Installing Solar PV in conjunction with Back Up Generator

[cjiruk]

Back Up Generators and PV?

Completed a quote for Solar PV installation on a farm, problem is there is an Automatic Back Up Generator that kicks in if the Grid fails, concern is: If the Grid fails and the Generator kicks in and is supplying the house with power at say 1kw, the PV is say Generating 4kw where does the other 3kw go?

Will it damage the Generator?

Is there any sort of protection i can put in to stop any damage?

The Grid comes into an outhouse where the Generator is situated, this feeds the farmhouse via a SWA cable to consumer unit in house. I was going to feed the PV from the Inverter into the consumer unit in the farmhouse to avoid running another SWA cable back to the outhouse. Obviously the original SWA cable shares the Grid voltage/Back Up Generator.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Thanks

Jim

 

[ban-all-sheds]

the PV is say Generating 4kw where does the other 3kw go?

You don't have to worry about that - the chances of getting 4kW out of a domestic scale PV system are pretty slim.

Any advice would be much appreciated

I advise you to no-bid, and suggest to the farmer that he should get someone who knows what he's doing, not someone with very flaky knowledge who has to ask on a DIY internet forum how to do the job he plans to charge the farmer for doing.

And please don't come back with the usual guff about nobody knowing everything, and everyone having to ask questions about some things - they are all true and all utterly irrelevant if you're masquerading as a professional.

If you don't know how to do a job you should not be proposing to take money for doing it.

 

[cjiruk]

The reason i am asking the question, Yes is because i do not have Knowledge about Diesel Back Up Generators! If i did i would not be asking my question on the forum, i was hoping for some positive replies and not some person with nothing better to do with their time than berate someone for their lack of knowledge on certain things

I always thought these forums were for asking questions?

Maybe i was wrong!

 

[pjcomp]

If the back-up generator cuts in automatically, then presumably the equipment includes some process for automatically disconnecting the installation from the grid - otherwise it would be sending power up the line to zap anyone working on repairs!

But if the PV then cuts back in, will the generator detect it, assume it's the grid, and cut out again. In which case the PV would also cut out, and the whole cycle would start again,l starying and stopping and driving everyone mad!!!

Answer then is to keep the PV grid attached but away from the generator.

Sounds like you're in for a lot of talking to the generator suppliers, your PV training provider and the inverter manufacturer. Will the job budget cover this?

PJ

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I always thought these forums were for asking questions?

Maybe i was wrong!

FFS.

And please don't come back with the usual guff about nobody knowing everything, and everyone having to ask questions about some things - they are all true and all utterly irrelevant if you're masquerading as a professional.

If you don't know how to do a job you should not be proposing to take money for doing it.

 

[cjiruk]

To the sad person who keeps putting smartass comments on this thread.

Have you nothing better to do!

Bet your single, no kids and no life!

Why don't you spend your time reading the SUN or Daily Star or write to your Local MP complaining that dogs keep pooing in your street.

SAD PERSON!

 

[cjiruk]

If i don't know how to do the Job i won't be doing it, that is why i am asking the question?

If i get an answer on this forum then i may know how to do it, simple as that.


OH! I better watch out i am being sucked into the SADO's trap.

 

[davelx]

If i don't know how to do the Job i won't be doing it, that is why i am asking the question?

If i get an answer on this forum then i may know how to do it, simple as that.


OH! I better watch out i am being sucked into the SADO's trap.

What will you do if you get an answer from this forum, go with it, and then something bad happens as the answer was wrong and you end up in court? When they ask you to prove your competence to do this work, what will you tell them? What will you tell your PI and PLI providers?

 

[cjiruk]

The easiest solution is to take the PV input back to the Grid connection prior to the Generator and run a new SWA cable into the house to the Inverter.

Was wondering if anybody had come across a different solution rather than run another SWA cable.

I thank the guy who did put in some reasonable inputs in to this thread.

I am assuming the 2 cretons who answered with smartass comments didnt know a solution or werent willing to put a solution forward but get all excited down below with these forums at any opportunity they can get to be smartasses and berate people who post questions.

Freedom

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The reason i am asking the question, Yes is because i do not have Knowledge about Diesel Back Up Generators! If i did i would not be asking my question on the forum.

If you did you would be qualified to do this job.

As you don't you are not qualified, and won't be until you have undergone proper training and acquired proper skills. Asking questions on a DIY forum does not count as proper training.

I'll bet when you quoted for this job you didn't tell your prospective client that you didn't know how to do it but not to worry because asking how to on a DIY forum would make you sufficiently skilled.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

To the sad person who keeps putting smartass comments on this thread.

Have you nothing better to do!

Bet your single, no kids and no life!

Why don't you spend your time reading the SUN or Daily Star or write to your Local MP complaining that dogs keep pooing in your street.

SAD PERSON!

All that does is to confirm your predilection for making wild and ludicrous assumptions.

Like the one you're making about your ability to do this job in a truly competent, professional and conscientious way.

And I don't suppose for one minute you appreciate the irony of what it says about your general attitude and level of intelligence.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I am assuming the 2 cretons

More irony.

who answered with smartass comments didnt know a solution or werent willing to put a solution forward but get all excited down below with these forums at any opportunity they can get to be smartasses and berate people who post questions.

If you are being berated it is with every justification, because you seem to think that you can discharge the professional responsibilities of an engineer, and meet your duty of care, by agreeing to do a job which is beyond you on the basis of asking questions on a DIY forum.

 

[mointainwalker]

am assuming the 2 cretons who answered

That's really good. Are they from the same galaxy as klingons ?