Moving off grid to Tennessee

[JLBinTN]

Hello new member here. My Family and I are building a home in Tennessee. I'm looking for help in designing and or Installing a solar system, that will give us the same usage we have now. Computers, refrigerator, tv's, all your basic needs!
Thanks in advance, Joe

I'm west of Fayetteville TN, about 50 miles or so from Hohenwald (as the crow flies). My offgrid system consists of a 3000w 48v Growatt Inverter, 18 280w panels, and a 5.12 kw 48v LiFePO4 battery. The output from the Growatt is sufficient to run the types of things you mention above. I run my RV AC as well. You just have to stay below 3 kw total at any one time. The limiting factor in my setup is the battery. My panels generate far more energy than I can store. Once the sun sets I have roughly 3.5 kwh of energy to use until it rises again. (3.5kwh instead of 5kwh because I cycle the battery between 20% and 90% for longevity purposes.) If I had unlimited funds, I'd upgrade to a higher output Growatt, (6kw or higher), and add batteries.

 

[redalertdt]

I'm near Murfreesboro,TN setup a system with about 20kw pv (east/west), 100kwh battery, and 4 magnum 4400watt inverters. Have been running the system since about May. The house is large and all electric, but tightly built/insulated. so far it's working.

For Middle TN solar numbers you can use this community center solar. I think they have a 30kw system setup.

Arts Center of Cannon County PV System Profile

www.sunnyportal.com

 

[Brownteeth]

Hello fellow Tennessee folks!

I just joined this forum today after MTE (Middle TN Electric) pretty much gave me the cold shoulder for my initial research. Im currently building (just broke ground) in an MTE area and emailed them to ask what I should do now to make solar installation easier in the future. Truth be told, with current building costs I'm simply trying to complete the house in the first place, and solar will be at least a year or more after we move in. MTE literally said, "we dont know what you should do but dont feed your power back into the grid because we pay next to nothing for it." They also just told me to consult with a solar installer. Well, Im so far from installing the solar, I dont want (and the solar companies dont want) to answer all my pre-build questions as it'd be considered "kicking the tires", which is annoying. I have to have a ground based solar array because my house is poorly positioned for solar power production. Can my electrician do anything with the panel or electrical configuration to satisfy future solar ease of installation? Seems like trenching extra conduit runs from the panel to an outside location would be a good idea. I still want to be connected to the grid on a daily basis, but maybe run off batteries at night (for as long as they last) that had been charged from solar. Is there some sort of automatic battery/grid switch mechanism? As you can see Im in the super early phases of this research, but im willing to install/pay for some* prep work now as the building is in its initial phase. Thanks in advance

 

[redalertdt]

Maybe schedule some time with this guy for a consult. https://practicalpreppers.com/ He is a solar installer and does some consulting. I think you would want space by the panel to mount inverters and stack batteries. Conduit that reaches that space to the ground mount outside. I think those are the basics. I think MTEmc setup a specific solar expert Tim on this page at the bottom https://mte.com/Solar is that who you were talking to?
The weird thing is that solar is starting to become competitive to their business model....why not have an hoa microgrid and kick them out...I think that's probably why they are nervous...

 

[Brownteeth]

Thanks redalerdt! Yes, Tim is actually who I spoke with and told me not to bother back feeding. His resume says he's been in the solar world for sometime yet didn't offer anything of value, oh well. We have 13 acres and no HOA, itll be all us when we do it.

 

[Kornbread]

Our elec coop pays less than wholesale for any power pumped back into the grid and there will always be a monthly bill no matter how much power is pumped into their grid.

Maybe spend some time, on a forum like this one, and kick the tires. Many different ways to skin a cat.