I have 12 x 300watt panels tied to a 48Volt 220 system batteries and inverter. I cannot sell excess power back to the grid. Yesterday I gathered 11KW of power. I did this because the house was cooled with my Daiken inverter zone climate control system. I have 4 wall units in different areas. This is basically a very efficient A/C unit and my home is very well insulated. I can also use an air handler to transfer cold air off the concrete floor from my bottom split level floor that is 5 foot in the ground. This utilizes the cool ground to cool the upstairs.
I did all this manually. Each one of my home breakers is connected to a transfer switch so depending on needs and the weather I can switch different circuits to solar or grid to get maximum gathering. If the clouds move in I come back to the house to switch some usage off. The high draw items like oven, water heater, and cloths dryer are grid tied. Of course I can line dry in the summer. The electric water heater is a backup unit to my wood boiler. If power goes out I have propane gas backup to cook with or charcoal grill. The point I am making here is demand management can be done very inexpensively by somebody that is at home during the day. It takes active engagement with energy usage (demand management). I realize many people must leave their home during the day to work but those who don’t can do this manual demand management inexpensively.
I also believe in a hybrid system of grid and solar supplied power. This allows a homeowner to tie up less money in a home system because of the flexibility. Grid power is cheaper than the cost of my solar system depreciated out over time. I have done the numbers. It is possible that one day grid power might get expensive if this happens I might have cheaper power from my solar system. I also have a wood boiler with the added adaptation of solar water heating in the summer so I don’t need to heat water with wood. This system is tied to an electric water heater. The water coming into the water heater is preheated by the boiler system. In the winter when I am heating the house the system can be switched to be all wood boiler heated water. I have all LED lighting. I ask my wife to use high draw on hot water when the sun is good in the summer. In the winter I don’t care because the wood boiler heating the home always has a fire. The wood boiler can be shut off in the winter and the home heated with electric tied to the grid if I go away for a day or two. I can also run my inverter with solar on heat mode in winter. I can use selected electric heat units with low draw in the winter if I get an exceptional sunny clear winter day.
During the day I maximize my gathering of solar energy. I go all grid power at night. I have my batteries at maximum charge for longevity but also in case of power failure. We don’t use much power at night anyway. The ingredients for success in this demand management system is manual switching of a hybrid grid and solar system. It starts with a very well insulated home and good power usage behavior. This kind of system adapts the best of solar and the grid for lower cost. I also hope that eventually the grid is greener so when I use the grid I am actually also utilizing some green sources. The solar system with batteries is a must from a prepper in my opinion as an added benefit.
“Companies explore how to make your home smart and 100% renewable-powered”
https://tinyurl.com/y2ww8krg renewable energy world
“After he moved into a new home in 2013, he installed 23 photo-voltaic panels on the roof capable of generating 5.3 kilowatts of power, about enough for his family of four. Lightsource BP added a battery to store the electricity the panels generate, an inverter which can be programmed to dispatch the stored electrons when needed, and a diverter to send surplus power to heat the water in his tank. Hill controls this kit, which he estimates cost about $13,000, with an app that gives real time information. So he could be camel-riding in Mongolia and the technology will still know the best time to generate power in his England home and charge the battery. At night, when the solar panels are effectively useless, the battery can juice-up his electric car. “The main aim is to use everything we generate within the home,” Hill, wearing a dark green shirt with a windmill on it, said over a cup of tea in his kitchen. “So anything that goes from the PV to the grid is a wasted opportunity that we can save money on.”
“For anyone with less interest in tinkering with their day-to-day power use, Lightsource BP is offering to take control. The company specializes in efficiently generating Hill’s own electricity so he doesn’t produce any surplus which can only be sold to the grid at discounted prices. And ensures he doesn’t end up buying more expensive fossil fuel-generated power. When the customer moves around the house, the artificial intelligence box learns patterns, like when a person works from home, or is on vacation, with the purpose of closely matching electricity generation with in-house consumption. It can do things like predict the next day’s weather, detect individual appliances, collect data on how often and at what times they are used, and help produce a greater share of the power at home.”
REAL Green Adaptation 