Solar panels

Tonjaren

Hi,

I moved into a house which has solar panels in the garden....

Our first FIT payments were around £80 each ..two in total from January to August.

Our August payment was only £10 - long story short the inverter was replaced. The running of the panels etc was checked out at the time of replacement and deemed ok.

We just had the last payment and it was £12 from November to February.

There is no shadowing and they obviously haven't been moved....

What can be the problem?

I know I'm going to have to get the suppliers back, they're still under guarantee so hopefully no problem with that, but just wondered what it could be?

groovyf

Hi,
Obviously your payment amounts revolve around generated units and therefore the amount of panels and their rating in watts.
How many panels do you have and what rating are they.

How many units did you generate between the time periods you've mentioned?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Tonjaren wrote: »

...they're still under guarantee...

Was the guarantee transferred to you from the original owner?

Tonjaren

Yes the guarantee is transferred as are the panels.

We have 12 panels x 2w each.....

gazapc

2 watts, are you sure? Might want to double check.

Tonjaren

Sorry 200w each panel.....

Martyn1981

Tonjaren wrote: »

Sorry 200w each panel.....

Hiya Tonjaren, have a play with PVGIS to work out an estimated generation for your system, then compare that to what you've been getting.

Have a look at section 5 of the PV FAQs for a PVGIS walkthrough. The result table will give monthly figures (as well as an annual total).

How does that compare to your systems performance?

Mart.

Tonjaren

Thanks for the replies...
The estimated generation is 1716 kW ......generation over the past 12 months is 714, so obviously not working as they should, even with the break replacing the inverter.

Called the installers and they asked us to monitor it for a week then call them with figures.

If they are still down they'll send out an engineer.

I'm really disappointed after all the hassle I had to get them transferred over to me 😩😩

Martyn1981

Tonjaren wrote: »

Thanks for the replies...
The estimated generation is 1716 kW ......generation over the past 12 months is 714, so obviously not working as they should, even with the break replacing the inverter.

That's not good

How does the generation compare (monthly gen v's PVGIS monthly targets) since the inverter was replaced? Is that any better?

[Edit: Just realised 1,716kWh doesn't sound very good for a 2.4kWp system. Can I just check it is 12*200Wp panels?

Also, I'm assuming orientation is good as it's a ground mount(?), but 700kWh/kWp suggests to me an east or west system. Have I assumed too much? Could you post orientation (and pitch if possible) and if you don't mind, rough location, just nearest city/town if you are concerned. While you're at it, what make and model of inverter have you got? M.]

Mart.

Tonjaren

Mart,

I couldn't quite work out what details to put into the link for the PVGIS link.....sorry, inheriting the panels with the house I don't have all the info as I would have if I'd had them installed myself....I'm pretty "Green" if you'll excuse the pun!

There's definitely 12 with 200Wp on the back of them....

They face West and I'm near Leicester, pitch I don't know....

Martyn1981

Tonjaren wrote: »

Mart,

I couldn't quite work out what details to put into the link for the PVGIS link.....sorry, inheriting the panels with the house I don't have all the info as I would have if I'd had them installed myself....I'm pretty "Green" if you'll excuse the pun!

There's definitely 12 with 200Wp on the back of them....

They face West and I'm near Leicester, pitch I don't know....

No probs mate, I've had a quick play.

I think you got it right with your try (it was my assumption that they'd be south facing that was wrong).

I clicked on Leicester, put 2.4 in the 'installed peak power' box, put 40d (as a guess) in the pitch, and put +90 in the azimuth.

That gave a total of 1,750kWh, so within spitting distance of your number. For monthly, this is what I got:
J 38
F 65
M 147
A 206
M 250
J 254
J 253
A 205
S 155
O 95
N 49
D 32

Obviously the gen figures are based on average months, and an average year, but if you have monthly figures it would be interesting to see how your gen compares (after the inverter was replaced) to see if things have improved. I'm probably sticking my neck out a bit now, but expect to be roughly within about 20% of monthly targets (depending on weather). So the big question, have your results been in the 80% to 120% range?

Mart.