Skythings
Solar Enthusiast
No I don't have time of use rates- but I'm sure that's coming to our Province in the near future. That's one of the reasons I decided to go solar. That and the fact our grid is becoming more and more unstable over time. Two weeks ago we had our first snowfall and our Province issued a grid alert and started restricting high usage business and it wasn't even cold yet. Last year they issued emergency alerts one January evening at -40 degree's on everyone cell phones to turn off all non essential appliances. So it's coming soon for us. My overall goal is to eventually produce as much of my own electricity as possible with solar with the grid being my backup and then having an emergency backup to both those options.If you have Time-of-Use (ToU) utility rates, you may benefit from charging during off peak rate, and running your home from batteries during on-peak rate time of day.
There is a steep learning curve to it all - no doubt about that. Keep working away at it. Ask questions.
My initial thoughts were I could run the house loads from 9PM to 9AM each night on the batteries. Because my first stage of solar only includes ten 540W panels I have found there is not enough sunlight in October and now November up here in Canada to bring the batteries up to 100% and to also run most of the house loads during the day. It's one or the other - but not both right now. I have 14 more panels coming this spring which should allow me to achieve this plan at that time. Right now the ten panels are actually running most of the house loads from 10AM to about 3PM each day when the sun is out. As winter progresses with shorter days and snow cover my solar production will be minimal at best with this current setup. This winter I am going to be grid reliant with a battery back up system which is fine for now.
Thanks for the help.