Franklin Home Power Solution
As off-grid living becomes increasingly popular, it is important to navigate the off-grid electrical systems—a solution completely independent of the traditional utility grid.
Embracing an off-grid electrical system represents a significant step towards energy autonomy. It liberates homeowners from the constraints of utility reliance, eliminating monthly electricity bills, offering energy resiliency against widespread outages, and actively reducing your carbon footprint.
This guide will delve into everything you need to know to understand and potentially embrace off-grid home electrical systems fueled by the mainstream energy sources—solar and battery storage.
Off-Grid vs. Grid-Tied Solar Electrical Systems: What Are the Differences
While both off-grid and grid-tied solar electrical systems harness the sun's energy to power your home, their fundamental approach to connectivity and management of energy flow creates different experiences.
Off-Grid: Operate in complete isolation. Since there's no grid backup, every kilowatt-hour generated must either be used immediately or stored for future use. The system relies entirely on its batteries during periods without sunlight. Therefore, it’s crucial to accurately size your solar and battery system to ensure uninterrupted energy supply.
Grid-Tied: Maintain a constant connection to the local utility grid. When power demand exceeds solar plus battery, power flows in from the grid. When production exceeds household needs, surplus electricity flows out to the grid. This exported power often earns credits through net metering programs, offsetting your electricity bill.
Diesel Generator as a Traditional Off-Grid Power Solution
For decades, when the grid ended, diesel generators began. They have been the undisputed workhorses of off-grid power, providing electricity where traditional utility lines couldn't reach.
Environmental and Economic Drawbacks
The Environmental Toll: Diesel generators are tied to fossil fuels. Their operation releases substantial greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. Beyond carbon emissions, they are significant sources of local air and disruptive noise pollution.
The Economic Burden: Operational costs are a major challenge. Diesel fuel prices are notoriously volatile, subject to global market fluctuations geopolitical instability, and increasing extreme weather events that disrupt fuel access, often precisely when it’s needed the most. This burden is amplified in remote locations where transporting fuel is complex and expensive.
A New Era for Off-Grid Power
These limitations drive the emergence of modern renewable systems, epitomized by the solar with the battery storage system. These systems offer a fundamentally greener footprint and significantly reduce lifetime operational costs and maintenance needs.
Off-Grid Solar Electrical System: Empower a Sustainable Prospect
An off-grid solar electrical system is a self-contained energy ecosystem designed for autonomy. It captures sunlight, stores that energy, and converts it into usable power. Understanding the essential components and how they scale to different needs is key to building a reliable, sustainable off-grid power solution.
The Core Components: Your Energy Ecosystem
Solar Panels: Photovoltaic (PV) modules capture sunlight and convert it into direct current (DC) electricity. System size depends on your energy needs and location.
Battery Unit: This is your energy reservoir that stores DC electricity for use when the sun isn't shining.
Invest in dedicated, high-capacity home batteries. Engineered for daily deep cycling, a home energy storage battery such as the FranklinWH aPower 2, boasting 15 kWh capacity and 10 kW continuous power per unit, can reliably power your entire home with a single unit.
Inverter: This is the power translator that converts DC power into usable AC power for standard appliances.
A high-capacity solar inverter is essential. For systems with an external solar inverter, the paired home battery has another inverter to convert the AC power from solar to DC so as to store the electricity, and convert it back to AC when discharging for usage.
Intelligent Energy Management Controller (A Home Essential)
Permanent residences require intelligent coordination of power sources:
Devices such as the FranklinWH aGate act as the command center, integrating solar, home batteries, and other backup sources. It optimizes power flow between sources and household loads, and provides app-based monitoring/control to maximize self-sufficiency and efficiency.
Supporting Infrastructure
Wiring/Cables: Properly sized for safety and minimal loss
Mounting Equipment: secure panel racks
Safety Gear: Disconnects, grounding, and surge protection
Enhancing Security: Integrating Generator and V2L to Your Off-Grid Solar Electrical System
For off-grid living, true energy independence means overcoming nature's unpredictability. The FranklinWH System’s intelligent integration of generators and Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) technology, managed by the aGate controller, transforms these sources into pillars of unshakable energy security.
By unifying solar, batteries, generator, and EV under the aGate's intelligent command, you gain a reinforced off-grid home energy ecosystem.
How to Accurately Size Your Off-Grid Solar Electrical System
It is essential to get your off-grid electrical system size right to avoid under-sizing that can cause frustrating blackouts, and over-sizing that wastes your money.
Here are the principles of sizing your off-grid power solution:
Match Whole-Home Load Power: Your solution must generate and handle the peak power draw of all your home appliances operating simultaneously.
Whole-Home Load Power for Typical Home: 10 kW continuous.
Match Average Household Energy Consumption per Day: According to the most recent data from the United States Energy Information Administration, the average American household consumes 30 kWh per day.
Size Your Solar Electrical System: Your electrical system must be able to cover your daily energy consumption, so you may need two aPower 2 batteries (30 kWh in total) if the battery accounts for 100% of your usage at night, scaling up the continuous power to 20 kW (10 kW each), sufficient to handle the total load power.
Depending on your location where the peak sunlight hours vary, you may need 10-20 kW solar array to match the two aPower 2 batteries (16 kW charging power in total) to full battery reserve.
Finally, consult a professional to get a more fine-tuned sizing.
Conclusion
Off-grid solar electrical systems offer a reliable and cost-effective way for those seeking 100% energy independence. By integrating high-efficiency solar panels, robust battery storage such as the FranklinWH aPower 2, and intelligent energy management device such as the intelligent aGate controller, with careful system sizing and optional generator and V2L access, homeowners can confidently power their entire home without relying on the grid.
