This two-storey home in Liberia has five bedrooms and two bathrooms, with household loads including refrigeration, lighting and air conditioning. Sunchees supplied a system built around twelve 600W panels, a 10kW split-phase inverter and one 51.2V 300Ah lithium battery. That gives the project a 7.2kWp rooftop array and approximately 15.36kWh of nominal battery storage. The recorded on-site installation period was two days, with completion on Dec 1, 2024.

The Liberia installation includes a metal-roof PV array, Sunchees inverter and battery equipment, PV combiner and electrical protection equipment.

Why Costa Rican homes combine solar, storage and the grid

Costa Rica's Law 10086 provides a national framework for renewable distributed-energy resources. A household can use rooftop generation on site, while an eligible interconnected system can also send surplus electricity to the distribution network. ARESEP explains that a distributed generator can still draw electricity from the grid when solar production is low or household demand is higher than current generation. Its revised access-charge method calculates the charge on self-generated electricity rather than total household consumption.

For a home in Liberia, this creates a practical three-part energy decision. The panels serve daytime demand when solar energy is available; the battery moves part of that energy into the evening; and the grid can cover demand beyond the available solar and stored energy when the installation is interconnected. In this case, the 7.2kWp array, 15.36kWh nominal battery and 10kW split-phase inverter address those three roles separately.

Project at a glance

How the system fits this five-bedroom home

The twelve rooftop panels supply electricity during sunny hours, while the battery stores part of that energy for the evening. The 10kW split-phase inverter allows the home to serve ordinary lighting and socket circuits alongside larger household equipment such as air conditioners or a water pump, subject to the final circuit design.

The 15.36kWh battery is large enough to make evening use meaningful without implying that every appliance can run all night. As a simple planning example, a combined 2kW load could run for about 5.5 hours after allowing for an 80% usable battery window and 90% conversion efficiency. Fewer active air conditioners would extend that time; heavier cooling or pumping loads would shorten it.

Planning a similar home in Liberia

For another Liberia home, the most useful starting point is the last twelve months of electricity use, the number and power rating of the air conditioners, any water pump, and the appliances that should remain available after sunset. We use those figures to decide whether the array, inverter and battery should be smaller, similar or larger than this installation. See our 10kW split-phase reference system or contact Sunchees with the property details.

Frequently asked questions

What was installed at this Liberia home?

The project combines twelve 600W panels, a 10kW split-phase inverter and one 51.2V 300Ah lithium battery. The panels provide 7.2kWp of rooftop capacity and the battery provides approximately 15.36kWh of nominal storage.

How long could the battery support evening use?

With an assumed 80% usable window and 90% conversion efficiency, a steady 2kW combined load corresponds to roughly 5.5 hours. Actual time changes with the air conditioners, pumps and other appliances running at the same time.

Why was a split-phase inverter used?

Split-phase output can serve lower-voltage household circuits and suitable higher-voltage equipment from the same system. The final settings and circuit allocation follow the home's incoming supply and distribution board.

What information is needed for a similar home?

Share the electricity-use history, main appliance ratings, number of air conditioners, water-pump details and the hours of evening use you want to cover. Those figures determine the appropriate panel, inverter and battery size.

Sources

• Costa Rica Legal Information System: Law 10086
• ARESEP: revised methodology for distributed solar generation
• ICE: distributed generation
• Sunchees: 10kW split-phase reference system