New Member in TX

[SolTex]

Hello from a solar newbie in TX. I'm here to learn from the smart people, and hopefully expand my knowledge of PV systems in general.

We just had a PV system installed on our property in Midland, TX. It is a grid-tied ground mount 15 kW (nominal) system consisting of LG 380W panels, IQ7+ inverters, Enphase Smart switch and combiner box, and two Encharge 10T storage modules. We just completed our first 30 days of production, and the system is operating flawlessly. Our design objective was to produce slightly more than we consume (on a annual basis) and we are starting out looking like we will meet our goal. The upcoming HOT summer months when we run our A/C (heat pump) 24 hours a day will be the real test.

Thanx for allowing me to join your group.

[SunEagle]

Hello SolTex and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

Great to hear your system is working.

[jflorey2]

Hello there! Did you have the backup option for the Encharge 10T installed? And did you install the batteries because you wanted backup, because you were export-limited or because you had to do a net-zero installation per your utility?

Also were those LG panels the NeON bifacials? They're a good choice for ground mount arrays.

[SolTex]

Our panels are the LG Neon2 380N1C-A6 models. Not bifacial. Couldn't afford the extra cost of the fancy panels.

Our system is grid tie and wired for "whole house" backup. We are currently running the "Self Consumption" battery profile to minimize our dependence on the grid. We have a net metering agreement with Chariot Energy, but they only give us credit for $0.0915 per kWh of excess production. We are using our batteries to power our whole house each day from sundown until they hit 30% emergency backup reserve, at which time we start drawing off the grid. We end up running on grid power about 4-6 hours each day in the early morning. After that, the solar system takes over covering our consumption plus recharging the batteries.

We are presently producing a lot more power than we use. We hope to break even on an annual basis, with the extra credits from excess production covering the periods where production falls short of usage.

[bcroe]

Hello from a solar newbie in TX. We just had a PV system installed on our property in Midland, TX. It is a grid-tied ground mount 15 kW (nominal) system consisting of LG 380W panels, IQ7+ inverters, Enphase Smart switch and combiner box, and two Encharge 10T storage modules. We just completed our first 30 days of production, and the system is operating flawlessly. Our design objective was to produce slightly more than we consume (on a annual basis) and we are starting out looking like we will meet our goal. The upcoming HOT summer months when we run our A/C (heat pump) 24 hours a day will be the real test.

Thanks for the intro. Your system is about the same capacity as my ground
mount. But here in northern IL the primary load is winter heating. Use of 410A
variable speed Heat Pumps conserves enough energy to make it year around.
Had about an 8% surplus, the Net Metering year just ended.

I suppose the price of a KWh to you is much higher than the $0.0915 per kWh
they pay you. Here we just trade even, no cash paid, much more efficient than
a battery system, that loses maybe a quarter of the energy charging, discharging,
and converting. No need for those expensive batteries here, that wear out as
you use them. Bruce Roe

[SolTex]

I suppose the price of a kWh to you is much higher than the $0.0915 per kWh they pay you.

You suppose correctly.

Our cost to import grid power is a total of the $0.0915 per kWh energy charge + $9.95 Chariot base charge + $3.42 Oncor base charge + $0.038907 per kWh delivery charge.

In our first 30 days of operation, we imported a total of 492 kWh which should cost us about $77.53 plus any fees and taxes that they can come up with to add on.

In the same 30 day period, we exported 1400 kWh, which should generate a "credit" value of $129 in our account.

Unused credits can be rolled over from month to month and year to year as long as we maintain our account. Sadly, we are never paid actual cash for the value of our accumulated credits.

We haven't received our first electric bill since our system went active, so don't know exactly how it will all work out. They may not allow us to pay the monthly base charges with credits, which means we would have a monthly electric bill of at least $13.37 but this is the best net metering deal we can get in our locality.