Faced with the utility troubles experienced by landowner Derrick Zearley, many homeowners may have given up and purchased different houses. Instead, he sought solar storage to avoid interconnection altogether.

Derrick Zearley's family lives in an off-grid home in South Carolina, which is powered by solar energy with backup battery storage. Firefly solar

Zearley purchased land on the border of two utility districts in Anderson County, South Carolina-Duke Energy and its energy partner Blue Ridge Electric. This led to back and forth between Duke and Blue Ridge to determine whose territory it was. When Duke Energy filed a claim for the site, the next step in the process was to obtain a signed petition from Zearley's neighbors asking them to give way on their property in order to power the site.

But after the petition was distributed, no neighbors signed it. As the utility company and unwilling neighbors lost half a year, Zearley contacted Palmetto State Solar (now Firefly Solar), an installer in Greenville, and proposed the idea of ​​building an off-grid solar system for the following purposes, and worked with him Built, a 5,500-square-foot building located in a remote area with no electricity in South Carolina.

"I'm a bit like a cowboy, so I'm very interested in challenges and can give them a middle finger after the utility company gave us a test run," Zearley said.

Living in such remote areas usually brings additional energy-saving requirements, such as limiting household electricity consumption to the time when solar panels receive the most sunlight. But Zearley doesn't want an off-grid home with limited energy. He wants to build a complete house with an additional workshop inside that can be operated on his own terms and powered after sunset-instead of relying on a few kilowatts of solar huts or trailers.

Firefly Solar did not have much experience in off-grid projects before this.

Aaron Davis, owner and president of Firefly Solar, said: "From time to time we get calls from people who want to get off the grid, but in most cases this is not feasible, mainly from a financial perspective." "So When Derek called me, I went out to visit him, I probably gave some rough numbers that he might expect, and he was willing to participate, especially because he encountered difficulties in the utility company."

Zearley's home occupies 27 acres, of which about 6 acres are open-air courtyards. The building he wanted was a prefabricated steel structure with a pitched roof, the color of which was inspired by the red barn found in the agricultural community. Zearley likens them to "barndominiums", which are similar forged structures that are known for being easy to build through prefabrication and energy efficiency.

Firefly is willing to do this project, Zearley is willing to lay down the money, the plan is that solar storage technology mainly powers the site.

Firefly Solar installed a 19.5 kW solar system on the top of the house, which is slightly larger in size to compensate for the roof angle. Firefly solar

"I think that once I learned that he thought this technology was available, it piqued my interest, but no one in our region has really done it yet, so there is nothing that can be really imitated and designed," Zearley said . "I think it is an interesting challenge for both of us to figure out how to do this. Then once we start to follow this path, I will tell the energy companies that we don't need them anymore."

In order to disconnect the site from the grid, Firefly Solar installed a 19.5 kW solar storage system consisting of 60 Panasonic 325-W modules, 60 Enphase IQ 7X micro-inverters, and IronRidge XR100 racks with S-5 composition! ProteaBracket metal roof attachment and four Tesla Powerwall 2 batteries. Just in case solar energy cannot cover it, a 20-kilowatt Kohler gas backup generator was installed.

Firefly was lucky because when Davis contacted Tesla about the project, the company had just started an off-grid plan. Previously, Tesla's warranty language for storage hardware did not include off-grid applications. At the time Powerwall was installed, Tesla was rewriting the operating code to make the hardware work in this application.

"Derek approached this issue with an'uncompromising' attitude. What he wanted was basically an off-grid but not looking like an off-grid home," said Ryan Wagler of Firefly Solar. He is The designer is the project manager of this project. "Usually, for off-grid, what you said,'Well, we need to limit your use, we need to install LEDs anywhere.' With this, we really just did it, and we installed the processing The daily use capacity of a family of this size is new to me."

The roof of the building is flatter than a typical pitched roof, but the surface area can completely hide the 60 modules on the ground. The panel is installed flush with the roof, and the system size is slightly larger to compensate for tilt, using Panasonic 96-core modules, hardware widely used by Firefly.

"Amidst all the uncertainties, we feel that we need some products that we can trust," Wagler said.

