mp80
New Member
Due to PGE hiking rates every quarter, being outrageously expensive to install(responsibility is all on the owner and hard to deal with I've decided to go off grid. Its a new build and as part of the required building codes in CA a 5.6kw enphase panel system was installed on a south facing roof. My loads will be high as it'll be a gentleman's farm with orchards, gardens, pasture. So the well and booster pump will be operating quite a bit from April-Nov (Plus I have 4 small energy whores {children} and 2 small 300 sqft guest units) Peak sun hours in Jan 3.34-Aug 7.43. My heaviest loads will be in summer with irrigation and A/C as it gets 110 degrees here. I'm going to estimate peak months loads of 3000kwh which would be a 22kw solar panel set up. I looked at local installers and one wanted to use 2 sol-ark 15's, (5) 14.3kw EG4 powerwall batteries, a kohler 20kw propane generator, an additional 17.3 kw solar array of Q-cell DUO BFG 480w. The cost was astronomical so I was looking at doing most of the mounting and laying wire myself and having an electrician do the wiring connections.
I was going to down size the array to 11-14kw and see how that goes initially and adjust lifestyle workflow. They mentioned having multiple orientations to catch the morning sun and then due south then southwest during the hottest time of day when the A/C is running. We will have mini-splits and 2 ducted systems. The panels will be on sinclair ground mounts. was thinking 12x400w canadian solar panels facing SE and 24x400w canadian solar panels facing SW. One sol-ark would be receiving the 3 strings of 8 panels each running 200ft on 8awg wire. The other sol-ark would be receiving the enphase panels (needs an ac coupler?can someone link a resource?) and the other 12 panels. The battery set-up is tight in the garage to keep it out of the impact zone but went with the EG4 powerwalls due to being code compliant in CA with UL 9540. I know diesel would be a better option for a generator but for now i'll already be having a propane tank so will stick with the Kohler 20kw for now.
Suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?
Also tricks on mounting those 300lb batteries?
I was going to down size the array to 11-14kw and see how that goes initially and adjust lifestyle workflow. They mentioned having multiple orientations to catch the morning sun and then due south then southwest during the hottest time of day when the A/C is running. We will have mini-splits and 2 ducted systems. The panels will be on sinclair ground mounts. was thinking 12x400w canadian solar panels facing SE and 24x400w canadian solar panels facing SW. One sol-ark would be receiving the 3 strings of 8 panels each running 200ft on 8awg wire. The other sol-ark would be receiving the enphase panels (needs an ac coupler?can someone link a resource?) and the other 12 panels. The battery set-up is tight in the garage to keep it out of the impact zone but went with the EG4 powerwalls due to being code compliant in CA with UL 9540. I know diesel would be a better option for a generator but for now i'll already be having a propane tank so will stick with the Kohler 20kw for now.
Suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?
Also tricks on mounting those 300lb batteries?