Solar to Multiple Homes

[DavidMcC]

I have a client who has 4 buildings on one piece of property. Each building will be individually metered.

He wants solar on each roof.

The solar panels will be producing about 90% of each buildings usage.

Building 1 - he lives in

Buildings 2 and 3 are houses he will be renting out

Building 4 is an Ag building where he will be growing plants (not the kind you are thinking )

When the rentals are empty, he will be producing solar, but he will be giving the electricity back to PGE for a small credit.

Can he put switches on buildings 2 and 3 so any excess electricity is sent back to either his primary house or to the Ag building so he will use 100% of the produced electricity plus have excess where he will receive credits for his primary house or business?

 

[jumper]

Welcome,

Since you are not an electrician, our answers will be limited to applicable codes such as the NEC and the IRC.

 

[electrofelon]

This is more of a utility policy issue about things like virtual net metering and applying credits to different accounts. Maybe someone familiar with PGE will chime in, otherwise you may want to discuss this with the utility

 

[wwhitney]

This is more of a utility policy issue about things like virtual net metering and applying credits to different accounts. Maybe someone familiar with PGE will chime in, otherwise you may want to discuss this with the utility

That would be one approach. The OP would like to install some physical switches to be able to change which meter the PV on the rental apartments connects to, depending on whether the apartments are occupied or vacant.

But you raise a good point, the utility may not go for such a switching arrangement.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[ggunn]

Can he put switches on buildings 2 and 3 so any excess electricity is sent back to either his primary house or to the Ag building so he will use 100% of the produced electricity plus have excess where he will receive credits for his primary house or business?

Probably not. Utilities relate specific PV systems to specific meters for billing purposes. I seriously doubt that any of them will allow you to shuttle PV output around between meters.

 

[jaggedben]

I have a client who has 4 buildings on one piece of property. Each building will be individually metered.

He wants solar on each roof.

...

Can he put switches on buildings 2 and 3 so any excess electricity is sent back to either his primary house or to the Ag building so he will use 100% of the produced electricity plus have excess where he will receive credits for his primary house or business?

Based on my knowledge of PG&E's policies, you can't do what he wants.

Virtual net energy metering (VNEM) could be applicable, if all the buildings are on one service. It would not allow you to do exactly what the client wants, but I believe it would have the advantage that the apportionment of credits could be tweaked down the road based on future usage data. However, there are extra costs and fees, and it would also require connecting all the panels at a common point, not to the existing distribution at each building.

But I think you're client is overthinking it. If the rentals are going to use less electricity because they won't always be occupied, then put less solar on them. Even if it would be allowed, the non-bypassable charges aren't enough to be worth the extra expense, if he even is thinking about that. What he wants might sound good in theory but the reality is it won't help his bottom line (or the planet).

 

[gadfly56]

I'm concerned about this point:

Can he put switches on buildings 2 and 3 so any excess electricity is sent back to either his primary house or to the Ag building so he will use 100% of the produced electricity plus have excess where he will receive credits for his primary house or business?

It sounds like the client is expecting that the solar he's producing is being used all on site. Does the client understand that without a storage system of some kind he'll have zero power during a blackout? Sounds like a tutorial in grid-tie systems is in order.

 

[pv_n00b]

I have a client who has 4 buildings on one piece of property. Each building will be individually metered.

Does each building have it's on utility service, meter, and billing or is there a single master meter and service for the site and the owner sub-meters the buildings?