First time user question - inverters and batteries

GivEnergy Products GivEnergy Hybrid Inverters
1

Thinking of 9.5kwh battery and GE Gen3 hybrid inverter with panels using something like Octopus Agile Tarrif.
The question is around the inverter and when power is drawn from the grid.

To keep it simple assume the inverter can supply 3kwh back to the home and that solar is producing 1kw.

So if I have big draw at home, say 4kw, then 3 will be serviced from the battery / solar and 1 kw from the grid. In this case will the inverter pass all 1kw solar through to the house and make up the remainder 2kw from the battery and 1kw from the grid?

The next question is, assume the battery is 100% charged (where unit charging cost is greater than 0p) but under Agile the actual rates drop down to 0p / kWh. If I have a 3kw load on the house again, will this be serviced from the battery or can the supply be drawn direct from the grid and bypass the battery? Do I end up servicing the load from the stored energy but at the same time the system recharges back off the grid (does it simultaneously charge and discharge?) or do I end up discharging the battery and then have to recharge it later as it doesn’t charge / discharge simultaneously.

Many thanks for any help that can be offered. Trying to understand quite how the inverter functions and what control is offered to the end user?

2

The Gen3 hybrid inverter (3.6 or 5 kW) plus 9.5 kWh battery combination is limited to a maximum of 3.6 kW from battery.

In your scenario of 4 kW load with 1 kW solar, the 3.6 Gen3 would supply the maximum 3.6 kW a/c output (1 from solar combined with 2.6 from battery) plus 0.4 kW from grid.

In your scenario of 4 kW load with 1 kW solar, the 5.0 Gen3 would supply the full 4.0 kW (1 from solar combined with 3.0 from battery) with none required from the grid. It could supply the full 5.0 kW a/c/ output with say 1.4 kW solar plus 3.6 kW from battery.

3

The GE inverters can operate in a number of modes using the built in controls.

In ECO mode, the inverter attempts to maintain grid import/export at 0 W, so would respond by discharging from the battery.

If set to charge from grid + solar to 100% at that time, the load would draw from the grid at the Agile cheap rate.

The are 3rd party methods of automatic control of the inverter that would help make the most of the Agile tariff rates.

4

Hi Simon_C, many thanks for the confirmations.

I’m going to look for documentation regarding the specific configs that are achievable. Not sure I’ve found much yet but will keep looking.

Thanks again

5

I have the 5KW inverter + 2 x 9.5kw batteries,

As per the SPEC of the inverter :
Datasheet - Hybrid Gen 3 5.0 [Sept 2023] (givenergy.co.uk)

it can handle 7KW DC input and my 16 x 430w panels hit this… and I sized my installation to do the following when in FULL sun…

1.5 KW in use during a normal day ( may go to 2.5 or 3KW is hot and Aircon kicks in )
3.6Kw Diverted to the batteries
2.5kw used by the iBoost ( then when water is hot - then divert to either my Zappi or export to the grid )

The inverter handles this great and my aim is use as much power when the sun is out, but then in the evening I use “Home Automation” to balance what is powered on to keep it all below 3.6KW to stay within the battery discharge limit ( ie: if I turn my oven on… it uses 3KW - so if my Aircon is on… then automation turns the aircon off until my oven use has finished and then will turn itself back on ( but also clever enough to look at battery percentage etc… as well to optimize ))

For me - using automation is the key to getting the maximum from your system.

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6

Is it possible to connect a 3rd party battery to the hybrid inverters?