SurferJon
New Member
Hi all, I'm trying to determine if this proposed setup is what's best for my situation.
I live in Southern California under Edison. I signed up for NEM 2.0 last year but haven't installed solar yet. I will be DIYing. I plan to live in this house for the rest of my life and eventually raise kids.
I'm currently using 37 kWh/day (when averaging out the year). From 4 to 9 PM I don't use the A/C, washing machine, dryer, or charge my EV (but would like to). If the grid goes down or the zombie apocalypse happens, I'd like to be able to run my house off batteries and charge them with the sun. All in all I'd like to use electricity whenever I want, run off solar and battery when needed, be "independent" of the grid if it goes down, and not pay for electricity.
I will be buying new QCELL 400W panels @ $140 each. With my roof and lighting each panel can generate an average of 1.66kW/day over the year. Since the panels are relatively cheap, I'm thinking of maxing out my roof at 34 panels. This would be a 13.6kW system that would generate 56kWh/day (33% more than what I currently use, or 20% more after 20 years of panel degradation).
I was originally planning to install Enphase microinverters with each panel. But then yesterday I read microinverters don't play well with third party DC batteries because it's an AC system. And so I read it might be better to design the system from the start with a string hybrid inverter. (Though the disadvantage is they fail more.)
I looked into battery backups and discovered EG4's batteries (via Will Prowse). They're relatively cheap -- a 14.3kWH outdoor wall battery is only $3,600. And using the EG4 18kPV Hybrid Inverter is $4900, which is equal to the cost of 34 IQ8 microinverters.
Here is my estimated cost breakdown and all the equipment I think I need:
I live in Southern California under Edison. I signed up for NEM 2.0 last year but haven't installed solar yet. I will be DIYing. I plan to live in this house for the rest of my life and eventually raise kids.
I'm currently using 37 kWh/day (when averaging out the year). From 4 to 9 PM I don't use the A/C, washing machine, dryer, or charge my EV (but would like to). If the grid goes down or the zombie apocalypse happens, I'd like to be able to run my house off batteries and charge them with the sun. All in all I'd like to use electricity whenever I want, run off solar and battery when needed, be "independent" of the grid if it goes down, and not pay for electricity.
I will be buying new QCELL 400W panels @ $140 each. With my roof and lighting each panel can generate an average of 1.66kW/day over the year. Since the panels are relatively cheap, I'm thinking of maxing out my roof at 34 panels. This would be a 13.6kW system that would generate 56kWh/day (33% more than what I currently use, or 20% more after 20 years of panel degradation).
I was originally planning to install Enphase microinverters with each panel. But then yesterday I read microinverters don't play well with third party DC batteries because it's an AC system. And so I read it might be better to design the system from the start with a string hybrid inverter. (Though the disadvantage is they fail more.)
I looked into battery backups and discovered EG4's batteries (via Will Prowse). They're relatively cheap -- a 14.3kWH outdoor wall battery is only $3,600. And using the EG4 18kPV Hybrid Inverter is $4900, which is equal to the cost of 34 IQ8 microinverters.
Here is my estimated cost breakdown and all the equipment I think I need:
- 34 QCELL 400 watt panels x $140 = $4,760
- EG4 18kPV Hybrid Inverter = $4,900 x 1.0825 tax = $5,304.25
- EG4 PowerPro WallMount Battery 14.3kWh = $3,600 x 1.0825 tax = $3,897
- 200 amp panel upgrade: $3000 - $600 tax credit = $2,400
- Panel racking system and miscellaneous: $2,000?
- City permit: $500
- Total: $18,861 x 0.7 federal tax credit = $13,202.70 (divided by $400/mo electric bill = pays itself off in 33 months)
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