Solar options for home in 2022.

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969 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#3253948 27-Jun-2024 21:06

LightbulbNeil:

In our case, they were telling me the existing meter just needed a firmware upgrade. So I started looking at what Fronius was saying I was importing and then exporting. The meter in our house was quite a bit different. Eventually , Meridian got Well/Wells to change out the meter and they put in 2 new meters. Now Fronius data and the Meridian data is very close, within a few kwh per month.

Using your solar power during the day is to your advantage, especially in winter. So any solar power you use, is energy that you are not needing to import.

Today was a really good day for Hamilton solar people, as it was about as good as can be expected with almost no clouds and makes that nice arc shape.

I've always maintained that self consumption is always the best return gained from your generation. It directly offsets daytime usage so you're effectively getting peak or shoulder rate for it including GST.

Nice clear day here in Taranaki too. 33kWh from our 9.5kW of panels feeding an 8.2kW inverter. Near perfect bell curve of generation data, just less hours and lower peak right next to the solstace and low sun angle.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3253949 27-Jun-2024 21:06

I'll leave it on for the time being. With the long weekend, it gives me more opportunity to consume some of my own power generation. As you say, I had one of those lovely curves today. Not a cloud in the sky.

harmonist

31 posts

Geek

#3253950 27-Jun-2024 21:10

Best day of the month so far for me, 32.4kwh in West Auckland, I also have the 6kw fronius inverter

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3253952 27-Jun-2024 21:14

harmonist: Best day of the month so far for me, 32.4kwh in West Auckland, I also have the 6kw fronius inverter

What's the orientation/tilt of your panels? You're obviously well set up for the winter sun with that output? I have a 6kw inverter and generated 19kwh today.

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3253956 27-Jun-2024 21:18

Scottyd89:

harmonist: Best day of the month so far for me, 32.4kwh in West Auckland, I also have the 6kw fronius inverter

What's the orientation/tilt of your panels? You're obviously well set up for the winter sun with that output?

you havent posted that about your setup either :)

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3253960 27-Jun-2024 21:26

I've got 10 450w Aiko panels facing 55 degrees, and 6 facing 235 degrees. Tilt is about 25 degrees. It's a 6kw Fronius inverter. Get good generation from the east, and the 6 on the western side, although slightly south of west, still give me some afternoon generation. The usable roof is almost east/west split, but fit as many panels as I could.

HarmLessSolutions

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#3253961 27-Jun-2024 21:27

Our panels face north with 39 degrees of slope so theoretically optimum for equinox. January we were seeing the inverter's 8.2kW reached easily and we were occasionally hitting 8kW as recently as late April but today the best we could do was a touch over 6kW. Interesting how the sun angle (and weaker sun) impacts on generation.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3253964 27-Jun-2024 21:36

I hit 27.5kWh today, i have 6.7kW facing 297deg and 3.4kW facing 117deg all with 30deg tilt. Really helped the June average.

That was the best day since the 22nd of May. Tomorrow is supposed to be almost as good.

harmonist

31 posts

Geek

#3253969 27-Jun-2024 21:44

Scottyd89:

harmonist: Best day of the month so far for me, 32.4kwh in West Auckland, I also have the 6kw fronius inverter

What's the orientation/tilt of your panels? You're obviously well set up for the winter sun with that output? I have a 6kw inverter and generated 19kwh today.

I'm not 100% sure of my tilt, when I was setting up solcast I had 25 tilt and -10 azimuth, I've got 18 Jinko JKM440N panels rated at a 7.92kW.

LightbulbNeil

57 posts

Master Geek

#3254029 28-Jun-2024 08:53

I like seeing the images of the different setups that people have, and how effective the steeper roof pitch is in Winter.

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#3254039 28-Jun-2024 09:46

Hi all,

I'm currently with Vector for my leased solar but with the liquidation of Sungenie in the states (who do the cloud management, software etc for Vector) I think I will be needing a new solar/backup power setup soon :(

I've had 11 years of use out of the system and its been fantastic as the backup power (the primary reason I got it) and took the edge off bills, and I'm pretty much at the end of the lease period anyway so I may as well start looking for a replacement in case Vector come up short.

If I get it decommissioned, or Vector decide to wrap things up, then the cabinet, inverter and battery will likely get reclaimed, but the 3kW of panels are almost certainly going to be left behind.

Any recommendations on companies you think would be competent at dropping in a replacement grid tied inverter, battery, and maybe expanding the solar array ? (I have vast amounts of free roof space).

Ta!

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3254041 28-Jun-2024 09:54

Scottyd89:

I'll leave it on for the time being. With the long weekend, it gives me more opportunity to consume some of my own power generation. As you say, I had one of those lovely curves today. Not a cloud in the sky.

Looking at my consumption from Meridian's online portal, my export of 15kwh yesterday was recorded as usage. Guess I will leave it off until we get the import/export meter installed. If I had access to all the settings and knew what I was doing, I'm sure I could set a zero export limit on the inverter. Best not to stuff up everything though.

LightbulbNeil

57 posts

Master Geek

#3254052 28-Jun-2024 11:08

Scottyd89:

Scottyd89:

I'll leave it on for the time being. With the long weekend, it gives me more opportunity to consume some of my own power generation. As you say, I had one of those lovely curves today. Not a cloud in the sky.

Looking at my consumption from Meridian's online portal, my export of 15kwh yesterday was recorded as usage. Guess I will leave it off until we get the import/export meter installed. If I had access to all the settings and knew what I was doing, I'm sure I could set a zero export limit on the inverter. Best not to stuff up everything though.

With Meridian, after your system is sorted with the meters etc , they will sort through the export and import and then sort it all out. With Meridian, go to your account page, then to Usage and Feed-In patterns. Down the bottom of the page , you can select the date range and download the CSV file. In excell or similar software, it will show your account recorded data, what you sent to the grid and what you imported from the grid. Controlled is what you buy off Meridian, and Feed-In, is what you export to Meridian. It runs from midnight to midnight. It will have your ICP number 1st, then your meter number in the next column, the meter element, (Feed-in or Controlled) and then the time range.

So here is some images of when ours was on, but not getting export credits.

HarmLessSolutions

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#3254056 28-Jun-2024 11:28

LightbulbNeil:

I like seeing the images of the different setups that people have, and how effective the steeper roof pitch is in Winter.

Ours is a bit different to most. Rural property with panels mounted on purpose built trusses to optimise angle and north facing. House roof isn't as well suited and involves working over a 2 1/2 story drop so scaffolding would have been expensive. Shed installation was all ladder accessed.

Front array are 14x Jinko 370W monos (5.18kW) and back array 8x Sunpower 545W bifacials (4.36kW), all feeding an 8.2kW Fronius Primo throttled to 5kW max export. Interesting that the back array outperforms the front one at times.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3254075 28-Jun-2024 12:53

LightbulbNeil:

With Meridian, after your system is sorted with the meters etc , they will sort through the export and import and then sort it all out. With Meridian, go to your account page, then to Usage and Feed-In patterns. Down the bottom of the page , you can select the date range and download the CSV file. In excell or similar software, it will show your account recorded data, what you sent to the grid and what you imported from the grid. Controlled is what you buy off Meridian, and Feed-In, is what you export to Meridian. It runs from midnight to midnight. It will have your ICP number 1st, then your meter number in the next column, the meter element, (Feed-in or Controlled) and then the time range.

My Meter element column says "consumption" rather than controlled or feed in. Seems my current meter only recognises any current as imported.

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