Blue Rock Station is a 40-acre sustainability center located in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in southeastern Ohio.
It is a demonstration project, seeking to live with and demonstrate a number of ideas and theories around sustainable and resilient living. It features the first Earthship built east of the Mississippi - a dozen or so straw bale buildings, tiny house, homestead living (chickens, gardens, dairy goats, etc).
We also provide solar PV certification training, as well as workshops on sustainable living. Visit us at www.bluerockstation.com or www.solarPVtraining.com or www.goatcollege.com
As Jay injects partisan politics where it doesn't belong. He should at least educate himself to the facts. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s8dHdFB_Knw.htmlsi=y360K1sqYsTk5pT2
Next time on approach to landing at any hub admire the acres of urban sprawl, vacant rooftops and parking. Often not a PV module in sight. In my mind this is where to begin energy renewal. Point of production and point of use. Logical but inpractical... Will lenders finance a residence without utility connections? Keep up the good work.
Next Jay will be crying about Trump calling for additional tariffs against China WHILE GIVING THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION A FREE PASS ON THE ONE HE JUST SPOKE ABOUT REGARDING SOLAR.
@@bluerockstationI apologize in advance for continuing with the politics that you injected into this, but please bear in mind. I was born and raised in the staunchest of Democratic party supporting families. I was literally knocking on doors campaigning for Democratic party candidates before I could read and write. In other words: I came from your side of the fence. Here's a fun fact: 8 of the last 11 presidents since the CIA murdered John f. Kennedy and installed Lyndon Johnson have been connected directly to the CIA, or the military industrial complex president Eisenhower warned us about (aka the Deep State). The three remaining presidents were limited to one term. Nixon, Carter & Trump. The Deep State OPENLY stole the Democratic party nomination from Bernie Sanders via "super delegates" in 2016 then inserted Hillary Clinton. They never dreamed Donald Trump would beat her. Now they're inserting Kamala Harris even though she has not received a single vote in a primary election. This has never happened before in American history. We literally don't know who's running the country right now. It certainly isn't Joe Biden. With the obvious exception of Donald Trump, Republican versus Democrat is the illusion the Deep State gives the American people so we feel like our vote matters. Now the Deep State is not even trying to hide their candidate insertions anymore. They just install whoever they want and remove whoever they want without actually having a primary election. The DEEP STATE isn't thinking this through. If the DEEP STATE MURDERS Donald Trump MILLIONS OF AMERICANS will DEVOTE THEIR LIVES to the DESTRUCTION OF THE DEEP STATE. (including me) Sadly, they will Still most likely murder Donald Trump with an overwhelming Force larger than his Secret Service detail THEN BLAME a foreign power (IRAN?) so Americans WILL BLINDLY SUPPORT ANOTHER WAR. (Just like we did after the September 11th attacks) Make no mistake: THE DEEP STATE WILL MURDER DONALD TRUMP IF THEY CAN'T STEAL THE ELECTION.
Jay never misses an opportunity to inject either anti-republican or anti-trump rhetoric. How about a little professionalism. Germany is dependent on France for its power needs especially in winter. Of course you could have talked about Germany's lack of energy Independence but instead you chose to trash Trump.
@@bluerockstationagain, you could chosen professionalism and remained unbiased and not injected politics. Instead you completely ignored the Springfield Ohio 911 transcripts. Perhaps you should work for CNN or MSNBC. You also ignore the readily available fact that Germany isn't even close to being energy-independent anymore especially since they abandoned their nuclear plants. They are now MASSIVELY reliant on foreign sources of fuel. You could have also mentioned the poor viability of sunshine in Germany making it a poor candidate for solar in general. But of course you show your true colors.
Why does the American narrative on Chinese Solar policy focus on government subsidies and completely ignore the social benefits. Who is brainwashing who? The global community shares in the benefits. The national security angle is 20 years premature IMO.
Australia eliminated $1.50 per/watt of people, paperwork and permit expenses with an APP. Utility access is mandatory. Inspections were replaced with audits. Faiil an audit and lose your installer license. Installers are paid more per hour than in the US and work a 4 day work week. The public savings are huge. The social benefits are equally huge. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_3Sfxxx9m5U.html
This is the best basic solar system explanation I have ever seen. I subbed. I am looking forward to watching your other videos, and will be recommending your channel to others. Thank you so much!
