Pramod

Thanks. However, my home system (Sunsynk) has PV panels and a battery, and I believe that it will continue to function even if the battery is disconnected (It seems that the SMA Sunny Island inverters shut down if no battery is connected). The CT Coil prevents the inverter from exporting power back onto the grid in case of a grid failure (According to Sunsynk); so I don't understand why an SMA system without a battery can't behave in the same way (i.e. stop exporting to the grid when the grid fails, but continue to supply the load). Our PV grid tied system should save us enough money to pay for itself with a few years, and thereafter provide a substantially reduced cost of electricity. We use about 30kw and will generate 50kw at peak.

We are about to install a PV Grid tied system with no battery storage (too expensive, it’s for a small office block). I have been advised by the installer that the system will not provide power to us during load shedding, even if there is adequate sunshine to supply the loads. Why is that? Is it a restriction on the part of the inverter, or something inherent in grid tied systems that prevents this from happening? I thought that installing a CT coil on an AC coupled system would prevent exporting power back to the grid, thus making this possible.

Reducing the grid trickle feed amount to zero reduced the daily grid consumption to about 0,4 to 0,5 kWh.

Thanks for your replies, folks. I spoke to the installer and he said that it was OK to set the grid trickle feed to zero, which I have now done. It was previously set to 10W. I will monitor for a few days and then report back. I have also noticed what @DeonBezsaid, that the grid usage on the Sunsynk Connect app shows as zero. When I did the installation, the City of Cape Town came by to change the prepaid meter, because they said that if any power was fed back onto the grid from the inverter, it would have locked up the meter that was installed previously. Next step is to wait for them to lift the restriction that forces us to be net consumers, to justify the R12,000 that they want to charge to install a smart meter. They currently pay about R1 a kilowatt hour that is fed back into the grid.

My 8 x 450W panels are generating enough power to keep me going through the night - my14,3 kWh battery doesn't get down to the threshold I've set (40% SoC) where it needs to top up from the grid. However, every day, the Sunsynk 8 kW inverter draws about 0,8 kWh from the grid, always the same every day. If I switch the mains switch off, everything keeps working just fine, but I'd prefer to keep the grid connected. Any ideas as to why the Sunsynk uses that 0,8 kWh every day ?