On 2/17/21 20:04, Lady Benjamin PD
Cannon wrote:
Other than financials limiting capacity, modern residential solar
systems do not care a wink about what sort of load their DC is
driving. The inverters also are rated for continuous duty.
Solar can drive any load. But to support heavy loads + regular ones,
you'd need a big array and a decent-sized inverter. Double or triple
the array if you need to support the same demand during low
irradiation days (rain, winter, e.t.c.).
If you produce more power per day than you consume,
you will be fine forever, simply needing enough capacity to ride
out volatility in production.
Most grid-tied solar installations will produce more power than they
need, at some point. But that does not help if there is no storage
and/or the grid fails.
Let me be clear: Solar systems are suitable for
every type of electric load, but, if anything, especially resistive loads, as those are
driven most efficiently by the inverters, as opposed to
inductive or other reactive loads.
I didn't say solar wasn't suitable for resistive loads. I said
batteries aren't... not from a lack of ability, but a lack of
capacity given the amount of energy that is required to drive
resisitive loads over a given period of time (think, heating bathing
water in a 200-litre water tank, with a 4kW element, in the dead of
winter).
If everyone had a large enough solar system at home,
let’s say covering their entire roof - we wouldn’t need
generation at all except for certain industrial purposes. (which
can be nuclear) The grid could be shrunk dramatically as it
would be a rarely used inter-tie.
Let's be clear, solar does not automatically infer batteries also.
When I say solar, I mean PV only. When I say solar + batteries, I
mean PV + storage.
Much of user demand occurs in the evening, when the sunlight is at
its lowest. No amount of solar on the roof will offer you power
then, and if the grid is massively shrunk, where will your power
come from? Fine, you've got a battery - how big does it have to be
to support you throughout the night until the sun comes out the
following morning, assuming it doesn't storm?
Mark.