OFF GRID SHOP & APARTMENTS, FARO, PORTUGAL

SYSTEM OVERVIEW

Our offices in Faro house both our business and two apartments upstairs. Because of the amount of energy we were consuming we decided to install one of our Solax Hybrid Solar Solutions. We installed 5.2kWp of solar panels on the top of the building and a 3 Phase Solax X3 Hybrid 10kW with two Triple Power 6.3kWh Lithium Battery Packs.

The Solax Hybrid Inverter is connected in parallel with the grid connection with the addition of an energy meter between the main supply and the rest of the building, this meter measures the exact amount of power being consumed by the property. The meter also allows for export control to be implemented i.e the amount of back feed energy can be capped at a desired level or even at zero. The system will discharge the exact same amount of power as we would normally take from the power grid. The battery bank will store any excess energy created by the solar panels and allow us to use it at night or during bad weather.

BACKUP POWER

The Solax Inverter comes with a secondary power output which is energised when the main power connection doesn't detect connection to the national grid. This allows us to have electricity even during the even of a power failure. As the system is a hybrid, even during a power failure the solar panels will still produce energy and charge the batteries. Many systems with back up modes only allow the energy in the battery to be used for backup without the ability to recharge from the panels until the power has been restored.

UNBALANCED PHASES

One of the unique features of the 3 Phase Solax Hybrid Inverters is its unbalanced phases. Typically inverters have balanced phases which means if it is a 10kW inverter then 3.3kW will be available on each phase. Which means if you were drawing 5kW on one phase and 2kW on the other two, you would be taking 1.7kW from the grid on phase 1, even although you had enough energy from batteries and solar. With the Solax you do not have this issue as the phases are unbalanced and each phase gets the energy it needs up to the total capacity of the inverter.

THE BATTERY PACK

We have installed 2 X Triple Power 6.3kWh Lithium Ion Batteries giving a total capacity of 12.6kWh. This is expandable to 25.2kWh by adding an additional two batteries. We decided to use the triple power batteries because of their robust design, long service life, cyclic lifespan and their aesthetic appearance. The batteries are very easy to install and are plug and play.

• Battery Features
• Scalable to 25.2kWh
• Up to 6kW charge/discharge
• Floor & Wall Mountable
• High Voltage
• Compact Design

ENERGY PRODUCTION & PERFORMANCE

By watching the video below, you will see the Power Now (Power being used by the home), Grid Power (Power taken or sent to the grid) & PV Power (Power coming from PV Panels) readings from our system spread across a typical sunny day in the Algarve. As you can see from the video, during the night not much energy is taken from the grid but the PV Power is zero and the load is a few hundred watts. This is because the power is coming from the battery.

You will also notice that when the sun rises there is a perfect curve forming which abruptly stops. When the curve stops this means the battery is fully charged and the PV Power will now match the Power Now. If you could imagine that curve continuing across the afternoon, the whit space would mean wasted energy. This would imply you could add additional batteries or perhaps program a water heater, air conditioner or storage heater to come and utilise the energy.

You may ask why there is always small amounts of energy coming and going from the grid. This is because the inverter has to constantly monitor and adjust itself to the Grid Voltage & Frequency. If it was a very cloudy day and the battery was low, you would see a greater amount of energy coming from the grid as the loads demand it.

INVEST IN SOLAR ENERGY TODAY AND SAVE ON YOUR ELECTRICITY BILL