ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Campus style solar solutions

A friend of mine owns a hostle/hotel near Yosemite National Park, which happens to get a good deal of sun year round, blazing in the summer. Anyway he was thinking of adding solar, as a way of adding electrical capacity for an expansion he thinking of doing. Haven't told him yet that it's not a way of adding 'real' capacity in service size, but on the flip side is (in his situation) a good bill reducer power consumtion. Either selling power back, or having the maint. nightmare of dealing with lots of batteries for storing for use.

Anyway, I don't do solar... But from what I understand, it would all have to go back to the main for disconnect. (Think this is a POCO thing, PG&E to be correct.) Problem is that the main/metering is in the middle of a fairly sizable campus of buildings. Do they all have to go back there? Or could it be done at the panels at each building, with an inverter at each?

Anyone familiar with type of thing? Thanks in advance.

Mark

Mark,
I have seen 2 house's with PhotoVolatic (PV)systems installed. The collectors are on the roof and they generate DC power which then traveled down into the garage to a rectifier, then into the normal house panel. ( I am trying to remember from memory.) When the sun was out full bright the POCO meter would actually run backwards. There were no storage batteries and the POCO has to buy back any surplus energy. the PV system couldn't handle the whole house and all the HVAC but it helped on cool spring/fall days. There was a great article just recently in IAEI magazine, I would have to go back and look it up if you are interested.

Harold, I believe you are thinking of the March/April 2004 issue of IAEI news....which might be available on their web site www.IAEI.org

Otherwise, I would be very vary of information from "alternative power" resources, as well as equipment dealers/makers/installers. Too many times, the have little knowledge of, or respect for, electrical codes.

There is also the very real risk of such systems creating a hidden danger for PoCo personnel. Your PoCo has rules, I'm sure, that apply to adding such a service. In a small, but very real, way, you are adding another "generating station" to the grid.

As for "reverse metering," this is not yet nation-wide. That varies by state. Much information is available from Home Power Magazine www.homepower.com but, again, take their information very carefully!