Utilities are very creative in clawing back revenue lost to prosumers and these techniques are not reflected in the Forbes affordability report. Approaches include TOU energy (kWh) and power (kWh) tariffs. Residential power (kW) tariffs are more and more common especially with solar customers and many include a painful 12 month look-back ratchet. Other approaches include political contributions, negative media campaigns to sway public optnion, capacity reservation fees, reduced credit of even charging for feed-in, sneaky connection fees and intentionally difficult process for permission to operate. As mentioned those that can will move away from the grid but some form of fairness tax and subsidy will invariable be added to support those who can’t or won’t move off-grid. Very analogous to failed public schools. Again as mentioned, sad thing is regulators could lead and utilities could partner but why bother - they and their political cronies win either way and their legal fees and public opinion expenditures are just tacked onto our bills. Often regulatory fees are not spent as intended or returned to State general funds to curry favor and peddle influence.
Alabama at 37 is a joke! I'm sorry I didn't watch the whole thing but I'd love to know who came out with this ranking? There is no reason Alabama should be higher than 50. First of all, the utilities here really discourage buying any electricity, even the wholesale rate. Second....No property taxes? FALSE. My system was taxed at double what I paid for it. I had to go to the property tax assessor's office and meet with them and my property taxes were adjusted to better reflect what I paid for my system but it was just a little higher but not double as they had originally calculated. Turns out the state's formula was, and still is, based on 2015 solar installation prices which explains to me now why I was assessed at double it's worth. Finally, and very much most importantly, are the solar fees charged to consumers who use solar on their property. I live in the very north end of the state where we get our power from the Tennessee Valley Authority and we pay no fees.....we're talking about ten counties maybe out of 67 in Alabama. I thank GOD every day I don't live south of here in the Alabama Power Company utility district. Those people have to pay a monthly per kilowatt hour fee based on the size of their solar array. I have a 12 kw solar array. If I lived just 30 miles south I'd be paying the utility around $100 a month each and every month just in base meter and solar fees before I took ONE kilowatt of electricity from them. And SOMEBODY thought Alabama should be 37?? Please.
Agreed @ScoopDogy and thanks for the clarification! CNETs details for Alabama are pure rubbish. Alabama Power and their 3rd party influencers paid dearly to get the sweet 37th place. In reality the state is dead last. The elected Public Service Commission, especially the commission chair person and their political pals are thieves. Stupid is stupid does. The voters reap what they sow
It’s not the size of the battery that determines the size of the wire that you need. I have a 230Ah battery and I’m using what is basically 2.5 awg. This is safe because I’m not going to draw a lot of current out of my battery at one time. The size of cable you need is is determined by how much current you’re gonna be running through those wires. Notice the size of the wires running from the solar panels. I have three 175 W solar panels and they’re running through. 10 awg cables to my battery.
Jay another good segment. Thanks. It's very clear business as usual. Solar developers are just the latest in a long line of barons, e.g. timber, oil, gas, and solar - all of it taxed. For those that can prosumer is the place to be and that's the bright spot. But wait, is that really "fair" - so here come the fees. I have lived and worked in a number of countries with nationalized grids and I will take the USA status quo any day.
I was going to give up on building a solar station as it to me is very complicated but after seeing your video here makes me want to give it a try. You have made the BEST and CLEAREST video on this subject that i have seen. One question. On your office example.....if you use a solar panel while doing your office shores will you be able to extend the amount of time you can use the system before the battery runs out? Great video, thank you.
Thanks for the kind words. Quick answer is that if the panel is attached and in the sun, the system will run longer. For example, if you have a 35 Ah 12 V battery (420 Wh) and a 100 W panel, if the panel is in the sun while in use for four hours and generating 100 W at the time - there will be an additional 400 Wh of energy available (these are very rough approximations - but you hopefully get the idea). So there would be 820 Wh of energy available (sunlight + battery) rather than just the 420 Wh from the battery.
I strongly recommend you take a look at the hybrid inverters and what they bring to the table today. I recently installed the Solark 15 K on my own home and as a single solution to all of the challenges that in phase brings to your installation, The other term your using his auto transformer where you mean auto transfer switch. Take a look at the EG for rackmount battery. 48 V agnostic batteries are an excellent source of storage and use. Has these hybrid systems become more available I expect you’ll see systems like in phase or solar edge, the less popular.
