Great information and customers need to know this before they operate! This was the situation today as the customer hasn't had the meter upgraded and wanted to know about commissioning the system for full production. He has to wait until the utility company installs and inspects the new meter prior to the system being allowed to operate legally.
Great vid, although I believe the NET meter calculates what we Export to the grid and Import from the grid AFTER our own usage, but does not actually see our full solar "production" from our inverter since we have loads using that energy prior to hitting the meter.
NET can differentiate between consumption and overproduction. However, you are correct it can not meter the direct load usage. That's where the CT comes in. If there is no NET meter, the meter can not differentiate over production vs. consumption, and everything is calculated as consumption. Thanks for watching and commenting 👍🏻
If you don't have a net meter or any way for the power to feed back to the grid and your producing more Watts than your house is using what happens to that extra power. Is there any damage to the inverter because you're making more power from the solar panels or does it just get wasted somehow?
In most situations it will be recorded as usage and you will be charged for it. It is very important to have a NET Meter installed. Thanks for watching and commenting
Here in Az, we have srp and the only way to have net metering is to be on their demand plan. They look at a certain amount of time during peak hours and measure the max amount of kw you draw during that time and then charge you a rate that is based on that amount you draw. Its really confusing and they have no real explanation of how much they will charge, or how many times they will charge. The power companies can change their rules about solar if they start losing money as well. We get paid 2.8 cents per kwh exported. When I hear people complaining about how they only get 6 or 8 cents, I want to tell them to stop crying, because it could be worse.
It's amazing how different areas in the country and throughout the world handle solar home production. From CA to AZ down to FL and up to Canada. It's the wild wild world of Solar rules and regulations. Each municipality weighs in on the subject causing even more confusion. Solar and Wind are great ways to produce power and the technologies are advancing rapidly. However, so are the incentive programs to go with alternative sources. In some areas the incentives are lucrative and in other areas, I don't know if it is worth the money spent. It's an investment that should be carefully reviewed. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Justin, did you perform this project in CA? Have you considered doing a video about the steps involved in the permit, forms, applications, submittals, other paperwork, etc.. Can you provide me with a copy of your cost spreadsheet so I don’t have to start on from scratch? Thank you for making and posting all the solar videos. It’s getting me all fired up to install my own system, opposed to paying a solar company $2.90 per watt.
If I can find the spreadsheet in my archived documents, I will try to share. I built my system in KY. I am working on some ideas on permitting, but it's very different in many parts of the country. Thanks for watching and commenting 👍🏻
We’ve had our panels installed way back in April,the power company keeps telling us the meter is on order. I received a text message today from them today saying that I can start to use my panels now, I checked the meter it’s not a net meter,nothing like what you showed. The power company never answers the phone,my installer has been little help. Grrrrrr
Did you also apply for srecs? I live in NJ and using GATS system. My question is if generation counts all solar generation or just what you push back to the grid. Example in a month i produce 100kwh of solar, my home uses 150kwh in a month so I paid for 50kwh from pseg (1 for 1 net) . But for srecs and gats do I still get to put 100 for thr month. I didn't know if I only get paid for gats srec if I am negative for the month and push out more then I use?
No, there are no other programs in my area. Just net metering. Luckily, it is 1:1 and 12 months running. Everything we over produce in the summer we use in the winter. Thanks for watching and commenting 👍🏻
Texas has a horrible net metering setup. After some basic math, I realized there is zero reason for me to send back to them. It sounded good until you dig in a bit. Math destroyed their sales pitch. That changed the specs when designing our system. 1. the goal is to not draw power from the grid, ever. the grid becomes a backup to the backup to the back up (battery, solar, generator to charge batteries, THEN the grid). 2. The good news is it changed the equipment requirements. I just need to ensure we never send OUT to the grid so workers are safe. That is easily handled with 'less certified' inverter options. We tried hard to help the grid, but his area of Texas is just not friendly to that.
Yeah, some areas are not friendly to net metering. Hell, some areas aren't even friendly to solar. In my state they are saying it's illegal to have a full off grid system. Blows my mind on that law. Would love to eventually build out our system to be completely off grid. Thanks for watching and commenting 👍🏻
