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Posted By: Trumpy Grid Interlocking? - 07/30/10 01:10 AM
Sorry about the thread title, but being from an area where this sort of technology is pretty much foreign and new, when a given installation generates too much electricity for it's own use, how then does it change over to feed back into the Grid?
How is synchronisation taken care of?
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Grid Interlocking? - 07/30/10 03:26 AM
The inverter syncs to the grid power before it will put out anything (grid down, your solar array is down). It generates power into the grid all the time by trying to make the voltage slightly higher, what you use you keep, what you don't goes to the neighbor.

... or so I understand.
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Grid Interlocking? - 07/30/10 04:02 AM
Trumpy:
Greg did a very good synopsis. I'll add that the installers are now 'adding' a KWHr meter to record the solar output. It's a 'regular' mechanical KWHr meter.

One recent comm solar install on a refrig & climate controlled whse reduced the net POCO bill by 40%. I don't have dollar figures & I have to check my notes on the KW/MW solar install, I recall 1MW on each of two bldgs.



Posted By: Alan Belson Re: Grid Interlocking? - 07/30/10 10:36 AM
What are they paying for solar generation in the USA? E. d. F. is coughing up 77 cents US at the moment for solar [and charging consumers 18 cents US]. There are thus no 'savings', the question is who's picking up the tab for the 59 cents difference? No prizes, it's the usual suckers getting it in the shorts - in other words, us!
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Grid Interlocking? - 07/30/10 06:05 PM
That sounds about right. They are trying to use the carbon tax here to hide some of the cost of solar along with simply using rebates and tacking the cost onto our debt.
The US doesn't really pay our bills we borrow 40 cents on the dollar.
I have been looking and about $4 a watt seems to be about the cheapest you can get the parts, labor extra. When they were rebating this, it made sense but the Florida rebate fund is dry. I am not sure what will come out of the next federal tax law. The current one is due to expire at the end of the year.
Posted By: Alan Belson Re: Grid Interlocking? - 07/31/10 06:49 AM
Greg, I got the prices from an EDF offer to fit 250 sq foot of crystaline pv to my roof at over $150 a square foot, "competitive with a new roofing cover in traditional materials". My mate Tony is a roofer and says he would do my entire roof of 4000 sq feet for $30,000 including new rafters, battens and top spec slate, so that's a load of old baloney for a start! mad They reckon it would generate just over $2000 pa @ $0.77 per kwh = 2600kwh/a. The offer is that the French Gummint will lend me the $39,000 install cost interest free. Just 4 stumbling blocks;
1. My roof was rebuilt less than 10 years ago.
2. Small print. The rate paid reduces annually by 10% , till it hits standard tariff.
3. By the time I get my money back I'll be 125 years old.
4. Her indoors says the repayments come outa my beer money.

"I take it that's a no then?"
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Grid Interlocking? - 07/31/10 08:26 AM
Our typical roof is shingles and you can get that for more like $3-$4 a sq/ft.
Posted By: IanR Re: Grid Interlocking? - 08/03/10 12:53 AM
Number 4 would be the deal killer for me. beer cry
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