DIY ESS Kit User Manual is finished

Finally the last document for the build of the DIY ESS is written, just finished it 5 minutes ago

After the Kit Building Documentation and the Components List, this last step will cover the daily use of the newly built DIY ESS:

- In Case of any Problem/Emergency

- Switch ON the ESS

- Switch OFF the ESS

- Protecting the ESS battery pack for long period of no use

- Protecting the ESS battery pack from Low Generation or No Generation at all

- Forced Charge Mode

The Price of Storing the Sun: Solar Incentives for Energy Storage

Energy storage is too expensive for use in grid-tied residential solar. At least, that’s the current thinking. Though installing distributed storage in each home would help mitigate solar’s intermittent power supply, preventing large local spikes and drops in power supplied to the grid, it’s a tough financial case to make with traditional energy storage. Unlike off-grid solar, where energy storage is necessary to guarantee constant power, grid-tied energy storage mitigates system level issues caused by high concentrations of distributed renewable generation. To incentivize consumers to adopt storage as a way to mitigate this issue, a mechanism must be put in place to pass some of the value created by distributed, grid-tied storage from the system operator to end users.

Greentech Media recently published an interesting article covering this topic. They broke down some of the avoided costs and subsidies associated with residential solar systems:
SGIP: California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). SGIP offers $2 per watt for energy storage systems, which at a four hour discharge rate is equivalent to $500 per kWh.
Federal Tax Credit: This 30% tax credit applies to solar systems, but the real question is whether this could include the battery system as well. This shaves off about a third of the system costs.
Time of use benefits: In California, PG&E offers optional rate plans where users pay less if they reduce consumption during peak hours. Batteries can be combined with this plan to offer consumers substantial savings over time. According to the Greentech Media article, the benefits from this add up to about $500 per kWh over the lifetime of the batteries.

Theoretically, this would mean that a system could cost over $1400 per kWh, or $7000 for a 5 kWh system, and still provide a breakeven value proposition for consumers under the time of use pricingoffered by the CA system. By installing the system, they would get the added benefit of having a backup power supply in the event of a blackout. It should be noted that these numbers assume the ITC benefits could apply to an energy storage system.

Residential energy storage has multiple value streams that benefit both the end users and the utilities. Incentives like SGIP are an attempt to capture these benefits, but storage must be cheap enough to stand on its own, or it must be supported by a system that charges those who receive the value. Energy storage must pay for itself or it will never be a long-lasting solution.



Source: Aquion Energy

Solar Projects in France - A New Auto Consumption Era

Production costs of photovoltaic electricity getting closer to those of conventional electricity, auto consumption projects, independent of any feed-in tariff, develop. André Joffre, President of the DERBI competitiveness pole, explains the emergence of this new model.

Disappointed by the roadmap published this weekend in the wake of the Environmental Conference, the industry professionals have reported a statement by their union, the SER SOLER.

Apart from launching a tender reserved for large roofs, President François Hollande announced himself the "emergency measures" promised a few weeks ago by Delphine Batho (Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy) confined mainly to the 20% cap the annual decline in tariffs (professionals requested 10% and a revaluation of the feed-in tariff for installations of less than 100 kW) and a maximum bonus of 10% of the tariff for BIPV, depending on the origin of the components used in solar panels.

Competitiveness promotes auto consumption

André Joffre, who chairs the cluster of Languedoc Roussillon specializes in renewable energy DERBI, holds a more measured speech. "The roadmap is in line with what was expected. The announcements were less positive than expected, and the measures will not bear fruit until mid-2013, which is late for a fragile industry, "he says. "But if we take a step back, there is an evolution of the market towards more independent projects in tariffs," says he. "We are entering an area of ​​competitiveness that fosters the development of projects of auto consumption. '

Installers establish more and more quotes for individuals and small firms for projects sized according to their energy needs. Therefore no surplus production to sell to EDF (Electricite de France) and no more need for boosted feed-in tariff requested by professionals for years.

Another advantage of this new "German thinking": Reducing tensions that cause massive and intermittent renewable electricity, the work to strengthen the network and the corresponding investments become less necessary

The profession must change model

"The whole profession was organized to create many energy producers, but now, the profitability of these projects does not exceed 5%," says André Joffre. Hence the need to "change software".

The development of this new model based on auto consumption, which can become a growth owes much to "Chinese dumping has earned us 10 years," since the collapse of the price of the panels has allowed the production cost to get closer to the price at which EDF sells its electricity. "Do not forget that the Chinese panels are manufactured on machine tools, coming from Europe," he adds.

On feed-in tariffs in effect, "They should not be suppressed recognizes André Joffre, but there is a real problem because of the weight it puts on the CSPE (Contribution to  Electricity Public Service, paid by consumers), at a time when the price of electricity increases. '


Source: La Tribune (French), Tranlated with Google Translate & Myself

How can electric cars be charged with electricity from wind power and give power back to the grid ?

