On grid w/battery [RE-wrenches]

Tue May 28 08:51:49 PDT 2002

1) Los Angeles has riots, fires, floods and earthquakes but fewer power outages
than Tornado Alley in the midwest and Snowstorm Territory in the north and east.
2) A survey by RKS Research and Consulting found that 1 in 10 affluent U.S.
households (11%) own some form of emergency backup generator. Reasons are
protection, control and independence (but not to improve the environment).
3) One way to introduce PV into a new neighborhood is in steps. First, add an
inverter and battery to a genset to optimize the genset, extend its life and have
some quiet power at night. Next, add PV to the genset/inverter/battery. Most
middle-class genset owners can afford a 4-module solar array that will give them an
opportunity to put their money where their environmental mouth is. Wrenches back
east have been doing this for years. But what about you guys who live between the
Appalachian and Rocky mountains? Can't you convince your neighbors with gensets to
buy an inverter and a few batteries?

Daryl DeJoy wrote:

> And then there is Maine! All our grid-tie customers have battery backup.
> This year we had approximately 4 days without electricity, for those
> without AE, anyway. Three (or four) years ago we had 14 days in a row
> without electricity (ice storm) and it was gratifying to hear from those
> people that they feel they did the right thing by installing the battery bank.
> Also, many of our grid tie people are striving for eventual autonomy from
> the grid, so this type of system is just a prerequisite to their eventual
> independence from it.
> Just my two cents worth.
> Daryl DeJoy
> Penobscot Solar Design
>
> At 04:44 PM 5/27/02 -0700, you wrote:
> >It is interesting that so many people on the grid feel the need and are
> >willing
> >to pay extra for battery backup.
> >
> >We hardly ever use backup power. Since May 1998 when we installed our
> >system, we
> >have had a few short power outages less than one-half hour, two 1.25 hour
> >scheduled blackouts and one long outage. The long outage was when a pole
> >mounted
> >transformer on the next block went out on Easter Sunday 2001 at 7pm . SCE
> >decided it was not an emergency so they waited until the next morning to
> >send a
> >repair crew out to replace the transformer and restore power by 11am.
> >
> >The point is our battery bank has just sat there 35,000 hours keeping us
> >off the
> >PV array max power point and buying a float charge at night from the grid for
> >less than 24 hours of relatively non-essential backup power.
> >
> >We presently produce 50% of our electricity. Since SCE increased their rates
> >last June, I've been thinking about adding 1.6 kW DC of PV to our 2.2 kW DC
> >system. Of course, I'd have to change inverters unless Xantrex figures out how
> >to get the SW4048 to max power point track when on the grid and function as a
> >UPS in stand-alone mode during grid outages.
> >
> >
> >Bill Brooks wrote:
> >
> > > Joel,
> > >
> > > The CEC has some more firm numbers on the installations now. Of the more
> > > than 2,500 installations in the CEC program, over 1,000 are SW systems.
> > >
> > > Bill.
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Joel Davidson [mailto:joeldavidson at earthlink.net]
> > > Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 4:04 PM
> > > To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> > > Subject: Re: Non wrenches [RE-wrenches]
> > >
> > > 1) I will start a separate discussion group when postings from Japanese and
> > > German
> > > PV installers become overwhelming. Has anyone on this list ever talked or
> > > written to
> > > a Japanese or German PV installer?
> > > 2) Many postings here are about code issues and system design that directly
> > > relate
> > > to grid-tie PV.
> > > 3) Estimated U.S. grid-tie PV in 2001 is 10 MW with 80% in California.
> > 15 MW
> > > of
> > > grid-tie PV is projected for the entire U.S. for 2002.
> > > 4) The percentage of California non-battery PV systems has increased, but I
> > > don't
> > > have specific numbers. Between the March 20, 1998 California PV rebate
> > > program start
> > > through May 29, 2001, 1,905 residential and commercial PV systems received
> > > rebates.
> > > 30% were owner-installed. 70% were contractor installed. I estimate 70% of
> > > the
> > > owner-installed systems and definitely more than 10% of the contractor
> > > installed
> > > systems have SW4024 or SW4048 inverters.
> > >
> > > "Travis Creswell, Ozark Solar" wrote:
> > >
> > > > It sounds great but...and this is just my .02¢.. assuming just a few % of
> > > > the Japanese and German wrenches joined it would make this list really
> > > big,
> > > > I'd say too big.  Plus, I suspect that most of those systems are
> > > > batteryless/grid tied.
> > >
> > > - - - -
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> > >
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> To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com
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