Feeding solar power back into municipal grid: Issues and finger-pointing - Page 8

 

  .. if the topic is still related to Ontario's micro-FIT program (?)
the solar panels would have their own meter - for metering the solar
output - paid at the high subsidized rate.  Any other meters on the
property would be for customer load - billed at those normal market
time-of-use rates.  ... otherwise we would not be seeing 5-10 kw solar
arrays sprouying up like dandilions.
   John T.

 
The 80c per kwh seems very high.  But strange as it may seem, here
in the Peoples Republic of NJ, you get paid for the total amount of
electricity the solar array generates, not just the excess amount.
It's not
a direct payment per kwh though.  That would be too easy.

The actual story goes something like this.  Utilities are being forced
by
law to supply increasing amounts of renewable energy.   They can meet
that number through a variety of ways.  They could buy it from wind
sources on the grid, for example.   But they can also buy certifcates
from folks who generate solar at their homes or businesses.  That
certificate counts just like if they had bought energy from company
X's windmill on the wholesale grid somewhere.

Every time the homeowner solar array generates a certain amount
of KWH of energy, the homeowner gets one certificate.  Then it
gets more complicated.  They have some kind of auction system
that determines how much those certifcates are worth and how
much your power company will pay for it.   The amount has
flucutated widely, for factors I don't understand.  But in recent
years the typical 8KW array could generate a couplel thousand
dollars a year back to the homeowner.

Oh, and I think they will also actually pay you an additional small
amount for any net amount you put into the grid once a year too.

 
If you apply more volts to a line than what it is carrying what do you
think happens?  I run machines that use regenerative braking.  They
draw energy from the line to set things in motion.  To slow or stop
them the electric motor acts as a generator producing a higher voltage
than the grid, forcing power back into the grid.  An inverter can do
the same thing using solid state circuits.  The inverter in my Prius
takes DC current from the battery and converts it to whatever voltage
and frequency is needed at the time to run the variable frequency AC
motor.  When slowing down the motor becomes an AC generator and the
inverter converts the output to a DC voltage just a bit higher than
the battery, pumping charge back into it.

 On 4/10/2011 10:02 PM Bruce Richmond spake thus:


Sorry, I don't think you know what you're talking about.

You seem to think that you can "force" or push "voltage" into a line, by
using a higher voltage than what's on the line.

That's not at all what's at work here when one has a photovoltaic system
and an intertie feeding power back into "the grid".

The intertie and the house's power connection are going to be at pretty
much exactly the same voltage. What happens is that the PV system is
connected *in parallel* with the grid; it's dumping more *current* into
the system, not more voltage.

You do understand the difference between current and voltage, don't you?


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<http://www.northjersey.com/news/116938343
_Municipal_officials_throw_wrench_in_PSE_G_s_solar_paneling_program.html>

or
http://tinyurl.com/3tcv4le

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