How to stop flow of power to the grid from a grid tie inverter

Thread Starter

rganeshs

Joined Mar 27, 2017
1
i have installed the grid tie solar plant, but the utility company does not have the bi-directional meter in stock and no idea when they will get it, sadly the consumer is not allowed to source the meter our own in our state, is there a way we can have a device on the output point of the meter to stop the reverse flow so that we can avoid the double count, yes i understand that excess generation will be wasted, atleast we can use it for the current load and not declare the investment as non performing asset, any help here will help me to use the investment

Thanks
Ganesan
 

Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
Grid tied means it only puts out power when it can sense grid power available. If you break the connection with the grid the inverter will not work. (It is designed this way on purpose)

You will either spin the meter backward or it will simply stop recording power use when you create more kilowatts than you use.

At least you will not have any more electric bills to pay.
 

N11778

Joined Dec 4, 2015
176
Most Power Company's are Government. Stay away from them if you can.
Make your system off grid like I did. Costs a bit more, battery's and inverters.
Advantages: +++++
1: You don't pay the power company to make your own power.
2: You will still have backup power if the Grid power goes off.
With gridtie your system is worthless until the grid is back up.

- - - - - - - - --
They only pay you about 1/4 as much as they charge you for power.
Say you pay 16Cents a Kilowatt they pay you 4 Cents for your excess.
Plus the $30 per month flat fee for the privilege of connecting to their Grid.

++++++So it's best to have your OWN Grid :) +++++++
You can buy a lot of batteries for $30 a month
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Most Power Company's are Government. Stay away from them if you can.
Make your system off grid like I did. Costs a bit more, battery's and inverters.
Advantages: +++++
1: You don't pay the power company to make your own power.
2: You will still have backup power if the Grid power goes off.
With gridtie your system is worthless until the grid is back up.

- - - - - - - - --
They only pay you about 1/4 as much as they charge you for power.
Say you pay 16Cents a Kilowatt they pay you 4 Cents for your excess.
Plus the $30 per month flat fee for the privilege of connecting to their Grid.

++++++So it's best to have your OWN Grid :) +++++++
You can buy a lot of batteries for $30 a month
Where do you get 'lots of batteries' for $30 a month that aren't questionable to outright junk?

As far as 'costs a bit more how much more?

My monthly electric bill runs around $80 - $100 for ~700 - 900 KWh and I can pull up to ~48 KW for short bursts or ~15 - 20 KW continuous duty and has an annual down time that now under 5 hours a year.

What's your price estimate to make and maintain a system that would compete with that? o_O
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
"Tec" What Solar system do you have? On or off grid
I don't have one. I have utility grid power.

When someone makes a big claim about AE/RE power systems design being cheap I like to have them put their design skills and numbers up against competing with real proven cheap reliable and readily available utility power and see how they come out.

Personally I do play with wind power now and then and when I do I just grid tie the generators to my mains power. Simple cheap and easy.
 

N11778

Joined Dec 4, 2015
176
"Tec" My system is here Did not want to HiJack this thread.
https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/my-off-grid-solar-system.133846/
Why Solar?? To begin With???
I have 3 different brands of solar panels 50 of them in all. 5 to 7 years old.
100 Watt Panels. They all Started around 60 Watts new. Did you Notice the number 60 ?
They are now 30 Watts some a bit more some a bit less. A few just Died.
Again why Solar to begin With???????
I love it when you look them up on the Internet. They degrade 0.34 Percent Per year. NOT !!
 

mbilalpk

Joined Apr 17, 2017
1
i have installed the grid tie solar plant, but the utility company does not have the bi-directional meter in stock and no idea when they will get it, sadly the consumer is not allowed to source the meter our own in our state, is there a way we can have a device on the output point of the meter to stop the reverse flow so that we can avoid the double count, yes i understand that excess generation will be wasted, atleast we can use it for the current load and not declare the investment as non performing asset, any help here will help me to use the investment

Thanks
Ganesan
Dear,
I am facing the same issue....Have you got its solution
 

dendad

Joined Feb 20, 2016
4,451
I think there is no way you can prevent your current inverter from feeding the grid.
You can change your inverter to one that has batteries connected and only feeds to the grid when the batteries are full.
It will require a switchboard rewire too I suspect.
A grid tied solar battery system sounds like the best way to go as a decent backup generator along with the running costs would be way more expensive that the grid service fee. But have the type that runs off the batteries when the power is off. Unfortunately, ours is not that type.
And you do get some income from the excess fed to the grid, at least when they get around to installing the correct meter.
I have 10KW solar here, and the installers went bust so the paper work did not go in. We were not getting the feed in tarrif. Then, a couple of years ago, all the smart meters were reset. Now we get the tarrif :)
Before, our power bills were $900 to $1200 per quarter (we are large power users) but with the solar they have dropped greatly. One bill they owed us a "massive" $9.
I am a great believer in solar. The best I have noted is we exported 51.7 kWh one day.
One day, if I can get the money, I hope to go to batteries. Friends of ours are developing flow batteries so that may be an option, but I like Nickel Iron batteries. They are not the best type of batteries but are almost unbreakable, and will last for many years.

EDIT: Here is an example power usage...
PowerGraph.jpg

If they would pay the same as they charge, we would be way ahead!
 
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BobTPH

Joined Jun 5, 2013
8,813
i have installed the grid tie solar plant, but the utility company does not have the bi-directional meter in stock and no idea when they will get it, sadly the consumer is not allowed to source the meter our own in our state, is there a way we can have a device on the output point of the meter to stop the reverse flow so that we can avoid the double count, yes i understand that excess generation will be wasted, atleast we can use it for the current load and not declare the investment as non performing asset, any help here will help me to use the investment

Thanks
Ganesan
I hear you. Our system was completed and tested on the 10'th of March, and waited 18 days for the electric utility to install the net meter on the 28th. During that time we would have generated about 600 KWh, worth $174 at our ridiculously high rate of $0.29 per KWH.

We have two meters now, one that measures the solar output and the other the net grid use. They tested the system by shorting across the solar meter with the old non-net-metering meter was in place. If your system looks like that, perhaps you could accidentally drop some metal bars in the meter contacts, though I would not recommend it.

Edited to add: production has been quite consistent for the nearly 5 months of operation at 1 MWh per month.
 
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