The Alternative Energy Thread - Generators, Solar, UPS, Wind

[centos]

Inverter is Infini V series. It can be used as on-grid, off-grid or hybrid which is off-grid with option to use utility when needed.

[danishmmh]

Yup you gave me a jolt of happiness as i was committing to VMII but at 55k infiny was a steal. LOL. Thanks anyways

[talhawaleed]

SolarMax and Inverex are Pakistani companies who are importing these products from different manufacturers, most of the products sold by these companies are manufactured by Voltronic Power, Taiwan.

Only plus point is that these local companies are providing you with the warranties which means that if your product goes bad then they would be able to repair it for you.

[talhawaleed]

YOUR QUESTION: HOW HARD IT IS TO GET THE NET-METERING CONNECTION

Approximately 2.5 to 3 months to process

In-Order to apply for net-metering connection, you should have completed the installation of your solar system, which includes.

1. Grounding the Solar Mounts and Solar Inverter, best is that you dig a new ground as they
   will test the resistance of your ground which should be within 5 Ohms and all the new grounds dug properly will pass that test and if you don’t want to dig a new ground then connect things with existing ground.

2. Manual Disconnect Switch along with your consumer meter, which is a requirement from NEPRA and will be crosschecked by the Electrical Inspector and visiting team from IESCO.

3. Complete the application forms, attach the certificate from Electrical Inspector, Wiring
   diagram and submit it to the local IESCO office. Very few IESCO officals are aware of Net-Metering process so you should also download the Net-Metering SOP and submit along with the application for their knowledge as how to process the application.

After completing the installation of Solar System, you need to apply for the certificate for the correct wiring from the Electrical Inspector, (Your Region). He will demand following from you

1. Have you installed the manual disconnect switch along with the consumer Meter.

2. Have you properly grounded the solar mounts and inverter.

3. Wiring Diagram of your premises showing the location of manual disconnect switch,
   grounding of inverters and solar mounts.

4. Anti-Islanding protection certificates from manufacturer (which is normally available on manufacturer’s website).

5. Written typed application along with your name and address along with the capacity of
   your solar system and quote that you have fulfilled the above requirement.

6. Fees for providing you with a certificate as per their SOP.

I recommend you to personally visit the electrical inspector office for above things, correspondingly he will
schedule the visit to your site.

Submitting the Application to your local IESCO office.

1. Complete the application forms, attach along with the copy of certificate from electrical inspector, wiring diagram and submit the copy in your local IESCO office. Keep a copy of your complete application with you for a reference.

2. IESCO awards the Net-Metering connection to the consumers who have installed a three phase inverter whereas LESCO has no issues giving it to the consumers with a single phase inverter. This is important. This regulation should have been mentioned on their site, but it is not and bugs many in end.

3. Your consumer meter should be in name of the person who is applying for the
   net-metering connection otherwise you application will be rejected.

4. A specialized team from IESCO will visit your premises, once they are satisfied
   then your application will be sent to the NEPRA for issuing of license.

5. Your application at NEPRA will take approximately one month to arrive back.

6. Once you have received your license then your new meter will be installed within 10
   days maximum.

[moizadil]

All this has to be done with influence or you can get this done without any influence and/or serious rishwat?

[centos]

What rate do you get for the energy you feed to the grid, is it the same rate at which you buy power. How does the inverter handle feeding when there is power outage (grid is down). The concept is called anti-islanding. https://www.wholesalesolar.com/solar-information/anti-islanding
http://blog.gogreensolar.com/2008/10/what-is-anti-islanding-on-a-grid-tie-inverter.html

So does it shutdown when grid is out(which happens many times a day here in Pakistan) or does it continue producing power.

[talhawaleed]

Anti-islanding protection is enforced by the governments or power supply companies such as IESCO, LESCO on the manufacturers of Grid Tied Inverter.

which means that during electric outrage, Inverters are suppose to shutdown thus wont be sending power to the national grid during load shedding.

why this is important: This is important because in developed countries, grid's are shut down once repair activities are going on, during repair, if your inverter is sending power out then electrician working on your pole would think, that it is safe to work as power has been shut down but he would receive a deadly shock and which can kill him as not realizing that your home next door is producing power and feeding to the national grid. that is why this regulation has been enforced.

Second reason, Your Solar System is supplementing the power supply companies as its capacity is within Kilowatts whereas power supply companies capacities is in magawatts. if your power supply company shuts downs or goes under the load shedding then entire load of your area will fall on your inverter alone which can either damage your inverter or your inverter can potentially blow all the electrical systems installed in vicinity like your neighbors airconditioner's, fridges, TV's as power would be available to them but wont be sufficient.

Rate of Electricity Produced by your Solar System: As per the regulations from NEPRA, your power supply companies buys the power at the same rate at which it is selling the power.

which means, if you have bough 400units of electricity from IESCO and Sold 350 units then you will only have to pay bills on 400-350=50 units.

[talhawaleed]

YOUR REPLY: KHAWAR or SIFARISH in NET-METERING

I am going to be very honest with you, you will have to undergo khawari.

