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

celerity

I use an Eon / CurrentCost energy monitor and it consistently shows 16W for my solar panels at night.

My November stats up to the 27th:



We have a 3.91kWp system installed in Cambridgeshire since April and so far it has consistently performed well above expectation, apart from August. More stats on my website.

/\dam

Otis_VR

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

It's probably just as(/more) likely that it's orientation and location .... even a few miles could make a considerable difference if there's a break in the clouds in one location but not the other, especially so at this time of year ....

HTH
Z

I see what you're saying, but after two almost perfect days (clear sky, sun etc.) in the last week, I was hoping to get more than 4 kWh produced. I'm predicted to average 3 and a bit a day for the month, so I was expecting the good days to be better than that to offset the ones and twos.

Otis_VR

celerity wrote: »

I use an Eon / CurrentCost energy monitor and it consistently shows 16W for my solar panels at night.

My November stats up to the 27th:

We have a 3.91kWp system installed in Cambridgeshire since April and so far it has consistently performed well above expectation, apart from August. More stats on my website.

/\dam

Thanks for this. I think this confirms my hypothesis.

Having had a search around on the effects of partial shading, I suspect this is my problem. at least 6 of the panels have shading from the scaffolding, which is probably halving production at the moment.

I shall hold a waiting brief at the moment, and revisit once the scaffolders have been and removed their wares.

zeupater

Otis_VR wrote: »

I see what you're saying, but after two almost perfect days (clear sky, sun etc.) in the last week, I was hoping to get more than 4 kWh produced. I'm predicted to average 3 and a bit a day for the month, so I was expecting the good days to be better than that to offset the ones and twos.

Hi

November has been horrendous to date - we've acheived just over 25kWh/kWp .... which is lower than your figures, so don't worry too much ....

We'll see just how bad it's been in a couple of days time when the Met-office update their sunshine data for the month ... I wouldn't be surprised if we'll be in the 50%-70% of average band in our area, probably something quite similar to (/worse than) October 2005 or August this year ... (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomacts/)

HTH
Z

furndire

122 this month - well below last year. November may have been a warm month, its the cloud that has been keeping it warmer & not allowing the sun shine - roll on January Febuary colder months, but hopefully the sun will shine.

orrery

zeupater wrote: »

November has been horrendous to date - we've acheived just over 25kWh/kWp .... which is lower than your figures, so don't worry too much

What is the normal spread on specific annual yield? This isn't a measure that I've got my head round yet.

My Sunny Delight is telling me that I've achieved about 300 kWh/kWp which is strangely different to the figure you quote, and we've only been up and running for a few weeks. I've just checked and I've got the kWp set correctly.

Yut_Man

I have got 120kWh for this month (first month running) it is a 3.33kW system. I got a expected forcast of 100kWH for november so it looks well ahead of forcast. Its been very variable, 8kWh on one day 300 watts the next.

Otis_VR

Otis_VR wrote: »

Thanks for this. I think this confirms my hypothesis.

Having had a search around on the effects of partial shading, I suspect this is my problem. at least 6 of the panels have shading from the scaffolding, which is probably halving production at the moment.

I shall hold a waiting brief at the moment, and revisit once the scaffolders have been and removed their wares.

Postscript:

The scaffolders finally appeared first thing today and took the climbing frame away. In full sun this morning (similar weather to my previous peak days), the OWL unit is reading well over 2300W production, which is nearly double the previous recorded peak of 1300W.

So looks like the scaffolding was having a major effect. I may run a like for like comparison in a week time to compare pre-and post-scaffold generation. (I feel a t-test coming on).

sjwajw

Just had solar installed with an ELSTER AS230 METER.
No instructions on how to read.
ELSTER will not or cannot produce an info guide.
Loads of readings when I press the button.
What do they all mean plse ?????

Otis_VR

sjwajw wrote: »

Just had solar installed with an ELSTER AS230 METER.
No instructions on how to read.
ELSTER will not or cannot produce an info guide.
Loads of readings when I press the button.
What do they all mean plse ?????

I have the same meter (installed 2 weeks ago) and had similar problems making sense out of it.

Left alone the my meter will cycle through four or so readings (date/time/etc.) along with a single reading of the format 0000016.1 etc. - this is the one that matches the output from the inverter in the loft, so this is the one I use to measure system output.

If you press the square button you cycle through lots of settings. One of these will match the reading above, but you get lots of others besides. I've given up trying to decode these and stick with the cycling value instead.