Off Grid Solar

Off Grid Solar System

What are the benefits of using an Off Grid Solar System ?

The option for commercial businesses to consider hybrid solar systems or full off grid solar systems has never been greater.

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Until recently, the design of a fully off grid solar system was built around hardware, some of which was never designed to work in full blackout mode (off grid). And there were almost no inversion options that satisfactorily met the expectations of three phase power meaning they were not suitable for commercial enterprises.

Solar pumps are now a standard inclusion in the movement of large volumes of water in both agriculture and commercial reticulation. This is simple DC to DC technology that can be connected to battery storage so water can be pumped 24 hours a day.

In fact, No Grid Solar is about to construct it’s own commercial enterprise that will be fully off grid, running 24 hours a day, producing and heating its own water,

running solar air conditioning and cooling al fresco areas with quality high pressure misting systems. This would be Australia’s first stand alone commercial off grid solar system of any size.

This would represent a saving on electricity usage estimated at $4000 a month!!!

But the argument for commercial stand alone solar system can only really be made when the enterprise is not a 24 hour operation and there is only a small use of night time electricity. Even when there is no electricity feed to the site we would advocate caution against a full off grid solar design unless the costs of grid supply are too expensive.

The preferred design would be for a hybrid solar system where the back up would be the grid but reliance on the grid would be significantly mitigated with a robust battery storage system that offers an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) should there be a power outage. In many parts of rural Queensland and NSW the incidence of power outages is very high and remediation is often very slow. This strengthens the case for hybrid systems to achieve autonomy from the grid, produce consistent quality voltage and ensure a continuity of production immune from external factors.

It is critical in these instances that the hybrid solar system design is based on current interval data so that the hybrid solar system matches the load profile of the day to day operation of the business. This would be exactly the same for a stand alone solar system but with the addition of an automated generator back up.

In either scenario the design process would need to look at all other mitigation options including a full audit of lighting, cooling, transformer design for elements, recommendations for motors that power condensers, compressors etc, other reactive power issues and run time issues of machinery on the factory floor. It is not only a hybrid solar system design but also a production scheduling exercise.

We can develop very sophisticated software that enables the customer to optimize electricity generated from the hybrid or off grid solar system and alert the customer to where it is best used. It can prioritise which components of a business should receive the power; which require constant use and which can run intermittently.