Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

EricMears

Never really thought of November being a good month whilst it was happening but with benefit of hindsight it must have been.

Generated 130.18 kWh in November (15% up on pvgis forecast of 115).

Doubt there will be many days between now & Feb when we can pump water, run washing machine etc gratis but will be fairly happy just breaking even on installation costs (needs around 60 kWh / month and pvgis thinks I should do that even in Dec)

jevban

Hi

I have had a slightly over 4KW system installed this week...SSW as far as I'm informed with half panels to south and the others to the side hip of my house. Been reading all the threads and the generation since mid this week is 3.6 (13.10am today) ...I have struggled to get all the panels up (14 x 305) as we needed the extras to compensate for hip roof and shading...have got panels on the main roof to the rear and side and on my extension roof. All very new and hoping I have done the right thing. Paid £6500 with a dual inverter and as I said, the 14 panels. A number of installers wouldn't touch the roof as a) it was hipped and b) I had the foam insulation installed a number of years ago to the underside of my slate roof....the companies seemed to think this was problematic, with the exception of the company who has fitted for me this week. We are high daytime energy users as I have 2 disabled people in the house all day using medical equipment. How do I get the best out of these panels now they are up and running....any advice very gratefully received.

Jan x

Martyn1981

Hiya Jan, congrats on the PV system.

There is a thread that sort of covers this, but it’s a monster, and includes lots of other info, and some ludicrously long posts by me (even so) probably worth a skim bit by bit:-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2955406

Quick run through of the basics:-

Stage 1 - the system will help, without you doing anything effectively the house will draw its power from the PV leccy first, before importing any shortfall. So if you are generating 1kW and consuming 1kW, you won’t import (buy) any leccy. If you use less than 1kW, you’ll export the excess. If you use more than 1kW, you’ll import the difference.

Stage 2 – bit more effort, but would suit your household, shift consumption to match generation …. Well you are already daytime users, so that will help. Also consider moving some consumption to daytime, if you have a choice, perhaps washing machine, dishwasher etc. Try to run them when generation is at highest.

Stage 3 – getting serious (but don’t get paranoid) try to spread demand out, and watch for better weather days, eg if it’s raining then save the washing machine for tomorrow if the forecast is good. Try to run large items one at a time so that consumption doesn’t exceed generation (remember PV doesn’t store up, it’s a case of use it or lose it) so better to run 3 2kW items one after another, than all 3 at the same time.

Stage 4 – you might be able to divert spare leccy into water heating if you have a hot water tank and an immersion.

Try to have fun, don’t let it get out of hand.

Also, you say one roof faces south, the other (hip roof) presumably is at 90d to it, so could be east (morning) or west (afternoon) generation, so depending on which, you might want to favour morning and mid-day, or mid-day and afternoon, when generation will be better (weather dependant).

Could go on for hours, sorry! But it will all become obvious. However, this time of year, generation will be much, much lower, so perhaps just sit back and go with the flow as you live and learn, then start trying to match consumption to generation in the spring.

Mart.

tunnel

A steady 1.1 O's(7.2kWh). I was hoping for so much more too with the day starting off glorious. Sadly by 1pm it had clouded over and the generation dropped off.


My latest addition(WNW) has only achieved 4.45kWh since install, stroll on 3 weeks when the winter solstice is upon us and the days start drawing out again.


Jevban, I'm interested to know, what FIT rate did you get with the system you have as I make that a 4.27kWp system?

Martyn1981

System: M1 ESE 3.58kWp

Total generation: 94kWh (2012 85kWh)

Generation per kWp: 26.26kWh


System: M2 WNW 2.0kWp

Total generation: 29kWh (2012 27.1kWh)

Generation per kWp: 14.5kWh

Silly facts:
1. Total house PV 100% of PVGIS target for Nov. ESE 102%, WNW 94%.
2. Total gen for year already 102% of annual target (PVGIS with no deduction despite shading issues)

Mart.

KevinG

November was terrible, came in at 55.83kWh, 31.5% down on SAF PVGIS (almost exactly the same shortfall as October) and 23.1% down on November 2012. December is usually pretty awful for me as shading issues come more into play, if I beat last year's 40.47kWh I'll be happy.

tunnel

Oops,


Forgot about my November figures, I'm quite pleased actually.


ESE 1.9kWp 65kWh
SSW 2.04kWp 85kWh
WNW 2.5kWp 3.7kWh(installed 26/11)
Total 153.7kWh


Looking at some of the figures going on here my first 2 installs did very nicely indeed, roll on December

shafeeq

1.11 O's today..... as Tunnel said after around 1pm it went all dark

Oscargrouch

Only the 1.4 O's for me, same weather story here.....

jevban

Thanks Martyn...needed to do something as our bills are astronomical.. We are later afternoon for sun on the side hip..will be better with longer days...

Tunnel...just under 14 p

Jevban