Looking for Recommendations on Future Grid Tie

[matthewlord]

Wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction. We're builing a 900sqft cabin in the mountains and I'd really love to just go off-grid. However with bad exposure and a climate that is not one that can be considered "sunny" I'm scared to go all in. So I'm looking for something that I can get that is inverter/charger which can manage my batteries (also looking for some good batteries that don't require me to wire 20 independent batteries together) but also offer me to connect to the grid in the future should our system simply not be able to keep up. I'd consider a generator but we do have some neighbors and I'd be concerned about noise. Unless there are crazy quiet generators now available. Thanks for the help, cheers.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Grid-tie means grid-interactive, i.e., you have the ability to backfeed surplus solar to the grid. This requires a contract with your utility and subjects you to the most stringent requirements.

If you simply want to "fall back" to the grid to supply power when you can't make your own, that's NOT grid-tie. That's off-grid with grid backup.

Any quality off-grid inverter/charger capable of accepting AC input will work for the latter scenario, and since you're worried about supplying your own, grid-tie seems pretty insane since you won't have any surplus.

 

[matthewlord]

Grid-tie means grid-interactive, i.e., you have the ability to backfeed surplus solar to the grid. This requires a contract with your utility and subjects you to the most stringent requirements.

If you simply want to "fall back" to the grid to supply power when you can't make your own, that's NOT grid-tie. That's off-grid with grid backup.

Any quality off-grid inverter/charger capable of accepting AC input will work for the latter scenario, and since you're worried about supplying your own, grid-tie seems pretty insane since you won't have any surplus.

Thank you. That really helps. I've been using the wrong terminology then. Yes, I have no intention of selling or feeding into the grid. I'd simply like to use some grid if needed only as a last resort. I've been looking at packages from Big Battery. Any others I should be looking at? I like the plug and play nature of them.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

You should not look at packages.

You should look at your needs and available solar. Then use that to design the right system for you and THEN see if a kit meets your needs.

See link #1 in my signature.

PVWatts to determine what your unshaded solar availability is then use the energy audit to estimate your needs.

This site also contains many useful options when estimating loads:

Off Grid Calculator | Solar Biz

www.thesolarbiz.com