New Ontario Utility Rates coming - good or bad for DIY Solar?

petee_c said:

I've got a call in to the solarpowerstore here in Canada... they're going to price out a small 5kW solar system for me (hopefully get the grant), and also a small maybe 120V inverter/small battery backup (14kWh I believe is the smallest UL9541 available ATM), and see what that costs.

I had started the Greener Homes Loan application back in March 2022, hopefully it's still open. I have reached out to them as well to inquire. If that is the case, I can get it covered by the loan...

In the process of looking at a heatpump laundry dryer, or a 110V All-in-one washer/dryer. GE has one in Canada. Can't find the LG or Samsung offerings yet up here.

Alternatively, I may MacGyver a system to cover a few of the evening loads on a 'portable' system. (Essentially removing 4-5 circuits from the breaker panel and switching them over to the inverter.

24V 280Ah DIY battery & BMS (6.7kWH)
3000W 120V Pure Sine Inverter (Amazon)
24V battery charger.

The battery and BMS are fairly straight forward. I would need a battery charger that can remember settings when unplugged/unpowered, or defaults to the proper settings when plugged in. Hoping to run the charger on a wall timer to capture the ULO rates. I figure if I can capture 4-5kWh of peak energy use, 81% efficiency in charging and inverting, I should save $245/yr on my peak rates. Assuming I can build it for under $1800CDN, payback would be 7 yrs.

The automated charging may not be possible, and if that's the case.... back to the drawing board.

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OffGridForGood said:

If you look at the super low overnight rate, plus daytime PV, it may take away a lot of the incetive to have batteries at all.
Winter storms and frequent power outages are my incentive for a large ESS system.

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