New To Solar Power - Is this possible?
 

Hi There,

I live and work in California. I manage a portfolio of residential rental properties, from multi-residential apartment buildings to single family houses. It is all for one single owner. Is it possible to setup a building (with lots of roof space) with more solar panels than needed and use the extra power created on other remote buildings. I am only wanting to power "house" or "common" area electricity (hallway lights, elevators, laundry rooms, garage doors, etc.); not individual unit power. Would it be possible to use the extra power created for other properties? My utility provider is PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric).

If this is possible, is there a technical name for what I am trying to do?

Thanks in advance,

Brendan

I’m pretty sure that’s not possible.. if all of the houses are right next to each other maybe.. but I seriously doubt it

The arrangement you are considering is known as an aggregate net metering account. There are a whole bunch of "ifs" to consider and many ways to set up an aggregate account. As long as the properties are all owned by and billed to the same individual or entity, it is possible. PG&E calls this a NEMA, or net energy metering aggregate, account. They are in the second phase of their plan, as they have signed enough agreements to fulfill the original net metering offering.

Too many details to consider; look here:
https://www.pge.com/en_US/business/s...ndard-nem.page

The first thing to do is check whether PG&E is allowing any new net metering accounts at all. They (along with many other power utilities) have tightened the belt on net metering arrangements in the last few years. Good luck.

If you are willing to pay for the install of all connecting cabling you essentially have an 'off the grid' system and you can do it however your electrician wants, really. In this case you *should* always be able to utilize your own solar generation to offset your own immediate electrical demand, but not your overall aggregate usage. You will need to install utility approved metering equipment that can track and coordinate this behavior with your installed inverter units. It's always when you want to feed back into the grid and negotiate aggregate usage that things get dicey.

Constant or controllable loads like lighting, hot water heating, and maybe dryers would do well with solar, very large variable loads like elevators not so much and might still draw significant power from the grid if you don't have any local storage capability to handle the short-term power draw.

If you want to feed thru existing utility wire to get to/from destinations that will be a lot more difficult and require various agreement(s).

From such a project of your size you are probably best off asking/talking to existing vendors, I know there are decent amount of large companies installing on-roof solar these days and they have to be hiring someone else to do it, most don't have this kind of expertise in-house.

I think its not possible all houses are attached to one to another if you fix also energy supply is not enough to all