Hey Daniel - one of the problems we have in the PV industry (in that it is very new and always changing) is standardization of language. I have seen the term auto transformer, auto transfer switch, smart switch - all used interchangeably. One is probably better than the others, but it hasn't settled in my mind. The Sol-Ark is a good system (I have installed them as well). Again, we use the term hybrid inverter in many ways. All three systems you mention (Enphase, SolarEdge and Sol-Ark) can be configured into hybrid systems. I think the advantage of the Sol-Ark system is that it can be a true off-grid system as well. Of course it always comes down to price and what the owner wants from the system - which is why there isn't just one dominant player in the industry.
On your explanation of enphase sizing tool, I also am an existing enphase customer whom was looking to add battery back up and found the existing customer sizing tool to be useless. When attempting to work through the issue with enphase I had a ticket issued to me so I could work with them to resolve the sizing g tool issues. After three weeks I gave up. BTW I am impressed with my enphase array 3 yr running now. Also I have purchased a bess from a different company partially due to enphases lack of follow up with my battert sizing tool issue.
Again good discussion. I especially liked the prediction of the bi-directional grid, energy exchange medium and internet analogy. It's hard to design one size fits all storage given site specifics, occupant lifestyles and utility tariffs. However, after completing a number of resiliency systems operating 4 seasons, focused on self-consumption plus energy and power demand arbitrage, I find 2X the DC array a sweet spot for storage. For example, with a DC 10 kW array then attach 20 kWh storage. This with the perspective and alternative view that the grid can be a lucrative opportunity - grid backup to an alternative energy system is a bonus. And to note, having Installed a number of Enphase systems, ROI on the load controller is poor. They only function off-grid. So if grid tied, consider 3rd party management useable 24/7 and 365 on or off grid for the best ROI. Also note you can call Enphase and now request auto firmware pushes be blocked, leaving a happy system and owner happy. Keep up the good work
Worth a mention as the industry fights for survival - adversity forms consensus. Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is releasing two new industry standards to help protect solar energy customers from deceptive and unethical practices and is seeking public comment on the standards. SEIA standard 401 and 201 are now open for a 45-day public comment. Standard 401 is groundbreaking and addresses many of the concerns expresed on bluerockstation and other forums.
jay: with all those disconnects/shutdowns (inverter, pv, battery) that need to be accessible outside, is there any system that consolidates all these in one big red button?
For some of the larger systems there are units you can buy (or in switchgear) that allow you to turn off multiple things with the throw of a single switch. However the code has changed recently regarding how many switches you can have and what is required. I read a number of articles and watched some videos on it - but it just seems to confuse me more.
Jay as always informative and thought provoking. Power Control Systems (PCS) have the potential for larger usage. For a future episode? Round 2 of Connecting your solar array to the grid? Are grid-tied interface designs redundant and grossly oversized? Utilities and regulators often specify limits on bi-directional power services. Often the import and export limits are unequal. Why? Convention and because they can? Integrated PCS of battery, inverters and loads can shape both the energy and power of an AC couple grid tie. Regulators, lenders, municipalities and utilities often cite minimum utility service size. Who benefits and can Solar be trusted? For example in a residence equipped with an alternative energy system and PCS shouldn’t an optional grid connection be viewed as back-up to meet any shortfalls and then only to the owners discretion? Current practice is the opposite.
You can for sure. But will need to make sure the charge controller works with Li-Ion. Would be lighter also. But at the time of making this - they were not widely available at an affordable price. This is intended to be pretty inexpensive. Now there are more inexpensive lithium batteries available.
🐐🎍It looks like you are making a wise decision. 👍 There are historical accounts of people putting their livestock near a bamboo grove, because they couldn't afford to feed them, and they didn't want to watch them all die. When they checked to see how many were still alive, they found their animals were all thriving, healthy and had gained weight.
@@eveadame1059 I just wish I could afford to plant more. The plants are not cheap. I planted 3 different locations, 1 is not doing so well. I am hopeful for the other 2. Goats have already tried to get into the 1 location, so I know they will eat it.