Smart grids

How can electric cars be charged with electricity from wind power and give power back to the grid? It's all about "smart grids", i.e. smart grid that can handle large fluctuations in the grid that comes with renewable energy such as wind turbines. In the case of charging the electric vehicles, it is interesting to see how electricity is transmitted from the network to the vehicle, and there are different strategies and work is under way to define standards in the field. In Test Site Sweden we are working with the automotive and power industries to test and validate the charging interfaces.

Interactive Smart Grid Technology Demonstrators

The continued work with Smart Charging systems at ANL led to the development of interactive displays that demonstrated the benefits of smart charging and smart grid as well as the vehicle to grid interfaces present in such systems. Two generations of the interactive smart grid display was developed, the first one is shown below and was demonstrated at the Technology Transfer Meeting May 11th in Gothenburg and at the Electric Vehicle Symposium short after.

Generation 1 of the interactive Smart Grid Display (Argonne National Laboratory)

The second generation of the display was developed by ANL for the Bright Green Expo.


Generation 2 of the interactive Smart Grid Display (Argonne National Laboratory)


Demonstration of a Smart Charge application for mobile phones

The demonstration was developed by TSS and Consat Engineering AB to show how managing charging could be performed using a mobile phone. The demonstration is available as a flash – movie and shows how the driver can reserve a park and charge spot and also manage the charge process. A screen shot from the demonstration is shown.




Smart Grid Technology explained

As our attention turns to new cars that run partially or completely on electricity, how can we redesign our electric grid to not only handle the new load, but make electricity cheap and efficient for everyone? Argonne engineer Ted Bohn explains a model of a "smart grid" that gives consumers the power to choose their own prices and sources of electricity.


Charging Stations

In order to test and validate the charging of EVs we have developed the ChargeAlyzor which is a combination of a charging station and a oscilloscope. By this you can very accurately measure and monitor the voltage and current feed into the vehicle.


The ChargeAlyzor (Test Site Sweden)





Source: TestSiteSweden

Mastervolt Soladin 600 - Small Grid Tie Inverter

Mastervolt Soladin 600 : This is the grid tie inverter I choose for my solar project; It seams to be a reliable GTI (ingeneered in the NL), easy to use, just plug & play with 2 MC4 solar connectors and a 220V plug.

Small PV system GTI:

Input (DC):  
  Nominal power @25 °C: 550W
  PV power range: 160-700 Wp
  MPP voltage range: 45-125V DC
  Maximum voltage: 155V DC
  MPP current: 8A
  MPP tracker: dynamic MPP tracker
  Start-up power:  1W DC @ 45V DC

It gives a lot of feedback on what it is doing, with just with 2 LEDs (yellow and red) blinking or in solid state. It is also small and pretty lite with only 2 kg (a SMA 3000W inverter weights 32 kg !)

I got it from a MasterVolt official dealer, in France, on this website, for 370 EUR back in july 2011: 

http://www.kitenergie.com/soladin-600-p-32.html 

I will get another one for my two arrays of Uni-Solar PVs.

Full documentation here: http://www.mysolarshop.co.uk/pdf/ManualSoladin600_080331ALL.pdf 

Box:

Key figures:

Lower back view: 

Side view:

Rather small, about the same size as the Chinese GTI used for my LiFePO4 Battery Bank Storage System:

User manual first page with drawing/diagram:

DC MC4 Solar connectors:

I am producing more electricity than using :-)

This is what I read on my Wattson energy meter when my battery bank is providing more energy than the appartement is using : A NEGATIVE FIGURE :-)
The downside is that this surplus is "wasted" because given out for free to the grid

Mitsubishi - EV Serves as Power Feeder

Note 1: Original nebuta are large paper lanterns traditionally taking the form of Japanese fans, puppets or animals. They are illuminated from inside and carried on floats in a riotous procession. Note 2 : The EMS enables the electricity stored in the power feeder to be used at times of high electrical demand and the charging of EVs during periods of low demand, thereby making possible effective electric management and the reduction of consumption during peak hours.

Nissan e-NV200 - Great Electric Mini Van

Think Big 
This mini van is going to be a big hit I think, like the LEAF. Based on the same powertrain and battery pack,  it's a perfect fit for large families or people who need a lot of storage capacity, taxis, contractors, etc

Smartgrid ready !
In the 2nd video below, you will see that the NV200, like the LEAF, could be used as a source of energy, to power the house when power demand is high, in the evening, and then will charge at night when power demand is low

The e-NV200 on display at Geneva Auto Show

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LiFePO4 Energy Storage device

This vidéo was shot at the beginning of my work on this system

Now this is what it looks like, after removal of another BMS, use of more powerful grid tie inverter (500 W) and use a of programmable dual relay volt-meter

This morning, I will shoot a video about the discharging step, where energy in the battery bank will be used to feed electricity to my home system, at a steady pace, reducing my use from the grid

I will go into details and the steps later on

To be continued...