Hey everyone! I have a grid-tied 13.5kW Enphase solar system on my roof fitted with IQ8 microinverters. The power company pays me $0.04/kWh, but I have to pay $0.13/kWh for the energy I pull from them—it's not a good deal at all! I'm currently waiting for the installation company to help me understand how to monitor the system more effectively. I've been looking into adding batteries for storage but got a shocking quote of $30-35k for the Enphase battery setup. Since I believe having batteries could help minimize my reliance on the grid, I'm considering connecting an EG4 6000XP, which I understand is an off-grid system. Here's my confusion: can I just use the 6000XP with the Gridboss to manage everything? What's the cheapest way to integrate batteries without adding more solar panels? How exactly would I set this up?
2 Answers
To add batteries to your existing solar setup with the Gridboss, keep in mind that you need a battery inverter that has a higher capacity than your solar inverter system. So, using the FlexBoss is a good idea here because it pairs well with the Gridboss. Also, remember that you can't use off-grid inverters like the EG4 6000XP with Gridboss; instead, you'll want a UL-listed grid-interactive battery inverter. This setup will definitely help you optimize your energy use without overspending!
The cheapest way to add batteries to your system would likely be using the FlexBoss 18 along with Gridboss. Unfortunately, the off-grid EG4 inverters won’t work with it. For around $5-6k, you can get the FlexBoss and Gridboss combo. After that, you could consider getting 48V batteries; for example, around $9k could get you 50kWh of Eco Worthy server rack batteries. Factor in some tax credits, and you're looking at about $15k total!
Thanks a lot for the info!