Solar PV – Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Martyn1981 · 1 April 2012 at 4:49PM

Just to say, I've tidied up the main post, and deleted some of my subsequent posts concerning amendments. I think it's about as good as it's going to get at this stage. But please let me know of any useful threads that can be added, as and when they evolve. Cheers.

Thanks for all help and suggestions.

Just 2 more quick questions please,

1. Section 5 on monitoring, can anyone suggest a good weather site to add, or are they all as good/bad as each other.

2. Section 7 giving a brief explanation of PV kit, names, jobs etc. Can any installers, or clued up individuals let me know if that section is ok as a description of an average install? If not, suggested changes would be gratefully received.

Thanks again.

Mart.

EricMears · 1 April 2012 at 6:09PM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

,

1. Section 5 on monitoring, can anyone suggest a good weather site to add, or are they all as good/bad as each other.
Mart.

This one :-
http://www.metcheck.com

can be very good. It predicts actual %ge cloud cover and (for those of us collecting rainwater) the amount of precipitation in mms. Both of these are displayed for each 3hr period of the next couple of days.

However, its display can be a bit erratic in that it will work fine for a few hours (sometimes even days) but for no apparent reason then reports an error in a macro on the webpage and won't usually work again till I've disconnected and waited at least a few hours but often even longer. Metcheck do have an error reporting page but that has usually got me an automated reply vaguely promising to look into report & gt back to me but they never do.

orrery · 1 April 2012 at 7:43PM

EricMears wrote: »

This one :-
http://www.metcheck.com
....

However, its display can be a bit erratic in that it will work fine for a few hours (sometimes even days) but for no apparent reason then reports an error in a macro on the webpage and won't usually work again till I've disconnected and waited at least a few hours but often even longer.

I agree - I find it is unreliable to the point of being unusable.

zeupater · 1 April 2012 at 8:12PM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

.....

1. Section 5 on monitoring, can anyone suggest a good weather site to add, or are they all as good/bad as each other.....

Hi

No more accurate than any others but is probably easier to understand the output when relating to pv generation ....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=43373580&highlight=meteoblue#post43373580

HTH
Z

Martyn1981 · 1 April 2012 at 9:55PM

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

No more accurate than any others but is probably easier to understand the output when relating to pv generation ....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=43373580&highlight=meteoblue#post43373580

HTH
Z

Thanks all, regarding weather, I use the Norwegian Met Office, they were great, but late last year the predictions started to change dramatically as the future date got nearer. Seems that most sites have suffered the same problem. Maybe our weather is too erratic at the moment (apart from the last 10 days, wow!).

Think I'll just chuck in a suggestion to try some weather sites.

Z - that's a cool site, predicting generation. Fun and easy too. Reference going in on that one for sure. Cheers.

Mart.

KevinG · 1 April 2012 at 10:27PM

No longer relevant

sly_dog_jonah · 2 April 2012 at 5:31PM

KevinG wrote: »

This is a fascinating site for comparing your output with the expected output for the actual weather conditions recorded at your location:

http://solargis.info/pvspot/index.htm

You have to register first, it is surprisingly accurate.

(Thanks to supremetwo on the fool.co.uk Environmentally Green Fools board)

Seems very accurate for my system's performance. Our results to date have have always been within the narrow Low / High estimate range (which is about +/- 10%), and we are marginally higher than the Best estimate each period.

jimjames · 12 April 2012 at 1:32PM

Cardew wrote: »

The price of a unit(kWh)Electricity used in all these calculations is that approved by Ofgem and indeed the EST use that figure.

That figure is very 'convenient' for the companies to use(it is around 14p/kWh) as they can state truthfully that it is the approved figure.

It isn't the starting figure that I was referring to although clearly that does have an effect. The main issue was with some more dubious suppliers that were using an electricity price RPI figure of 15% for the 25 year period just because that was the most recent increase. Amazingly enough it gave an electricity cost of £3.70 per unit by year 25 with annual electricity savings alone of £6400 to justify their overpriced installation.

In comparison an RPI of 5% will give an electricity unit price of 40p by year 25 (vs £3.70 with 15% RPI) which shows how significant the use of overly high RPI can be for justifying the costs.

Martyn1981 · 12 April 2012 at 1:37PM

Are you happy with the small reference I added in:

1.3.(cont)

Anybody got any additions, or spotted any posts/threads to be added?

Cheers.

Mart.

Edit: PS, thread has had a fair number of reads, so hopefully it's working, if only to help put people to sleep at night!

drefaldwyn · 3 July 2012 at 5:19PM

I am presently an npower customer (with whom I also have my FIT agreement - since Oct 2011) and am considering changing my supplier as part of my annual review of energy prices.

Is anyone aware of any pitfalls that I should look out for?

Will I have problems transferring my FIT?

Can I leave my FIT arrangements with npower and take my "normal" energy from another supplier?

Any comments/advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

Solar PV – Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

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