CaliCarlos
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2021
- Messages
- 3
I'm helping a family member research a residential solar system with batteries under California's NEM 3. It's going to be a professionally installed system but I'm wondering what setup to look for being as it's going to have solar storage and NEM 3 really changes that up and I feel the installers are going to push what they're use to which may not be the best for NEM 3. My understanding of NEM 3 is that you basically have to run your system off grid most of the day and night because the second you pull from the grid you now owe the utility far more than what you pulled from them unless you repay in the evening which isn't ideal. Attached is a picture of what the estimated cost/credit schedule looks like. So basically it seems that you'd need an inverter that can essentially run you're entire house from the batteries air conditioning and all otherwise you'd have to dump you're battery to the grid during peak evening hours and use cheap electricity during the night which leaves you vulnerable to power outages and creates unnecessary wear and tear on your battery from the extra cycles . The house has gas heating but does have a pool. An 8k system would be a little over 100% annual usage. I'm thinking of the Sol-Ark 15k with server rack batteries because the batteries are cheap in comparison to most of the other options and the 12kw of output from the batteries through the inverter should be sufficient to run the house with some minor load management and 12kw seems to be far more than most battery inverter combos can produce unless you buy 3 or more of them. I also like the fact that it's DC coupled which would be more efficient in an "off grid" scenario. I'm by no means a professional so anyone with advice is more than welcomed to chime in to why the sol-ark is or isn't the right setup and what your recommendation is or to correct me if I'm off on NEM 3. An installer recommendation in the central California area is also very welcomed.