Building an "off grid" facility ran off large 3 phase genny. Need batteries and inverter thoughts.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Have I missed something here?, it would cost too much to run electricity to the property (fair enough), but it's viable to run gas to the property?, or are you talking about trucking gas (or indeed diesel) to the property long term.

A friend of mine bought a fairly big generator from an auction a number of years back, I can't remember the size but it was pretty substantial, and was a two stroke diesel. It came from an American Airforce base in the UK - and was presumably sized to power the entire base?. I remember at the time we decided it was big enough to power the town we were in, about 15,000 people.

He sold it quite easily, and made a decent profit.

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How big is such a generator?

Take a look at www.xantrex.com for inverter/charger/generator stuff.

Battery charging may only be for a certain chemistry though.

I don't see anything higher voltage than 24V? At the capacities I am talking about, I really need to be pushing the voltage up which should reduce costs everywhere. Wire, electrics, etc. I haven't really chased an inverter yet but never seen one offered in the USA that is actually affordable. Its pretty ridiculous to see a $5000 inverter for 5KW when I can get a complex 50HP, 3p, 480V VFD for $1000 or less. Inverter price is just a little nutty.

I am still looking at battery options. I cannot even understand the stuff from China. No clue what is being offered. They say "set", but what in the world is that and what is the price? I highly doubt I will anything that makes financial sense in the USA.