Go big or go small . . . what’s the smart solar power play?
Small Is Still Beautiful
Carbon is everything. Rooftop solar is more efficient where it really counts—carbon. Because domestic solar panels bolt on to existing roofs, they don’t need the racks and other infrastructure used by ground-mounted utility systems. Nor do they suffer transmission losses moving electricity over long distances.
Mark Harris
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2024/07/go-big-or-go-smallwhats-the-smart-solar-power-play
DC to DC charging. One more step to off grid living!
A US start-up has just started taking orders for a DC to DC 'Solar to Vehicle' battery charger, and one of the worlds largest solar PV brands, Solar Edge, is hot on their heels with their own competitive product. One more step on your off-grid odyssey?
@corlin hmm. Some (a lot?) of new solar panels have micro inverters, so the power is already AC coming off the roof. My house is like that.🤔
@peterquirk @corlin fanciness by Enphase, pretty happy with it. I do sell back but it's not going to pay for itself while I'm breathing. Power company does not favor this.
@b4cks4w @corlin Cool! One of the problems with big battery power systems is that they are generally designed to sync with the grid - i.e. they use grid-following inverters. If the conventional power station goes down, these battery systems can't take over unless there's a reference AC signal for them to follow. When the power station comes back online, it too has to sync with the reference signal. This is a very new infrastructure requirement, absent from most grids.
@peterquirk @b4cks4w @corlin Tesla battery goes off grid via phone app. You can also opt in to a virtual power plant to provide power when other areas have outages, in lieu of a natural gas peaker plant. And when there's a storm warning for your location it begins charging even from grid. Normally only solar goes in.
@peterquirk @walterbays @corlin I have heard that too.
@peterquirk @b4cks4w @corlin Yes, I think if I have an outage the house disconnects and switches to battery power. But if an outage occurs nearby then my house and hundreds more feed extra into the grid to help restore service to those affected.
@walterbays @b4cks4w @corlin It's still not clear to me how all the inverters in all those houses synchronize their output to keep the power factor near 1.
@walterbays @b4cks4w @corlin I'm told my local grid requires all battery systems to disconnect from the grid upon an outage and remain disconnected until power is restored. This is to protect utility repair crews.