Hybrid System Question for Small EcoVillage

[Zonasur]

Hi everyone. I want to bounce this idea of some of you before doing it.
Due to increase energy consumption, I recently transitioned to grid power after 15 years of being off grid in a rural part of Costa Rica.

However our plan has been to do a traditional grid tie system - so as to still produce as much of our own power as possible. I have a pallet of 26 used panels on the way right now

But it occurred to me yesterday that simply installing a hybrid inverter would probably be a more appealing option as it can meet load demands from either solar and / or grid power. Plus have a battery backup. Avoiding all the expensive permits with the power company here would be great.

So currently I have our entire little eco village wired with appropriately sized service line from one structure to the next, sub panels etc. These are long runs of 70 or 80 meters of cable. But all works well with the incoming grid power and very little voltage drop.

My main question is if I add a hybrid inverter like the growatt 5000 uphill of the current main panel and sub panels, is there any chance it would bottle neck the incoming grid power? Or not be able to deliver power at those long distances? I see It’s AC inputs are only 8 awg wire. Should power still get reliable and safely delivered down my long line of connections?

Is this a good idea? Am I missing anything?

Thanks!

 

[Rednecktek]

My main question is if I add a hybrid inverter like the growatt 5000 uphill of the current main panel and sub panels, is there any chance it would bottle neck the incoming grid power?

Yes, you'd have to specifically get a unit that could bypass more than the AIO is rated for which the Growatts can't do. Even if you had 900Zillion watts available from the utility, the Growatt would only pass 5000w through and downstream to the houses, which isn't much at all. Most of those units that are 5Kw+ are actually just 2 smaller units in parallel in the same box, so a 5Kw unit is in effect 2x 2500w units on split phase, or 20a @ 240v. All the houses downstream of the unit would have to share that 20a feed so if one person was cooking dinner on the stove everyone else would be in the dark.

It's a good concept, you just have to figure out 1: How much amperage each house needs * # of houses, 2: an AIO that will pass through more power than it will invert, and 3 how many batteries you're going to need to feed all those houses while the grid is down.

Just as a point of reference to math with, a "normal" us power drop is 200a @ 240v split phase, or 48000w of power capacity which would be a 48Kw inverter for each house downstream. Granted your power usage probably isn't maxing that out but it's a number to work from.

Also, if your power company isn't going to pay you for the power you produce, is it really going to be worth the cost of buying all the stuff (conduit, micro-inverters for every panel, etc), getting it professionally installed, and getting the permitting over just making your own stand-alone system that has grid backup?

 

[timselectric]

It just depends on what your total load is.
You can parallel multiple 5000's to increase total output.

 

[Rednecktek]

It just depends on what your total load is.
You can parallel multiple 5000's to increase total output.

This. Time to whip out a calculator and see where the best bang for the buck would be. 5 paralleled 5k inverters? 3 paralleled 12Kw inverters? 50 paralleled 3Kw inverters? Getting a guesstimate of number of houses * watts per house is going to be the first step.

Also a massive consideration is going to be physics. Where are you going to stick all those AIO's and batteries? Do you have a building in the right location that will house it all?

Also, and it just makes me wonder, what does your power company think about this idea? Are you going to get in trouble for "selling" their power down the line? Not sure what an "Eco Village" is and how it pertains. Is it a bunch of tiny homes on 1 person's lot or something?