Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

Oscargrouch

InVestor wrote: »

I prefer to think of it as £4.99

I suppose it's always the case that those with 'little' ones try to find ways to exaggerate size

That works both ways...

Martyn1981

Little bit of everything today.

High generation 4.53 O's (25.3kWh's).

New record spike on the monitors of 5.1kW.

First time I've had an inverter shut down (repeatedly) due to high voltage limit, as the mains decided to go to 253V+ for some reason.

April target is out the window, looking like a 5% to 10% shortfall.

What fun.

Mart.

Oscargrouch

4.72 O's for me today, massive compared to size.....

pvforme

Its very confusing on here. I've been reading back and there's O's, E's, kWh and kWp. Isn't it just what you've generated that matters, that's what determines what your paid after all isn't it?

shafeeq

11.22 kwh or 3.74 O's. Oscargrouch don't care what you say I'm happy cause im easily pleased:j :rotfl:

InVestor_2

pvforme wrote: »

Its very confusing on here. I've been reading back and there's O's, E's, kWh and kWp. Isn't it just what you've generated that matters, that's what determines what your paid after all isn't it?

Totally agree. It's fun for 'some' I suppose, but is clearly misleading some members of the forum.

John_Pierpoint

For an individual kWh, is the "unit" of measurement that dictates the FiT payment.
A typical old fashioned one bar electric "fire" would run at 1,000 Watts and after an hour would have consumed one kWh (or "unit" on the electricity bill costing say 13p.)

The potential maximum output power of your Photo Voltaic kit is measured in kWp.
In theory you would have a perfect roof facing due South with a perfect pitch in a country where the sun shines every day, so at noon the inverter would produce its kWp of say 3.6 Watts at noon (GMT) for an hour and have created 3.6 kWh.
[I have used 3.6 kWp as the larger 4.0 kWp installations require "non objection" from the local DNO (*).]
In Britain we don't have perfect sunshine and probably not a perfect roof, so one trick is to install a higher amount power in the form of panels, than the power rating of the inverter. Were the inverter to be overloaded it would simply turn itself off.
Some people have small roofs or don't want the aesthetic effect of "cramming" panels onto their roof, so their system will be smaller than the normal maximum of 4 kWp. So that we can compare the performance of each others installations, dividing the daily output by the potential maximum power output of the panels gives a figure that is more comparable. These are sometimes called "Oscars" or "O" in homage to the poster who suggested this method of levelling the playing field. [It is a bit like comparing cars in terms of miles per gallon or kilometres per gramme, and having a competition on how far you can drive per gallon rather than how fast the car goes].

Don't forget there is an opportunity cost in cramming the roof with the maximum number of panels: The cost will be higher for both panels and inverter, you might have to use clever more expensive technology like Solar Edge and you won't be free to put windows into that roof slope in the future.
Personally a have a dual "string" inverter, with both strings of panels on a SE facing roof, If anything went wrong with a panel in either string or with the inverter, I would notice at once.
If I had two roofs, one facing East and the other West, I could have slightly overloaded both strings and got a daily result similar to having both strings on a roof facing due south.

This is not rocket science, but it is useful to understand the technology, preferably before meeting the salesman.

More detailed useful discussions about new installations on this thread.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/60920489#Comment_60920489

If anything is confusing, just ask. Two years ago there were some very confused postings on MSE, now people are starting to assume that everyone has the same knowledge.

(*) DNO: yet another entry for the alphabet soup.

[Deleted User]

Scorching hot day yesterday so was hoping for more than the 19 clocked up

Export minimised by using the solar immersion to fill childs pool

Martyn1981

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

(*) DNO: yet another entry for the alphabet soup.

Not if you know where to look! :):D

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Solar PV Q&A’s Index PTII

11. Common terms and acronyms used on this site in conjunction with PV and renewables in general.


to follow - suggestions?

AGW = anthropogenic global warming
DECC = Department of Energy and Climate Change
DNO = District network operator
FITs = Feed in tariff scheme
Mono = Monocrystalline panels
NG = National Grid
O's = Oscars - slang abbreviation for kWh's/kWp to compare PV generation after taking install size into account
Poly = Polycrystalline panels
PV = Photovoltaic
RECs = Regional electricity companies (now just called 'electricity suppliers')
SP = solar panel (could be electrical (PV) or thermal (water))

Anyone got any more suggestions?

One's that I can post, that is!

Mart.

legoman62

4.9 O's yesterday
Should hit April PVGIS (climate) today:rotfl: