I have solar panels. Especially during the spring, summer, autumn months, it generates a surplus over what I consume per day.

Currently, the solar output technically goes to the grid and then comes back for what I consume. The utility pays less than pennies on the dollar yet charges me premiums for power I use at night.

Fuck that. I'm wondering if it's possible to:

1) use what I need per day
2) send any excess to ground (basically, don't use it and don't send it to the grid for the utility to use as free energy it doesn't pay for yet charges premiums to others).

Let's say I use on average 25-35KWHr per day. The panels generate 50KWHr per day. I want to use what I need from the panels and then dump the rest - the utility gets nothing.

Is this possible? I guess I could just shut off the inverter, especially if I go on vacation. But looking for an automated solution.

Do you have a battery bank to store your generated electricity?

Other than getting a battery, you’d need to shut down panels. The best option for your surplus really is the grid. Don’t look at it so much as you giving them power, but they are giving you the infrastructure to make your solar system stable. Decoupling yourself from the grid without your own infrastructure can only cause you problems.

OP - are you saying you are losing money on power you send to the grid? I am confused. I just bought a house with solar panels, but not knowledgeable at all...

Power companies shouldn't have to pay full retail for buying back power from solar users, they should have to pay equal to the cost of power production from company owned sources in the form of credits to bills for solar users.

If they did it would just result in higher power bills for everyone.

Why would you want to eliminate any amount of credits you get against your bills for over production of power anyway, it's just going to raise the amount of money you have to give them for electricity you use when off solar...

That would be like a farmer refusing to sell his excess production to the market for less than full retail value, and dumping it in the landfill, He only hurts himself....

Other than that, put in PowerWalls or batteries for storage, you'll need it to run the house at night anyway, but they'll cost you a cool $10K each, and you'd probably need 3 so drop $30K to not sell your unused power.

HRK - that's why I was confused by the OP's question - I would think not putting excess out on the grid would not be in his interest, at least, money-wise...

You won't be able to send that power to ground. You're going to need batteries to store all that energy.

Is it doable? Sure, get an electrician to get it all sorted out. Batteries are expensive, and depending on your needs, and solar setup, probably need quite a few. So, cost will be prohibitive.

As an example, I run my house completely off grid. I have 8000 watts of solar, feeding to an 8000 watt inverter, and have 20 batteries. I forget the Amp hours, but it lasts us 3 days, for when it is super cloudy. The extra panels provide power even when it is slightly cloudy.

Just be sure to calculate all your needs/uses, and figure how many batteries you'll need, then add some more.

Good luck, keep us posted.

I don’t know what the laws are where you are. It may or may not be legal to completely disconnect from the grid and have an off-grid system with battery storage. If you go that route, you’ll want a backup generator to fill in for the solar panels on rainy days. You may want a backup to your backup generator because things do go wrong sometimes.

We live on a ranch with the house on off-grid solar, though the wells and the barn are connected to the grid. There is a sense of independence being responsible for your own electric (for the house), waste disposal (septic), water supply for the house and ranch (wells, tanks, and water treatment system), but sometimes it is a PITA.

There really is something to those old sayings, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” and “Murphy was an optimist.”

I guess another thing you get out of responsibility for your own utilities is more empathy for those whose business it is to provide utilities to others.

Given unlimited funds, it might be nice to have a system that could operate off-grid if the grid went down, and operated as if it were off-grid most of the time, but had the option of drawing power from the grid when your own supplies ran low (no sun for a while and the generator took a powder for instance).

Most likely it makes the most sense to keep doing what you are doing and bitching about the utility and how little they pay for the power you send them. The odds are that it would cost you quite a bit (beyond the loss of whatever pittance they pay you) to set your system up so you don’t need to sell them power at a cut rate.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: slosig,

BT I agree, but, in the spirit of doing it to the man, found several sources for going off grid, heres a video about doing it and what you'd need based on the video...

18 Batteries - Lithium rechargable - $950 Each
Inverter of proper kwH - 2 at $2300 each
Load Distributor - 2 @ $200 each
Battery Monitor - 1 @$300
Monitor Touch Screen - 1 @ $200
Charge Controller - 1 @ $200

So not including cables, tools, install - $22,800K

That's a lot of pennies.. 2.280 million pennies

I'm not losing money. Just disproportionate benefits.

For every KWHr I give to the grid, let's say I get $0.01.

For every KWHr I consume from the grid, I pay $0.50.

Is this reasonable?

I agree with the above and slosig. Mostly I'm just bitching and won't pursue anything. But someday, when I'm retired and have the time to learn more about this stuff, I may just go off grid for the principle of it all. Assuming I'm still stuck in this stupid state.

I'm assuming you have a contract or an operating agreement with the power company . What you are wanting to do is a lot more complicated than you think . " Dumping " your excess power is probably not even allowed per your agreement even if you figure out how to do it .
The power company credits your excess power at the wholesale rate which is actually fair .

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I'm not losing money. Just disproportionate benefits.

For every KWHr I give to the grid, let's say I get $0.01.

For every KWHr I consume from the grid, I pay $0.50.

Is this reasonable?

That doesn't sound right.
Where are you getting your figures from?

quote:

Posted by selogic
The power company credits your excess power at the wholesale rate which is actually fair .

This is my understanding of the formula of how they offset your cost

Granted we are using different suppliers, but there was a big to-do, a while back, where they petitioned for the ability to lower the amount they had to pay subscribers for the excess electricity they were paying you.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
BT I agree, but, in the spirit of doing it to the man, found several sources for going off grid, heres a video about doing it and what you'd need based on the video...

18 Batteries - Lithium rechargable - $950 Each
Inverter of proper kwH - 2 at $2300 each
Load Distributor - 2 @ $200 each
Battery Monitor - 1 @$300
Monitor Touch Screen - 1 @ $200
Charge Controller - 1 @ $200

So not including cables, tools, install - $22,800K

That's a lot of pennies.. 2.280 million pennies

And if you’re actually going off grid you’ll want a backup generator for those times when you get several rainy or cloudy days in a row.

Additionally, if there is any permitting involved, the inverters are required to be able to handle 125% of the theoretical peak load of the house. When we put our system in we got multiple quotes for two inverters. When trying to get the permitting done, the fellow running the electrical side of the county building department explained the 125% requirement and that we needed a third inverter. Fun and games…

Maybe I’m missing something but I’m not seeing how battery storage solves your original request. If you’re using 25-35KWHr per day from the 50KWHr source, then on day one you can put the excess 15-25 KWHr into charging batteries, but on day two your batteries are already completely charged from day one and you’ve got no place to put day two’s excess power (and 3, 4, and so on). To “dump” it, you have to use it - turn it into heat by feeding a resistive heating element (boil water?), or let neighbors drain those batteries charging their EVs daily so you can fill them up again tomorrow, etc.

with commercial system we had a meter that would reverse when our panels made surplus power. In theory ..... I doubt it ever happened.

I did learn I will never have solar panels without an easy and safe way to clean them. I saw that day to day dirt cut the output significantly. Pollen season, forest fires, water spots are even worse

When you purchased your panels,
Did you get money back from the city, state , county, or feds ?

The company that sold neighbor Ray his 30 panels got compensated for the hardware , the installation and connections.

But,
The company did all the paper work for him.