BajaNomad

Anyone have a solar system in Baja that is connected on grid with CFE?

CortezBlue - 11-26-2014 at 06:08 PM

I am considering installing some solar panels to offset some of my CFE bills

I am curious how it works in Mexico. Is it a true credit for energy created?

What do you have to do to get CFE to add the system to the grid?

What does CFE charge to do the hook up?

Are there any "gotchas" by CFE?

I am only down in San Felipe part time and hardly between July and September. How long can I add up credits or is it a month to month thing, "use it or loose it?"

Thanks in advance

Mula - 11-26-2014 at 06:31 PM

Alicia Malone in Lopez Mateos claims to be connected to the CFE grid with her solar system.

Grid Tie System

bajaguy - 11-26-2014 at 06:33 PM

Cortez

I am having a grid tie system installed in January by a firm here in Ensenada

The contractor is Electrosolar of Ensenada, and comes highly recommended by several people who have used their service.

I will attempt to answer your questions based on my situation

I am curious how it works in Mexico. Is it a true credit for energy created?
.......you use the energy you produce. If you use more, you pay CFE the difference. If you use less, you are credited to your account

What do you have to do to get CFE to add the system to the grid?
.......our contractor is handling all the inspections and permits needed by CFE. I would imagine that a DIY system would need their engineering approval.

What does CFE charge to do the hook up?
........There is no charge to "hook up". After the install of the solar equipment, CFE installs a new grid-tie meter (this was included in my cost). There is a slight monthly "fee" (50-70 pesos per billing cycle )to be connected to the CFE grid.

Are there any "gotchas" by CFE?
..........not that I am aware of, and I have not been told of any by people who have been connected for some time........but it is Mexico, YMMV

I am only down in San Felipe part time and hardly between July and September. How long can I add up credits or is it a month to month thing, "use it or loose it?"
............credits are banked for a year in your "credit account". If you produce less electricity than you use, they take credits first to make up the billing difference. I did not ask if it was a rolling year, a calendar year or some type of a fiscal year.

We are in a similar situation and we are away from Baja from May to October. The only power consumption is 2 refrigerators.....I am expecting a zero billing from CFE for the time we are here actually "using" power.

If you need any other info, let me know




CortezBlue - 11-26-2014 at 07:00 PM

Great Info

It just seems to make sense to collect as much credit as I can in the summer and have some time to chew them up while we are down. Where is live in San Felipe, we get a 50% discount in the summer months, but it goes back to normal in the fall/winter/spring.

Keep the board updated as your system goes in, I would love to hear about how it is going.

Also, can you give me an idea of how many KW you are putting in and what it is costing?

Solar

bajaguy - 11-26-2014 at 07:16 PM

We are initially installing six 250w panels, racks, wiring, parts, labor and an upgraded inverter, plus CFE inspection and permits for $5K.

The upgraded inverter will allow us to have up to a total of 14 250w panels. In the event of a CFE blackout, this inverter will also supply up to 1500w of power during daylight hours (no batteries) and will prevent electrical backflow into the CFE system until CFE comes back on line.

I'm not sure how this all would work in SF. You would have to check with CFE or a solar installer

[Edited on 11-27-2014 by bajaguy]

Inverter

bajaguy - 11-26-2014 at 08:00 PM

Patch.......don't know the name or mfg yet, but it is made in Germany

bajaguy - 11-26-2014 at 09:17 PM

Patch......I'll check on that. I think he said they were made in Germany and burroembled in the US...but not sure

burroembled = a-s-s-embled.........hahaha

Quote: Originally posted by soulpatch  
Must be SMA and with the room to grow you are planning I am guessing This Group

I haven't spent much time looking at those string inverters since it seems like everyone here is in love with the module level inverters since you can monitor them individually... which I like, too, but I am not married to it.
Very cool!



[Edited on 11-27-2014 by bajaguy]

Fernweh - 11-27-2014 at 07:40 AM

I am installing a grid tie solar system in the coming weeks by myself.
11 x 270W Solarworld panels with Enphase micro inverters. Each panel gets its own small inverter (plug in), and all the inverters are plugged into a special Enphase cable.
The cable is terminated at a 20A 2-pole circuit breaker at your load center.
Very easy and simple installation.
This solar system only provides power when connected to the CFE grid. I am just interested to cut my CFE bill for the summer months, trying to stay in their lowest allotment rate.
Any extra produced electrical power will be credited to you, and you have 11 month to use that credit up.

I have attached some CFE forms and info in Espanol




Attachment: CONTRATO PARA SIST FOT BT.pdf (221kB)
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Attachment: FORMATOS PARA CONTRATO DE INTERCONEXION.pdf (114kB)
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Attachment: CONTRATO PARA SIST FOT BT.pdf (221kB)
This file has been downloaded 496 times

Attachment: FORMATOS PARA CONTRATO DE INTERCONEXION.pdf (114kB)
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CortezBlue - 11-27-2014 at 12:09 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Fernweh  
I am installing a grid tie solar system in the coming weeks by myself.
11 x 270W Solarworld panels with Enphase micro inverters. Each panel gets its own small inverter (plug in), and all the inverters are plugged into a special Enphase cable.
The cable is terminated at a 20A 2-pole circuit breaker at your load center.
Very easy and simple installation.
This solar system only provides power when connected to the CFE grid. I am just interested to cut my CFE bill for the summer months, trying to stay in their lowest allotment rate.
Any extra produced electrical power will be credited to you, and you have 11 month to use that credit up.





