On 06/22/16 16:25, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
On 06/22/2016 03:24 PM, Russell Reiter via talk wrote:
I also have heard of the power grid, being a microgrid designer and all.
Although it's not Linux specific, given the number of posts on this
thread regarding power quality and continuity, perhaps microgrids and
power walls might be an interesting meeting topic.
I'd be interested in knowing what types of control systems are in use
for linking and delinking? ie. how would you handle spinning up and
linking a wind turbine to a hydrogen cell; bonus if there were
discussions around Sandia SPIDERS and cybersecurity.
Got some spare time?
I have been looking at this for quite a while.
The first problem is that you cannot easily feed power back onto the grid.
There was the Government program to feed solar power back onto the grid
at an outragous rate but there is not much else.
I was looking at a project to supply power to a data center and feed the
excess power back onto the grid.
We were told the small feed in rate was the same as paid to the folks
with multi MW sized generators.
One solution would be to get a powerwall and AC-DC-AC converter (they
are available for solar installations and in various sizes).
Then get a small natural gas generator to feed the system.
There are a few small gas and steam turbine providers trying to come
online but otherwise not much product.
Then you will want to take the excess heat generated and use it for
heating or cooling.
I'll take the opportunity to present a shameless plug for the place
where I work, Opus One, which (through M Power) designs/sells/installs
Tesla Powerwalls/SolarEdge Inverter residential solutions.
The main use case is for customers that have solar installed and go for
"maximized self consumption", which is industries way of saying "try not
to borrow or export to the grid".
My opinion of the technology is that it is just becoming stable, but
still really expensive. Many producers in the industry (e.g. Sonnam)
are forecasting a few more cycles of 400% price reductions every 4
years. The world is going to be a very different place if they manage to
make that happen.
On a related note, Tesla is making an offer to acquire SolarCity.
At that point you should be able to be more or less grid independent.
The cost of power will then fluctuate with the cost of gas but overall
the cost will be somwere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the peak rate your
paying to the local power company.
For just the power its not a great investment but for power and
heat/cooling it can be very worthwhile.
All over the world, governments have lost their appetite for subsidizing
the solar marketplace with feed in tariffs.
If anybody is curious feel free to contact me off list.
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Michael Galea
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