June Solar PV and energy update - anyone still think solar isn't worth it ? 🤭🤣
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- Half way through the year , this might be the best month in 2024 for solar generation. Highest month for car charging , Aircon on all day when too hot and still all FREE
Our strategy is working !
No gas oil, petrol or diesel and no energy bills
If we were spending hundreds a month on petrol and hundreds more on electric and gas we'd be so much poorer. On a limited income I literally couldn't imagine going back to giving a large proportion of our income to oil and energy companies .
Record EV charging
Record export
Links & Referral codes
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Own a share of a wind farm rippleenergy.c...
OCTOPUS energy referral link....
share ** £50 credit each **
🐙🔌share.octopus....
Actual referral code for telling Octopus "pink-rose-718"
⚡Instavolt App referral : £5 free charging each
⚡driver.emsp.in...
My aircon installer:
Graham Durrant
Ignite heating and cooling
Email: info@igniteheatingandcooling.co.uk
System / Components
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Solar config
PV Ja Solar 9.2kwp
14X280w (3.68kw Solis)
8X300w (2.0kw Solaredge)
4x450w Solis string 1
3x370w (2.5kw) Solis string 2
6 x 410w Trina new garden PV
Myenergi Zappi 1, Eddi and Hub
Battery:
Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
5 x Pylontech Us3000C
EVs:
Mini Electric Cooper SE Level 3 in Midnight black
ESoul First Edition 64kwh in Neptune Blue
Mine on an E/W facing roof, total 7.56kWh Solar PV split across E/W facing roof, June Solar generation was 832.1kWh, Highest day 39.9kWh on 2nd. 531.7kWh exported to grid. Our home consumed 1098.1kWh 28% from Powerwall, 26% from Solar and 46% from grid.
197.41kWh went into our EV to do 796.83 miles. Powerwall is filling up at cheap overnight and running down pretty well until off peak rate starts again. Our home is a 5 bed detached and often has 3 of us at home most days. First time ever the export payment meant a negative bill!!
I also looked at money spent was an investment into our home. The return is on cheap and affordable monthly payments letting fixed incomes go further.
Full EV is the way to go and super cheap to run.
Great to see your Home Assistant stats are working well.
First month of winter here in Adelaide, South Australia. Generation is usually at its lowest point in June.
Generated 314 kwh from the 6.3 kw North facing house system. Generated 308 kwh from the 6.5 kw east west facing shed system for a total generation of 622 kwh.
622 in winter would be incredible here in the UK id need 15kw plus of south facing to get close to that , December has been as low as 100kwh from 6.3kw array
There's always someone with more power and someone with less do I'm grateful for what we have . I'm lucky to have the space
June was our best month (since installation in Aug 2023). Just pipped past your own efficiency here at 141.27 kWh/kWp. 1441kWh generated off 10.2kWp system (24x Enphase IQ7A). West Sussex, 45 degree pitch, 144 degrees SSE (36 degrees off due South) with no shading.
@@optiz0r awesome performance, it's all in the angles 😁
My first full month was June. Unfortunately it wasn’t set up properly for more than half the month. However, it managed to generate 996 KWh from 6.88Kw of panels 144.77 KWh per KW of panels.
Greetings from the Land Downunder. I love your enthusiasm, Nigel. It keeps me coming back for more. When you have solar, you can't help but love those free electrons. You know, I've never bothered to calculate what my output per kW of solar panels is. It never struck me as important as long as I had my batteries at 100% by the end of the day, but now you've piqued my interest. Blast you, Nigel!
As you may be aware, we took the plunge and went off grid. We don't have any form of backup generation and rely entirely on solar and battery storage, so Winter was always going to be interesting.