In addition to the challenges of installing solar and new buildings on offsite sites, Firefly also works with several other industries. Davis said that on one occasion, there were seven different contractors on site. Since the property is not yet connected to electricity, everyone is using gas generators. In other words, before the installation of solar energy, all industries can operate their equipment without a generator.

Zearley, Firefly Solar, and many industries have managed to build a house that runs completely off the grid from the ground up. Firefly solar

Converting a house to off-grid usually brings additional challenges, namely compensating for shutting down existing high-energy appliances and equipment. Heating and cooling systems, well pumps, and other necessary household loads require large amounts of electricity at startup.

In Zearley's case, the new building can ensure that every major electrical load uses a soft starter to reduce the initial voltage, because every construction industry exists at the same time.

"Now, trying to get electricians and HVAC personnel to put these different building components together because they have never dealt with anything like this before. It's a bit challenging," Zearley said.

Despite this, the Firefly contractor was able to ensure that everything from the well pump to the garage door opener was in a soft-start state when installed.

"In this case, the opportunities outweigh the challenges because we can build exactly what the system needs," Wagler said. "If you can have some opinions on how to choose these things, you can actually have a big impact on how the system works and how it will operate in the future."

Off-grid homes and workshops without energy compromise

Zearley finally got the house he and his wife wanted. The seven-foot-tall storefront glass windows can see the wooded property and encounter the concrete slab floor that matches the kitchen countertop.

The Zearley family is standing in the garage of their off-grid home, next to four Tesla PowerWalls, keeping the lights on after the sun goes down. Firefly solar

The roof line extends beyond the structure to form a covered porch. The windows are open in a garage door style, and they are brought in when the weather is fine. This shop, or as described by Zearley, his "manhole" is open-air, and part of the house protrudes into the building, forming a mezzanine where they can overlook the entire space.

Solar energy is powering all of this, and energy storage allows it to continue to operate after sunset.

Zearely said: "It's a wonderful feeling to stay at home and know that you are responsible for generating your own energy."

Projects like this show that even in larger applications, solar storage technology can become a viable and consistent energy source.

"I think we will bring together microgrids and small communities with distributed energy resources," Davis said. "As this situation develops, there will be more control rights and more people will get rid of monopolistic utility companies. I think this depends largely on the research and development that enters the storage field in the next few years. ."

Billy Ludt is the associate editor of "Solar World".

I like to read and try to teach myself how to connect to solar energy. I am in a 2000 square foot house, covering 9 acres, which is very hand-made. I want and am ready to start installing solar energy. I live a very simple life 6 miles away from the grid. Raising my children in the mountains. Life is extremely simple. There are 2 panels with slow-running pumps to pump water and the house has the least lights. I don't want to live so full at this point, but I want energy independence. In Washington State, even if all of our energy is generated by solar energy, we still need to pay the basic fee to PUD. I want to be independent. As a single parent living in the mountains, I have done many things myself, such as wires, creating gravity water systems, sheet swings, tiles, etc... I think I can do it or hire someone Come to save a lot of money and do it yourself for me. I like to challenge and want to really understand the system I own, rather than relying on others financially to maintain it for me.

Amen all the people who pointed out the costs involved here. Rich and young must be wonderful. This guy's car is more expensive than my house! Of course I am just jealous and tired of all the stereotyped American overdesign. Who needs a 5500 square foot house? Why use the most expensive panel on the market? I'm sure he will pay the same for the power company here. I am in North Carolina and the cost per pole = $12,000 for new construction. I am designing and planning to DIY my own more rudimentary system (9.6KW solar, 30KWH storage, 12KW Sol-Ark inverter), which is about one-third of what this guy pays. I have been saving for many years.

Try using DIY kits and BOS components such as Solarwholesale dot com or bluepacificsolar dot com. I like bluepacificsolar sites the most. They provide a lot of information about power supply network, off-grid and grid interaction system considerations.

I envy those who can afford these things. I would love to be completely off the grid, but we "poor people" have no way to do this. In addition to the cost, our town’s restrictions on the installation of solar panels are very unreasonable (because the city has a power company). Unless you are rich, you cannot do this in my area.

I like his system, I have a 3k system DIY system, I do it very well by myself, but I need more storage space

We also have a self-built solar home system. We have 2kw qcell panel and 7kwh Lifepo4 battery storage. Our heating, hot water, clothes dryer and kitchen appliances are all natural gas. We have enough battery storage to survive the cloudy day. The 2kw panel is sufficient for our daily use and keep the battery charged in sunny days. We have a 1500 watt inverter to meet our low load requirements, and a 3000 watt inverter and separate wiring for our larger loads. If needed, we also have a Chevrolet Volt with a 1500 watt inverter as a backup. In a long sunny day, we can also charge Volt. Only my wife and myself are in their seventies, so we really don't use electricity much. So far, even in winter, the system can meet our needs. The operating price of the entire system is slightly higher than $7,500. I mainly build the system using off-the-shelf components, which are mainly found on EBay or Amazon. I buy things wherever I can get the most cost-effective. In our special situation, this system is very suitable for us.

LiFePO4 batteries are hardly cheap, but some companies will sell you basic battery packs. Simpliphi has a 3.8kWh battery pack that can be stacked to increase capacity. Humless seems to be selling 5kWh battery packs, LG Chem has just redesigned their battery packs, and they seem to be trying to compete with TESLA on pricing.

This story sounds like a complete off-grid home electrical system has never been done before, which is completely nonsense. I have a friend who built his own off-grid system at least 8 years ago. His system consists of solar and wind energy to power a battery storage system with backup propane generators. This system runs his big house, equipped with all modern conveniences, mainly relying on wind and solar energy, but occasionally requires generators. Although my friend can use electricity, he wants to be self-reliant.

Relax Kevin, the wonderful thing is that we can all experiment and adapt different technologies to save money and/or avoid power outages and blackouts. It doesn't matter who goes offline first. JKF

No, they just said that he hadn't done it in his area, and the contractor hadn't done it before.

My 500 watt system met 99% of all my needs. The cost is US$1,200, including a new 2,200 watt backup generator/inverter and battery. I rarely use my generator.

marvelous! Your footprint is very small. Hope more people think like you. I have a 500 watt system with approximately 275 ampere hours of backup battery. I'm still on the grid, rarely at a time, and I hope to have time to leave.

Your story and Bob's story are important teaching experiences for those who are hesitant about solar photovoltaics. Our idea is institutionalized. I have a 200-amp 240-volt house panel with approximately (48,000) watts, which is 1.152MWh over 24 hours. This is not the case for most people, not even close. You have proved it. In the United States, the average household uses 1.5 to 2.0 kWh as the average house load during a 24-hour period. Does anyone have current surges on high-surge projects such as well pumps and air-conditioning compressors, which can be as high as 100 amperes throughout the day for a few milliseconds, of course, but in most cases, you can provide the home's "running" load demand 6kWp solar array and 20kWh battery pack. This article is about off-grid houses, but what if you are connected to the grid and only use it for high surge events and high pumps and appliances?

Sounds great, and doubt that the rich think this is a viable option. I am 70 years old and earn less than $1,000 a month. Unfortunately, it is too late. Keep on dreaming!

My entire social security is $664 per month, with very little savings, usually 0. My solar system only cost me $1,200, including the purchase of new and rarely needed backup generator inverters. The solar system easily provides 99% of all my electricity, 100% off the grid. In 2021, I am 68 years old. I also kept the license and insurance for 2 cars, and kept all property taxes. I even spent most of 2020 on income in Hungary. If my SSI was $1,100 per month, I would feel like a millionaire and use all the extra money to build a 5,000 square foot off-grid house! ! !

All of the above is good, and I will do it, but in the great state of Florida, building codes require you to be connected to the electricity grid in order to get a occupancy permit. So there is no off-grid here.

It's a bit counter-intuitive. Florida is one of the places where storms raged and power was cut for several days. What can be done is to establish a grid interactive microgrid, use solar photovoltaic and smart energy storage (most of the time), and use the grid to arbitrage your own ESS. If there is a power failure, you can switch off the grid to a key circuit breaker panel, allowing Some things such as sockets, lights, ceiling fans, refrigerators/freezers, and microwave ovens operate independently on solar photovoltaic and battery power for days, weeks, and months. Grid agnosticism is better, because when the grid starts, you can "buy" their off-peak or ultra-off-peak electricity to store in your battery, in case the sun just rises the next day and the solar photovoltaic power generation is not good When using power.

Yes, but you can still do this, even if you are technically "connected to the grid," you will not buy their electricity and may sell it to them.

I'm on the Indiana grid. January and February are a bit cold. My system is 25% larger, with an 80 325 kW panel, but it requires a huge battery pack to survive the cold months. Fortunately for me, we are having a one-on-one communication with our grid partners. In addition, the angle between our panels and the seasons ranges from 18 degrees in summer to 45 degrees in winter. In addition, if the grid is shut down for the safety of the employees of the grid owner, my inverter will shut down, so I have a 24 kW propane generator. If I were to build from scratch, I would definitely start with a large groundwater heat pump. I hope and pray that the leftist New Green New Deal will stand with the homeowners on the Equality Exchange, so that I don’t have to install batteries, or at least not have to install our solar energy owners’ grandfathers for the deal we started. The cost of our grid is $16.05 per month.

Since most homes use more electricity to cool down in summer and more natural gas for heating in winter, your whole argument here doesn't make much sense.

In sunny California, even with solar panels and batteries, criminal gangs (actions, typographical errors-I mean PG&E, SDG&E, Edison) still need to charge "grid fees" under state law. It supports those huge rebates (operational, I mean it shares campaign contributions and the cost of vacations for members of Congress and the California Public Utilities Commission to protect the public from high interest rates).

An affiliate of CPUC recently wrote a white paper, predicting that between 2025 and 2030, the average electricity price of SCE and PG&E will reach US$0.30 to US$0.35/kWh. SDG&E is estimated to be (0.47 USD/kWh) within this time frame. Switching to grid-agnostic solar photovoltaic systems was a crazy and wise decision in California.

Would you please provide a link to the white paper?

I can't find the original paper, but CPUC does have this: https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUC_Public_Website/Content/Utilities_and_Industries/Energy_-_Electricity_and_Natural_Gas/Rates En Banc_white paper_v2. .pdf

Off-grid 19.5kw? ? ? You can't have children and consume very little power. I have a 24kw system, which generates about half of my daily usage. Like you!

Wow. My life is mainly off-grid with 1kw system. I can even run my AC device when the sun is shining (there is only 2kwh storage, so I have to stay overnight or run a 3.5kw generator).

Even in my current place, 3kw is more than enough for my use, unless it’s midsummer

Guess you missed the picture of that man with his wife and three children.

charming! The owner should take another electric car: Tesla has no possibility of the vehicle to the grid. Then he can also store electricity through his car and use it when needed, or bring extra electricity to his home.

I don't think I can talk to my neighbors. What kind of Aholes will say no to people who need to power their houses?

I think after I get some rewards, I will buy more batteries and solar panels, it looks like he has enough space. When the sun is not bright, will 5 windmills about 10 feet in diameter help? I think I can make something like that.

If they have to clear a large area of ​​trees to run the line, you may also refuse.

PG&E hardly clears trees in California. Different workers mark and cut the hazards of live and dead trees. Very inefficient. I keep asking them to cut more in my place, but tbey won't. So it's even more popular.

Nice setup, but no shadow problem. By not using micro-inverters and disembarking from Chinese batteries, Firefly can make cheaper, simpler and equally reliable products. A mature car with doubled capacity and two-way charger can be purchased for the price of 4 power walls.

Even if there is a tax credit, its cost is 30 to 40,000 US dollars, but I really hope that some geniuses can figure out how to generate electricity from a temperature difference is a closed water cycle system, they currently excavate pipes 6 or 10 feet below the soil level

This may be similar to the cost of running new lines and utility poles. Then he will be in trouble for life, paying monthly bills to the power company. Now he is free and sober.

I have a 3000 square foot home, my own well, vineyard, 2 heat pumps, all appliances and an electric car. With 17kW solar power and 4 Tesla powerwall 2s, I don’t have any utility bills anymore. We keep in touch only because the Southern California Edison company pays us only $0.02 per kilowatt hour. I drive to and from get off work, but still only use about half of what we generate.

I have installed a similar system and sneered at contractors using generators to run their tools because this was exactly what happened a few months before the metal roof was installed. Now they are running out of solar energy and batteries. They are in rural Kansas, where utility companies charge a large sum of money. The customer has $35,000 in a 12-kilowatt system with a 30-kilowatt-hour lithium battery rack. They are now running propane heating, but I think ground source heat pumps are their future.

I really appreciate the robustness of the PV and battery system, each of which has its own inverter, so it can be regarded as an independent energy supplier. Can 4() PowerWall batteries be regarded as an independent cell array?

I like the idea of ​​"smart ESS", which can distribute power around 24 hours a day. Can a smarter ESS make an annual forecast for the entire year's electricity rationing?

I want to be independent of fossil fuel backup generators. Is it possible to start with compressed air and use biodiesel as fuel?

No details of the heating/cooling system are mentioned. With all of this land, I assume that the ground source heat pump system will provide the best annual efficiency and be electrically driven.

A small split heating/cooling device is installed. All summer is enough, but in winter, there will be more generators than expected. He installed a wood-burning stove to heat the home, which is enough to survive the rest of the winter. There is never a need for generators now. (Or very rarely.)

It's nice to see the comments from the person who installed the system. Nice project.

"I like the idea of ​​a "smart ESS" that can ration power around 24 hours a day. Can a smarter ESS make an annual forecast for the power rationing throughout the year?"

Sonnen ecolinx 30.0 has certain smart home functions and can set up a communication link to communicate with smart devices. People can control the load in the house through a smartphone app, or they can program the Sonnen HMI itself to schedule the load. An example might be an on-demand or all-electric water heater. If no one is at home during the work week, the water heater can be programmed to turn off during the day and turn on in the late afternoon and evening. An actual "microgrid" system with modular energy storage has been introduced to the public, and there are actually options ranging from mild to wild. Simpliphi, Sonnen, GENERAC PWRcell, Humless Universal, ELM Fieldsight. If large-scale commercial and industrial microgrids based on three phases are used, a whole set of "other" medium to large microgrids can be used.

Solar storage is great. Keep.

In Northern California, the PG&E field is not only about the cost of interconnection with the "public" (I have been asking where the public is on the California Public Utilities Commission) grid and/or the delay involved, prompting homeowners to find alternatives. One of our clients built a big house. He was told that it would take 300,000 USD and nearly 2 years to power his property that is not in remote or even rural areas. We designed and installed one of our Interactive Energy Grid™ systems using solar, batteries, and propane-fueled micro cogeneration systems (along with high-efficiency boilers) to provide and distribute household electrical and thermal energy needs. The intelligent control system acts as an energy broker for the family, regardless of the situation, always using the most effective energy to power the house. Although the total cost is higher than the interconnection cost, the household is energy independent. Not only can the system recover expenses based solely on utility bills within 12 years, but the infrastructure can immediately add value to the property. Another advantage is that the system is future-oriented; it can use energy from almost any source (electricity or heat) that may appear in the future. Being able to manage multiple distributed energy sources in the most efficient and economical way to meet thermal power demand is the future of microgrids. We treat grid-connected and off-grid devices very similarly, because PG&E’s "Public Safety Power Shutdown" (euphemism; we are shutting down your power because we do not maintain our power distribution system and its huge responsibility) can last for many days The difference lies in how we manage the load and reduce the large mechanical load when the grid is unavailable, so as to maximize the time that DER can support the "base load".

Off-grid systems are much more common than people think. There is a complete community online. Start with YouTube. This system will be considered high-end and a bit experimental. My off-grid farm has 10kw solar panels, 10k low-frequency inverters, 684AH battery storage, and 14k backup generators. So far, $17,000 has been spent. The power company is never needed.

