What is the integrated home & how does it work?

Some have dubbed this the “Integrated Home,” where advanced technologies like renewable energy and the Internet of Things work together to radically improve our lifestyle, minimize our environmental impact, and lower our energy usage and costs. Let’s break down the different technologies we need to build the Integrated Home:

Would a solar system have a battery & inverter?

(Btw this is rural, with no building codes). Each solar system would have its own inverter (s), batteries and PV. But for several reasons, I’d like them to share Solar and battery resources with each other, and do away with one of the utility services.

How does a solar energy system work?

From sunrise, the system captures solar energy and delivers it directly to your home through its grid-tied output. Surplus energy is automatically stored for use during peak hours, at night, or in the event of a short-term outage.

How would a two-inverter system work?

That inverter would feed the main panel of the second structure. In essence, the two parallel inverters would form a sort of mini-grid feeding the solo inverter and providing their excess capacity when needed, and the solo inverter could become AC-coupled power to the two-inverter structure when needed.

Should a hybrid inverter have two sub panels?

Having two sub panels feed from the hybrid inverter might be more efficient use of resources. You could still have a less expensive inverter or micros at the other location to take advantage of the roof space for panels. I have a barn 175 feet away from my system.

Can a hybrid inverter hive two batteries?

As far as hving two batteries that may not be as efficient because of the large variation of energy consumed at each location. You would have to size each battery for the maximum load instead of sharing a battery that could be smaller than the sum of the two. Also hybrid inverter costs add to the equation.