Journey to a Self-Sustaining Home

Project Title

Journey to a Self-Sustaining Home

System Stats

Application: On-Grid; Solar and battery storage for blackout proofing and energy independence

Location: King Lake (Taungurong Country), Vic

Installed: Aug, 2019

Key Suppliers: Selectronic, BYD, REC, Fronius, Victron, Clenergy

Objectives & Site Considerations

The grid around King Lake West is extremely unreliable – with regular 12 to 40 hour blackouts – so having reliable blackout proofing was extremely important for Katherine. An AusNet restriction to 10kW inverter capacity would also need to be factored in to the system design.

System Design

• Selectronic SP Pro Inverter/Charger (5kW)
• REC 320W Solar Modules (12.16kW)
• Fronius Primo 5.0 Solar Inverter
• Victron SmartSolar Solar Charge Controller
• BYD B-Box 10.0 LV PRO Batteries (20.4kWh)
• Selectronic Select.Live Online Remote Monitoring
• Roof Mounted Solar Framing

Project Outcome

The system provides full house blackout protection (including water pump, hot water, heating, even plug-in hybrid electric car charging) for long periods. It is designed to use the grid as a backup – in the same way an off grid system would use a fuel generator. To accommodate for AusNet’s restrictions, half the solar is DC coupled directly to the batteries and cannot export to the grid.

Until recently Katherine has bought almost no electricity from the grid and has seamlessly ridden through a number of blackouts.

“I didn’t even notice the blackout until I got a text from AusNet about it… …I would have had to go to work twice without having a shower without the system… …[The system] hasn’t missed a beat”

Katherine’s home was featured as a case study in Issue 152 of Renew Magazine.

https://renew.org.au/renew-magazine/

And was also featured at Sustainable House Day in 2020

https://sustainablehouseday.com/listing/solar-battery-kinglake-west-house/

Katherine even put together a wonderful video describing her experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ81LhYWhEM&t=3s