I'm pleased to report that we have now experienced long periods of cloudy weather - two occasions of three days duration of full cloud cover. On each of those occasions we failed to get back to 100% battery charge by the end of the day, reaching just 90% and leaving us 10% behind the eight-ball for the next day. The following day was the same, so we started the third day at 80% battery capacity. By the morning of the 4th day we were down to 50% battery capacity, but the Sun blessed us and we we back to 100% by midday. At no stage did we consider rationing power. So, it may be a bit early but I'm calling it... we won't need backup generation.
Also new, for us anyway, is the need to run the air conditioners in heating mode. I was pleasantly surprised at how little energy these units use. We switch them on in the afternoon, while we still have about an hour of Sun left, and get the house warm while we are not drawing from the batteries. Once the house is warm they tick along at just over 500W to maintain that warmth. Unbelievable! The air conditioners get switched off when we go to bed and in the morning the batteries are usually down to about 65% of capacity. When we get up, we switch the ACs on again and by the time the Sun starts cooking the batteries again, we are usually down around the 58% capacity mark. Then it's rinse and repeat...
Fun fact: When off grid you can only produce what you are consuming, either directly and/or charging the batteries, but on the shortest day of the year, with the Sun as low on the horizon as it's ever going to get, I saw 9995W being produced by my 15kW of panels. They may have been capable of more, who knows, but I only had that much load switched on at the time.
We also charged the EV three times, but not during those cloudy periods. We saw the forecast and made sure that the car was at 80% before the cloudy days set in.
So, our Winter concerns have been put to rest. We're over the hump and the days are getting longer, so all is good. Production for the month was just 594kWh because we were away for 14 days.
Kind regards
Russ
@@Qosmio1955 lovely to hear how it's going down under with the opposite season . Your homes often appear to have shallow roofs . Does that impact you in winter with lower sun etc
Sounds like your system is well sized and very capable .
@@EVPuzzle I live at latitude 28 South. Fortuntely my house roof and shed roof (which between them have 37 of the 46 panels I have altogether) face due North. None of the panels are shaded at any time during the day. At noon on the Winter solstace the Sun strikes those North facing panels at an angle of 31.5 degrees from perpendicular so, yes it has some effect, but with 12.1kW of panels facing North I do alright. My wife wants me to buy two more Pylontech batteries (making a total of 12 x US3000C if I get them) which we'd have no trouble charging on sunny days and would give us even more breathing space on those cloudy days. She likes her heater, I'm afraid. So, when SWMBO commands that I get the batteries, who am I to disagree?
Hi Nigel, I have been watching your videos for a while and enjoy the content and comparing system performance and set ups. We have an Enphase system with IQ7A Microinverters which are circa 350VA coupled to 415W panels. We have 40 panels so a 14kWp system with 18 panels to the South or to be more accurate offset 20 degrees to the East and 22 panels to the North offset 20 degrees to the West. We have two large trees to the East that affect our early morning production which is why we went for the Enphase and also I like the per panel data you get with Enphase. We have been on a similar journey to you last year in June we Produced 2.44MWh Exported 1.525MWh and imported 15kWh. This year we had a slight drop in Production to 2.32MWh Exported 2.1967MWh and imported 917.52kWh so charging car and house battery at night and also doing hot water with standard immersion at 7.5p a kWh and then export all day for 15p a kWh and also force export with the batteries between 6pm to 8pm. Therefore June 24 was 165.71 kWh per kW of panels. We have also gone all electric with Air to Air Mitsubishi units and we live in Portsmouth.
14kwp is a lovely system size many can only dream of , no e mix of orientation too
@@EVPuzzle I was in two minds with the North facing panels but glad I did it, the South generate the most on sunny days as you would expect however on a cloudy day both orientations are pretty even. The North generate about 80% of the South during the summer months and about 35-40% in the winter months.
Enjoyable and data-rich update as always Nigel. For the record we had a pretty rubbish June in Cumbria 614kWh from our 4.74kWp array which equates to 130kWh/kWp (vs 161 last year).
