2 Kw solar panel upgrade before we cancel our utility feed and go fully off grid! 😁

Since I installed our off grid solar system at the end of August 2019 we have saved a significant amount of cash. By my calculations the system has already paid for itself and delivered us significant savings s well. We kept the utility hook-up live as we needed to top up the batteries during winter. Given the insane price of electricity here in Italy the time has come to cut the cord. Because the solar panels are lying flat on the roof they struggle during winter to get the batteries back up to a full charge. To resolve this problem we are hanging another 2 Kw of solar panels on the back wall of the garage. The panels should then get direct sunlight from approx. 11 am until sunset. Hopefully this will be what is needed. If not we also have a generator should we need additional charging. But the cord WILL be cut!

Once this solar panel upgrade is completed we will have 8Kw of solar panels feeding into two 4 Kw inverter/chargers that are set up to run in parallel. The additional 2Kw of panels will feed into a separate MPPT charge controller that will also charge the battery bank which is lead acid rated at 25 Kwh.