Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

Oscargrouch

What a difference a day makes...1.4 O's today..:eek::(...

legoman62

1.425 O's here today....and gallons of rain:mad::(
New worst day of the month!:eek:

1961Nick

legoman62 wrote: »

1.425 O's here today....and gallons of rain:mad::(
New worst day of the month!:eek:

Showing off again.

A miserable 1.02 O’s here today:(

1961Nick

What’s happened to Merlin?

I hope he’s not been captured by animal rights activists after he murdered that squirrel!

Oscargrouch

Better day today with A/an Hawaii on the snowt...

legoman62

Oscargrouch wrote: »

Better day today with A/an Hawaii on the snowt...

So close here. 4.975 O's yesterday:D

mrmmhf

Our solar 6.16kW PV array has been up for four months and I thought it was a good time to have a look at their performance providing an unbiased report, based on real life experiences, illustrating power output on overcast, rainy and sunny days in the UK. We also take a look at our SolarEdge inverter.

I am concerned about our consumption, but we’ve generated 3.2MW in four months.

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/wsyPOzZkKNY

More information on our array and inverter is available here: https://myhomefarm.co.uk/solar-pv-and-inverter-review

Would be very interested to hear comments and how our array compares to yours.

Will also start to post performance outputs here.

Martyn1981

mrmmhf wrote: »

Our solar 6.16kW PV array has been up for four months and I thought it was a good time to have a look at their performance providing an unbiased report, based on real life experiences, illustrating power output on overcast, rainy and sunny days in the UK. We also take a look at our SolarEdge inverter.

I am concerned about our consumption, but we’ve generated 3.2mW in four months.

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/wsyPOzZkKNY

More information on our array and inverter is available here: https://myhomefarm.co.uk/solar-pv-and-inverter-review

Would be very interested to hear comments and how our array compares to yours.

Will also start to post performance outputs here.

Cool. :cool:

I'm not a fan of pedantry when everyone knows what you mean, but since you're going global, can I just point out that mW is milliwatts, I think you mean MW as in megawatts, but also it needs to be MWh as energy, not MW which is power.

Hope no offence is taken, fantastic news.

Also, in case you are wondering, we use a made up joke name for kWh/kWp so as to compare our generation after taking system size into account, we call them O's (short for Oscars, as Oscargrouch raised the issue), but remember nobody outside of this thread has a clue what an O is.

All the best, and here's looking towards the next milestone of 4MWh. Gorgeous property btw.

Martyn1981

mrmmhf wrote: »

Would be very interested to hear comments and how our array compares to yours.

Just to say, what you encountered regarding the inverter size is typical for the UK, the industry suggests a 10-20% undersized inverter to maximise annual generation.

The reasoning behind this is that the UK gets an awful lot of low generation weather, but not a lot of peak sunshine. Plus of course PV panel efficiency drops with temperature, around 1% for every 4C. So on a sunny day when the panels are hot, and the air is warm and still, power of 80-90% of kWp rating is probably the most you can expect. But a smaller inverter can start sooner, end later, and produce a bit more from low generation weather.

In the colder months, especially April & October, when skies are clear it's possible to briefly generate more than the kWp rating, and the same can happen for a few seconds in the hotter months when the sun goes behind a cloud, the panels coll, then the sun pops out and the power spikes.

Just to be clear, whilst the 10-20% argument is strong, it's dependent on location, orientation etc. You'd never do it in Spain where peaks are crucial, not low weather generation nor the SSW coast of the UK with sea breeze cooling.

In short, too large of an inverter in the UK is not ideal.

1961Nick

mrmmhf wrote: »

Our solar 6.16kW PV array has been up for four months and I thought it was a good time to have a look at their performance providing an unbiased report, based on real life experiences, illustrating power output on overcast, rainy and sunny days in the UK. We also take a look at our SolarEdge inverter.

I am concerned about our consumption, but we’ve generated 3.2mW in four months.

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/wsyPOzZkKNY

More information on our array and inverter is available here: https://myhomefarm.co.uk/solar-pv-and-inverter-review

Would be very interested to hear comments and how our array compares to yours.

Will also start to post performance outputs here.

Great video & what a lovely house.:cool:

During the same period we generated 1.9MWh from a 4kWp array. That's not quite as good as you managed (65% size - 59% output), but your orientation is slightly better than mine.

Most of us are geeks....many with OCD as well....so you should fit in fine.:rotfl: