shazam
New Member
As a long-time reader of the forum I want to first thank everyone for the invaluable knowledge I have gained from it! I'm finally ready to have cogent discussion, and hopefully at some point become an asset to the group.
I finally decided to take the plunge. I contacted my electric co-op about the DIY project, who were less than enthusiastic. Long story short, they would arbitrarily limit me to a rack of panels no larger than my average annual consumption...around 8k kwh/year. Pvwatts says those panels won't even come close to handling my winter loads....12 k at a minimum. They would also limit my sell-back to their grid, and want documentation drawn and signed by a PE. County on the other hand seems pretty much 'whatever..'. Still negotiating with the utility, however...thinking plan B...the expensive one.
Plan B.....Solark 15k, 16 kw of ground-mounted panels, 5 SOK Pros (to start)....and a big EG 4 Chargeverter.
Turn the current 200 amp load center/current house wiring into the 'solar side' of the house, and add another (mostly empty) load center to run the utility connection into. No connection between the load centers. This set-up would be essentially off-grid, except....I would power the Chargeverter from the utility load center, and use it to charge the batteries when the sun is absent for an extended period. I would essentially pay the power company only to be Plan C...well OK, plan D. I have a 4-cylinder diesel generator with two-wire start that would be part of the mix....MEP803 for you military types.
Other than the expense, and the horrendous waste of capacity in the summer-time, how would you critique the plan? Thanks in advance!
Jim
I finally decided to take the plunge. I contacted my electric co-op about the DIY project, who were less than enthusiastic. Long story short, they would arbitrarily limit me to a rack of panels no larger than my average annual consumption...around 8k kwh/year. Pvwatts says those panels won't even come close to handling my winter loads....12 k at a minimum. They would also limit my sell-back to their grid, and want documentation drawn and signed by a PE. County on the other hand seems pretty much 'whatever..'. Still negotiating with the utility, however...thinking plan B...the expensive one.
Plan B.....Solark 15k, 16 kw of ground-mounted panels, 5 SOK Pros (to start)....and a big EG 4 Chargeverter.
Turn the current 200 amp load center/current house wiring into the 'solar side' of the house, and add another (mostly empty) load center to run the utility connection into. No connection between the load centers. This set-up would be essentially off-grid, except....I would power the Chargeverter from the utility load center, and use it to charge the batteries when the sun is absent for an extended period. I would essentially pay the power company only to be Plan C...well OK, plan D. I have a 4-cylinder diesel generator with two-wire start that would be part of the mix....MEP803 for you military types.
Other than the expense, and the horrendous waste of capacity in the summer-time, how would you critique the plan? Thanks in advance!
Jim
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