diy solar

diy solar

Big systems, how big is big? Biggest?

Guda

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Nov 19, 2019
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I am wondering how big peoples systems get. I am building a 200a panel system. Thats 8 AIO. I was thinking it was 4. Oops. Each AIO can use 28 of the PV I use. Thats over 200 pv. Does anyone have 200pv installed?

I am not trying to create a brag off. But I am super curious as to how big systems work. Assuming these are privet systems. Installer stories are totally cool

What is the most PV?
Biggest battery bank?
How many watts of inverters?

What kinda things (unusual) are being run?
 
32 kw sma
90 kw lifepo4
22 kw panels
Future hold 22 kw more panels and 60 kw batteries
 
The biggest diy battery I saw was 1mwh that I was on yt but was unsure if going in a home.
My system is 80 5000w panels, dual 12k inverters, 4 120 amp charge controllers, 171kwh lifepo4.
We are running the whole house on solar no grid assist.
Want to add 20 more panels. Not gotten the 4th charge controller up but have hit 280amps charging.
We work from home taking care of ID individuals, by law if we loose power we have to go to a hotel and
they do not understand that and are not happy about it. So we wanted to make sure we have plenty to spare. We have made many changes to
greatly reduce usage but the nature of the job means there are many areas we are unable to address.
 
Thats a really interesting use of batteries. Kinda like a hospital power requirements. Your system is in place to make peoples lives better. Thats pretty awesome.
 
I am wondering how big peoples systems get. I am building a 200a panel system. Thats 8 AIO. I was thinking it was 4. Oops. Each AIO can use 28 of the PV I use. Thats over 200 pv. Does anyone have 200pv installed?

I am not trying to create a brag off. But I am super curious as to how big systems work. Assuming these are privet systems. Installer stories are totally cool

What is the most PV?
Biggest battery bank?
How many watts of inverters?

What kinda things (unusual) are being run?
Good question / interesting topic.

My goal IS to make my house 'off-grid 100%' (in the city). Power - e.g. Solar is one of the big steps.

Solar: Currently have 45 panels / 12.85kw of PV. This generates 18,000kwh of power / year.

But its too little for winter months!!! Spring/summer is 80kwh/day. but winter averages 17-20kwh/day and I just had 4 days in a row of 7kwh/day. Not anywhere near enough - can no longer keep my rose colored glasses on!.

Plan to add 24 panels to the west facing roof for a total 69 panels / ~20kw PV array - but of course west facing is not optimal, maybe 40% additional power. I also have 42 panels stored under the house for 'emergency deployment' to the back yard (as in Puerto Rico type event) for boosting winter power. This would add up to 111 panels / ~31kw of PV. Winter can then average 33-40kwh/day'ish - enough to keep the house alive.

Battery: Currently have 81kwh battery running 40% DOD and in the process of expanding to 120kwh battery bank to support additional panels with low DOD / make it thru 4 days of thick clouds.

Inverters:
2 x AIMS 12,000w inverters which let's me generate 24,000w / 240v@100a. I can run everything - including dryer, cooktop, oven, hot water heater, etc with just modest conservation - e.g. avoid running everything at the same time :)

I LOVE SOLAR - but clouds just absolutely kill production... Sigh.
 
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I am TRYING o get my dual battery bank from a pair of SMITH electric trucks…

It should total jus shy of 400KWh when assembled… if I ever get them picked up…
 
I started by reducing load!
6.1 kw panels
42 kw fla batteries
6.8 kw Schneider
Sell to Grid connected 1 to 1 contract
About 3 kw surplus annually
 
they to get you hand on some CIGS panels. Thinfilm if you don't have space issues.

There performance is not great in direct Sunlight (14%) but doesn't go down when clouds are there.
doesn't go down when clouds are there.
From watching PV production over the last 3 years - I've observed that there are clouds (rain) and then there are CLOUDS (rain). Meaning - the cloud layer thickness can vary significantly! For a cloudy winter day I might get 18kwh and CLOUDY WINTER DAY only 6kwh (worst ever) - e.g. big difference - on a 13kw PV array or mono panels. **I know this is soft/anecdotal comment.

Regardless of the thickness, the daylight seems similar to my eyes but I imagine it's a function of the strength of sunlight energy / mm2 penetrating to the panels? So when its really thick, would CIGS perform better / by how much? What would 6kwh go up to?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your comment and not trying to shoot CIGS down - just interested :)
 
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I got a 5kw cigs Array, and a 2kw mono Array.

When a regular cloud, as in single dense floating thing, drifts by and casts a Shadow over the panels. The thinfilm doesn't even notice while the mono panels drop output by roughly half.

When the whole sky is covered it really depends. The curve on the mono panels fluctuate a lot more than. The thinfilm is more related to daylight length and strength compared to cloud cover.


When I would build a another system, I would angle cigs for winter and mono for summer.


The thinfilm doesn't like being hot and is producing peak output on the changing season, spring and fall.
 
Be nice to see comparison of CIGS to bi-facial panels. I would surmise bi-facial would come out on top due to ability to produced in all climates though not great the closer one gets to equator same as CIGS since they don't like heat.
 
Be nice to see comparison of CIGS to bi-facial panels. I would surmise bi-facial would come out on top due to ability to produced in all climates though not great the closer one gets to equator same as CIGS since they don't like heat.
Depending which metric are you using.

Total one year production probably yes. But when you only look at the 6 winter months in the northern hemisphere we might have a draw or the CIGS.

The downside of thinfilm is clearly the lack of development money. It's not a bad technology, just all R&D is going into silicone waver Solar panels.

There are some firms working on applying thinfilm to regular panels. Would reduce the shade issues all silicone panels have and give better low light performance.

Bifiacial are awesome for warm climates, I'm planning a carport with them for my Florida home.

I like to have different technologies, it's not a either or question. It's And. One is better at one time and the other at another scenario. Together they should cover most use cases
 
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