In Southampton we achieved 129kWh / kWp for June 2024 from our SolarEdge 13.02kWp installation (SE 7.14kWp, SW 0.84kWp, NW 5.04kWp). Generation could have been slightly higher since we frequently clipped on sunny days due to our 4.5kW export limit 😡
That generation per kwp is a really useful benchmark. I was worried our E/W roof, chimneys and large trees would give very poor performance, but we managed 94. That's some way off your 141, but better than I expected.
Our small array did worse so yes 94 is ok
Our 1st full month post install ended with 914kw last few days the weather changed wanted to hit 1000. 15 435w panels 6kw inverter 6.4kw battery and Eddie and zappi. Already thinking of doubling the batter !
Very decent for 6kw
Still waiting for summer!!! 😢
Starting to have doubts in Lincolnshire. 12-15% less PV this year and with the reduced energy prices (import and export) plus £237 standing charge (which we've onky just covered with export) it's not necessary a brilliant proposition.
Down South maybe
Better than without it , surely
A lot better
@@EVPuzzle A guarded yes. I'll be 2 years in mid September.
Standing charge needs a rethink
My 7.5 kW array in Cambridgeshire generated 878kWh in June, let's see what the weather does in July....
It's some way short of the last two years....
always look forward to these. Your solis at 141 is very good. My best array is 134kwh/kwp, followed by 130 and 112 for the other 2 arrays. We got 1152kwh for the month, with the best day being 58.14kwh. Our theoretical max output is 9.03kw, but as we have SE/SW, we wouldn't get much of the day at max output.
Awesome , 9kw Max is brilliant. I've never seen over 7.5kw as were limited with shade on our most recent panels , only 6.3kw clear facing south
Ok compare time. Generation 1.845mwh (data directly from 3 solis inverters) import 497.69kwh export 1609.8kwh. 3 arrays, largest 8 kw solis inverter 8x 300w + 11x 400w panels 6.8kw total East facing, 124 kwp. 5kw solis inverter 14x 330w panels 4.62kw West facing, 112 kwp. 3kw solis inverter 5x 415w + 5x425w 4.2kw North South split, 114 kwp. 2 EV's my son has a Corsa E and I have a Volvo XC40 recharge twin. Last month my son used 174kwh I used 164.2kwh. I do have a small amount of day time grid use, due to my battery system reaction time and sometimes pulling more than my 6kw battery inverter can handle so my average price per kwh is 7.9p so last month my Octopus bill (not including standing charge) £39.32 grid use, £241.47 export credit. £202.15 credit for the month
@@TrevorHa am I imagining it or is your usage down a bit , very similar numbers to us this month , consumption wise . Export and generation obviously miles ahead
Correct usage is down. Less miles due to holiday and illness
7.38kWp south facing ground mounted solar array with afternoon shading after 4pm due to a neighbour's large beech tree. 1025.1Kwhs makes 138.9 kWhs per kWp.
On Flux imported 8.22 kWhs due to micro second delay with inverter when clouds radically change solar production. Exported 788.9kWhs total bill including standing charge £130.29cr
Nicely done and very close to our numbers
well done
that mains switch board would be very easy to monitor with ring clamps either shelly or openenergy have a great plugin system for that.
141 kWh/kWp is good!
My main (8.8 kWp, 8 kWp invertor, SE facing, house roof) array managed 110.
My second array (1.5 kWp, 1.5 kWp invertor, SW facing, garage roof, in the shade of the house) surprisingly did better with 115.
June's the only month that the garage array out-performs the main array, due to the high sun and less shading, presumably. (Or some clipping maybe, on the main array?)
The garage panels are 10 years old, with a new invertor last September. The main array was installed last February.
That shows how little PVs degrade.
That slight east facing will be dropping your output a bit . I'm seeing similar , no sign of losses in config even when panels are dirty , very resilient system
@@EVPuzzle My roof's got a 60% pitch, so it's good at picking up early morning and winter sun.
