Off-Grid Paradise

This system was installed during the construction of this home throughout the winter months. This home began as a weekend retreat with the majority of time spent there in the summer months. This is a pole mount system that allows the PV array to be adjusted for seasonal tilt angle Three poles with eight panels on each for a total of 2.88kw. The system is configured for 48Vdc.

The two black boxes in the center of the picture are inverters. The inverter converts the DC voltage of the PV/Batteries to AC household power. Each inverter supplies 120Vac to the circuit breaker panel just like the one you have in your own home. Together the inverters are able to provide 240Vac. Note the two Kwhrs meters. One measures the clients household usage while the other is used to keep track of what the 8 Kw backup propane fired generator provides. Can you find the batteries? This is a beautiful home filled with wood floors, stairs and trim. Where did the batteries go? We took special effort to build an oak battery box that is placed under the stairs landing to resemble a piece of furniture. In the back corner you can see the white battery box vent to the outside of the home.

Back in 2012 the clients retired thus making this their full time residence. Because of Western NY winters we added a Dual Axis Tracker with an added capacity of 3.12kw bringing the total PV output to 6kw for a 5,000sqft home. A quick note on why we use DAT’s in the off-grid world. In order to minimize generator run time a DAT is the best way to achieve this. You can expect an increase of 26 to 45% using a DAT verses a fixed mount array. Also the snow sheds much more quickly because the array is always perpendicular to the sun. You can see the DAT below. I thought it a good idea to show you what it looks like from behind.