I assembled a much smaller system for my summer cabin with extra batteries. The battery is powered by solar energy, wind energy, and a backup DC charging system that powers the 5K/10K inverter. Sometimes we run the generator for 20 minutes before going to bed to charge the battery at night. The heat and reference are propane. Simple and cheap. Everything is done at a price of less than $5,000. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it.

You are still using propane and generators. This is not a sustainable solution. For many years, the use of solar energy and batteries did not require any fuel source.

Just like I heard a while ago. A world full of Prius is still obsessed with oil.

Yes, they will encounter problems during power outages. Telsa's battery power is insufficient

The home is off the grid and has been "power cut"

This is a good one. What was he thinking about?

He installed four PowerWalls with a total storage capacity of 54 kWh. This is about 150% of my daily energy needs, and the average size of my home is 2100 square feet. According to NREL's forecast, he also has enough solar energy to generate approximately 75 kWh per day. Therefore, he can fully charge the battery and still have about 20 kWh of energy to run the house during the day. I installed two similar systems in Tennessee, where the solar irradiance is about the same as the system, which will definitely work. In case we enter the monsoon season and 9 consecutive days of rainy days, there will always be generators there for backup. All he lacks is electric cars, and he should be able to forget gasoline.

He has a Tesla. Look at the picture

"In Zearley's case, with the new building, it can be ensured that every major electrical load uses a soft starter to reduce the initial voltage, because every construction industry exists at the same time."

The overall benefit is that specific ENERGY STAR motors, pumps and appliances or "soft starters" power the motors to be used. In this setup, this person has a room on his roof, which is suspended and installed with 5 times the capacity of the solar photovoltaic array he currently has. Approximately $85,000 was installed for this setup. Some installations by utility companies charge about $10,000 per shot for properties (IF) where you can get the right of way. Just 20 years ago, this required the installation of a system worth US$2 to 250,000. Go ahead and get a solar photovoltaic energy storage "package" that can be completely off-grid (or). You can have a grid-independent system. If you happen to have a good grid connection, it will be a backup, if you don’t use a smart ESS To determine and control the load in the home to deplete solar photovoltaics and batteries within 24 hours. Solar photovoltaic inverters are becoming more and more powerful, some of which have a 25-year warranty. The careful application of these technologies is creating more durable systems, making utilities less useful for people's daily energy needs.

What is the final cost? Without this information, people cannot even consider such things. If there is no final cost, where does the money come from? I am a general contractor and I am very interested in this information.

Your question is related, and this article lists a specific case. This guy wasted a lot of time trying to get the power supply to his property. Each attribute will be different. In some rural examples, developers have purchased a few acres of land in remote areas, divided the properties into smaller pieces of land, and then developed them. They have already encountered a utility proposal of US$1 million or more to extend the utility feed to the development area. The cost of laying underground power and other utilities for each lot may range from US$100,000 to US$500,000. Search for one such project: Silvies Valley Ranch, Burns, Oregon. The development project uses Humless Universal Microgrids for each house built.

I live in Gainesville, Florida. I have a lien on my property. I can’t get the funds to install solar energy for my house, and my monthly electricity bill is between 250 and 325, and it’s very expensive. I hope There will be a better way I might have, please send me information, thank you

Well, if you are lucky enough, your time is so precious that your response is meaningful and there is no choice in cost. Otherwise I agree with John. This sounds and looks cool, but so is Ferrari, which is worth $500,000.

The vast majority of people cannot afford anything in this neighborhood, and they cannot afford it for decades, if any. "Green" energy is great, but everything is for 1%

In the past 5 years alone, the situation has changed. Solar photovoltaics are now cheaper than 15 years ago or 10 years ago, and I have been using simple solar photovoltaic rooftop arrays, which have been connected to the grid for 16 years. It can be said that it is possible to get a return in less than 15 years. Of" all over the United States. Those who have bought a larger array and own home charging stations and electric cars like Leaf can pay off the relatively large solar photovoltaic system in about 5 years, saving energy every month without buying electricity and gasoline. electric car. I can assure you that I am still far from 1%, and may not even be at the bottom of the "top" 40%.

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