New installation in North West Montana, ALL FEEDBACK WELCOME! (and needed)

[PlasmaJockey]

I have a new installation and would like to get feedback on the best brands to purchase. The installation is as follows:

Remote Cabin (750 Sq. Ft)
Well (1 HP with inverter drive)
Green House (3000 Sq. Ft) (Fans and evap cooler in summer only)
Out Door wood boiler (1 HP blower and 4 circ. pumps)
Kitchen (Freeze dryer , freezers and other things that will eat my power and give me nothing really in return.

Now before everyone starts asking how much power I plan to use, the answer is as much as I can afford. I have no real power budget other than "Don't run well pump because we need the freezer more!" The installation is very remote and it is pretty important that it runs without problems.

This is what I am planning to use:

3 - 8kw Sol Ark inverters (Might only run 2 and keep the 3rd as a spare)
10kw of bifacial panels on a tracker (Yes, one stupid large tracker)
2 banks of EVE cells at 48 Volts each (Only because they seem the most industrial choice)
Propane Generator (Because I already have it, 20kw 240 VAC)
Batrium BMS (It seems the best choice as it works at cell level and has a high power rating)

Please feel free to tear this apart as I have no real clue what I am doing. Youtube is nice but real people are better. Thanks for any help!

 

[snoobler]

What I see is a lack of knowledge of actual energy need. You've identified some robust equipment to provide power that certainly seems adequate on the surface, but you have 3X 8kW inverter with great surge and 10kW of panels and 29kWh of batteries.

Will that power your existing needs?

Dunno.

I'll be the first to say it, another 5000W of panels is going to be cheaper, more productive and more reliable than a tracker.

 

[iamrich]

I'll be the first to say it, another 5000W of panels is going to be cheaper, more productive and more reliable than a tracker.

Second....

 

[PlasmaJockey]

What I see is a lack of knowledge of actual energy need. You've identified some robust equipment to provide power that certainly seems adequate on the surface, but you have 3X 8kW inverter with great surge and 10kW of panels and 29kWh of batteries.

Will that power your existing needs?

Dunno.

I'll be the first to say it, another 5000W of panels is going to be cheaper, more productive and more reliable than a tracker.

Thank you! Exactly correct. I have no real clue what I will "need" as this is a new location. I am building this a bit backwards for sure. Thank you for the information about the tracker. I own a machine and fab shop so the tracker is more of a "because I can" item. If you are telling me that building it is not worth the time and money I will just buy more panels. I think that is what I am understanding here?

 

[iamrich]

That is what I am suggesting, but obviously if you can build these at low or no cost the situation may be different. Also I tend to suggest from my own shoes, so if your budget allows you to do whatever you want, my advice might not apply.

I would not likely buy bifacial panels for instance. I think they have value, but really shine when there is limited space and a metal (or reflective) roof. If you have acres of land begging for panels, I don't see the advantage. Also I really like the value of used panels, but if you are building this for a life time and want a nice solid warranty, your path may go a more traditional way. I would prefer to set up three massive arrays pointing in three different directions than build a tracker that has moving parts that can fail.

 

[PlasmaJockey]

Second....

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

 

[Zoomyn]

Bifacial panels rock when sunlight bounce up from snow happens - if your site will handle it consider a single pipe about like a handrail that 8 or 10 panels teeter-totter on, but simply dedicating fixed mount panel arrays to SE, S, SW (depending on site layout) is the most trouble free… Also remember we try to bank on the five peak sunlight hours, 2-1/2 hours each side of solar noon - it’s likely clouds and terrain/tree shading may make early or late power harvesting iffy…

I spent some time on the front range of Colorado and nabbed a couple of propane cell tower battery replacement DC generators.. . ..and my good-old-boy local friend said “the front range is littered with propane generators’ from expensive fuel & hassle to get it on site and the rotten proprietary repair schemes built in to most of them etc. etc.. I ended up parting them off unused.

My first thought was for you to polish up that generator and retail it off and use the proceeds for a commercial grade 1800rpm diesel powered unit. Also, the Honda eu3500 and larger units will last a minimum of 3000 hours or more runtime & are very efficient, run the inverter genny at full output on the idle & warmup draw of that 20kw unit. And they convert to dual fuel if you want the security of propane as emergency fuel…

 

[PlasmaJockey]

Bifacial panels rock when sunlight bounce up from snow happens - if your site will handle it consider a single pipe about like a handrail that 8 or 10 panels teeter-totter on, but simply dedicating fixed mount panel arrays to SE, S, SW (depending on site layout) is the most trouble free… Also remember we try to bank on the five peak sunlight hours, 2-1/2 hours each side of solar noon - it’s likely clouds and terrain/tree shading may make early or late power harvesting iffy…

I spent some time on the front range of Colorado and nabbed a couple of propane cell tower battery replacement DC generators.. . ..and my good-old-boy local friend said “the front range is littered with propane generators’ from expensive fuel & hassle to get it on site and the rotten proprietary repair schemes built in to most of them etc. etc.. I ended up parting them off unused.

My first thought was for you to polish up that generator and retail it off and use the proceeds for a commercial grade 1800rpm diesel powered unit. Also, the Honda eu3500 and larger units will last a minimum of 3000 hours or more runtime & are very efficient, run the inverter genny at full output on the idle & warmup draw of that 20kw unit. And they convert to dual fuel if you want the security of propane as emergency fuel…

Thank you very much for the information! I have a diesel generator as well, it is just smaller but is a Kubota 4 cyl. and has about 2000 hours of run time. The propane is an Onan with a 4 cylinder Ford. It is posts like this that I love, they make me think about things differently. The thought about the propane was only for fuel storage, I need to have it there for other reasons anyway so why not just put in a couple of 1000 gal. tanks and use it for the generator as well? The diesel setup was going to run my shop as a stand alone unit but I can simple wire the shop into the main power house. I have never really ran a gen. set on propane and any other information you have would be very appreciated!