September 20, 20214 yr Checking in... I work in the renewable energy field, mostly mini-hydro (1-20MW) with a touch of solar on the side... Currently getting ready to install a home solar at my place, 10kVA victron quattro, cerbo GX, 4x pylontech US3000 operating as a UPS at first then adding PV modules and MPPT in about 6 months' time when my pocket has recovered!
September 20, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, 0012 said: Checking in... I work in the renewable energy field, mostly mini-hydro (1-20MW) with a touch of solar on the side... Currently getting ready to install a home solar at my place, 10kVA victron quattro, cerbo GX, 4x pylontech US3000 operating as a UPS at first then adding PV modules and MPPT in about 6 months' time when my pocket has recovered! Thats awesome, Welcome to the forum, could you perhaps tell us abit more about some of your hydro projects, Magawatts are not "mini" in my eyes 🤣 Edited September 20, 20214 yr by Basil Katakuzinos
September 20, 20214 yr 3 hours ago, 0012 said: Checking in... I work in the renewable energy field, mostly mini-hydro (1-20MW) with a touch of solar on the side... Currently getting ready to install a home solar at my place, 10kVA victron quattro, cerbo GX, 4x pylontech US3000 operating as a UPS at first then adding PV modules and MPPT in about 6 months' time when my pocket has recovered! My theme song is save dat money by Lil Dicky. I'm gonna suggest that getting a luxpower/deye/solis hybrid inverter with your pylontechs would allow you to fit the panels at the same time due to the price difference. A pv solar system generating electricity seems to make much more sense than a gigantic ups. Anyways welcome to the forum.
September 20, 20214 yr Author 2 hours ago, Basil Katakuzinos said: Thats awesome, Welcome to the forum, could you perhaps tell us abit more about some of your hydro projects, Magawatts are not "mini" in my eyes 🤣 check out the company website here: https://www.nrezim.com/ Our plants only generate to sell into the grid, no commercial, industrial or domestic customers. In Zim's eastern highlands we have 7 hydro plants totalling ~35MW and in Malawi's Mulanje district one hydro of 10MW. These are all run-of-river schemes so generation is seasonal, no large dams only offtake weirs... We did an experimental phase 1 solar plant of 2990kWp where we tested different configurations and technologies, tracking vs fixed, mono vs poly, and 4 inverter types ABB, Schneider, Delta and SolarEdge. the purpose being to get the combination which is most economically suitable and with the best returns over 25 year lifespan, and then to roll this out in further plants.
September 20, 20214 yr Author 1 hour ago, Buyeye said: My theme song is save dat money by Lil Dicky. I'm gonna suggest that getting a luxpower/deye/solis hybrid inverter with your pylontechs would allow you to fit the panels at the same time due to the price difference. A pv solar system generating electricity seems to make much more sense than a gigantic ups. Anyways welcome to the forum. Parts already purchased. Unfortunately I've had a long time to dream about this and decided on blue, so gigantic UPS it is, just for 6 months so it's not too bad 🤣
September 20, 20214 yr 1 minute ago, 0012 said: Parts already purchased. Unfortunately I've had a long time to dream about this and decided on blue, so gigantic UPS it is, just for 6 months so it's not too bad 🤣 Gigantic blue ups's are awesome too when budgeted for. 👍🏾
September 20, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, 0012 said: check out the company website here: https://www.nrezim.com/ Our plants only generate to sell into the grid, no commercial, industrial or domestic customers. In Zim's eastern highlands we have 7 hydro plants totalling ~35MW and in Malawi's Mulanje district one hydro of 10MW. These are all run-of-river schemes so generation is seasonal, no large dams only offtake weirs... We did an experimental phase 1 solar plant of 2990kWp where we tested different configurations and technologies, tracking vs fixed, mono vs poly, and 4 inverter types ABB, Schneider, Delta and SolarEdge. the purpose being to get the combination which is most economically suitable and with the best returns over 25 year lifespan, and then to roll this out in further plants. That's super cool.
