question

khalied avatar image
khalied asked

Can PV power from a grid tied inverter be regulated to optimally charge batteries if connected on AC input.

Good Day


I have been looking through the various manuals and assistants on the Victron website and forums but i am still not sure if the configuration i desire is achievable .

I currently have a Solaredge 3 phase grid tied inverter which has 7kw of panels connected to them. This was my initial setup which did not have any battery backup and any additional Pv produced was fed back into my local grid for which i received a credit . ( installation was November 2018).

Load shedding has become a serious issue in South Africa and the need for backup became increasingly important. I then installed 2 x off grid 5kva Axpert inverters with an additional 6kw of panels and 7 x 3.5kw pylontech batteries (24.5kw in total ). We separated all loads requiring backup to a single phase and the inverters were connected in parallel. Pumps , underfloor heating , water heating elements are connected to the other two phases still.

To cut a long story short i was extremely disappointed with the inverters performance and functionality and i have decided to replace them with 2 x Multiplus ii 5000 inverters. I will purchase the other additional items like the MPPT , cables , ET340 meter, etc. From my understanding the Cerbo ( still due to arrive in SA by end of May ) would be used to control the whole system and everything links into them.


Would the Victron system be able to differentiate between Power that is bought from the grid and PV power from my Solaredge inverter on the AC In side of the Multiplus to regulate the amount of power used to charge the batteries . Ideally no power from the Solaredge inverter should be fed back into the grid if it can utilize the PV power more effectively to charge the batteries.

I have noticed that the Victron inverters can receive PV data from the Solaredge inveter. Can this info be used to optimize self consumption or would the data be purely for viewing .


Thanks

Regards

Khalied




battery chargingAC PV Coupling
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1 Answer
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hi @Khalied

Yes, you need a grid energy meter for this to work, your installer should know all about this. you can read more about it here:

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ess:design-installation-manual

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