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Solar Question from talking to installer

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Zeebest001

New Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2023
Messages
110
Location
California
I am a little confused and I hope you guys can help me out.

The installer is telling me there are 3 options, full backup, partial backup and self consumption.

Is self consumption installed differently then full backup and partial backup?

I am looking to get a system for my California house and decided the best option would be

1 Eg4 18kpv and 2 Eg4 Power Pro batteries.

I was thinking the hookup would be the same for whatever my needs are. Let me just tell you my goal and then you guys can tell me what I need to do.

I am looking for my solar panels to power the house and recharge the batteries during the day. At night I want to use my batteries. If my batteries drain all the way, I don't want to be without power so I wanted it to shift back to grid power.
 
In installer speak self consumption is a battery system that cannot do any grid backup. I think it comes from an enphase product. We don't really talk about those much here.

Partial backup would be a critical loads panel, and full backup would be the entire main panel backed up.

You may have trouble finding an installer familiar with and comfortable with installing an 18kPV. You can tell them it's like a sol ark and they might know what that is.

The professional market is more used to dealing with backfed systems like the power wall that use an upstream BCS. So with installers and inspectors explaining a pass through system like the 18kPV can be an uphill battle.
 
He said
"WIth self consumption your batteries backfeed to the grid to offset your usage when the solar isn't producing"
 
I really reccomend going with what the contractor normally installs.

If you don’t like that equipment he does, find another.

If you really want this system, recommend contacting the seller to see who they recommend.

Most of the cost of a system is other than hardware. Labor, design, and permitting.
 
If you can't find someone who knows 18kpv already, look for a SolArk 15K installer.

18KPV can be set up in all three modes you mentioned. Usually full backup (which also provides self consumption) for 200A service home, however partial backup is also common because it likely requires less electrical work.

Full backup is more work in many situations like a combo meter-main. In that case the circuits have to be moved out of the meter-main into a new subpanel.
 
Even self-consumption may be difficult to achieve with some meter-main, if there is not enough space to put the necessary usage sensors inside without skirting with a code violation.
 
zanydroid said:
Even self-consumption may be difficult to achieve with some meter-main, if there is not enough space to put the necessary usage sensors inside without skirting with a code violation.
Click to expand...
thanks for the info. I really need the house on full backup at night and ran off the batteries. PG&E doesn't give much of a credit to back feed to them.
 
So that is what I have right now, but was told it is a hassle to make it work with batteries, so I am trying to have him refund me.
 
Zeebest001 said:
thanks for the info. I really need the house on full backup at night and ran off the batteries. PG&E doesn't give much of a credit to back feed to them.
Click to expand...
Does this mean you are on NEM3?

You just need self consumption to improve from NEM3. Though you should calculate the break-even period when adding batteries, it might be longer than you like.

Have you asked on Nextdoor etc for a premium tier solar installer recommendation? SolarEdge / Enphase is installed started from F tier up to premium tier. It feels like it will take you a while to be able to make progress with the hiring, like a lot of questions and answer threads.
 
I already have an installer who is NOT bright and why I am researching EVERYTHING myself, yes I will be on NEM 3.0 and I can break even in 5 years
 
No I haven't tried Nextdoor, believe it or not, I am trying to work out things with my current Solar person who sold me on the Solaredge system.
 
Zeebest001 said:
what does SolarEdge / Enphase is installed from F tier up to premium mean?
Click to expand...
That means SolarEdge and Enphase are used by both bad installers and top tier installers.

5 year breakeven sounds like a NEM2 number.

Replacing the SE10000 system with 18kpv (rather than AC coupling into it) will take a lot of labor to pull off the optimizers and replace them with RSD.

Might want to take a breather and collect all your questions a bit more; I'm going to have to dip from this thread for now since it's a bit hard to figure out what is most helpful for you.
 
thanks for your help! I based it on NEM 3.0 and being mostly independent from PG&E,
EG4 inverter and 2 Power pro batteries is only 13k. The installer I had was going to do this for 6k. Plus I need solar panels and the mounting, so under 25k... I have been collection my questions and researching for 120 hours plus.
 
18kpv PCS issue is a risk in CA. Although I am SCE, I'll be interested to see if you can get approval as there are some odd info requests on the SCE application.
 
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