EcoRenovator  

Go Back   EcoRenovator > Improvements > Other Improvements
Advanced Search
 


Blog 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips Recent Posts Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-27-18, 12:01 AM   #1
sciens-sciencia
Lurking Renovator
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Oregon
Posts: 2
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default Pretty intense system requirements

So, this may be nuts, but i need a pretty robust system to meet the needs/wants of myself and my family in regards to solar power.

I live in rural Oregon, power goes out for at least 20 days per year in the winter months not to mention the occasional summer "whoops, someone fell a power pole" instances.

I am running a data center from my shop for my tech business. A generator is pretty much a requirement for the days that power will be in blackout. Likely going to go diesel since it requires less treatment than gasoline to store for long stretches. The main focus for me is uninterrupted power during an outage event.

Grandma wants a solar system and likes the idea of grid-tied solar that "sells power" back to the company.

After a LOT of asking around I came to the conclusion that the whole "selling back" concept is both rather unfeasible and complicated with legalities and the like, not to mention the efficiency investments such as DC appliances and so on.

Oh yea, this is also for two houses across two acres. So I am planning on building a substation between them to house all the systems in a central area.

We have ~2000 sq/ft of roof space between houses and garages that get quite reasonable sun.

Power usage is pretty minimal except for the data center (~20A@110V)

SOmething that particularly spikes my frustrated confusion is phasing of power. I am not sure what the power company provides (1/3-phase) and i see inverters that are around my wattage needs (of which i have arbitrarily calculated out to ~10kW) and most are three-phase. Any ideas is single or triple phase is industry standard for residential?

I have an image of something i have drafted with my limited knowledge. At this point, i defer to the community for suggestions, criticism and guidance.


sciens-sciencia is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-18, 06:06 AM   #2
stevehull
Steve Hull
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: hilly, tree covered Arcadia, OK USA
Posts: 826
Thanks: 241
Thanked 165 Times in 123 Posts
Default

You are a planner - good. now lets get facts.

1) Call your utility and get their actual contract for a grid tie system. Don't just "talk around", get the facts and laws. They will also provide you with all the phase information if asked.

2) What is your kWt profile over the year? Do expect this to change in the upcoming years?

3) Your need for a system other that PV or grid will continue to be necessary (diesel generator). Remember, that on a sunny day, while generating kWhr with a grid tie system, if you loose grid power, than the PV system must immediately disconnect and likely shut down (by law).

4) Some solar inverter companies have some limited battery storage (2-10 kW). That is a real possibility.

5) I am confused with your DC reference. Solar is a 220 60 Hz ac system.

Excellent thinking, but make decisions and do do rather than talk talk.


Steve
__________________
consulting on geothermal heating/cooling & rational energy use since 1990

Last edited by stevehull; 08-27-18 at 06:17 AM.. Reason: typos
stevehull is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-18, 08:12 AM   #3
NiHaoMike
Supreme EcoRenovator
 
NiHaoMike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 1,154
Thanks: 14
Thanked 257 Times in 241 Posts
Default

How much is the service charge? You might be able to save that if you do an interconnect between the houses. How practical it would be to have the interconnect in the first place would depend greatly on distance.

What's your usual heating fuel? It would probably make sense to build up a CHP system that doubles as a backup generator.
__________________
To my surprise, shortly after Naomi Wu gave me a bit of fame for making good use of solar power, Allie Moore got really jealous of her...
NiHaoMike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-18, 11:13 AM   #4
randen
Uber EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada
Posts: 657
Thanks: 9
Thanked 191 Times in 129 Posts
Default

Sciens sciencia

Have you read my thread (Anyone working toward offgrid)
Not cheap but more than capable. Solar PV, Battery storage, and inverter 20kw. But capable of much more.

Randen
randen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-18, 01:56 PM   #5
u3b3rg33k
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Rustbelt, USA
Posts: 114
Thanks: 5
Thanked 10 Times in 9 Posts
Default

Selling back should not be hard in Oregon. last I checked, Portland was HUGE on that.

given your needs, you'll want a system that integrates the generator and solar. solar + generator means less fuel burned while the grid is down. there's a few options out there (xantrex XW comes to mind, might be outdated - grid tie inside of your transfer switch is another, but requires a completely separate UPS solution).

there is no ROI on a generator, just offset losses. there is ROI on solar. and remember, you do not necessarily want all your solar facing south. west and east may be useful, too. south is what gets you the grants, but if you diversify the direction based on your available space, you'll get more even load - this may be important depending on your battery bank size.

if you're looking for a diesel genset capable of running for 20+days, plan on having a 500 gallon (or larger) tank of diesel on hand, and spending at least 20k on a (new) auto-start genset. it's probably worth seeing what that money gets you in a larger battery+panel setup vs the spend on fuel/generator.
u3b3rg33k is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-18, 04:45 PM   #6
sciens-sciencia
Lurking Renovator
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Oregon
Posts: 2
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Excellent replies from everyone!

stevehull:

Ill make a call to the utility. I have been talking with people who have tried it (big shots who run/ran big name solar businesses in our area).

