nissan Leaf.

My apologies. I saw you asking about the recent purchase of Pika so I thought I'd share you some latest info. What? 56 modules connected to a leaf. That's truly Car2Grid. Do you have photos online to share? I'd love to see it.

[Ampster]

My apologies. I saw you asking about the recent purchase of Pika so I thought I'd share you some latest info. What? 56 modules connected to a leaf. That's truly Car2Grid. Do you have photos online to share? I'd love to see it.

I didn't ask about Pika, On another thread I I offered information about what I had seen Generac do to enter the marketplace for home storage market.

My Nissan Leaf modules are reconfigured into a 48 volt pack which powers an Outback Skybox. I do not own a Nissan Leaf. I own two Teslas and based on my confidence in their technology, I had an order for a Tesla Powerwall. I cancelled that because I already had most of the Leaf modules and could purchase the Skybox for $6,000. I still follow many Tesla installations and am envious of the constant software upgrades. The real value of a PowerWall is that in the right TOU rate market it has a reasonable payback.

[J.P.M.]

My interpretation of his original post was that it was an AHJ or power company constraint because he mentioned it in the same sentence as the NEM description. He can clarify if my interpretation is correct. The motivation behind my post was to remind people of that before the thread went down the path of pros and cons of future expansion. I almost made that mistake before I reread his post.

RSQ: As you're probably going to read what's below, my apologies up front for writing of you in the third person.

Yes Ampster, I read and figured that out as well. As we both know, that 10 kW is a common but not ubiquitous POCO constraint. What I'm wondering is just how the OP arrived at a 10 kW size. As in, is the annual load the OP wants to offset > what a 10 STC kW PV system can produce in a year so he's stuck w/10 kW, or has the OP sized a system that's less than 10 kW but if 10 kW is as much as he can get in an NEM he better go for it ? Or, is the OP ignorant about system sizing/pricing as is not uncommon for those showing up here saying they're as confused as the OP is by analysis.

In a prior post to this thread I suggested the OP get his annual kWh usage for design purposes. Maybe he's done that and the system size he came up with is > 10 STC kW, and maybe he's well versed and acquainted with residential PV system sizing, but as of now, I'm ignorant of what he's shooting for in terms of a load offset or how he arrive at 10 kW and my ignorance of those things limits my ability to make comments germane to his situation. Without that info, for example, I'm wondering if the OP doesn't know that a 10 kW system may provide a lot more than his annual usage. NOMB, but if he doesn't know what he's doing, he might want to be aware that he might be leaving a lot of $ on the table by oversizing. If I was new to the subject and wasting money, I'd sure want somebody to tell me. A 10 kW system size, while not unheard of, is a pretty big system for a residence, and from what I read, it looks like that may be how the system was sized.

[RSQ]

Thanks for the replies once again. The 10KW limit is in place by our local POCO, Since then I have spoke with some of my neighbors and found out the local POCO was sued by a home owner who wanted a bigger system and it went in their favor. With that being said, My average annual usage is about 14,000KW a year, All of my bids were systems right around 10 KW (28-vs 31 panels ) Which put me right around 97-103% Solar offset of my bill. My roof has room for around 34 panels and I plan on adding an electric car to my usage in a year or two.

That is where my question about more wattage panels and future upgrades came from, anticipating the new car, and after reading degradation is not as bad as I had thought. Once again thanks and I'm really trying to read as much before coming back with questions.

[J.P.M.]

Thanks for the replies once again. The 10KW limit is in place by our local POCO, Since then I have spoke with some of my neighbors and found out the local POCO was sued by a home owner who wanted a bigger system and it went in their favor. With that being said, My average annual usage is about 14,000KW a year, All of my bids were systems right around 10 KW (28-vs 31 panels ) Which put me right around 97-103% Solar offset of my bill. My roof has room for around 34 panels and I plan on adding an electric car to my usage in a year or two.

That is where my question about more wattage panels and future upgrades came from, anticipating the new car, and after reading degradation is not as bad as I had thought. Once again thanks and I'm really trying to read as much before coming back with questions.

Thank you for the information. Two more quick ones if you care to provide the info: What's your zip and what's the proposed panel orientation, in approx. degrees, azimuth and tilt. Provide that info, read up, and in the meantime, folks here can chew on modeled output and have more/better info if/when you come back w/questions raised by your self education.