1. If you have completed all the pre-requisite then Electrical Inspector Islamabad Region charges Rs. 15000/- to 25000/- on issuing you with a certificate. These charges are known to every person in IESCO and NEPRA. That is the only amount which one has to pay during this process. Reason for the charges are the pre-requisite that Department of Electrical Inspector has, which is that wiring be done or approved by the certified electrician on their panel, thus according to them,this amount is paid to them for providing them with a report in format acceptable to them and they manage it internally. No comments further.

2. Khawari is visiting his office in person and providing him with your written application and requesting him of a visit and then receiving the certificate from him after the visit from his office.

3. Further, few things are pretty clear on IESCO and NEPRA website but few things are not mentioned and not known to many which is, IESCO accepts inverters with three phase connection. Pr-requisite from NEPRA is that your meter should be three phase which does not says anywhere that your inverter should also be three phase. As all the home appliances which runs in your home runs on one of the three phases from IESCO but none of them get simultaneously connected to three phase together. This is where, I had an argument that this pre-requisite be made very clear if it is being enforced. But here, user finds out this on last stages once his application is about to be proceed to NEPRA and is rejected on these grounds.

4. Rest, In Net-Metering case, I would say, Many people are very helpful, honest, sincere and very nice like Manager Saleem Sahab in IESCO headquarter, Zaquir Sahab who is Director Technical Rawalpindi Circle. I wish, we had people like them everywhere. Rest, have little idea about Net-Metering procedure and they take time to have your application processed. You have to constantly follow up
   with your application.

Overall, Net-Metering is a new idea, most appreciate this in IESCO, it takes time for your application to move forward but I don’t think, you need safarish here as things are sluggish and being very mush encouraged.

[centos]

Thanks, I know the concept of anit-islanding, I highlighted it. What I was asking is that how your inverter handles it. Does it stop working every few hours or does it have some feature that it stop only feeding the grid and still supply the load just like an off-grid hybrid which continues supplying the solar power if the grid goes out, it takes the extra power from the battery. Nothing blows or explodes, these inverters are smart enough to shutdown on overload.

[talhawaleed]

1. grid tied inverters simply shuts down during electricity outrage
2. whereas grid tied inverter with back, its solar function for backup continues to run whereas grid tied feature within the inverter shuts down.

[asjdsm]

Great article

I want to import makeskyblue mppt controller. Aliexpress it. It's for 80$ +20$ shipping and is 40A and upto 48v output and 160v pv voltage for 48 voltage setup.

Any idea what could be its custom duty?
This also got good YouTube reviews.

[talhawaleed]

Off course, try to get it shipped via China Post, avoid DHL etc, ask seller to declare a low custom value such as if actual cost is USD 80, then tell him to declare a USD 25 value over it, hopefully, if its not heavy then they may charge you max 500-600 Rs.

[shari99]

that your meter should be three phase which does not says anywhere that your inverter should also be three phase. As all the home appliances which runs in your home runs on one of the three phases from IESCO but none of them get simultaneously connected to three phase together. This is where, I had an argument that this pre-requisite be made very clea

Kindly clarify if the meter is 3 phase then is it mandatory that inverter is also 3 phase?

[talhawaleed]

unofficial stance at IESCO is that inverter should also be three phase as officials refuses your application on same plea. I am saying "unofficial stance" because it is not written on SOP but officals have their own theory so you cant argue with them.

whereas in LESCO, they don't mind if inverter is three phase or single phase.

[nowshad1]

I have selected this inverter from Voltronicpower web site and placed order, It seems a good product in all respect.

[nowshad1]

Vmp Voltage of solar panels are very important. A 24 Volts battery bank needs a Voltage of 30-32 Vmp to properly charge a 24 Volts battery bank. If Vmp Voltage of your solar panels is not within the range then that can end up ruining your batteries very quickly may it be Dry batteries. Problem with Solar panels are that a Panel rated at Vmp=30.1 Volts will give you a Vmp Voltage which may vary from 25 Volts to 29 Volts at maximum. The End result is that you will very quickly kill your battery bank.

Appreciate your efforts Mr. Talha, considering Vmp just confused me as people take open circuit voltage Voc in designing solar system, please check Altestore videos

[nowshad1]

I want to import makeskyblue mppt controller

I would prefer Axpert Taiwan products rather than Chinese. Some Chinese products, not all, give problems. just check video.

[talhawaleed]

It was better that you should have bought the same from local market, as all the voltronic products are available in Pakistan under the name of Inverex, SolarMax, crown etc. they provide repair warranties on the products as well. shipment directly by individual make it very expensive.

[talhawaleed]

In-fact Vmp Voltages and Voc Voltages, both are very important, Voc is considered, when you are making a string, keeping in mind the maximum input Voltage the system accepts and Vmp is important as you want to see, if Voltages are within the MPPT range.

[pwuser150187836096]

Asslamoalaikum sir im novice in this business and at the same time sort of non tech guy (a lot of your things were just flying .over my head:grinning).
To cut things short, let me know, as I have a ltd budget of around 100 k whereas power req of 5 kva, so i was thinking of buying a Hybrid inverter with the wires mppt some batteries etc, and with the rest of the money a few solar panels. I plan to add panels over the period but wanted to know if i rig up a 5 kva sys but have insufficient panels, will the sys cover up the shortage from the grid???
This way i will be at least saving some money over the bills at the same time have some base started????
And will gradually add up panels over the time.