ASI Power Project Gallery
Grid connected gallery
Grid-connected hybrid (solar + wind) system
The Casa Autosuficiente exhibit at INBio Parque in Heredia is an example of a grid-connected, hybrid renewable energy system. As the name implies, a ‘hybrid’ system utilizes both solar and wind powered generation. Thus taking full advantage of solar resources during the day, and the dry season’s powerful wind, which often blow 24 hours per day. The term ‘grid-connected’ refers to a home or business with a clean, renewable energy generation system which is also connected to the local electricity distributor with a billing meter. A grid-connected system draws power first from the owner’s on-site panels, turbine or micro-hydro generator, and then draws power from the distributor’s network only if demand exceeds on-site production. Unlike ‘off-grid’ systems, these ‘grid-connected’ systems may or may not have batteries to store energy for later use or for use during utility power outages.
Currently grid connected customers are not approved to export their excess power into the distributor’s network, or if they do, they are charged for that power as if they had consumed it rather than donated it to the distributor!
In the future, government regulations may be reformed to allow grid-connection and the authorized export of excess electricity to the grid. This exported power will help the distributors to meet their energy supply requirements, will help stabilize voltages on the local network, and also serve to reduce the country’s oil-fired generation and resulting GHG (Green House Gases).
And, if the Costa Rican government approves the policy reforms we’re seeking, the distributors will be obligated to credit the exported power back to the customer at a later time in the billing cycle or even the next month’s billing cycle. In this way, the customer or auto-generator accrues a positive credit when the excess power exported, and retires the credits when their consumption again exceeds their own power production. The positive credits may be retired in the same day, or billing month or even the following billing period.
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