Grid-tie system with primary off-grid battery charging

[riccol1966]

Hi, have googled most of the site and could not see the answer, so apologies if this has been asked and answered before. I have a small 12Volt off-grid system, with a hybrid wind/solar max of 1.6Kw feeding my 1080aH battery bank. My next step is a larger grid-tie solar system, I want it to power my batteries first, and then dump to the grid if it senses the batteries are full. This way, I always have optimum battery power, and get paid for the excess also.

Has anyone got experience of such a set-up, or is is even possible ?

[Tritium]

That is the way most if not all grid tie inverters that are battery backed work. The grid is in effect your dump load. Outback and Xantrex both have suitable models for this task.

Thurmond

[spinningmagnets]

(I'm still learning)

I believe the term for getting paid for electricity put into the grid is "net metering".

I "think" some grid ties only use the grid to keep the battery from dropping below 50% to prevent the battery damage that can occur from repeated deep dicharges.

[dlenox]

spinningmagnets has it right, it is referred to as 'net-metering'

you will not get paid for any power put into the utility grid!  in my area the utility company will credit my account for any excess power I put into the grid, but I have to either use those credits (revolving 12 month period) or loose them.

your area may be different, call your utility and check.

Dan Lenox