OT: Ping EE's: Connecting to The Grid

That might be against Federal Law.

I do recall many years ago with this started, perhaps the 70s, Congress enacted laws forcing power companies to buy back uploaded energy.

Leo,

Governing legislation may vary by state. Many years ago, Live Steam ran an article about an induction generator of the type your neighbor has. It featured an ordinary induction motor ran by a steam engine. It was connected through the (single) residential watt-hour-meter to the grid. According to the article it would cause the watt-hour-meter to slow and then run backwards as the load was picked up.

Bob Swinney

"Robert Swinney" wrote: . (clip)Grid-tie residential systems have a watt-hour-meter connected from

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Why do you need an additional meter? If I understand correctly, when you are "selling" power back to the utility, your meter runs backwards.

BTW, a friend/neighbor has this kind of a system. His system reduces his electric bill, but PG & E does not pay him if he ever puts out enough in a given month to produce a negative balance. They "keep the change."

Keeping the change - hum m

I'd say they should at the very least then keep a credit. e.g. you build up over the winter time and use credit over the summer. Otherwise it is theft of product or service by themselves.

Mart> Leo,

article about an

induction motor ran by a

watt-hour-meter to the grid.

run backwards as the

Well, a lot depends on what the generator actually is.

Not quite that simple, nor as complicated as you might think. FOr a mechanical rotating SYNCHRONOUS machine, and a (relatively) stiff grid, power flow is largely controlled by trying to vary the speed (frequency), and var flow by trying to control the voltage.

Again, it depends on what the source technology is. A rotating machine will not have any shunt you "dump" to.

Sounds like you are assuming a DC source. For that you have to use an inverter to connect. One that your utility will consider suitable, will already have this handled, and will have built in all of the required over and under voltage, over and under frequency, ground fault detection, and anti islanding protection. IF you try to go an other route, then you would have to provide all of that separately.

jk

And I still run into those two bulb systems frequently, but because they can not tell if your incoming machine is slow or fast, they usually have a synchrosocpe as well.

It is indeed a safe (and self testing) system, at least when proven out during an initial commissioning.

jk

I think the bigger issue is, Will the Sierra Club let you interfere with the migratory pigeons by putting up a Windmill. gary