Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Ok, bit surprised at this, but the anomaly map suggests Apr 2023 was roughly average, perhaps a tad under in the SE, and a tad over in the NW.

Maybe April is just a bit colder than I appreciate. I certainly expect to have the heating off in May, and note the rare occasions when it's needed. Guess my impression of Apr is warmer than reality.

Martyn1981

Btw, here's the sunshine map for Apr 2023, certainly makes my result of 94% of PVGIS look reasonable.

michaels

This actually fits pretty well with our experience on both heating degree days and pv generation.  Perhaps the weather was more variable (so noticeable cold and warm days rather than average with greater inter-day range (cold nights and mornings requiring heating even if it then warms up in the afternoon.

Coastalwatch

I'm was a little surprised as we are in the +10 to +30% sunshine area when our PV returned just 96.4%. Unless of course it's the growing influence of a neighbours silver birch in the SE quadrant shading our morning sunshine!

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026695#Comment_80026695

Interesting, we are in the +/-10% area and were 101% - although our historic is about 7% above pvgis but all within tolerances. I notice your panels are slightly morning biased, no idea if we have seen duller mornings and sunnier afternoons? Also do you have micro-inverters? Otherwise I understand that shading even of just one panel on a string will reduce output of the whole string, could be particuarly pronounced in the spring when the sun angle is lower?

[Our neighbours have kindly 'topped' their silver birch which at least means it will not grow any taller to impact our panels more, but I remain extremely allergic to the pollen it produces starting in early spring….]

BossBob

With both temperatures and sunshine both below average my 88% pvgis is not so bad.

From experience, a tall silver birch, even leafless has a marked effect on generation.

Alnat1

Grrrrrr, those silver birches. I had a pleasant chat with our lovely neighbours before we had the solar installed and they assured me their tree size was also bothering them and they were planning on getting it topped and the canopy raised.

Two years later they still haven't sorted it and it shades our panels for 2 hours every day in winter, when you need every bit of sun you can get. It also makes me sneeze for 2-3 weeks every spring 🤧

Coastalwatch

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80026826#Comment_80026826

With the sun higher in the sky now it won't be so much of an issue but certainly is a frustration in darker months when, as Alnat1 stated, we need every Watt on offer. We have SolarEdge so while still impacted by any shade perhaps not as drastically as without. And yes I start taking Hayfever tablets in early April as well, until end of October ish!

Coastalwatch

Part of an email received from PV Magazine this morning. Quite some achievement if it's fulfilled and no small ambition on the part of their leaders into the bargain. In the first three months of this year they installed twice the UK's total to date!

China set to install 100GW of new Solar in 2023

silverwhistle

Alnat1 said:

Grrrrrr, those silver birches.

What _is_ it about silver birches and solar panels? I have one at the bottom of my garden too..