I have attached some CFE forms and info in



Very cool
If you have any further documentation/schematics, I would love to look at them

Also, did you file the documentation with cfe?















meme - 11-27-2014 at 12:33 PM

Fernweh & Cortez Blue
These systems are new but are available here in San Felipe A Baja Battery & Solar. The house we live in during summer has electric but they have solar also tho not the newest ones with plug in inverters. The CFE bills are really low in summer for sure. The CFE bill-- usually the highest one is only about $30 for the months of August & Sept. Usually range around $20 or less sometimes. We have had bills even less while living there. Our own home is solar & we have lived on solar since 1985.

DENNIS - 11-27-2014 at 03:08 PM




Yeah...my buddy is an installer here and he watches the operation of a client, on the net, thirty miles away.

Fernweh - 11-27-2014 at 03:51 PM

Quote: Originally posted by DENNIS  



Yeah...my buddy is an installer here and he watches the operation of a client, on the net, thirty miles away.


I rather see the solar panel output from 50' away, than any operation of a client:)

akbear - 11-28-2014 at 09:06 PM

I just got my new digital meter installed by CFE. I have a 7, 250 watts panel system installed by BCS Green Tech here in Los Barriles.
It has the enphase Envoy monitoring system hooked up to the Internet. I can watch my kWh production in house & also connect for reports daily, monthly. Nice system.

nastalgia - 11-29-2014 at 04:26 AM

Alicia here,
CFE connection to their grid has no cost other than purchasing a bi-directional meter from CFE. It's cost is $935.00 pesos. The paperwork required is formato 1, a copy of your CFE bill, a printed google earth location of the place you intend to install the system. Copies of spec sheets of the panels, GTI, three completed contracts for co-generation completed with the information from CFE, a drawing of your installed system, a copy of your resident ID card whatever type it might be. You will need to have a dedicated breaker that the CFE has access to in case of problems. Once installed it will need to be inspected by CFE after which a code will be issued to your CFE account which will enable the meter reader to input both consumption code 1.8.0 and production code 2.8.0. Once it is up and running your meter will show two readings as such. Then the next bill will show two meter readings. Accumulative throughout the year. The production is given as KW for KW credit in your account. I commonly have a 3000 KW credit on my account. Then in July when I turn on all my air conditioners the consumption is deducted from what has been credited to your account. It is not a difficult process. If you need more information drop me a line at nastalgia@hughes.net.

Alm - 11-29-2014 at 05:43 AM

Quote: Originally posted by soulpatch  
What kind of inverter/inverters are they using? Every grid tied inverter I am aware of, which means nothing, won't function without grid power. They automatically shut down so they don't create islanding issues.

There are 2 parts in this type of inverter: inverter and solar charger.

Solar charger part doesn't "shut down" and doesn't really care whether there is any grid. It outputs DC power that you can use (in absence of batteries) in daytime, as others noted. With batteries you can use the accumulated power in nighttime as well, so it pays keeping a pair of cheap 6V golfcart batts. This is a no-brainer.

Inverter part inverts DC into AC for your use in daytime, and synchronizes this AC with the grid and dumps the "net" balance of power into grid when there is such a balance. This part "might" shut-down when grid fails, though - AFAIK - it is designed to disconnect from the grid when this happens.

Being disconnected from the grid doesn't mean "shut-down". You should still be able to get DC from the solar (or from battery if you have it), and AC inverted from that DC. This is a limited amount of power, you might not be able to run airconditioner on it, but everything else you could.

There are several grid-tie brands. SMA, Schneider, Outback, to name a few. Haven't looked into this yet. No need.

[Edited on 11-29-2014 by Alm]

CortezBlue - 11-29-2014 at 10:06 AM

Some REALLY GREAT information from you Techno Mexicanos

Question, has anyone taken panels across the border or purchased down in Mexico.

If you pulled them across the border, did you pay taxes or just drive thru?

Panels

bajaguy - 11-29-2014 at 10:50 AM

Cortez

I guess you only pay if you get caught. Not sure of the rate if you declare

Our contractor (Electrosolar) in Ensenada is providing the panels

Alm - 11-29-2014 at 03:01 PM

Quote: Originally posted by CortezBlue  

Question, has anyone taken panels across the border or purchased down in Mexico.

If you pulled them across the border, did you pay taxes or just drive thru?

Yes, 15%. Typical 250W panel is 5ft long, 3.5ft wide, I wouldn't imagine concealing a pile of them.

The market is changing rapidly, but it's still usually cheaper buying in CA during one of your trips and paying tax, then buying it in Mexico. Many solar stores won't charge sales tax if you pre-pay by credit card. I know that Solar Blvd in Norco doesn't, and neither does Blue Pacific Solar in Sacramento. There is more choice NOB, you can choose the frame type and color, or polycrystalline vs mono, or higher voltage.

nastalgia - 11-30-2014 at 08:05 AM

Having brought a good number of solar panels across the border for lots of folks
here in Baja I typically have a pallet of between 15 and 22 panels. I declare them and they charge me about 1000 pesos duty for the pallet. The receipt for import taxes paid keeps
it all legal in the mind of the Mexican government. Let's all be good examples of complying
with the laws of the country we live in by choice.

Alm - 11-30-2014 at 04:54 PM

A good point, Nastalgia. With each panel being 2" thick, a stack of 15 panels on the pallet is higher than the pickup sides. Declare and pay the tax, you can't hide this pile anyway ;)

1000 pesos tax for 15 panels is darn cheap, considering 30,000 pesos total cost at NOB prices. Though they charge more when you only bring 5-6 panels.