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Last edited by Hunter; 11-16-2018, 02:10 PM. -
I bought from Renvu for my sub-10kW system.
Soligent is another distributor here in CA that has good prices I think. They require you to sign up as a "dealer" first - which should be no problem for your installer.
Renvu's store interface is far better than Soligent IMO.
50kw of modules is going to be a lot.
My church's install was 57kw - and covered both east and west facing sections of a good sized roof.
It is a commercial-style solaredge setup - 2 modules per optimizer, 3 phase power so 3-phase inverters.
The good part is it makes it easier to identify that a string or an optimizer is not producing.
Had I been designing it, I think string inverters would have been more cost effective. Downside is I might have never noticed the 2-3% loss we had early on due to some modules not being connected. But it probably would have been >3% cheaper, so that'd be a wash.
I'd probably search for a solar wholesaler in MN/WI/IA/IL. You could contact SolarWorld or other manfacturers of modules/inverters/racking to see who they have as distributors in the area.
Good luck with your research.Comment
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If you're limited to 40kW per meter, the SE10000H-US would be a nice fit. $1899 each at AltE. The largest single phase is the 11.4kW (which is what I have). I have the older "A" series not the newer "HD" model. But, given a new install, you might as well get the newer model.
Probably not worth getting revenue grade metering internal to the Inverter. Since you'll be ganging 4 together you would do better to do a single, separate production meter per PoCo meter. Or get a bi-directional from your Poco.
here in NJ, we only need the bi-directional from the Poco, but in order to earn SREC credits, we need a second revue grade production meter.
Keeping your installs in 10kW chunks will make things much more manageable. I agree with the use of SolarEdge as well as this keeps your DC voltage down to a "reasonable" level.
Will you need to fence the system in as well?
Check out SolarEdge Designer, this free software will let you model the productivity of the entire system
(WorldWideWeb).solaredge.com/us/products/installer-tools/designer#/
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After you've had some time to review the relevant tax law and IRS forms, please let us know what you find for the tax credits, etc that you plan to use. It'd be great if you walk us through what it'll look like on your taxes. I'm genuinely interested in how it all calculates out.
I'm going to assume that's kwH - not KW.Our power usage varies on a month to month basis drastically, but monthly we use approx 3500-4000KW a month.
4000kwh or 4MWH/month means ~48MWH/year.
My 8.96kW system produces ~12 MWH over the year.
I am in a different location - but I think you need to re-evaluate what size you need.
Or figure out how you're going to get paid for the excess production you'll likely have.
I put a 10kW system into pvwatts, used 45 degree tilt, location Mankato, MN, 10% system losses. It tells me 10kW system would be 14,522kWH/yr
So probably you only need a ~33kW system to be equal to your annual power usage.
And only 29kW system if your average is closer to 3500 kwh each month.
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I would love to stick to the 11.4KW HD model. I will not need to fence in the area but later on we may do some landscaping around it. I have looked into the solar edge software and will definitely be using it in the final steps of the planning process. Thanks for the info JSchnee21!Comment
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You'll also have a challenge in how much power you can push back to the grid...
Do you already have 200A or 225A services? (probably need 225A service for 40kW of inverters. The electrician will look at things and figure it out, but there may be extra expense for a service upgrade and panel upgrade.)
Also the POCO may not be able to accommodate 80kW being pushed back from essentially a single location.
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That's a great point I did not mention. It will be grid-tied and we will be paid for the excess power, otherwise I would not be looking at a project of this size. The solar installer I mentioned earlier, maxes out the full 40kW when designing, very regularly to be paid for the excess power produced. Can you explain why you used a 45 degree tilt. I could be very wrong, and can't remember where I did the calculating but it came out to about 35 degrees.Comment
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I have 3, 200amp panels. I am actually meeting with the electrician that will do all the wiring today and will bring that up to him. I never considered that they would not be able to handle all of the power I am sending... I will also bring that up today. Thank you so much for the help and input foo1bar!Comment
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buy spares, you will seldom find the same panels again. My 2 arrays came from them, no failures after 7+ years
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FYI, large commercial systems are headed to 1000 volt max versus the old 600 volt max standard. This cuts down on wiring cost and the number of inverters but in order to take advantage of this you need panels with that rating. If you want to go old school you may be able to find someone dumping the older style equipment.Comment
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I used 45 because that is close to the latitude I think. Probably there is a more optimal tilt angle. I would experiment with pvrel to get the best angle.
The POCO has to have sufficient capacity on that line and transformer to support your plans. Probably it'll be fine but I would check before spending $$$$Comment
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Soligent or AEE SolarBSEE, R11, NABCEP, Chevy BoltEV, >3000kW installedComment
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For the comments I think the optimizer is not so viable. I have questions about how it works, as SolarMagic, for example, can be used with any inverter. So how do you control these optimizers? Can they read the neighbor's voltage and current?Comment
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Hi Paoman,
I'm not sure where you're headed with your comment. While it is true that historically most commercial PV systems use regular string inverters with corresponding DC voltages ranging from 600 to 1000+ volts, given modern NEC code requirements for rapid shutdown (this may not be required for ground mount) there are certainly commercial installations using the Solar Edge and even in some limited cases the Enphase solutions.
SolarEdge in particular makes a wide range of "smaller" (10-100kW) commercial offerings for 208V and 480V three-phase installations (in the USA, other voltages for the rest of the world as required). Additionally they offer larger optimizers (up to 860W) which are designed to support pairs of panels rather than one panel per optimizer as is the case for residential installs.
But, it is true that a SolarEdge solution many be more expensive than a vanilla string inverter. If there is no shading, good panel matching, and no need for rapid shutdown or panel level monitoring, a conventional string inverter will most likely be the most economical solution.
-JonathanComment
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