This newly built off-grid cabin was being powered by a 15kW standby generator. It provided enough power to cover the owner's needs, but it was very loud and had to run continuously to have electricity in the cabin. We designed a system that would power the entire cabin via solar year round, allowing for quiet and peaceful mountain getaways.

We installed eight 590W bifacial solar panels on adjustable angle racking; great for optimizing solar production in both the summer and the winter. Two 100A solar charge controllers were installed to allow for up to four more solar panels to be installed if needed, without having to run additional wires from the array to the rest of the system. Two 5,000W inverters in parallel combine for up to 10,000W of available power at 120/240V, enough to power multiple large appliances simultaneously and the 240V well pump. Eight 48V lithium iron phosphate batteries store solar energy during the day then provide that energy to the cabin at night.

The existing generator was connected to the system and was programmed to automatically start and charge the batteries if they ever get too low. A separate 100W solar panel and battery charger were installed to keep the generator battery topped off at all times, independent of the main system. This ensures that the generator is always ready to start automatically or manually, and is wired for inverter bypass and can directly power the cabin if needed.

To allow for remote monitoring and troubleshooting, we installed a Cerbo GX communication hub and a separate, low-energy inverter that powers the networking equipment 24/7. This allows the owners to monitor the system, and keep an eye on the cabin from home with their security cameras. A local touchscreen display also shows the system information in real-time.

This cabin is now setup for clean, renewable, and reliable power for many years to come!