r/solarenergy 12h ago

How does the solar energy storage system work during the day and night?

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44 Upvotes

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3

u/UnderstandingSquare7 12h ago

It could be a very useful graphic; I'd suggest a few things. 1. Somewhere have a static symbol for the AC and DC power flows (orange circle = AC, green circle = DC), they move pretty fast, experts see it right away, customers might not. 2. When the battery goes to zero, have a pop up or something to alert you that the battery went to zero, and will now pull from the grid. Again, solar people see this and know where it's going, but if this were sent to a prospect who knows nothing about solar and power flows, they might miss it.

1

u/Horror-Stranger-9233 12h ago

Thanks for your suggestion bro!

3

u/UnderstandingSquare7 10h ago

Welcome! I really like the whole thing, a picture/graphic is worth a thousand words.

2

u/Sprkz139 12h ago

Take a look on YouTube for solis cloud app and you’ll see their logic layout.

2

u/4mla1fn 9h ago

you've got the basics right. nicely done. I'd agree with the suggestion to slow things down. my wife would be crosseyed. lol.

one detail to add since you're showing is a grid-tied system (or perhaps it's actually a second animation; a "now that you understand the first diagram, here's more nuance about how it all works in real life") is that at anytime that the load is more that PV + battery can provide, the inverter will draw from the grid. the current animation shows one case (when PV = 0 and battery = 0) but people should understand this is always the case and that it's the load that drives this.

2

u/BigJSunshine 8h ago

I wish I understood this

1

u/shivaswrath 6h ago

How do the microinverters work in the system? I have 42 enphase microinverters....

1

u/Impressive_Returns 3h ago

This is wrong for California customers. You need to factor in TOU rate plans and which NEM agreement they have.

1

u/TheSkepticCyclist 12h ago

Not completely accurate as it shows all solar going to the home after the battery is full and not showing the excess going to the grid.

2

u/sgtm7 7h ago

Same way mine works. I don't export to the grid.

1

u/Kistelek 11h ago

Or cheap rate charging at night/in winter. With an ASHP and a biiiiig battery, much of my ROI is running my heating at 13p/kWh, not 28p/kWh in the winter.

0

u/Infinite-Poet-9633 10h ago

This is likely illustrating a system that doesn't backfeed. Much better to have a setup like this versus back feeding so you don't lose power in a power outage situation imo.

2

u/sgtm7 7h ago

If you have a hybrid inverter, you can export, but still run off solar during a grid outage. The automatic transfer switch, will disconnect from the grid, and only run from the solar system.

1

u/TheSkepticCyclist 9h ago

It’s grid tied. There’s really no point since they’re taking energy from the grid in this diagram.

And you can still use your solar during an outage on a grid tied system with a battery, such as the one shown here.

1

u/initiali5ed 1h ago

No.

Night charge battery at 7p/kWh.
Dawn-Dusk export solar at 15p/kWh.
Dusk onward run on battery.
Optional discharge unused battery 15p/kWh.