AC Coupling and The Future of Solar
As we approach 2020, we see some significant changes in the solar industry. No longer are utilities satisfied with Net Energy Metering and they often make a compelling argument why it’s unfair to them and the rest of consumers that don’t have solar. They further the debate by identifying the difficulty of managing non-firm generation on their systems.
What does this mean for you?
Looking ahead, it points to one significant change we will all see soon: you’ll need storage, connected to your solar installations. Sure, in less saturated solar markets, this will take time. Utilities might be fine with some small export of your generation. Once caps are hit, you will have to pivot your business model. We’ve seen this in Hawaii to New Jersey. Once that hockey stick curve of penetration has been achieved, utilities will bring to regulators, the need for storage or curtailment.
Curtailment sort of defeats the purpose of renewable energy and most developers to homeowners would rather not throw away the clean energy that they’ve harvested. It also throws off the economics and the reasons they primarily went with going solar in the first place.
It is why AC coupling of solar to storage needs to be in your gameplan. Between legacy systems to new systems, people will start to learn about storage and want it. Looking at storage for emergency backup will also be on the minds of people living on the west and east coasts, as fires and flooding from nature, will compel them to look for ways to maximize their solar systems and have safety and security of knowing when the power goes out, that they have electricity.
The good news is Chilicon Power microinverters are ready togo, out of the box with AC coupling. We work with any battery storage device.We would just need the setpoints for charge parameters and we can be your solution for your storage interested clients today. Our gateway is easy to use and flexible. We can even connect to a generator to give you an added layer of protection.
Knowing that you have electricity when you need it, will make your clients feel safe and secure. Let us help you design a system for your clients, today.
