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How does a main board know when to draw power from the grid or an Solar PV inverter?

newbieuser

Hi,

It might be bit silly but how does a main board/busbar etc know when to draw power from the grid or an inverter? Lets say its sunny and your PV system is generating plenty, how does the main board decide to supply the loads via the inverter and not the incoming fuse cutouts? Similarly, how does the excess current flow back to the nearest substation ?

Thanks.

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  • 0

    Both the inverter and main board are downstream of the suppliers meter, so the electric the main board draws from the inverter is not recorded on the suppliers meter.

  • 0 in reply to Sparkingchip

    indeed - but once solar generation exceeds local demand, the voltage on the load side of the meter will be pushed up higher than on the supply side, and then the power flow will reverse, and then you are propping up the street main with home generated power.. Only then does the meter  "reverse".
    M.

  • 0 in reply to Sparkingchip
    Sparkingchip said:
    Both the inverter and main board are downstream of the suppliers meter, so the electric the main board draws from the inverter is not recorded on the suppliers meter.

    Unless it's a SMETS2 smart meter.  They are set up to record both import and export.  With the ending of the FIT scheme for new installs, that's the way a householder can get paid for any generation that they export.

  • 0 in reply to Simon Barker

    Not quite.

    Meters with import and export registers (and they don't have to be smart meters) will only see a reduced consumption. If it's reduced below zero, obviously that'll be recorded as an export.

    That is not to say you can't have both improt and export in the same billing period of course... neither register runs backwards.

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  • 0 in reply to Simon Barker

    Not quite.

    Meters with import and export registers (and they don't have to be smart meters) will only see a reduced consumption. If it's reduced below zero, obviously that'll be recorded as an export.

    That is not to say you can't have both improt and export in the same billing period of course... neither register runs backwards.

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