BYD is the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries.

Those three letters stand for Build Your Dreams and apparently their dream was to build a battery box and sell it for storage in grid-tie solar systems because that’s exactly what they’re doing with their B-box battery systems.

There are 2 product lines – the High Voltage1 (HV) and Low Voltage (LV) B-Boxes, each in a variety of storage capacities.

The one most likely to be used for home energy storage is the B-Box LV Residential, which comes in 4 sizes.  The smallest being the B-Box 2.5 with 2.45 kilowatt-hours of usable storage and the biggest, the B-Box 10 with 9.8 usable kilowatt-hours.
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The B-Box batteries pack more power per kilowatt-hour of storage than almost any other system.  BYD batteries are lithium iron phosphate, which is the safest lithium chemistry. 

BYD has confirmed a retail price for the B-Box 10 - $9,950 including GST

BYD is huge
BYD is a massive Chinese company headquartered in Shenzhen, a city of 12 million immediately north of Hong Kong.  Many people have not heard of BYD despite it being bigger than Tesla2. 
BYD has around 220,000 employees and a market capitalization of about $22 billion.  

BYD manufactures batteries, LED lights, solar panels, trains, and monorails.

They don’t just produce more batteries than Tesla3, they produce the most rechargeable batteries in the world.

Solar panels produce DC electricity, so they need to be fed through an inverter to convert the power to AC electricity to be used in a grid-connected solar power system.
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There are two main types of inverters:   

​Power Spout is made in New Zealand
The PowerSpout is one of the greatest little water turbines in the renewable energy sector because of its high power output and low purchase and maintainance cost.
 
One of these little units can power a modern house on the right site. Hydro energy sites in Nelson Tasman and thru out NZ
Even a small stream can generate consistent, clean, dam free, renewable electricity at a price per Watt lower than solar or wind.
 
The beauty of these is you can connect them in series to make large amounts of power if you have a good flow in your stream.  They are ruggedly made to last a long time and weather resistant.  The small (18 inches wide), ALL WEATHER PowerSpout is one of the most reliable, cost-effective generators around.  
 
Years of research and development have gone into these water turbines to bring you cost effective power to your house.

​​Stand alone power systems (SAPS)
In situations where there is no connection to the electricity network an alternative power system is a viable option. 
Sometimes connecting to the main grid network can cost as much $25,000 per kilometre, a stand alone power system can be an attractive economic alternative.
 
Backing up your stand alone power system
Because Off-Grid systems are obviously NOT connected to the electricity network, some form of back-up generation and energy storage is required. 
We would advise an industrial diesel generator is an essential component for any alternative power system for when there is not enough sun/wind or water.

What's the return?.... One of the first questions that you ask when considering a grid-tie solar system.

Solar energy is a source that will supply electricity, long term, with NO continuous financial input, NO environmental impact & it is something that will not effect your lifestyle - it is an exciting investment!

It is possible to value an investment in grid-tie solar in a way that makes it comparable to other types of investments.
 
YOU CAN ACHIEVE COMPELLING INVESTMENT RETURNS RIGHT NOW!
A grid-tie solar system produces a return on a number of levels: the obvious is the immediate saving of reduced electricity bills. Then there is the capital value increase of your property and of course the cumulative effect of increased return with the inflation of energy costs.

Any extra power you make above what you use is bought back by your electricity provider at these rates, (rates are correct on 28th May 2015)

The largest solar electricity system in the region has been installed at Kimi Ora Eco Resort in Kaiteriteri.

A north-facing hillside behind the resort is covered with 256 square metres of solar panels, which are expected to produce 59,000 kilowatt-hours per year, enough to power eight average homes.

Resort manager Aaron Dunbar said that because the majority of the power produced would be consumed on-site, the savings should mount up quickly.

The $110,000 40-kilowatt system is expected to pay for itself in savings in 6.4 years.

The grid-tied system can feed back to the national power grid but most of the power it produces will be sucked up by the demands of the busy 23-unit resort.

"That's where the savings are because the power company only gives you half of what they charge you," said Dunbar.

He said the resort's winter power bills averaged about $5000 and in summer were about $3000.

The system had long been a dream of Kimi Ora's owner, Dietmar Glaser, who is Dunbar's father-in-law.

"He's always been far ahead of others in his ideas and he loves this sort of stuff. It also fits the image of the eco-resort," said Dunbar.

Glaser spent a month clearing the steep hillside of gorse and scrub and then Kimi Ora staff built the timber frames that the panels are mounted on.

The solar system & installation was provided by Nelson company, Current Generation.

Current Generation installation foreman Shane Naughton said because of worldwide demand bringing down the cost of solar panels, the cost of solar installations was about a third of what it was five years ago.

Company owner Arny Ahnfeldt said he had seen a lot more interest in solar over the past three years and that a average 3 kw system cost about $10,000 fully installed, which would provide about half the power for an average home, it was still a "significant investment".

He believed the 40-kilowatt system was the largest in Nelson/Tasman and one of the largest in the country. A 17-kilowatt system in Collingwood was probably the area's next largest.​

BASICS
​Solar power is the technology of harnessing usable energy from the sun. Solar panels are made up of photovoltaic (PV) cells. A module is a group of cells electrically connected and packaged in one frame. PV cells are composed of special materials called semiconductors, most commonly silicon. When energy in the form of heat from the sun is added to the silicon, it causes electrons to break free from their orbit around the nuclei of the silicon atoms. These atoms are left with a positive charge, while the electrons carry a negative charge. The electrons, or free carriers, carry an electrical current. The free carriers roam around until they find atoms lacking an electron and then fall into the orbit of these atoms. The electric field surrounding the solar cells acts as a diode allowing electrons to flow in a certain direction. This flow is an electrical current. When using metal on the top and bottom of the cells, we can direct that current to be usable outside of the panel.

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ENERGY STORAGE
 
A solar power system requires an energy storage unit called a battery in order to use the energy obtained throughout the day. 
The use of batteries requires a charge controller. The charge controller ensures that the batteries are not overcharged during the day or drained too much at night. Once the battery has been drained down to a certain level, the controller will not allow more current to be drained in order to protect the battery from damage.