the switch to wind

[aerohead]

I looked into my electric cooperative's solar farm photovoltaic power option.It would have raised my monthly bill from sometimes less than $20,to a minimum $55,requiring a special meter.
Over the phone they mentioned a wind energy option (which they don't advertise) that would allow me to keep my $10/month meter,then pay an additional penny per kW-hr.Raising my monthly bill by $1.1/month,most months.
The person who handles the enrollment leaves early on Fridays,so I missed her,but left a voicemail that I did want to enroll.
Monday we should be able to do it over the phone.And the house electricity will essentially be carbon-free,moving off of natural gas-based electricity.
Down the road,with an EV,I can get my local commuting off of fossil-fuels as well.

[ksa8907]

Distributed generation does present some issues. A big part is safety, if a circuit goes down you would expect no voltage on the line.... unless someone has solar panels or a wind turbine that is tied to the grid.

[oil pan 4]

Grid tie inverters don't continue to produce power after the input signal is down.
Plus if the grid tie continued to produce power it would fault out trying to power several houses or an entire neighborhood if not more.

[Erasmo]

I'm not sure how the regulation is state-side but in the EU inverters also have to cut out when the grid goes down. Seems a sensible regulation to me.

Originally Posted by aerohead

I looked into my electric cooperative's solar farm photovoltaic power option.It would have raised my monthly bill from sometimes less than $20,to a minimum $55,requiring a special meter.
Over the phone they mentioned a wind energy option (which they don't advertise) that would allow me to keep my $10/month meter,then pay an additional penny per kW-hr.Raising my monthly bill by $1.1/month,most months.
The person who handles the enrollment leaves early on Fridays,so I missed her,but left a voicemail that I did want to enroll.
Monday we should be able to do it over the phone.And the house electricity will essentially be carbon-free,moving off of natural gas-based electricity.
Down the road,with an EV,I can get my local commuting off of fossil-fuels as well.

If you're not able to put PV on your roof because you live in a flat or something, why not switch suppliers and go to a green competitor?

[gumby79]

2nd on grid tie
To get power during an extended outages..
Ligbts out
1)turn off main ,safty of the work crews making repairs.
2) turn on a small (1kw or less) pure sine wave inverter. This sets the "hart beat" at 60hz
3)the grid tie is now connected to a grid. They kickon
4) naborhood shows up to charge ther phones and labtops
Power restored
1)turn off hart beat inverter, turning off the grid tie.
2) turn on the main.
This is how my cousin set up his system.

[Stubby79]

We don't have the option to switch to wind or solar...

...probably because it's all hydro power here.

[oil pan 4]

They already tried to use a grid tie and a stand alone inverter at the same time on ecorenovator.
The voltage went up to 150v and one of the inverters smoked.
To power up your house with with backup power, a generator or solar power you have to at least have a blocking breaker that simultaneously turns the main off and turns the backup power on, some power companies require an actual transfer switch.
I don't do anything of that, I just pull the meter because the cost is $0.
Plus the utility workers can easily see that the meter is pulled when they notice only one house has the light on.

[freebeard]

Monday we should be able to do it over the phone.

Did it happen?

I'm perplexed by the comments. It sounds like you pay an extra penny/kW-h, and the coop* pinky-swears your power comes from wind.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ns-environment

'The wild west of wind': Republicans push Texas as unlikely green energy leader

The most oil-rich and fracking-friendly of states has found itself with the improbable status of being a national leader in a wind energy boom

by Tom Dart in Sweetwater, Texas, and Oliver Milman in New York

*I like coops.

[oil pan 4]

Republicans like power.

[roosterk0031]

I didn't think the average guy could/should pull the meter?

Here they required a transfer switch with a hardwired generator. Since getting one I've never needed to use it, not hard wired.

I've been researching solar, my detached garage has enough roof for 5-6 kwh, 30a double pole breaker feeding it so don't want to exceed that capacity pushing back to the house. About $7-800 power generation/year and $7-8000 equipment cost. Would go with micro-invertors, my thought was similar to above if I could use a 12v battery to power a dc/ac invertor to signal the micro-invertors to turn on, then use battery charger to keep the 12v battery going. Is that what your saying fired a mirco-invertor?

The paper work required might be enough to prevent me from doing it myself & the money part.