iamrich
Solar Addict
Another option might be to build a PV array on the barn not connected to the grid, but this would require batteries. If you could set it up so that the array on the roof + batteries take care of all the barns needs, you basically eliminate that from the equation. Then you just have to power the house with the grid tie array. You could even hook power into the barn charge controller so the batteries would get charged even in the event of a lot of non sunny days. This is what I will likely do to my garage (which is completely off grid) once I build my house. I will have grid power to the house, but I will feed a simple 20a circuit out to the garage to power my batteries if needed. Then I will build as big an array as I can fit on the roof to feed the house and grid.We have 5 acres but not much available at this point. We looked into a 2-axis tracker but they are really ugly. We just finished building
a barn and we oriented it with the intention on putting solar on the roof. There's 1950 sq ft of roof that's south-facing so there should
be plenty of space. The primary issue at this point is that Idaho Power limits the system to 25kw.