Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

csh_2

Oh and it's a 2.0kWp system, 9 panels installed in August 2011. The estimated annual output on the paperwork is around 1650kWp.
Poor guy paid a whopping £16k and only had them 11 months

[Deleted User]

csh wrote: »

Oh and it's a 2.0kWp system, 9 panels installed in August 2011. The estimated annual output on the paperwork is around 1650kWp.
Poor guy paid a whopping £16k and only had them 11 months

Ouch! Expensive....

Martyn1981

csh wrote: »

Hi, how do you go about measuring the output?! As in, where do you look....
I.'ve bought a house with solar panels but Don't really know much about them.
I have a meter of some sort next to the ordinary electric meter, what would this be? (The meter reader said it was the solar meter)

I've just had my first electricity bill for this house, 142 units in 7 weeks amounting to £13.35 (£6 day & £8 night) before vat and charges. I'd say we were heavy users of electricity washing machine, tumble dryer & dishwasher on every day. I paid around £65 a month in the last house.
I had read that electricity savings would only be around £200 a year so just looking to see how I go about measuring how much we are generating

Hiya, to find out your generation you'll need to look at the TGM (total generation meter), this'll be that meter next to your import meter. Most TGM's are just standard import types. You'll get paid 46.81p for each unit generated (FIT - feed in tariff), plus 3.3p for each unit exported (but this will be 'deemed' at 50% of generation). Also there is the leccy savings, by using your units, rather than importing at 12p to 17p.

142 units in last 7 weeks is very good (3kWh's/day) especially if supported only by a 2kWp system. My 3.6kWp ESE was installed in Aug 11, but 'only' cost £11k. You can check annual generation guesstimate on PVGIS, happy to show you/help but will need general location and roof orientation (pitch also useful).

Mart.

Martyn1981

jeepjunkie wrote: »

25kWh or 6.36 O's

Cheers

Edit, looks like another stunner today, pity i'm stuck the datacentre all day... again

Same here, nice yesterday, and again today. Plus the cold air temp is boosting the gen figures. Got a new record yesterday of 31.3kWh's (beating you ) but let's not compare O's @ 5.6

Mart.

csh_2

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Hiya, to find out your generation you'll need to look at the TGM (total generation meter), this'll be that meter next to your import meter. Most TGM's are just standard import types. You'll get paid 46.81p for each unit generated (FIT - feed in tariff), plus 3.3p for each unit exported (but this will be 'deemed' at 50% of generation). Also there is the leccy savings, by using your units, rather than importing at 12p to 17p.

142 units in last 7 weeks is very good (3kWh's/day) especially if supported only by a 2kWp system. My 3.6kWp ESE was installed in Aug 11, but 'only' cost £11k. You can check annual generation guesstimate on PVGIS, happy to show you/help but will need general location and roof orientation (pitch also useful).

Mart.

Thanks for your reply.

I took a meter reading from what I think is the generation meter on 10th April and it was 002365.4, today it reads 002711.2. I'm in east central scotland with south facing roof. Not 100% sure on the pitch but around 35o I think. No shading at all.

Martyn1981

csh wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

I took a meter reading from what I think is the generation meter on 10th April and it was 002365.4, today it reads 002711.2. I'm in east central scotland with south facing roof. Not 100% sure on the pitch but around 35o I think. No shading at all.

Hiya csh, using this site,

http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php#

and 'sticking a pin' in Perth, it gave 1,710kWh's @ default settings (35deg pitch) for south facing. So very close to the 1,650kWh's you mentioned earlier.

So income wise, you're looking at around:
Fit 1,650 * 46.81p = £772
Export 1,650/2 * 3.3p = £54
Leccy savings (guess) £100
Total = £926pa.

Not bad for a £5k investment!

BTW, don't worry about a lot of the nay-sayers (on the other thread), structural considerations should have been noted before install (might not have, but should have), wind loading shouldn't have altered, and additional weight will be around 200kg, about the same as two beefy roofers but spread very evenly.

Mart.

Edit - PS That sounds like the TGM. The PVGIS site suggests 200kWh's for April, and 250 for May, so 350 in 6 weeks looks about right. M.

csh_2

That's grand, thanks very much!
I had a look at that site after seeing it on the FAQ but it was a bit technical for my creative brain
It's hard to work out how to get the best from the system when I know nothing about it and have no one to ask, but now I know what things are and what some of the technical stuff means it should get a bit easier.

I quite glad of the leccy savings of £100 in 2 months as we tend to use loads, just need to find a way to get the gas bill down now. It's still frosty here some morning so have still been using the central heating.
Where is the summer?!

Eta: I'm about 40 miles from Perth (Bo'ness) but figures look quite close to the ones I previously read

Oscargrouch

csh wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

I took a meter reading from what I think is the generation meter on 10th April and it was 002365.4, today it reads 002711.2. I'm in east central scotland with south facing roof. Not 100% sure on the pitch but around 35o I think. No shading at all.

That's your Generation Meter; an average of 6.65kW per day sounds about right. Welcome to the 'funny farm'. That will teach me to refresh the page.....:rotfl:

EricMears

csh wrote: »

It's hard to work out how to get the best from the system when I know nothing about it and have no one to ask, but now I know what things are and what some of the technical stuff means it should get a bit easier.

But you do (or at least should) have someone to ask !

csh wrote: »

Oh and it's a 2.0kWp system, 9 panels installed in August 2011. The estimated annual output on the paperwork is around 1650kWp.

Sounds as though the installer has left some paperwork which you now have. Any reputable installer (and I'm sure there are many about) ought to be able to explain anything you want to know about the system.

In particular, you really need an indication of what you're actually generating at any instant and this is conveniently done using the inverter rather than the total generation meter. Most inverters get tucked away somewhere obscure (in the attic is favourite) but many can have some sort of remote read-out unit fitted and I'm sure original installer would be delighted to quote for fitting that.

Or of course you could just buy a "Wattson Meter" (or similar) where clamp on sensors can be used to tell you what you're currently using, current generation and the net effect.

HTH

csh wrote: »

Poor guy paid a whopping £16k and only had them 11 months

:eek: My 4kWp system was also installed in Aug 2011 but cost only £12,000. I'm not now as confident that your installer was quite as reputable as I assumed earlier !

legoman62

7.06 O's yesterday or 28.27kWh:D
This is my highest gen day since my PV was installed:rotfl:

Although in June 2012 I hit 28.44kWh my Sunny beam was reading 1% higher than gen meter so, corrected it would have been 28.15kWh:D
Still down on last years total at the same date but, well pleased:beer: