Hi,

I found this bit of info about an apparent 'safety' measure that's built into most if not all domestic solar panel grid-tie heating systems.

That if the power-grid fails, then so does your solar panels. Check it out at....

[www.naturalnews.com]

Cheers, jalan

Well, yeah. If your system is at all connected to the conventional power grid so that you can send energy back to the power company, for a fee, it would be subject to failures/safety measures therein. As an aside, I love how, yet again, Mike Adams cites no experts(except that fellow that says a cyber attack on our power grid is imminent), and links to no diagrams, either. Repeatedly stressing that " . . . most people reading this story won't understand what I'm saying here," is a tad insulting, also, too.

If you are installing a solar array, you should know the difference between the two kinds and install the one that you feel is best for your usage. Look into rebates, consult experts. And keep candles and matches handy for when everything breaks down anyhow

I found it upsetting that the parts for a system that is not connected to the grid are hard to come by. Now that's not right >

Yeah Tam, I thought it insulting too, God, we're not ants!!!!!
And it is upsetting Coco, but that's the system for you. They bleed you dry and sell what's left

It truly sucks that one cannot broadly get more rebates and stuff for the off-grid upgrades

The reason for getting a grid tie system is to sell extra power to the grid. It is where your "overflow" goes. This means your are producing extra power that has to go somewhere. I don't think you would want all that power going into your house. Impedance in AC current is like resistance in DC. The grid allows a flow of power without impeadance. The limitations of your house power systems could not handle a direct flow. It would be an overload hazard.

There are hybrid grid tie inverters that will switch you to batteries "off grid" when the grid goes down. Depending on how many bateries you have, and your use, you could stay powered for quite awhile.

If your system is "off grid" you are always on batteries from your solar.

Sorry, what I meant to say was that "off grid" systems run all the power through the batteries, so they handle the overflow normally.

I'm not sure I understand what he is saying about off grid being hard to get parts. I've put together several small off grid systems.

A solar syatem consists of the panels, and inverter and or batteries.

The panels are the same for either system.

The inverter is a DC to AC inverter which are avaiable in any industrail electrical supply store. Batteries are batteries, just a place to store energy. Many people just use a bunch of marine batteries in a series/parellel matrix. Quality components are very expensive. These systems are not cheap to build, and the cost/payback ratio is not very good at this point, but they are available as individual components, and turnkey systems.

The energy providers lobby made sure the rebates were less for off grid. They don't make money off you extra power like they do with on grid systems. The kind of B.S. were expected to accept from Washington.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2012 05:41AM by swimmer.

Hmmm, perhaps it depends on what area or country your in, as to parts. I get the idea of selling off your overflow, but if having a 'grid-tie' system means having batteries to keep you going if the system shuts you down, then might as well go 'off-grid' in the beginning. That is, if parts are available for those of us who are less electrical minded.

I guess that the batteries would have to be especially designed for the job. I've heard that these batteries have become much more economical than the earlier ones. Is that right Swimmer?

I think it's more about state laws and city ordinances than parts avaiability. I only know about California which has a mandate to increase the total power sold in the state to 20% renewable by 2017. This make our laws governing solar power more liberal. However the power lobby is still very strong, and they managed to screw things so they don't hurt their precious profits.

If power companies in the sowthwest states were forward thinking, they would invest in millions of solar panels and rent them to every home and commercial building owner in the state. Raw material demand and costs (gas, oil, and coal) would drop drastically So would power generation costs & the need for imported oil.

Battery technology is improving all the time. The writer is flat out wrong on that one. Panel efficiency is also improving. Many companies are working on both of these technologies. It won't be long before good someone makes some major breakthroughs.

The problem with "off grid" for a house is that you need to produce and store power for all your needs, all of the time. For a heavy power consumer that means a lot of panels and a large battery array. That would be a very high initial investment, with less help from subsities.

Theoretically, a better approach might be to start with a "tie in" system and add panels until you have the ability to generate enough power to run your house beyond your peak useage. Take the same approach with the batteries. Start with a small array, and add to it until you have the storage capacity to run your house for "x" amount of time. When you are happy with your generation and storage capibilities, you can go "off grid".

State and local laws may throw a wrench into that plan, and you would have to adapt for your area. As you guys know, "off grid" systems are not liked in urban and sub-urban areas. I'm not sure if I could do that in my town.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2012 04:50PM by swimmer.

Thx swimmer, that's excellent info. Regarding your thoughts on power, and as you may or may not know, Oz is soon to adopt a tax on carbon pollution. And even though Oz contributes only a little over 1% of the world's co2 emissions, we are leading the way and the world in reducing this pollutant.

We have to start somewhere, and the hope is that the world's nations will follow. I'm proud of our government's initiative, and even though some (most) of the cost will be passed on to consumers due to our economic beliefs, (which are also held by all first world economies btw), we DO need to take climate change seriously.

Yes, yes, the opposition say that it's all a natural occurence within our earths life. However, if you view the graph which shows the increase in atmospheric co2 at the beginning of the industrial revolution, then you have to admit that this recent change in climate is due to mankinds endeavours.

jalan