diy solar

diy solar

Can we get a solar system that doesn't feed back to the grid + sizing advice needed

My emidiate goal was to lower my electric bill.
Which is why I started with the AIO and solar.
Then added battery to get through the night, for more savings. Batteries are the most expensive part of a system. PV is the cheapest. AIO's vary in price, depending on chosen brand.
 
No point in paying for unused features. If you're not planning to export, don't need a grid-tied unit.
Paying for an offgrid setup is a good bit more expensive. The inverter has to be larger/more expensive to handle the homes max surges and occasional high loads. Offgrid the batteries usually have to have a larger/more expensive capacity to handle the higher loads/surges. With a grid tie setup the grid handles all I mentioned dramatically slashing the cost of the setup.
 
This is a good suggestion, In fact I started my system with AIO and Batteries as a learning process, adding the PV the next year.
For the OP installing the PV may be the biggest expense of a complete system, and by starting with the AIO & Batteries, they essentially get a large UPS to carry them through those winter power outages for low cost for now, and they can learn how to carefully use battery power during grid-down periods. Later plan and build (or have built for them) the PV to go with their sustem, perhaps finding a space for some south facing panels.
The new IRA bill makes this an even better approach than in the past. Previously you had to have solar to get a tax credit for batteries and NOT charge it from the grid but now you can build a battery only system and charge from the grid and get a 30% tax credit
 
Paying for an offgrid setup is a good bit more expensive. The inverter has to be larger/more expensive to handle the homes max surges and occasional high loads. Offgrid the batteries usually have to have a larger/more expensive capacity to handle the higher loads/surges. With a grid tie setup the grid handles all I mentioned dramatically slashing the cost of the setup.
I'm totally against grid-tied systems. In my opinion it's just throwing money away. A small return on investment. That is getting smaller every year. The power companies are making it less and less worth it, all of the time.
Of course, this is my personal opinion.
If it works for your situation in your location. I hope that you will enjoy it for as long as you can.
 
I'm kindof liking this battery only setup as a starting point. My peak usage is 1600 kWh / mo and average is 800 kWh / mo. Would it make sense to have a 25kW battery setup? Does it cost more to charge the batteries from the grid than the energy I get out? The reason I am asking is I have very limited useful roof space.
 
25kwh is at minimum $7,500.
The additional cost of electricity is determined by efficiency losses.
Worth it when the grid goes down.
 
I'm totally against grid-tied systems. In my opinion it's just throwing money away. A small return on investment. That is getting smaller every year. The power companies are making it less and less worth it, all of the time.
Of course, this is my personal opinion.
If it works for your situation in your location. I hope that you will enjoy it for as long as you can.
There is no solar incentive in my area. Having a grid tie setup isn’t just to feed back into the grid. For me it’s to zero out my electric bill. It’s a much cheaper way to zero out the electric bill than being offgrid due to the reasons I explained above.. the entire system (inverter(s), batteries, pv array) can be significantly smaller with a zero export grid tie system and still all but zero the electric bill. The ROI on the type of system I’m explaining happens much sooner.. for me I have a small cheapo (4kw) offgrid inverter for the very rare power outages that most people experience. It uses the same battery voltage/bank that the grid tie inverter use. I simply moved a few critical loads to a separate small breaker panel. That breaker panel has a manual transfer switch to switch its power from the main panel/grid tie inverters or the offgrid inverter.
Some people have very frequent power outages so for them having all or most of their loads offgrid 24/7 is more beneficial although much more expensive to keep all of most homes offgrid 24/7
 
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I would go all SMA running 230v singel phase but thats just me. What you really need is tons of solar power from what I read so look into the 600w + solar panels. As for the battery run the SMA H series battery inverter unless you want to run 400v + then go with the Sunny Boy Storage for inverters and for battery I would start with a 14kw 280k 16s1p and go up to a 16s3p as needed.
 
For me it’s to zero out my electric bill. It’s a much cheaper way to zero out the electric bill than being offgrid due to the reasons I explained above..
That will never be possible these days. It was possible once, but those days are long gone.
Think about it.
Do you really expect the privately owned utility supply companies to supply power and maintain all the lines and equipment at zero cost, just so you can draw power whenever you feel like doing so ?
They keep changing the rules, especially as more and more people think they can zero out their power bills with a grid tie system.

Feed in tariff gets less, the maximum allowed size of your inverter, and total number of panels allowed under the rules keeps changing and shrinking. In Australia they are now trying to prevent people from going totally off grid by limiting battery size.

They absolutely have to do all this or run at a loss and go out of business.
Its a self perpetuating disaster for the power utilities, and the government will keep bringing in tighter rules to keep the whole system financially viable.
And you are never going to be able to beat that by playing by their rules.
Its like a rigged casino
The only way to win is not to play.

Go outlaw, just give them the middle finger and go totally off grid.
 