September 20, 20214 yr 5 hours ago, 0012 said: ABB, Schneider, Delta and SolarEdge. Very interesting stuff, just out of interest was there any favorite between the four?
September 21, 20214 yr Author 10 hours ago, Gerrie said: Very interesting stuff, just out of interest was there any favorite between the four? The SolarEdge is a nice piece of kit but too sophisticated for Zim, the power quality thresholds are too tight and so it's the first to cut out and the last to start generating. Of the two inverters we put in, one had to be replaced after a year, under warranty. Of the 110 optimisers, about 6 have failed since install 3.5yr ago. ABB - a nice machine, a bit of a mission to commission but no issues with it since up and running. Looks like it has the lowest efficiency of the bunch but probably by less than 1%. Delta - sounds like a helicopter with those fans, but a good machine. Schneider - I think this is just a rebranded sungrow. Our pick of the bunch, nice piece of kit, this and the delta have the best kWh/kWp production, best conversion efficiency. Very robust and can handle wide grid power quality parameters.
September 21, 20214 yr Author 18 hours ago, 87 Dream said: Great project, welcome to the forum!!! Keep us updated, we are suckers for Solar Porn pics 🤣🤣 87 The installation is planned for Monday. Parts are going together, leaving space for the future MPPTs...
September 21, 20214 yr That should be a picnic to wire up 🤣. Just noticing the picnic tables in the background...
September 30, 20214 yr Author So this baby is in and performing, quite sad without the MPPTs tbh, could be doing so much more than just waiting for a power cut 😆
September 30, 20214 yr Author One DB is all inverter based, grid supply on/off, changeover switch for AC1 out and changeover switch for AC2 out. The other AC DB is to supply loads that are no longer fed from the main house DB: Garage, Cottage and Verandah.
September 30, 20214 yr Author Everything except for geyser element (on AC2 out) is on the essential loads AC1 out. Even without scheduling what goes on/off this 10kVA setup seems more than sufficient for the current needs. At this point in the house we have no idea when the grid is available or not 😄 We use kettle, coffee machine, hairdryer, borehole pump, washing machine all at will, on a whim.
December 16, 20214 yr Author Ahhhhh now that's better!! Added 20x CS 325W panels (5S 4P) 6.5kWp MPPT 250/100
December 16, 20214 yr Author Left space on the board for future MPPT in case I want to add panels and double batt to 28kWh. Now to tinker and try maximise solar usage, I'm not feeding into the grid at this point.
December 16, 20214 yr Great intro Love the projects on the website. Anyone else get the feeling when looking at those projects that something is very very wrong in SA when it comes to energy projects?
December 21, 20214 yr Always been browsing here and never responded. Been doing solar on gates and energisers for many years. Few years ago I did a few small systems for the guard houses/ shops we build. A month ago I did my house as I could not sleep or work with the load shedding. So I installed a 8 kw Deye, 10 kw mono and 28.8 kwh solarmd batteries. Was immediately off grid completely. Then a month later we have installed 3 x 3 phase 12 kw, and another 3 8kw systems. So been very busy.
December 22, 20214 yr 12 hours ago, Engel said: Always been browsing here and never responded. Been doing solar on gates and energisers for many years. Few years ago I did a few small systems for the guard houses/ shops we build. A month ago I did my house as I could not sleep or work with the load shedding. So I installed a 8 kw Deye, 10 kw mono and 28.8 kwh solarmd batteries. Was immediately off grid completely. Then a month later we have installed 3 x 3 phase 12 kw, and another 3 8kw systems. So been very busy. Hi which area are you working in so members can contact you?
June 5, 20223 yr On 2021/12/22 at 11:14 AM, Buyeye said: Hi which area are you working in so members can contact you? Only saw the post now! Gauteng and some in klerksdorp!
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