Ivie monitor and solar panels

Golden_Glow90

I moved into a property with solar panels. I know they’re producing energy as the numbers on the meter are increasing. I don’t have a battery storage so it is ‘use it or lose it’. But I’m just wondering, those with solar panels, how often do you get £0 on your IHD? We have an Ivie and I know it’s not very sunny out at the minute but my panels are producing a little bit but the lowest I’ve seen my IHD go is £0.05 per hour. This is with no lights, no heating, no devices being used so just things that are constantly on like fridge/freezer, plug in clocks, etc. is this usual? Should I not expect to produce enough in the winter to cover the essentials? I just want to check that the energy my panels are producing is actually being used 

Raxiel

I don't have Ivie, but looking at my IHD, I tend to have mine on the power setting rather than the money setting. On all but the foggiest days there's always at least a bit of export, even with my laptop and a couple of screens going (as well as all the other standby draw around the house).

I did manage to catch it on exactly zero just once though

Does your inverter have a web interface that can give you any metrics about production?

Presumably you have a generation meter, is it easy to access and read?

Does your main electricity meter record export?

[Deleted User]

Unless you have a battery, you will use somewhere between 25 and 50% of your total annual solar panel output.

As far as your IHD is concerned, if you select this screen then the icon on the left will change to a power mast when you are exporting power to the Grid: exporting = solar generation minus any house load.

I have a 6.35kWp array. In December, my total output was 135kWh. On three occasions, the total output was just 300Wh, so the answer to your question is ‘no’. As I post, my solar output is 0 as we have heavy snow!

Raxiel

I'm actually super impressed my own array is managing a whole 24W right now (according to the inverter) given how much snow we have.

Alnat1

@Golden_Glow90 Are you not receiving FIT/SEG from the excess solar you produce?

Golden_Glow90

Alnat1 said:

@Golden_Glow90 Are you not receiving FIT/SEG from the excess solar you produce?

No. It’s a new build and I’m still chasing the paperwork that is needed to sign up.

Golden_Glow90

Raxiel said:

I don't have Ivie, but looking at my IHD, I tend to have mine on the power setting rather than the money setting. On all but the foggiest days there's always at least a bit of export, even with my laptop and a couple of screens going (as well as all the other standby draw around the house).

I did manage to catch it on exactly zero just once though

Does your inverter have a web interface that can give you any metrics about production?

Presumably you have a generation meter, is it easy to access and read?

Does your main electricity meter record export?

I don’t have a dongle so I can’t get detailed information about what I’m producing when but I have the generation meter next to my fuse box so I can see how much they’ve produced since they were switched on so I know they’re working, it’s just hard to gauge how much I’m actually saving with them.

Raxiel

I'm not sure what you mean by dongle, but If it's a new build the main meter must be a smart meter.

Take the export reading from that, from the generation meter reading. The difference between the two is the number of units you've saved to date. Once you have an export tariff, the (change in) export reading is also the income they generate over the saving.

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360038457032-Taking-an-export-reading-from-a-smart-meter

Not 'live' but close too if you're reading it directly.

Different suppliers offer different features, but my supplier (Octopus) are able to take the half hour smart readings from my meter and present them to me in bar chart form via their app, both import and export. There are third party services like Bright and Loop that are similar.

Golden_Glow90

Raxiel said:

I'm not sure what you mean by dongle, but If it's a new build the main meter must be a smart meter.

Take the export reading from that, from the generation meter reading. The difference between the two is the number of units you've saved to date. Once you have an export tariff, the (change in) export reading is also the income they generate over the saving.

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360038457032-Taking-an-export-reading-from-a-smart-meter

Not 'live' but close too if you're reading it directly.

Different suppliers offer different features, but my supplier (Octopus) are able to take the half hour smart readings from my meter and present them to me in bar chart form via their app, both import and export. There are third party services like Bright and Loop that are similar.

That’s really helpful, thanks. The dongle was what someone said to me before that you can by a wood dongle to attach to the inverter but I didn’t want to fork out for one. But what you’ve sent is useful. I’m with octopus too

[Deleted User]

Golden_Glow90 said:

Alnat1 said:

@Golden_Glow90 Are you not receiving FIT/SEG from the excess solar you produce?

No. It’s a new build and I’m still chasing the paperwork that is needed to sign up.

Before paying you for exported electricity, most suppliers will require sight of a MCS certificate and DNO sign off on your completed installation. The supplier will then apply to your DNO for an export MPAN for your smart meter.

Octopus is probably offering the highest export rate.