Grid Tie / Off grid in Spain

jedder · May 22, 2012

Hi there, I have recently had a sunny boy 2000HF and x 8 sharp 230 panels installed to my house in spain,
as there is no feed in tarrif scheme at the moment in this area of Spain I just wanted the system to reduce our electric bill (stop or turn back the meter while the sun is out).

all works fine, apart from when we are generating more electric from the PV than we are using, the meter outside runs faster (in other words, it charges us for the extra electric that the PV panels generate)
I tested this by turning all electric items off in the house noted the meter reading, then after 3 hours checked again & it read 3KW more)

The meter is a digital electric meter is Actaris ace2000 & i guess it isnt a dual way meter ??

I dont want to call the electric company & ask them about changing the meter as there rules about PV & paperwork are crazy.

I am after another way to get around this problem (other than using the electric at the peak times (water heater, pool pump etc)
Is there a way of combining my SMA inverter in a off grid mode with a batteries so we can use the electric stored & when the batteries get below a certain level, it clicks back to use grid power?

thanks for your help on this one,
Jed

daytona600 · May 22, 2012

try a sma sunny backup or a nedap power router

jedder · May 22, 2012

Thanks @daytona600, Would I not need it to work the opposite way?

As we arent benefiting from grid tie, We would be better using battery power before grid electric? could I use my existing sunny boy inverter in off grid only mode (I will need to buy a battery charge controller that somehow auto switches back to grid if the batteries get low) ?? not sure if this is do-able?

nowty · May 23, 2012

You can re-configure a Sunny Boy to work in Off Grid mode (you might need to apply for a grid guard code from SMA to do it). But you need a Sunny Island unit as well to get the Sunny Boy to work in off grid mode which is expensive. I have recently installed such a system using batteries. For me its a green thing, not a money saving thing as the batteries will cost as much as the elecy you save.