Re: Wind/PV integration [RE-wrenches]
Has anybody successfully implemented a scheme whereby a tower-base control center could accept imput from a nearby PV array and pass charge current to the batteries using only one pair of conductors for both the wind and solar charge sources? Is this a now -and- for-all-time no-input, or an idea worth pursuing? This situation keeps coming up. Thanks folks---Nick Houser  Off Grid Power.

YES. I didn't combine them at the tower base, but it was same idea. Give each circuit its own overcurrent protection and disconnect, then run the PV through an isolation diode. I did this with old Jacobs DC generator wind machines, so I had to also put an isolation diode in the generator line so it wouldn't run as a motor. You wouldn't need that with a modern alternator machine. Of course, you would have to connect to the DC side of its rectifier assembly.

The combined charge current can be regulated by a shunt system like the Enermaxer, sized to handle the total current. I'm not sure what other equipment may be favored these days. With the shunt system, you send off excess power to burn off as heat. If customer can put that to use, it's really sweet. I had some customers who dumped to water heating elements for both DHW and to help warm their greenhouse soil (on cold windy nights). I used a simple voltage-controlled relay system that would click on and off frequently. The shunt system connects in at the battery, with no connection to the junction point.

I did all this in early 80's when all my wind customers added PVs. Talk about happy customers!!

Windy
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