Alabama Lake House Solar Hybrid

[AirH2OGuy]

Been watching solar for decades. Living in Alabama for the last 18 years, power bills are adding up. Alabama Power charges make going grid tied power a bad deal right now until the $5.41 change per potential solar kW, per month charge hopefully gets over turned in the federal courts.

So, I just learned about hybrid systems (mini splits specifically) that are not grid tied and man I got a lot of questions. I even saw that there are hybrid inverters??? This could help me out with my outbuilding office, and another planned out building.

Over the last year, I've watched our power rates go from 13 cents a kWh to over 18 cents over the last year. We had a tornado run right over us this year on January 4th...tore up a bunch of suff around the house and at neighbors. No one hurt, so all good. Bottom line we got a new roof out of the deal, which we needed anyway. Went from a shingle roof to a metal roof. Got the July power bill and the wife said hey! We used a 1,000 less kW than last year and it was hotter last year....I said, Great how much was the bill...The same or more than last year... Fu<k! So I did the math...yea AL power has raised our rates over 30% in the last year. ~13 cents a kWh to over ~18 cents a kWh.

Been using a Sense system for a few years, so I got a good idea of the power I use in general.

So, we have a lot of trees around the property, but a lot of open area too including a boat house and the need for a big car port structure that is in a full sun area.

The Office
It would be easy to put some panels on the boat house and use a hybrid inverter to power my office, a 12x24 metal building with an uninsulated floor but insulated walls and ceiling. It has a refrigerator, upright freezer, 12000btu mini split, few servers and my gaming system. For the last month I have moved the Sense system to the sub panel in it to directly monitor power usage. The average load is around 600W with peaks maxing at 1200 when the compressors on the fridge and freezer start up. Need to get them on different legs of the panel to help when we are on generator power to help average out the amps pulled on each leg.

The New Outbuilding
Next is the new outbuilding/home school/in-laws/random company building. It’s another 12x24 building.
Looking at putting one of the new hybrid mini splits in it, what got me going down this hybrid road.

The Main House
Finally, the main house 3 ton dual speed heat pump has trouble keeping up in the heat of summer and people constantly coming in and out of the house. It’s a 1500 sq ft log cabin with a poorly insulated crawl space. I was thinking about putting a 24,000 hybrid mini split in the high area of the main living room and just leaving the fan of the central air on low 24/7 to keep things comfortable. Using an EcoBee thermostat and running the fan a minimum of 15 min an hour anyway.

Britt/AirH2OGuy

 

[jberger]

FWIW, I don't think Alabama Power actually changed the rate, I'm not seeing a rate increase I'm just plain using more this year. The tarriff says it's been in place since January 2009.

https://www.alabamapower.com/content/dam/alabama-power/pdfs-docs/Rates/FD.pdf

Switching to efficient heat pumps would help you cut demand, which makes solar a better value. I'd start with air sealing, and all of the simple things you can do around efficiency first, then add the HVAC changes. With the new tax credits, you probably want to space out the heat pump purchases year by year to maximize the credits, instead of taking a big bang approach.

I'm using the Sense meter too, and it's a great total energy meter, but doesn't it just suck at identifying the actual loads? At least you have something to validate the improvements you are making.

We are not doing solar at our house yet, but the above is how I'm tackling it. I don't plan to do any sell back to the grid when we are done, just to get around the insane Southern Company solar fees.

 

[SSC00]

Been watching solar for decades. Living in Alabama for the last 18 years, power bills are adding up. Alabama Power charges make going grid tied power a bad deal right now until the $5.41 change per potential solar kW, per month charge hopefully gets over turned in the federal courts.

So, I just learned about hybrid systems (mini splits specifically) that are not grid tied and man I got a lot of questions. I even saw that there are hybrid inverters??? This could help me out with my outbuilding office, and another planned out building.