But there are a couple of tall trees to the NE, which shade my roof in the wee small hours of June mornings.
I do, I invested in batteries which I could DIY install, no risk of damage to the building, energy costs me 6p/kwh, at that rate solar won’t ever pay for itself.
Certainly if you have an EV or can get on a very low overnight tariff, batteries are a much simpler mechanism for cost saving. I have solar also but id say battery is a more certain payback. My installation is new so i wont know the sums for solar payback for a while and this summer certainly isnt helping.. Solar does give you more buffer against future rises in electricity and the back of my fag packet shows equivalent 7-8 year paybacks on both
Regarding the kWh/kWp stat. I have a west facing 7.2kWp array but it is on a 5kWh inverter and I had 904kWh generated, so my kWh/kWp is either 125 or 180 (probably half way between in reality).
Just a little bit under your generation per kw of solar panels for us. Our 5.6kwp SE facing in Bedford generated 765kwh in June giving a figure of 136.60
Nigel, you say that you're pleased that the Mixergy tank is saving about 500 kWh a year compared with its predecessor - so about £75 a year if you're buying the electrons or losing the export value of them from your PV? Is that really a worthwhile ROI?
To me yes as it cost less than that same saving in solar for winter energy use
I like the stats too
I like hot water being instantly available and always hot .
Plus old tanks immersion was broke and the tank was caked in limescale
I'm very happy with that investment and how it's improved our lives and saves some energy
Hi Nigel
Was that a random t-shirt or does RUMMUN mean something ? 🙂
It's a Norfolk word... Weird, odd curious person ....a Rumm un
Brilliant, well done Nigel, what is your Grid setpoint (I find -60w works well for us)
Currently -1250w I'm exporting
I used to use -40 when trying to maximise solar etc but now I'm reporting -150 or -650w are the standard settings
Seems crazy when I used to worry about the difference between -20 and -40w
Nigel - I am looking for an AC coupled inverter with appropriate configurability. Can you configure the Victron to force discharge/export based on battery status and CT clamp status on mains incomer? e.g. to take advantage of generous export rates (in summer), when the batteries are full I'd like to be able to discharge to grid, down to a certain % charge level to see me through to next off peak period.
Yes there's multiple ways. I use Home Assistant other use Node red
@@EVPuzzle Good to know. I us OEM currently for monitoring, but 'm about to delve into the world of HA to open some doors on the control side. I just need to make sure that the inverter I get has ability to be controlled/API etc.
@@TomThomas-jj9tq very wise . Best to ensure multiple routes of control in case one stops being supported in years to come. Sadly no one really advertises open API access as their own app is supposed to be perfect 🤭
117.7kWh per kWp June was not as good as last year, just too many cloudy days, 2.7kWh less per day
I thought maybe our panels was dirty, at least this year is also down for you to so it’s the weather
@@rich81090 definitely the weather , next year better let's hope , or next month even 🙏
I got 436kWh for my 8 415watt panels with the 3kW Solis.
Question I’ve just got my second array online with 4 Bifacial I want to put something under them to increase the light back to them but want something low maintenance like UPVC or something have you got any thoughts I’m hoping to up the wattage by doing this
How many years will it take to reach your break-even point...? If like the majority, you have gas combi-boilers, it will set you back a fair amount converting everything to electric, not to mention the cost associated with the solar installation...
Depends on energy tariff costs in the next few years . First two arrays are paid off , third will be next year which just leaves battery .
My system has some bits that weren't installed for maximum payback benefits so will take longer to payback . I've been a little excessive .
Spent 18k, saved 9.5k in 5 years roughly
@@EVPuzzle Nice one...!
Sorry if this is a silly question but wanted to ask….. when charging your car does it just trickle charge or does it charge using what you’re producing there and then and top up extra by drawing from the grid?
No question is silly as it hopefully leads to a little more understanding ..
