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Off Grid Solar

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Check out some of our recent Off Grid Solar installations. While my acting and editing skills are poor, you can rest assure that the Off Grid Solar installs that we do around Townsville and throughout North Queensland are using the best quality equipment and installed to the highest possible standards. This results in the most reliable Off Grid Solar installs for our customers.

Off Grid Solar is when you have a complete solar system including battery storage but no connection to the grid. 

Generally off grid solar systems will have a generator as backup for times of low solar production or peak load periods.

The brains of an Off Grid Solar System is managed by the controller. The Australian made Selectronic is a world leader in Off Grid Controllers and they are exported all over the world. The Selectronic controller manages the charging of the batteries, starting and stopping of the generator and monitors all data. 

With smaller Off grid system in boats, caravans and small homes they tend to be DC coupled solar system. The Solar panels are connected to Solar regulators that then charge the battery bank, 12, 24 or 48V DC. The power is then extracted out of the battery bank via a DC battery inverter or Controller. This Controller converters the DC to 240V 50Hz AC power that we can then use in our home.

Larger off grid systems use AC coupled solar. The solar panels are wired the same as a conventional home they go back to a grid inverter, this inverter changes the high dc voltage to grid matching 240V 50Hz AC power. Although these inverters can create 240V AC power they don't have the ability to power loads nor charge batteries. This is where the Selectronic Controller comes in. The Selectronic Off Grid Controller manipulates the grid inverter to facilitate the charging of the batteries and to power the loads.

While there are still times when AGM Gel or lead acid batteries are used, it is increasingly more common to see Lithium Batteries. PowerPlus and GenZ are two great Australian brands that offer high quality Lithium battery storage. They great thing with these is that they are modular and can be draw down much lower. You can easily scale up to create larger battery storage. These batteries also come with longer warranties up to 10 years.

Some online sites offer 'pre wired' or 'pre configured' off grid solutions. This never works out well for the end user. You must make sure you are dealing with a reputable CEC accredited Off Grid Solar designed and Installer that can visit your site and conduct a rigorous audit of your requirements. 

We have many off grid solar systems throughout Queensland, most of which we have full visibility from our Townsville depot. This allows us to fully interrogate each solar system without the need to visit site.

Fully installed off grid solar systems cost from $25,000 to $1,000,000 depending on the size you require. With the advent of PPA financing you don't have to pay up front for off grid solar. If you are a business, you are able to pay as you go. So if you are currently running off a generator you are potentially paying $0.50 - $0.80 per kwh in fuel. PPA financing cost approximately $0.40 - $0.50 per kwh. This even applies to existing off grid systems that you want to upgrade.

If you are looking to install Off Grid Solar, give us a call or fill out the form.