So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

free_juice?

jackieblack wrote: »

Another month end!
:j307kWh generated in June, 126.87% of prediction (down from 130% in March, 147% in April and 138% in May)
Total generation since installation 1445kWh, 123.263% of prediction:)

How about you, teachergirl? free juice? Equaliser123? mysterons? snowlad? Brummygit? Anyone?

Congratulations on your 127% Jackie.

June was disappointing here, it was either cloudy in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon or cloudy all day. Even on a generous interpretation only six days got near to a nice 'bell curve'. Nevertheless I scored 11% above prediction with exactly 400kWh.

The curious can see the complete breakdown here.

themaverick1953

My average daily output May and June here in east Yorkshire for a 3.96 kWp system (east facing) has been exactly 16 kWh.

furndire

April predicted 303 actual 503
May predicted 348 actual 466
June predicted 379 actual 466

figure for the first year 3709 KWh


Sorry, can't work out %
average 15.53 KWh per day in June



How coincidental is that to produce exactly the same KWh in May & June (one day more in May)

Because of my meter situation/problem ( https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/44683728#Comment_44683728 ),
I have been keeping a close check on the electric used, and in June I used 162.49 KWs average 5.41 KW a day & average 2.63 of those are overnight, when panels are not producing.

jackieblack

furndire wrote: »

April predicted 303 actual 503
May predicted 348 actual 466
June predicted 379 actual 466
Sorry, can't work out %

April predicted 303 actual 503 166%
May predicted 348 actual 466 133.9%
June predicted 379 actual 466 123%
:beer:

digitaltoast

kennyward wrote: »

i have had the pleasure of 180ltrs of constant solar thermal hot water designed, installed and by me truly

Not forgetting that your solar thermal system could be as much as 70% efficient (someone correct me if that's wrong) whereas you'd be very lucky to get an overall system efficiency of more than about 12% from your PV.

kennyward wrote: »

This is PV project is yet another attempt to distance myself and my bank balance from the greedy clutches of the theiving utility providers who have a strangle hold over the poor consumer.

Just one tiny point here - you are totally reliant on the "thieving" utility providers to take the money from the "solar poor" to give to you.
And you're reliant on using an MCS qualified installer and being part of "the system".

Unless you plan on going totally "off-grid", with no subsidies, in the UK. If that didn't end up costing many times more than being on the mains, you'd be a world first
Get in touch with CAT too - they've not managed to do it with £millions of research, funding, and some of the best brains on the case, so I'm sure they'd like to hear how you did it.

lanstrom

kennyward wrote: »

Any of you guys had a fitting done by TESCO? i have just had my survey for a 4KWh system and the guy who came was bang-on with the benefits of PV as a "NO_Brainer". I have to say i am rather excited by all the posotives that seem to have been posted. Any advice on wittleing down or haggeling the quote would be appreciated. Cant wait to start exporting for real!!!!!!!!

Kenny Ward "Newbee electricity producer"

I asked Tescos to do me a quote. They said they only do them Mon-Fri (9am-5pm). I tried to explain that I am at work during those hours as I have to earn the money to pay for the panels but she said that those are the ONLY times available as they don't do quotes outside those hours. I told her I am at the house at 5.15pm but she wouldn't budge.

If they can't be bothered to do evening quotes then I wont be using them ... thats for sure ! There's no way I am booking a day off just to get a quote.

Cardew

free_juice? wrote: »

The curious can see the complete breakdown here.

Your spreadsheets are amazing, a mine of information - and a great advert for the functionality of Excel!

The data certainly demonstrates how the generated output can vary within minutes.

lanstrom

free_juice? wrote: »

Congratulations on your 127% Jackie.

June was disappointing here, it was either cloudy in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon or cloudy all day. Even on a generous interpretation only six days got near to a nice 'bell curve'. Nevertheless I scored 11% above prediction with exactly 400kWh.

The curious can see the complete breakdown here.

Is all this data coming off the Sunny Webbox ?

If I had a system I would love an hour by hour brakedown of what I was producing

Cardew

ChrisJD wrote: »

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/465409/spanish_nighttime_solar_energy_fraud_unlikely_in_uk.html

"Spanish newspaper El Mundo found that between November and January, 4500 megawatt hours (MWh) of solar energy were sold to the electricity grid between midnight and seven in the morning.

It has been suggested that some plants in the regions of Castilla-La-Mancha, Canarias and Andaluc!a have been using diesel generators connected to their solar panel arrays to illegally benefit from government subsidies."

Sounds more like Southern Italy - Sicily perhaps;)

Let's compromise - an organisation from Sicily operating in Spain;)

zeupater

lanstrom wrote: »

Is all this data coming off the Sunny Webbox ?

If I had a system I would love an hour by hour brakedown of what I was producing

Hi

With SMA systems (Sunnyboy) you don't need a SunnyWebbox to extract the data. The inverter compiles & stores daily data in 5 minute intervals which can be downloaded to a PC using free software from SMA (SunnyExplorer), you can then import the data to a spreadsheet for onward analysis. You also have the option to have a remote monitor from SMA (SunnyBeam) which also stores the inverter data and can be linked to a PC via USB to download the data.

After the initial 'new toy' period you will probably find that an occasional look at the SunnyBeam, if you have one, is all you would be doing .....

HTH
Z