October 19th, 2016
Solutions - No Batteries
Solaric implements grid tied solar solutions. This means solar power becomes FIRST PRIORITY in your home or business, when the sun is shining. NO NEED FOR BATTERIES! Here’s a scenario:
You have 5kWp of solar panels on your Philippine home. It’s 10AM on a hot summer morning. Your system is harvesting 3,500W right now. However, you’re running 4hp of aircon, your electric dryer, and a water pump; and you actually need 7,500W. Well, the first 3,500W is already being supplied by your rooftop. The remaining 4,000W will be supplied by Meralco/your power company. This is all automatic. The grid tie inverter that Solaric installed automatically synchronizes with the grid (Meralco or your local power company). All of this would entail that there will be no flickering, no switching, and best of all – no batteries!
Here’s another scenario:
You have 3kWp of solar panels on your homes in the Philippines. It’s harvesting 2000W right now. Nothing is on except a fridge and a computer so only 300W is being consumed. Where does the extra 1700W go? Well, if you signed up for NET METERING with your Power Company, your meter will actually reverse and they will credit you for the kWh you exported. You can use this at night. Right now, they only credit for blended generation charge, not 1:1 value. But it’s just as good as batteries. Why? Because:
BATTERIES COST A LOT OF MONEY – Batteries need to be maintained; they can only be drained 30% to have a decent service life. Apart from that, batteries take up space and they experience losses. So, if you put 1000Wh into a battery bank, do not expect to get 1000Wh out of it. There’s about 15% chemical and heat loss, then there’s about 10% in inverter losses when LOW VOLTAGE DC becomes AC. This is why we advise GRID TIE with NO BATTERIES, if your primary goal is to SAVE MONEY. Our main tip would be to cut out all your DAYTIME loads, and let the sun power your DAYTIME loads. At night, use Meralco/your power company. What are you waiting for? Apply for net metering, if you have excess power.
The usage of batteries in everyday solar builds for bill reduction purposes is “old school.” I know what you’re saying: “but, but, but…. nobody is home in the daytime, and I want to use all the solar energy I harvested in the daytime at NIGHT, when I’m actually home!” However, it would actually be better for you to apply for NET METERING, so you never have to deal with battery acid again.
Now, if your problem is brownout and you need power backup, then that is when battery use becomes essential and recommended; although, we highly suggest for you not to run your air conditioner—that’s not economical at all.