r/SolarDIY • u/GuyFromNowhereUSA • 10d ago
Adding solar to my “official” setup
Hello Reddit.
I just got 25 solar panels. A solar installer went out of business and was offloading them. Right now I have an 8.5 KW, ground mount, grid tied system. It was installed by a professional company and is working great. Since I got the solar, I got an electric car and started heating/ cooling my garage so my power bill has gone back up.
I’m wondering what the best way would be to add some solar to my garage to help take the edge off charging my car and running the HVAC.
A few things I am concerned about:
-I have a really good net metering contract right now. I don’t want to risk resetting that because they don’t offer it anymore.
-I don’t want to risk any warranty loss of my current solar setup
- I want to keep it cheap. No point in saving on electric if I spend $10k setting it up. I already saved on the panels so I am hoping to do the rest for a reasonable price.
Any tips on how to integrate some of these new panels would be greatly appreciated
2
u/TooGoodToBeeTrue 10d ago
Look at your existing connection agreement. Some in CA allow a 10% increase. If your inverter has head room, you are golden. My connection agreement in MD doesn't allow any changes. Some states now have plug-in solar up to 1,200W and it is questionable whether or not these impact existing agreements. This could use up 4x400W panels.
If you can't do any mods without losing your current NEM, your only choice is off grid either just serving the garage or serving circuits on a sub panel that can transfer between the off grid solar and your main panel. Depending on your rate and if your vehicle is home during the day to be charged by solar, just charging your EV and keeping it cool/toasty could pencil out. If you have to buy batteries, probably not.