Aredwood: If the roof is too steep, it makes roof maintenance harder. And as for solar. You need to decide if you want the highest total power generation over a whole year. Or if you want to optimize power output to a certain time of day or season.
As my understanding is that optimizing for winter output. Will mean lower total output over the whole year.
I was thinking of putting the panels on angle adjustment mounts, then change pitch twice a year to optimise both summer and winter.
Aredwood: Also check with the lines company in your area first before you design the solar. You need to find out what the max KW of export capacity they will approve is. Actually apply for it, so you will get a binding answer.
As if you only get approval for a low amount. Then you might instead want to have 2 or 3 groups of panels, all pointing in different directions. Since each group will peak at a different time. It is a way of exporting more power, while still being restricted to a low export capacity.
I probably would wait until I can put together a 24kWh ex-leaf battery or something and not worry about exporting to grid since the $ rate is so low. Use the battery to charge the car at night, and main power source during the day.
That leads to another question, if I have the main supply going into the house, with meter, ripple controller etc, then from there to the Garage where the batteries are, would it be possible to achieve:
- Solar to provide power to house and garage when generating, excess into batteries
- House to draw from batteries first (in Garage), and if low, from grid
- Garage to draw from batteries first, and if low, from grid (via house)
Or would I need to re-lay power cables straight to the garage, move the power meter to the garage, and then feed house from the garage? Or put extra cables between house and garage so grid input goes via house meter then feeds straight into garage, which has all the smarts and then supplies house (from batteries and/or grid).