Over the last year, I've watched our power rates go from 13 cents a kWh to over 18 cents over the last year. We had a tornado run right over us this year on January 4th...tore up a bunch of suff around the house and at neighbors. No one hurt, so all good. Bottom line we got a new roof out of the deal, which we needed anyway. Went from a shingle roof to a metal roof. Got the July power bill and the wife said hey! We used a 1,000 less kW than last year and it was hotter last year....I said, Great how much was the bill...The same or more than last year... Fu<k! So I did the math...yea AL power has raised our rates over 30% in the last year. ~13 cents a kWh to over ~18 cents a kWh.

Been using a Sense system for a few years, so I got a good idea of the power I use in general.

So, we have a lot of trees around the property, but a lot of open area too including a boat house and the need for a big car port structure that is in a full sun area.

The Office
It would be easy to put some panels on the boat house and use a hybrid inverter to power my office, a 12x24 metal building with an uninsulated floor but insulated walls and ceiling. It has a refrigerator, upright freezer, 12000btu mini split, few servers and my gaming system. For the last month I have moved the Sense system to the sub panel in it to directly monitor power usage. The average load is around 600W with peaks maxing at 1200 when the compressors on the fridge and freezer start up. Need to get them on different legs of the panel to help when we are on generator power to help average out the amps pulled on each leg.

The New Outbuilding
Next is the new outbuilding/home school/in-laws/random company building. It’s another 12x24 building.
Looking at putting one of the new hybrid mini splits in it, what got me going down this hybrid road.

The Main House
Finally, the main house 3 ton dual speed heat pump has trouble keeping up in the heat of summer and people constantly coming in and out of the house. It’s a 1500 sq ft log cabin with a poorly insulated crawl space. I was thinking about putting a 24,000 hybrid mini split in the high area of the main living room and just leaving the fan of the central air on low 24/7 to keep things comfortable. Using an EcoBee thermostat and running the fan a minimum of 15 min an hour anyway.

Britt/AirH2OGuy

Did you log into your alabama power account and verify if what they recorded your usage to be matched what the sense monitor was claiming? I live in their territory too so my plan is to go semi off grid so they can't charge me. I think they can only charge if you connect the system to the grid.

 

[SSC00]

FWIW, I don't think Alabama Power actually changed the rate, I'm not seeing a rate increase I'm just plain using more this year. The tarriff says it's been in place since January 2009.

https://www.alabamapower.com/content/dam/alabama-power/pdfs-docs/Rates/FD.pdf

Switching to efficient heat pumps would help you cut demand, which makes solar a better value. I'd start with air sealing, and all of the simple things you can do around efficiency first, then add the HVAC changes. With the new tax credits, you probably want to space out the heat pump purchases year by year to maximize the credits, instead of taking a big bang approach.

I'm using the Sense meter too, and it's a great total energy meter, but doesn't it just suck at identifying the actual loads? At least you have something to validate the improvements you are making.

We are not doing solar at our house yet, but the above is how I'm tackling it. I don't plan to do any sell back to the grid when we are done, just to get around the insane Southern Company solar fees.

I think its only alabama power that does it. Doesn't seem like the rest of the utility branches do it. I understand why they do it and its in part because having tons of solar with no storage is actually a problem for the grid - eg the duck curve problem like they have in california.

There is also the issue of seasonal usage. Customers with a lot of solar will barely use much during most the year, but could use quite a bit during the winter, since solar doesn't generate nearly as much in the winter. This would require the utility to basically pay for a power plant that basically would only run during the winter or run at a higher capacity during the winter, which i'm sure happens to an extent already because alabama power is a winter peaking utility (or so they claim). If enough people install solar, the power/energy from the plants running in the winter would have to start increasing their price because they wont be able to recoup the costs during the rest of the year. Granted i have no idea what that cost would be though, but its probably less than $5 per kw of installed solar.

In short, yes Alabama Power is trying to create a disincentive for installing rooftop solar, but they are not doing so purely for spite. Figuring out seasonal storage is the biggest problem with renewables right now. A part of me wants to run for the PSC because I think I am competent enough to figure out the problem without it causing the same kinds of problems seen in other parts of the country.