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

Lemoncurd

I thought we had a great day today - best for a month, but our 3kWh from a 2.96kWp system seems nothing compared with some here! I've noticed that we do seem to be getting a lot of shading now that the sun is low, it didn't seem to be an issue from when they were installed in March through to Sept/Oct though.
In the first nine months we met the annual estimate on http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/ so doesn't seem all bad.

don0301

i believe winter is 20%(ish) of output

summer 80%(ish)

so dont worry about low sun now;)

Martyn1981

Monthly percentage of total generation.

This isn't particularly accurate and scribbling them down fast isn't very professional, but the best graphs I can find are all on sales companies web-sites, so don't want to post links.

Jan 3%
F 4%
M 8%
A 11%
M 13%
J 13.5%
J 13%
A 12.5%
S 9%
O 6%
N 3.5%
D 2%

Lots of roundings, so won't total 100%.

Traditionally September in UK very close to 8.5% so approx 1/12 of annual generation.

Shading will have a dramatic effect on autumn / winter months, so treat estimates with care, if relevant.

Mart.

Cardew

teachergirl wrote: »

Yes, directly south. In sunny Essex. .

I suspect the sun's reflection from all the white stilettos helps;)

John_Pierpoint

I think only people who actually live in low rainfall Essex are allowed to tell Essex jokes
just like Jews are allowd to tell the best Jewish jokes - after all this is multicultural PC Britain.

What is the difference between a bison and a buffalo ?
You cannot wash your hands in a buffalo !

jimjames

Just seen this thread and thought I'd add our numbers in. We're in North Kent, installed on 19 November so our first full month was December with 105kWh from a 3kWp system with SMA 3000 inverter. Yesterday was one of the best days so far with 7.3kWh which I was pleased with until I saw some of the other results here:D

Doc_N

jimjames wrote: »

Just seen this thread and thought I'd add our numbers in. We're in North Kent, installed on 19 November so our first full month was December with 105kWh from a 3kWp system with SMA 3000 inverter. Yesterday was one of the best days so far with 7.3kWh which I was pleased with until I saw some of the other results here:D

I wouldn't worry about it. A lot of it's related to the pitch of the roof - a steep roof tends to mean higher output in the winter. But a lower output in the summer. My roof has a lowish pitch, with very poor results at this time of the year, but it more than makes up for that in the summer months.

teachergirl

Cardew wrote: »

I suspect the sun's reflection from all the white stilettos helps;)

Naughty naughty Cardew. You are just jealous of my natural tan:p

jimjames

Doc_N wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it. A lot of it's related to the pitch of the roof - a steep roof tends to mean higher output in the winter. But a lower output in the summer. My roof has a lowish pitch, with very poor results at this time of the year, but it more than makes up for that in the summer months.

Our roof is quite steep so I guess I'll be one that gets less in the summer. Between the two options I think I'd prefer better summer performance as the numbers are so much higher!

jimjames

Just wondering as there are quite a few people here who are giving monthly outputs, would anyone be interested in providing their monthly readings to collate into a table showing performance vs location and installed kWp? I'm building the database on my website for our panels and it would make for an interesting comparison to see how much variation there is between different systems.