When building or renovating a home the electrical network may not have capacity to provide enough ‘peak power’ for your planned appliances. Network upgrades could then end up costing 10’s or 100’s of thousands in high voltage lines or transformers, and the user will pay for it but the network owns the asset.
In this case the builder or Lvl 1 electrician might recommend an ‘Off Grid Solar’ system, and in some cases that might be economical, however it will require a petrol or diesel generator to top up the batteries during cloudy weather. Also consider a future of electric vehicle charging and this is less than ideal.
Not to be confused with a standard Solar Hybrid system as those are a popular option for homes with a sufficient grid connection, but 90% of those models are built for the cheapest price point and have limits to power output, switching mechanisms, and software.
A Grid Support Solar Hybrid utilises a powerful off grid inverter with a significant battery, this has a ‘reserve level’ maintained by Solar and the weak grid connection and it allows the system to carry intermittent high-power loads and then be recharged. The Solar panels supply 85% of the energy needs and keep the electricity bills close to zero.
The key here is to professionally ‘load profile’ your appliances for surge power across all the seasons of the year.
To ensure that your Solar & Battery consultant (not the company) has a design accreditation with the Clean Energy Council then check by surname or location @ CECfindaninstaller
Geoff Tosio – Better Volt Solar + Batteries: Dorrigo
0422 544 555
