How to avoid power outages with hybrid Solar Panel Systems?

This May, a fierce storm left thousands of Quebec residents without power for several weeks. Even with all hydro Quebec's efforts, the problem didn’t go away until many spent their weeks without electricity.

This incident left us thinking about a cost-efficient solution with high solar panel input using the latest solar products to build a hybrid system.

What is a Hybrid System? 

In Off-Grid solar systems, the energy storage system is the only power source. These systems will provide great independence; however, off-grid systems usually come at a higher cost.

Meanwhile, Hybrid systems connect to the primary electrical grid and use battery backup to store solar panel production. In addition, many hybrid systems benefit from Net Metering. In a net metering program, You will transfer the extra output of your solar panels to the electricity grid connection, resulting in credit with your provider.

 With sufficient sun A grid-tied system typically generates enough electricity, and during summer system can create more than what you use. This excess power will be transferred to the new meter installed by your electricity provider and records your power generation. Your production will gain credits for you, and you will use these credits to pay your electricity bill.

What  Happens If I Have Hybrid Solar and the Power Goes Out?

The short answer is “Nothing.” While building a Grid Hybrid Solar panel system, you will also install solar batteries. Which will be constantly charged by your solar panels, and in case of a power outage, your batteries will be the backup power supply to your electricity needs.

Depending on the size of your solar arrays, you can choose from Lead Acid to Lithium-ion batteries for your battery storage which we have compared before to determine “Which battery is best for your system?”

This battery bank will power up your home while inside the outage map at night and will charge again with your solar system during the day.

How much Does a Hybrid Solar Panel System Cost?

Hybrid solar systems are not that different from Off-grid systems in terms of Cost and Installation process. We discussed a breakdown of the solar panel system in our recent article giving you an idea of the average cost. And in most cases, solar panel installation is a costly process.

You can also use another method to build your solar panel system by using a high-power hybrid inverter. A hybrid inverter will work as an inverter, a charger, and a solar charge controller. 

The integrated solar charge controller works with solar inverters and produces higher efficiency and lower installation costs due to the lower number of equipment. 

The Most Cost-Effective Hybrid Solar Panel System

To make an equally powerful yet cheaper solar panel system, we need to build something that requires fewer components with similar output.

Part 1: Solar Panels

There is no way to save money in this step as high-quality solar panels are usually at a similar price. And based on the number and power of your solar arrays, the system generates a fixed amount of energy that can not be increased using other electrical components.

In this scenario we consider an standard multiple bedroom house that has an average electricity bill of $300-$400 a month. In order to produce a sufficient amount of power by solar arrays you will need about 4000-5000 watts of solar panels.

This solar system can be made using 10-12 solar panels of around 400 watts.

Part 2: Inverters, Chargers and Solar Charge Controllers 

Here is where we will save the most amount of money on our Hybrid Solar panel system using Hybrid Inverters with integrated solar charge controller.

The Darfon Solar Hybrid Inverter is one of the strongest solar inverters in the market with a maximum solar input of 6500W and Continues Power output of 5000.

This UL Certified Hybrid Inverter comes at a price of approximately $5000. The Darfon Hybrid inverter is 48V battery charger that will reduce the amount of Cables and charging time in optimal conditions.

The integrated Solar Charge controller of Darfon solar is equivalent of 4-5 Victron Energy Smart Solar 250/100 MPPTs that can cost about $4000-$5000. And equal to two units of 24/3000 UL certified Multipluses that can cost around $4000. Furthermore with more components used in your system, you have to use more breakers and Cables that will drive your costs of installation and components by another $1000.

Part 3: Battery Systems 

A truly well built system is not complete without an equally amazing battery bank and in almost all systems battery banks are the most expensive components to purchase.

And once the batteries are done, battery monitors, shunts, breakers and cables increase the price even more. Even though the battery prices are often justifiable by their production costs and life span, they are still quite expensive.

Here is where Darfon LFP battery has helped many of our clients in the past. The Darfon LiFePO4 battery has an amazing capacity of 9.6 kWh and unlike many other battery systems it comes at an affordable price with very easy one man installation. 

In order to build a battery bank with equal capacity as Darfon battery system, you should use up to 10 12V 100Ah batteries. Furthermore, in a multiple battery system, you will need to use more battery accessories. In this Case you can save up to $4000 can make a big difference in the overall cost.

Part 4: Monitoring System

A monitoring system is not always as essential yet very useful for increasing your system efficiency and life span of your investment.

It is often an hard decision to add more products to your system so Darfon has another solution. Using DARFON Solar - DL300 Data Logger you can save on the full price of Victron Energy Cerbo GX collection and Save up to $1000.

In Conclusion

The Darfon Hybrid Systems can be the best solution for a hybrid solar panel system. Darfon Solar Hybrid Inverter comes with high Solar input of up to 6000W, and Fantastic Inverter output of Up to 7000W that is compatible with all types of appliances. Also, the Darfon Battery Bank with 9kWh of capacity is an almost ready-to-go battery bank. The whole system comes at amazingly affordable pricing that can save you up to $11,000 in your installation costs.

Disclaimer

The content of this page is intended for informational purposes, and any system designed or installed will require further supervision of experts and engineers.