It depends how I'm charging . On octopus intelligent I'm charging at 7kw in the early hours of the morning. I can reduce the charge rate on the zappi charger and have done this so it charges slower.
If charging on solar I can choose to charge at 7kw and pull from excess solar and the grid or just use the zappi to charge only with excess solar. Zappi and octopus intelligent gives lots of options,
Then add in I can charge from the battery as well or choose not to use the battery .
Basically I'm in control of what happens
@@EVPuzzle so you need a smart charger like the zappi? If you have an old “dumb” charger then would it pull from excess and grid together if charging at 7kw?
@@smeg3519 yes any dumb load like the oven, washing machine or ev charger will draw from whatever is available . It's just an electrical load. As with all my electric choices, control is key as is keeping loads low
@@EVPuzzle thank you for the replies. Appreciate your time
@smeg3519 it's all much easier when you've got it all installed but seeing how it will work in advance is best to visit someone and see it in operation then establish the config that makes it work .
141.22kWh/kWp here
South facing presumably ?
@@EVPuzzle 6.88kWp NW facing, 2.58kWp SE facing.
Just finishing the editing and my video will be live in the morning.
When you were on FIT only , did you get paid more for the more you used ?
No I was paid the same whatever I did.
Fit pays pence per kWh generated and pence for 50% deemed export .
I still get the generation part but have given up the deemed export bit
@@EVPuzzle Ok thanks
2 views 7 seconds ago. My god.
Let me actually watch the video 😂
Amazing how fast some people watch . Keen
because global warming and co2 scare mongering is a con... but pollution and waste is obviously a real thing, I like very much your approach that you describe, and these things are largely what has motivated me :) great video.
how many times pre-industrial levels do you think is safe? 2x, 4x, 10x?
Cheers my friend , you can only say it as you see it and be honest . I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on global warming or co2 but the financials are more my area.
It's just obvious a world without burning oil and gas would be a better one
@@EVPuzzle I think a world with less waste, more people actually living in and loving nature, and being more efficient. Perhaps burning things isn't bad its filtering or not living in the fumes etc that are generated. If you havn't found Paul Burgess on YT he has a great channel, and has great studies and stats coming from the IPC scientists before the spin doctors and politicians have twisted things.
I love solar, and ev's always watching my island 16kwp and old nissan leaf, love to upgrade to an old Model S this year.
@@edc1569 the more CO2 the better for plant and human life... its the pollution and waste and human and animal sufferering by corporations that need to end, not restricting normal people and making cost of living higher artificially and pushing us all into a spiral of poverty chasing after the illusion of net zero while elites and china etc continue. If you've not seen Paul Burgess on youtube, he has great videos, see my other comments here.
@@ndudman8 you are wrong on CO2. Rather than listen to the one guy on UA-cam spouting what you want to hear, it's better to actually look into it further to understand the issue. Think about it, if CO2 is the gas of life that most climate change deniers say it is, why aren't plants growing bigger and faster than ever?
More CO2 pumped into a greenhouse, where all other variables can be controlled does work, but that's the problem, the CO2 in the upper atmosphere is the issue as it traps heat in and that's whats causing the warming effect we see today. It might only seem to be a tiny % of the atmosphere but it's enough no the less.
It won't be long before the tax man looks into this and wants their share as this is income and inevitably will need to be declared at some point. Make the most of it whilst it lasts, for you it still might make sense, but for many there will be 40% income tax to pay.
Guess that depends whether it's credit against your bill or real income and to what volume
@@EVPuzzle No I'm tellling you, I work in the industry and BEIS and HMRC are in discussions over this, maybe Labour government might change it, but it's on the radar of HMRC. Credit for offset will be classed as income if they get their way.
@@Pulpdiction1999
Maybe they'll want tax on my Nectar points too🤣
I guess it's about right for government to chase a few pounds from those on low income and leave the millionaires and Tax avoiding companies alone