Generation for August

Freepost

Hi, just a quick query, I take meter reading at the end of each month (sad ... I know but I like to know whats going on) and the generation for August = 212kWh, this is less than half what I have normally generated in August since 2012. I know weather wise August was pretty poor. My generation for the last six months, since February have been 133kWh, 236kWh, 372kWh, 516kWh, 545kWh and 633kWh for July so the 212kWh for August seems well out.

My system is made up of two strings 7 and 8 panels totalling 3.82kW and a quick check on the inverter shows both strings are working ................ perhaps August 2023 was a really bad month.

Has anybody else found August to be a really bad month?

Thanks

F.

Alnat1

Whereabouts in the country are you? Seems the north had poorer weather than the south and maybe east worse than west. I got 488kwh generation compared to 627kwh last year in South Yorkshire.

Yours sounds more extreme, maybe a panel failed?

EricMears

FWIW,  my Aug generation was 5% below PVGIS (which should be an average of last 30 years) although Aug2022 was 20% above PVGIS so a simple comparison of 2023 with 2022 would suggest a drop of something like 25%

michaels

Sounds like something is broken to me, our August was above average.  Does your inverter have an app that you can track generation?

How about looking at September is going - should be about 130+ based on your July.

Freepost

Location is west Yorkshire and over last 5 years the lowest for August has been 380 in 2021 with a max of 474 last year, so the 212kWh is a real nose dive.

As I mentioned both strings are working so if a panel had gone down wouldn't the complete strig stop working? I thought the panels were wired in series, please correct me if my knowledge is incorrect.

The inverter is pretty old now, its an Aurora Power One, installed November 2011 which I had to repair about 4 years ago when the relays had to be replaced, since then okay .......... I'm not aware of an app but perhaps I'm living in the dark ages;-)

At the moment, it's a little overcast and String one has an input of 198V @ 4.5A and String 2 has an input of 224V @ 4.5A.

Thanks.

F.

QrizB

My August was pretty poor, too. I'll try to provide some actual numbers later tonight.

Heedtheadvice

My August and July each was 470kWh about 25% down on June-not sure about last year!). From 4kWp panels South facing. Located NW UK

zxzxzx

Southwest UK, south facing, 4.8k - August down 10% on July. My first year so nothing else to compare with.

Chris_Type_R

Freepost said:

The inverter is pretty old now, its an Aurora Power One, installed November 2011 which I had to repair about 4 years ago when the relays had to be replaced, since then okay .......... I'm not aware of an app but perhaps I'm living in the dark ages;-)

Replacing the inverter and getting some monitoring with it seems a no-brainer, if you can do the swap yourself. I picked up a brand new (other) 3.6kW Solax inverter not long ago off eBay for about £300. 

Depending on your ability you could measure voltages on the strings to try and diagnose.

Freepost

QrizB said:

My August was pretty poor, too. I'll try to provide some actual numbers later tonight.

I'd appreciate that but only when you get a mo.

Thanks

F.

Freepost

Chris_Type_R said:

Freepost said:

The inverter is pretty old now, its an Aurora Power One, installed November 2011 which I had to repair about 4 years ago when the relays had to be replaced, since then okay .......... I'm not aware of an app but perhaps I'm living in the dark ages;-)

Replacing the inverter and getting some monitoring with it seems a no-brainer, if you can do the swap yourself. I picked up a brand new (other) 3.6kW Solax inverter not long ago off eBay for about £300. 

Depending on your ability you could measure voltages on the strings to try and diagnose.

I don't want to put money into the system unnecessarily because I have to move house in the next 6 months, sure, if the inverter is not working then of course I will replace it but not for the ability to monitor it with an app, although £300 for an Inverter seems a very good price .... having had a quick look on eBay there are some excellent prices for Inverters and if I was staying it would be worthwhile, my FiT is until Nov 2036 and should provide a pretty good income over that period.

Thanks

F.