Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

spectrum.ieee.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 251 posts

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#161

Post by [deleted] »

blackjack_ wrote: post #119
kccqzy wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe it's somewhat common to have a small solar panel just on your balcony (i.e. not permanent attached to the building) and simply plugs into a nearby wall receptacle. https://www.theverge.com/24150901/ecoflow-powerstream-review... For those wondering, the article did discuss the safety matter of using a power outlet as an inlet. And the article also points out that while this is allowed in several countries in…

We are starting to have this in the US, in fact I have a company coming by to do an install of a system like this on Monday. Technically you should be able to mostly diy it, but it uses a smart panel that gets attached to the main to prevent backflow, which needs an electrician, and for now they are running its own circuit.

[deleted]

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#162

Post by overfeed »

miningape wrote: post #133
overfeed wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Voetsek to any champagne socialist that wants to ruin yet another country I take it you don't consider the country to have veen ruined under apartheid - aka socialism for whites, rugged-capitalism for everyone else.

Care to explain how an ethno-nationalist government implemented socialism? > I take it you don't consider the country to have veen ruined under apartheid Wether or not I consider the country to have been ruined under apartheid is irrelevant to the fact that the ANC is dragging it back to the stone age. The ANC was handed a functioning economy, solid infrastructure, and hope for a better future - there are now rolling…

> Care to explain how an ethno-nationalist government implemented socialism?

By using the state treasury to provide disproportionate infrastructure and services to the ruling ethic minority, while leaving the bantustans - with no say in national politics or budget - to largely fend for themselves. This incidentally has similarities to the US/Puerto Rico dynamic.

All the things you complain about can be explained by regression to mean[1], which the not even the apartheid government would have been able to prevent had they decided to adopt an egalitarian governance model.

edit: I didn't even get into how the "ethno-nationalist government" seized the means of production for the express benefit of a specific ethno.

1. I fully expect that the per-capita X (for any X you're claiming is worse) has actually improved for South Africans - all South Africans - between 1990 and now.

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#163

Post by tiahura »

turtlebits wrote: post #149
WillAdams wrote: post #77

Does anyone have a good link/step-by-step for doing some sort of home solar system where: - it's sufficiently small-scale that no building permit is required - it looks nice enough that neighbors won't complain - the wiring is essentially plug-and-play The best approach I've been able to come up with is to purchase a medium size battery pack such as is used for glamping (glamour camping), plug it into the wall and co…

Depends on your jurisdiction, but roof mounted solar installs generally don't need building permits. Electrical permits on the other hand are almost always required. If you actually want to offset cost, don't buy a portable battery pack. Get an AIO solar inverter and a server rack battery. They're generally plug and play - wire the panels to it, connect the battery. If you want to run your home loads, the cheapest/si…

cheapest/simplest way (without going grid-tie) is to have an electrician add a critical loads panel supplied

Cheaper way is have electrician wire a manual transfer switch at the existing panel. When you loose power, turn off non-essential breakers and then flip transfer switch.

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#164

Post by acomjean »

tiahura wrote: post #163
turtlebits wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your jurisdiction, but roof mounted solar installs generally don't need building permits. Electrical permits on the other hand are almost always required. If you actually want to offset cost, don't buy a portable battery pack. Get an AIO solar inverter and a server rack battery. They're generally plug and play - wire the panels to it, connect the battery. If you want to run your home loads, the cheapest/si…

cheapest/simplest way (without going grid-tie) is to have an electrician add a critical loads panel supplied Cheaper way is have electrician wire a manual transfer switch at the existing panel. When you loose power, turn off non-essential breakers and then flip transfer switch.

Does that work?

Our solar inverter uses the 60hz AC from and grid to do the DC->AC conversion. The inverter stops functioning if the power is out. I thought they all did that for safety.

Those home batteries mush have some solution.

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#165

Post by senjin »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #139
eagerpace wrote: post #136

I would love to have just enough solar to flatten my peak usage on the hottest days of the summer. They naturally coincide with tons of sun. I don't need a huge system to be all solar all the time or even care about credits from the power company. I just don't want a $300 bill in the summer and a $50 bill in the winter. Has anyone designed a good solution for this?

I have installed 200kw+ worth of rooftop (Florida) and ground mount (NorCal) resi systems (primarily Enphase, but I'm familiar with the operating requirements of other inverters), and am currently riding shotgun for a ~200MW solar PV project in the Midwest. If you share more details (general location, utility, and energy cost schedule [static, seasonal]), I am happy to provide some guidance.

With solar panels being so much cheaper than 10-15 years ago, it seems like installation costs are the biggest hurdle to wider adoption. Do you see anything reducing those costs in the future?

Maybe we need a push to make standing seam metal roofs more mainstream and people can install their own without having to drill into their roof

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#166

Post by rsync »

turtlebits wrote: post #149
WillAdams wrote: post #77

Does anyone have a good link/step-by-step for doing some sort of home solar system where: - it's sufficiently small-scale that no building permit is required - it looks nice enough that neighbors won't complain - the wiring is essentially plug-and-play The best approach I've been able to come up with is to purchase a medium size battery pack such as is used for glamping (glamour camping), plug it into the wall and co…

Depends on your jurisdiction, but roof mounted solar installs generally don't need building permits. Electrical permits on the other hand are almost always required. If you actually want to offset cost, don't buy a portable battery pack. Get an AIO solar inverter and a server rack battery. They're generally plug and play - wire the panels to it, connect the battery. If you want to run your home loads, the cheapest/si…

"If you want to run your home loads, the cheapest/simplest way (without going grid-tie) is to have an electrician add a critical loads panel supplied by your inverter output ..."

No, that's actually not the simplest.

Far simpler is to install a solar breaker in your main panel and a physical lockout[1] between utility power and the new solar breaker.

There is no ATX, there are no smarts, the power goes out and you flip two breakers. There is nothing simpler than this.

The beauty of this is, you can keep scaling up your solar generation, adding panels as the years go by, and you are never locked into these ridiculous "preferred breakers" sub-panels.

Will you have to be smart about your total power use while you are on solar ? Yes, you will - just don't run the dryer and the microwave at the same time.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/QYZZRS-Generator-Interlock-Compatible...

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#167

Post by lesuorac »

acomjean wrote: post #164
tiahura wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cheapest/simplest way (without going grid-tie) is to have an electrician add a critical loads panel supplied Cheaper way is have electrician wire a manual transfer switch at the existing panel. When you loose power, turn off non-essential breakers and then flip transfer switch.

Does that work? Our solar inverter uses the 60hz AC from and grid to do the DC->AC conversion. The inverter stops functioning if the power is out. I thought they all did that for safety. Those home batteries mush have some solution.

They don't all need the grid - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023226

https://eg4electronics.com/categories/inverters/eg4-18kpv-12...

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#168

Post by jonathanlydall »

brk wrote: post #138
tencentshill wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True energy independence in even a small capacity has a value beyond just money.

Yes, but on a limited budget solar may not always be the best option to some kind of energy independence. It really depends on what you are trying to solve for. Solar alone won't carry loads at night, the panels are generally not portable, they won't produce much output in the middle of a storm, etc. As an example, during one of the hurricanes that came through FL last year we lost power shortly after the storm hit.…

I got a solar system installed at end of 2022 due to working from home and the large amount of load shedding South Africa was having at the time. Was absolutely justifiable for me:

https://imgur.com/a/hXeVAGr

(Worth noting that during load shedding only a subset of people are turned off depending on the stage of load shedding, but on average I experienced about 25% of those totals)

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#169

Post by tgtweak »

I keep seeing these "grid synchronizing" inverters that don't require transfer switches and can generate to offset the energy pulled from the grid - in the event of a full grid outage, you can always manually hit the disconnect and run the home - provided the load doesn't surpass the generation capacity (or storage capacity if running with batteries).

It seems like this hasn't really made it's way into North America, which is unfortunate as it would lower the barrier of entry for home solar considerably vs traditional grid-tie/net metering which requires a ton of permits, electricians, meter changes, disconnects (or transfer switches) and generally lots of delays and cost.

I would be very curious how the "migrogrids" interconnect in PR - it seems there is some kind of synchronization and neighborhood-level disconnects to isolate from the shared grid.

Re: Puerto Rico's Solar Microgrids Beat Blackout

#170

Post by zie »

lukan wrote: post #15
zie wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true, but if you add in local batteries attached to the solar, you can have a device that works in basically all situations. If disconnected from the grid, it can run off battery instead of just not working. I haven't read the OP link yet, but my guess is they are doing something like this: Grid, Solar and batteries.

"Grid, Solar and batteries." They are doing microgrids, that connect to each other.

Aka a grid. Sure, this is a newer version of the grid, that allows local failover, but it's just a grid.

Maybe we can upgrade the other grids to do this too. That would be fabulous.

Post reply on HN