If i do some quick math, a rough estimate of daily kwh is 90kwh/month when everything is running in the data center +/- 10-20kwh for house uses.

I am aware of the legal requirements to ensure the grid is non-live in a POCO outage event. THis is common-sensical. I hate working on live lines too.

The solar batteries would really be to ensure power is uninterrupted while a generator kicks on. Massive battery arrays could be a future addition, but not completely necessary considering the cost.

As far as i was aware of, solar cells produce DC power unless you have the AC mini-inverters on solar strings. THis is why solar generation is often connected to DC batteries. Wind and hydropower however use the same function as a magnetic-coil generator but utilize hydraulic energy or wind energy to turn an alternator, thus providing AC.


NiHaoMike:

The distance from service drop to service drop is roughly 260ft. THis makes the midpoint for the substation between the houses roughly 130ft. Service charges i presume would be the monthly service fees aside from kwh usage, this i am not certain of at the moment.

Heat is either wood stove or electric heaters.

Not sure what a CHP system is. I will look into this.

randen:

I will take a look at your post history and research the topic you referenced.

u3b3rg33k:

all points i ahve considered. The majority of my roofs are angled roughly southward. A few roofs face east and of course opposing west, but west downt get a lot of sun where I am located due to mountains.

Main consideration on selling back is i am not sure if i can generate enough power to run the datacenter (roughly 3kw/hr if things are running full bore), charge batteries from any outage or night loads and generate excess power to sell back.

Again, thank you all for your excellent responses!
sciens-sciencia is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-18, 06:06 PM   #7
u3b3rg33k
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Rustbelt, USA
Posts: 114
Thanks: 5
Thanked 10 Times in 9 Posts
Default

The xantrex XW system - when I looked at it last, would use the grid to charge batteries when the pricing was advantageous. I'm sure it could be configured either way.

at work, we have UPSes between the generator and equipment so the equipment doesn't see the 10s downtime between power fail and genset pick up the load (we keep all the generators hot 24/7 so they're ready to go without warmup). this keeps battery requirements to a minimum (lower TCO on the UPSes).

CHP - combined heat and power. you can use the waste heat from your generators to heat your house when you need heat. this is usually done by tapping in to the cooling system to indoor radiators. any heat you need gets taken from the generator's waste heat, and the generator's radiator thermostat gets left alone so that when you don't need heat it maintains proper cooling.
you only get 35-40% fuel efficiency out of the generator when it's running, you can get another 25-30% fuel efficiency if you can use all the "waste" heat from the radiator.

also remember you can use the waste heat from your computers for space heating as well. not sure how you're managing that now.
u3b3rg33k is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-18, 11:45 PM   #8
sunspot
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 146
Thanks: 30
Thanked 35 Times in 29 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by sciens-sciencia View Post
Likely going to go diesel since it requires less treatment than gasoline to store for long stretches. /Power%20Systems%20Diagram.jpg[/IMG]
Propane stores best.
sunspot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-29-18, 09:07 AM   #9
jeff5may
Supreme EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: elizabethtown, ky, USA
Posts: 2,428
Thanks: 431
Thanked 619 Times in 517 Posts
Send a message via Yahoo to jeff5may
Default

Ok here's why your DC connect idea is not such a great idea:

1. DC power equals big wires. Low voltage high current. Which induces loss at the square of the current per unit length. High voltage low current equals less power losses but way more deadly.

2. Everything tied to the DC feed must operate at that voltage or be converted. Yes, even battery banks need a charge controller. When the sun goes down, none of that dc stuff will work without being backfed from another power source.

3. Battery banks ain't cheap. Running night after night will wear them down in a few years. Then you get to buy new batteries.

It all depends on details and intentions. Being grid independent is satisfying but expensive.
jeff5may is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to jeff5may For This Useful Post:
stevehull (08-29-18)
Old 08-29-18, 09:27 AM   #10
pinballlooking
Super Moderator
 
pinballlooking's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: SC
Posts: 2,923
Thanks: 172
Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts
Default

Did you find out if your power company has net metering? What are the details for it?
The grid is the cheapest battery if they have net metering. I have 12.5 KW solar and even when charging my car 3.3 KW and running AC I am usually still putting power back into the grid.
My daily solar power average this year I am making 52 KW a day.

__________________
Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Solar Install 12.5 Kwh-
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Mini Split installs -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

EV Chevy Volt -
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
pinballlooking is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:37 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Ad Management by RedTyger
Inactive Reminders By Icora Web Design