Any good zero-export options for this issue (utility won't allow expansion of existing solar)?

I have an older grid-connected Solar system in NV (USA). It generates about 10 MWh per year. It has a really high payback rate (88%). My electric bills have been fairly low in the past, with 'earned credits' from late spring and early summer covering about 2/3 of the fall and winter charges.

But I am switching to an electric car, with anticipated electric power consumption of about 3 MWh per year. I might also be making future conversions of house hold appliances (gas stove, water heater, home furnace) to electric power in the future. But NV Energy WILL NOT allow me to enlarge my 'grid-connected' solar configuration at all , unless I accept a huge payback reduction (down to 34%) for the whole system, including ev erything new AND the previous panels as well. (They refuse to consider that a hybrid inverter could provide substanital time-shifting benefits to them.)

But Perhaps I could quetly add a "downstream" hybrid power unit with a lot of battery storage, if I can configure it to only pull FROM the utility and existing grid-connected power panel. Along with the new car charger port, I can quietly migrate some household circuits to a secondary breaker box if new appliance loads will leave my overall "NV Energy" consumption amounts unchanged.

Does this sound viable, and can any "hybrid" all-in one products do that job? (Near Zero Export, in a configuration where some 24x7 loads can be made present all the time.)My additional solar configuration will probably produce excessive power in early summer, but I can leave one or more of the new panel strings disconnected from the MPPTs during that that season if the hybrid unit can't manage "dumping the excess" on its own.

IMHO, I would make the add-on system non-grid interactive in any way. Yes, pull from the grid if you need surplus, but do not have any means of feedback.

There really isn't a "zero export" solution. When you remove a large load, PV can't adjust instantly, and you will get feedback - not a lot, but enough to get caught.

Does your interconnection agreement get revised unfavorably with upgrading to an ESS? If you can get an approved ESS, the zero export anomalies are things that the utility side monitoring are going to expect from your house.

In California upgrade to ESS with new solar retains existing net metering terms.

If you can't upgrade to ESS without losing your net metering terms, do not use a hybrid system. It will be rather easy for them to detect what you're doing, if they cared.

And note it's always possible to detect solar change by flying a drone over someone's property.

You are on the right path. Most all hybrid All-in-One units have the capability of using CT's on the AC input wiring to limit export to 0 or very near 0.
Since you already have a net metering agreement they will not be able to detect a small amount of extra sell back, at least not during the day.
At night, its a different story, the smart meter can probably time stamp even small amounts of sell back when there shouldn't be any.

If you install a subpanel for the EV charger and use a strictly DC coupled AIO as the source of power that system can be connected to the main panel and set up as zero export. Sunshine_eggo is correct in that no inverter can guarantee absolute zero export but any small back feed from the hybrid inverter would have to travel back through the main panel before going out through the meter to the grid. I suspect there are enough "always on" loads on the main panel that any minimal sell back from the hybrid inverter would be consumed.

EV charging jives nicely with AIO (with no parallel grid operation) because there is much better behaved surge as compared to many loads. And you can ramp down the charging rate.

Electric stove and HPWH are also pretty easy to size an AIO against.

(And there's a fancy new $7000 induction cooktop coming on the market later this year that has a buffer battery to allow it to be fed from a small circuit, which further mitigates the surge from electric cooking).

An off grid AIO is the simplest solution.
It will do everything you want. And can't export anything, ever.

Add batteries to your current system.
Add solar via solar charge controller (direct to battery).

DIYrich said:

Add batteries to your current system.
Add solar via solar charge controller (direct to battery).

Click to expand...

That would work, but my current system (grid-approved, grid connected, and grid-dependent) cannot support batteries.

zanydroid said:

Does your interconnection agreement get revised unfavorably with upgrading to an ESS? If you can get an approved ESS, the zero export anomalies are things that the utility side monitoring are going to expect from your house.

In California upgrade to ESS with new solar retains existing net metering terms.

If you can't upgrade to ESS without losing your net metering terms, do not use a hybrid system. It will be rather easy for them to detect what you're doing, if they cared.

And note it's always possible to detect solar change by flying a drone over someone's property.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your advise on this!

"NV Energy" will not to allow me upgrade by adding ESS upgrade of any kind (even WITHOUT additional panels), unless I accept a payback rate reduction from 88% to 34%. It seems a bit crazy, because ESS would generally allow us to to create reduced grid output from my Solar installation near solar noon (when they don't need it), saving that power for delivery to them when they have peak demand in the early evening.

Yes, its wierd. But NV Energy apparently wants to own verything related to electric energy, and it's so-called "regulatory commission" don't seem to have any interest in actually controlling them.

I'll probably go stand-alone (completely off grid), with some new panels.

rickst29 said:

That would work, but my current system (grid-approved, grid connected, and grid-dependent) cannot support batteries.

Click to expand...

Add a 6000xp between the inverter and main panel. Add batteries to 6000xp. Storing excess power in batteries may save you $$$'s.

Status report: I have opened a formal "complaint" against the Utility (NV Energy) with the Public Utilities Commission (With regard to severe NV Energy punishment with any configuration change, even adding EES configured to create ZERO changes to my currently approved export profile.) We'll see how that goes - I have fairly good relations with some NV Legislators, if the PUC needs law revisions in 'enable' decent policies towards private owners of small-scale EES systems, running almost entirely downstream from "the grid" and its meters.