SMA Inverters with Emergency backup?

[peakbagger]

Same deal in Texas, Windmills get incentives for every KW produced so sometimes its worth paying to get rid of the power and still break even. I have heard it getting up to $30 per MW cost to sell power into the grid.

Power pricing is incredibly complex and there are many folks who understand it well enough to figure out how to make money off the loopholes.

[russ]

In Oregon I believe I have read wind sometimes has a negative price - when the grid does not want it the producer shuts down or pays.

[peakbagger]

Germany has plenty of baseload generation, it just takes hours or days to get up to capacity. Even combined cycle gas plants take several minutes to go from off line to full output and everytime they do a fast start it usually reduces the life between major maintenance. Nuke plants dont really help they are generally run at full capacity. The only way Europe is currently dealing with the renewables they have on line is that Norway has a large number of hydroelectric facilitities that can be ramped quickly.

Germany and Spain both over incentivized solar and are currently dealing with a major fiscal hangover.

Texas unfortunately doesnt have much large scale hydro, so when the wind stop blowing, the lights go dim and folks with simple cycle gas turbines make a mint. I think ERCOT is still wrestling on how to come up with a way of dealing with large shifts in renewable generation while still meeting NERC standards without tripling the power bills.

[inetdog]

I am in the process of obtaining quotes for a 10kw ground mount. This is exactly what I have been looking for. Do we know when its available or anticipated costs?

At one time they announced planned limited shipments in Feburary. Did not happen. I have not seen a new forecast. No idea of the price, but knowing SMA it may still be a good value but it will cost more for the same power than other brands.
The largest unit will be 5000 watt output, so your 10kW system could use two of them. I don't know yet whether you can synchronize two to get 12 amp at 120/240 volt or whether it would just give you two independent (not phase related) 12 A 120V circuits.
You may want to use a less expensive 5kW inverter for the other half of the system if you will not need that much emergency power.

[SpiderMA]

When are they available?

I am in the process of obtaining quotes for a 10kw ground mount. This is exactly what I have been looking for. Do we know when its available or anticipated costs?

[SunEagle]

Yet another flaw in thier energy policy. They do not have enough conventional base load to meet demand. Same thing that is happening in California and Hawaii.

That's because they are retiring their Nukes. Very short sighted by my book.

[Sunking]

Germany apparently is changing their incentive program to encourage short term battery backup. The theory is that when there is a sudden demand in power due to a plant or transmission line tripping out that the house would "island" for a few minutes until the grid caught up with the imbalance. I am waiting to see what solutions come up for that program

Yet another flaw in thier energy policy. They do not have enough conventional base load to meet demand. Same thing that is happening in California and Hawaii.

[Naptown]

Germany apparently is changing their incentive program to encourage short term battery backup. The theory is that when there is a sudden demand in power due to a plant or transmission line tripping out that the house would "island" for a few minutes until the grid caught up with the imbalance. I am waiting to see what solutions come up for that program

That is an interesting yet expensive program. Should be interesting how it is worked out. If politicians are involved probably not well.

[peakbagger]

Germany apparently is changing their incentive program to encourage short term battery backup. The theory is that when there is a sudden demand in power due to a plant or transmission line tripping out that the house would "island" for a few minutes until the grid caught up with the imbalance. I am waiting to see what solutions come up for that program

[bonaire]

Some recent press release of PowerOne + Panasonic seemed to indicate they were going to design something like this plus the UPS-component or larger (ie. home power "hub") for such locations who want this standby power due to grid issues. But can it be cost effective? Would it eventually sell well in the USA? If they do use Li-Ion cells (kinda like how Panasonic sells cells to Tesla) - perhaps it would be a good growing solution.

[inetdog]

...Of course, we have to wonder if this 12A socket would support anything with a heavy start-up draw (refrigerator or water pump) or would it be recommended to install a computer UPS (as mentioned above) in front of it just to buffer those instantaneous loads?...

Definitely one of the questions I hope to see addressed in the webinar. The panels simply will not be able to provide any overload beyond whatever may have been built into the design by derating the output. Will be good to find out how the source will react to an overload or passing cloud (auto reset, manual restart, etc.)
The literature so far does not seem to indicate any external OCPD is required.

[peakbagger]

Inetdog, thanks for signing up, I will be interested in your findings

[bonaire]

Interesting note for EV owners: If you have a Chevy Volt, you could charge your car from the TL's 120V 12A socket if you set the charger on the car to 8A input (normal is 12A). Possibly same for a Nissan Leaf (I don't know the charging specs for 120V). Of course, we have to wonder if this 12A socket would support anything with a heavy start-up draw (refrigerator or water pump) or would it be recommended to install a computer UPS (as mentioned above) in front of it just to buffer those instantaneous loads?

These are interesting units but more viable for areas where grid failure is more expected than in the USA. Such as the caribbean, India, Japan (less so now that their new leadership is re-starting Nuclear plants).

[inetdog]

The SMA unit has reached SMA Academy finally!

There is currently an SMA Academy Webinar available for Registration for April 2nd, 2013. The earlier session (2/26) is apparently full. It is a one hour webinar, and you can register here.

http://www.sma-america.com/en_US/smasolaracademy/seminar-calendar/seminar-registration/seminars/sunny_boy_tl_us_series_eps_overview_live_webinar.html

I am already signed up and will report if any interesting tidbits come up there.

[peakbagger]

I dont expect it would be major cost, most of the electronic components are in the device to make a 60 HZ output. More importantly they are ramping up production for the Japanese market so if thats gets their volume up and gives them an option that diferentiates them from outher grid tie suppliers, they may not bump up the price signficantly. After Sansy I expect many grid tie folks would be willing to pay a few bucks more.