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‘Suddenly energy independence feels practical’: Europeans are building mini solar farms at home (www.euronews.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/energy@slrpnk.net
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Installing solar panels on your home or business is common in many European countries. But they really come into their own during energy crises.

“If you’ve got a solar roof on your home and you’ve got a battery then, depending on how much energy you can generate, you are substantially insulated from importing electricity,” explains Matthew Clayton, CEO of UK-based Thrive Renewables.

Dynamic tariffs are becoming more common in Europe. This is where the price of electricity varies throughout the day and night, with costs going up during peak periods, like dinner time, when households are using more.

This means that if you store up solar power during daylight hours, when the sun is at its strongest, then you can use that energy, rather than drawing it from the electricity grid, during the most expensive periods. “Your relationship with the grid is totally changed,” says Clayton.

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[–] 5 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

It depends on the country one lives in, because to connect equipment to the grid, it has to be certified in that country.

As a good starting point, I would recommend to look at inverters sold as "hybrid inverters", especially if the manufacturer advertises "off-grid" capability with automatic switch-over.

Here is one, from the manufacturer whose devices (older versions, no longer manufactured) I use. There are many others. If the user's manual explains the process of automatic switch-over to off-grid (island) mode, then the inverter will provide autonomous power in case of grid collapse.

https://maximumsolar.online/product/hybridv2-6048/

...and here is another one, from a different company. Anything that becomes autonomous upon loss of grid freqency (disconnects from the grid and leaves only sensors to read its status) and then gracefully handles the return of grid frequency (does not connect before synchronization has been achieved).

https://www.qoltec.com/product/qoltec-hybrid-solar-inverter-off-grid-24kw-80a-mppt-sinus

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Thanks! I'm in SW desert USA, on a large piece of land so I was thinking of just putting on the a scaffold structure on the ground instead of on the roof. In the past looked at the ability to put panels over my small garden to act as a shade, but I think the structure needed to hold them would be prohibitively expensive.

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