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Many Australians are keen to cut the connection with the power company by installing solar panels and batteries in order to completely disconnect their homes from the grid. Who can blame them?

The idea of ​​energy independence is very attractive, but there are some good reasons to keep the main grid connected.

This clip is from episode 9 of the SolarQuotes TV series, which is about the off-grid life in Australia.

Finn: Now, this is a question we have been asked all the time.

"I'm tired of paying to connect to the grid every day. How can I tell my retailer to fill up with things and get my suburban house completely off the grid?"

Well, it is certainly possible to get off the grid in cities, and it has achieved varying degrees of success in recent years.

The example I want to give is in the suburbs of Perth. It was built by a guy named Martin Chape, who started the project as early as 2011. This system has been developed for many years, and now he has decided to:

If you want a similar set-up, professional design, and installation in your home, don't expect much change from $50,000-and you still have to pay for diesel.

So, after years of experimentation, Martin now has a well-functioning system. What advice does he have for others who want to get off the grid in the city?

Simple: Don't—change to a mix.

Hybrid power is just solar, battery and grid connection. Martin has realized that if you have an available grid connection, you should definitely use it as a cheap, silent source of backup generation. This means you don't need a dirty generator set, and you can use cheaper battery storage. Moreover, no professional off-grid design and installation are required.

It will save you a lot of money.

Therefore, to answer the questions we have been encountering:

"Can you leave the internet in the city?"

Yes, absolutely. The technology is available. It does its job very well. But I will not.

I will keep in touch with the grid. You will still not receive any bills, but you will have the grid connection and you can share your solar energy with your neighbors2.

For more examples of Australians living off-grid comfortably, check out episode 9 of SolarQuotes TV. For other SQTV episodes and great videos on solar and battery storage, please visit our Youtube channel-don't forget to subscribe!

By the way, if you are still keen to use off-grid systems for suburban (or rural) homes, it is very important to choose an installer with the right skills and experience. SQ can arrange quotations from trusted solar professionals.

Michael discovered solar problems after purchasing components to assemble a small off-grid photovoltaic system in 2008. Since then, he has been covering Australian and international solar energy news.

We installed a completely off-grid device for a property near the Murray River in July 2018 and went online. In this case, the cost of delivering electricity from the grid to the house is ridiculously high. The system consists of 10kW Tindo solar panels, 31kW hours of LYP Winston battery storage and 10kW continuous inverter capacity. It does have a gasoline generator, but since the system was put into use, it has never cycled in anger. It did not cost $50,000, so you may need to check the product price or need to see the actual cost of design and installation in order to sharpen the pencil. These people are heavy electricity users. During the holidays, there are 5 families living in this house, so they are not like the treasures of the system. These city dwellers know nothing about energy conservation and do not want to limit the electricity they use.

I am a little wondering how electric vehicles will change the landscape of home solar design. The off-grid system you discussed is suitable for the current world, but how to increase the number of panels, battery capacity and control to optimize the use of electric vehicles. If you work during the day, you may need to use a larger battery to charge at night to include your daily mileage. Another possibility is to use car capacity and remove the requirement for generators in emergency situations of power outages. A smarter charger that allows the backup function to be turned on and off would be cool.

So the question is what is currently available in this area, and what will you see in the near future?

There are already some electric cars on the market that can move energy into and out of the on-board battery of an electric car. Considering that the power of these new EVs is between 32 kWh and 40 kWh, this is a large amount of energy storage available. Replace mom’s taxi with an electric car, and the electric car will be charged from the rooftop solar energy during the day... With many charging points popping up in the workplace to earn green points, working electric cars can actually bring electricity home, for peak demand Be prepared...for one day, this provides a lot of energy storage.

Recycling old EV batteries that have been used as EV batteries is a major move, but the slower charging and discharging rates required for household batteries can still work normally. This means that the old batteries in electric cars can be fully charged for working electric cars during the day, and then charged for working electric cars all night...

The problem of hoping to recover the grid-connected cost from reselling to the grid actually depends on the solar energy concentration in the area. The solar energy exceeds the area network can withstand. The higher the mains voltage, until the solar inverter is turned off. No revenue offsets are generated...Just ask on many forums and social media sites that people are not getting revenue from the tariff feed that the seller/installer recommends you to get...

South Australia has plans to promise that very cheap electricity can be purchased from the grid during the solar peak period, which can be used to charge the batteries of houses and electric cars...even the equipment used for charging during the day works. EVs can be charged at night without the need for electricity from the grid China buys energy at a higher price. All this requires meter replacement and plan changes... A double-edged sword, peak electricity prices take effect during peak hours, and the grid wants to use the electricity you store in the battery you pay and must maintain... and you still Need to pay for grid connection...…

If the network is to prevent people from leaving the grid and completely reduce the connection fee, then the off-grid will no longer have a huge advantage...

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