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That will never be possible these days. It was possible once, but those days are long gone.
Think about it.
Do you really expect the privately owned utility supply companies to supply power and maintain all the lines and equipment at zero cost, just so you can draw power whenever you feel like doing so ?
They keep changing the rules, especially as more and more people think they can zero out their power bills with a grid tie system.

Feed in tariff gets less, the maximum allowed size of your inverter, and total number of panels allowed under the rules keeps changing and shrinking. In Australia they are now trying to prevent people from going totally off grid by limiting battery size.

They absolutely have to do all this or run at a loss and go out of business.
Its a self perpetuating disaster for the power utilities, and the government will keep bringing in tighter rules to keep the whole system financially viable.
And you are never going to be able to beat that by playing by their rules.
Its like a rigged casino
The only way to win is not to play.

Go outlaw, just give them the middle finger and go totally off grid.
Grid tie inverters with zero export/limiters is different than feeding into the grid/utility company as a battery .. I continue to pay a minimum of $27 even if my inverters cover all of my monthly power usage. So they are not providing power for free.. in my area even if a home uses zero power they still charge $27.. going totally offgrid (in most cases) cost more or the same as keeping an electric bill the rest of your life. Although DIY everything including batteries might save a little money over a lifetime. Yes there’s then the ability to have power when the grids down, but as I said I have a cheapo offgrid inverter for the critical loads anyways.. in a total grid down apocalypse I would be happy just being able to power my critical loads and be grateful I have that option
 
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By the bye my friend has 20 415 W panels on a roughly south facing aspect giving him 8kw average. He’s at 53 degrees north , got grid tie with islanding ability and a big battery ( can’t remember exactly ) not much change from 20k cost.( gross before gov grants , 2400 ) his system is grid tied and he’s limited to 6kw peak feed in tariff.

In winter his average production is under 3kw per day.

In my view the economies are bunkum. I can buy a shed load of electricity for 20 k
 
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By the bye my friend has 20 415 W panels on a roughly south facing aspect giving him 8kw average. He’s at 53 degrees north HRs got grid tie with islanding ability and a big battery ( can’t remember exactly ) not much change from 20k cost.( gross before gov grants , 2400 ) his system is grid tied and he’s limited to 6kw peak feed in tariff.

In winter his average production is under 3kw per day.

In my view the economies are bunkum. I can buy a shed load of electricity for 20 k
There is much cheaper ways to do it depending on the area.. But yeah if you hire it out then it’s not worth it IMO.
 
I'm totally against grid-tied systems. In my opinion it's just throwing money away. A small return on investment. That is getting smaller every year. The power companies are making it less and less worth it, all of the time.
Of course, this is my personal opinion.
If it works for your situation in your location. I hope that you will enjoy it for as long as you can.
People with poor sun in winter absolutely have to have grid tied systems cause they need the grid.

What you mean is feed in tariffs. I agree these can’t be relied upon as they will get less and less to discourage financially destabilising the grid, and will decrease

Here it’s the grid operator campaigning against feed in not the generators as it’s the grid that buys and sells wholesale electricity. In fact here feed in was only introduced in 2022,up till then you exported for free ( mind you those with mechanical meters got a full credit per unit until they were replaced by a smart meter )

So ultimately I don’t see feed in remaining but grid tie absolutely.
 
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With diy here you can’t grid tie so that’s out
Are you sure about that. As I’m saying there is grid tie inverters that do zero export therefore no feeding into the grid happens. No contract with electric company needed. In my area (a lot of areas) you can do the electrical work on your own house and then simply inspected by the local inspector.
 
Are you sure about that. As I’m saying there is grid tie inverters that do zero export therefore no feeding into the grid happens. No contract with electric company needed. In my area (a lot of areas) you can do the electrical work on your own house and then simply inspected by the local inspector.
Maybe dont know for sure , there are no “inspectors “ here. So you have to use a trade professional who tend to reluctant to certify other peoples work

Here it’s illegal to modify the consumer panel yourself though their are no penalties if you do.
 
. I can buy a shed load of electricity for 20 k
However, price is not the only consideration: during 'grid-down' you can't buy any grid power at any price, until it comes back online. If a storm takes the grid out for three days, and normally a storm also means no/poor solar production too, then batteries and a stand-by generator are the solution for most of us.
For my family we use the solar as our go-to input, and the grid as our back up during low-solar days (Nov-Jan especially). The base cost for the grid tie is $30/month or about a dollar per day.
We wired in a generator plug outside our workshop (where the solar equipment lives) and in the case of a prolonged winter outage, where solar is also not sufficient, we plug in the generator to the wall and charge up the battery pack for a couple hours, then shut down the generator again. Many of the house loads (fridge, well pump, freezers) run in cycles that are best supplied by the batteries rather than having the generator running non-stop waiting for those loads to need a cycle.
 
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