HarmLessSolutions:

 

 so $150/month to export just to cover lines charges.

 

Thats just insane. 

RobDickinson:

 

HarmLessSolutions:

 

 so $150/month to export just to cover lines charges.

 

 

Thats just insane. 

 

$7.5k?

Not sure what I would need to be able to go off grid completely, 2-3x more solar? I dont have room.

RobDickinson:

 

$7.5k?

 

Not sure what I would need to be able to go off grid completely, 2-3x more solar? I dont have room.

 

HarmLessSolutions:

 

seasonal variation would be the biggest hurdle to overcome. 

 

That is indeed the problem. I can produce 3x as much electricity as I use in summer but 1/3rd in winter.

HarmLessSolutions:

 

V2G would be one solution as it provides the opportunity to use public charging occasionally to 'bring some electricity home' otherwise cutting the safety line of grid supply would be a pretty drastic move.

 

Its insane you can drive your electrons home more sensibly than using the existing power network :/

RobDickinson:

 

Its insane you can drive your electrons home more sensibly than using the existing power network :/

 

SolarZero has gone in liquidation.

Solar Zero Important Business Update

would like to say im suprised but im really not

Jase2985:

 

would like to say im suprised but im really not

 

Unfortunately quite a few in the industry are going to get hurt by this. My (independent) installer came this morning to commission the inverter. He was doing a lot of the installs for SolarZero in South Island so will take a big hit, which is pretty unfair because Blackrock will be walking away well protected I'd guess.

WRT the line voltage reduced output issues.... today midday the sun was blazing but i wasn't hitting max output on my 5kW fronius GEN24.  Using the new spa pool and turning 1 to 3 pumps on and off i could control the AC voltage and took a few readings. These are the voltages that the inverter reports (usually 1-2 volts above the voltage the energy meter on the feed in reports), and the output power in AC.

volts, inverter output 

247.13, 3.83
246.19, 4.1
244.20, 4.86
237.85, 5.0
234.07, 5.0

Sucks to loose 20% output power, but it's better than when it goes overvoltage and reboots.

For those with a Fronius inverter "Error State 567" being displayed is the indication that your local line voltage is too high. This video explains it well but is from a region in Australia that was at 240V nominal when the video was posted. Also worth noting that the voltage parameters are being widened with the implementation of the new A/NZ 4777 standards due to be here in a few months. Once the standards are brought in the higher upper voltage will be able to be set which should solve the issue for most solar customers, but obviously will put more pressure on lines companies and their infrastructure. The firmware update to change these parameters is an installer level adjustment so keep contact with yours to have this done as soon as this is legally possible.

Friend of mine has a solar setup that includes voltage monitoring, and which is regularly showing the voltage going to between 245 and 250V.  During the day the inverter trips offline when it goes too high, but it also happens at night when there's no solar power being produced, e.g. 247V at 3am.  He called Contact and they sent a guy round who confirmed the high voltage and said "it's the solar".  My friend pointed out that the sun doesn't shine much at 3am, but the Contact guy insisted it was the solar.

His theory is that since they've just lost half the houses in the street when the council realised that issuing building permits for a flood plain had been a bad idea and had them deconstructed, they need to adjust the tap on the street transformer to deal with the fact that half the previous load has vanished.

Is there any way the Contact guy could be right?

neb:

 

Friend of mine has a solar setup that includes voltage monitoring, and which is regularly showing the voltage going to between 245 and 250V.  During the day the inverter trips offline when it goes too high, but it also happens at night when there's no solar power being produced, e.g. 247V at 3am.  He called Contact and they sent a guy round who confirmed the high voltage and said "it's the solar".  My friend pointed out that the sun doesn't shine much at 3am, but the Contact guy insisted it was the solar.

 

His theory is that since they've just lost half the houses in the street when the council realised that issuing building permits for a flood plain had been a bad idea and had them deconstructed, they need to adjust the tap on the street transformer to deal with the fact that half the previous load has vanished.

 

Is there any way the Contact guy could be right?

 

Our installer suggested that the daytime spikes we're seeing may well be due to dairy sheds' pumps or chillers shutting down with the voltage regulation gear not reacting fast enough to level off the resulting oversupply event. 

neb:

 

Friend of mine has a solar setup that includes voltage monitoring, and which is regularly showing the voltage going to between 245 and 250V.  During the day the inverter trips offline when it goes too high, but it also happens at night when there's no solar power being produced, e.g. 247V at 3am.  He called Contact and they sent a guy round who confirmed the high voltage and said "it's the solar".  My friend pointed out that the sun doesn't shine much at 3am, but the Contact guy insisted it was the solar.

 

His theory is that since they've just lost half the houses in the street when the council realised that issuing building permits for a flood plain had been a bad idea and had them deconstructed, they need to adjust the tap on the street transformer to deal with the fact that half the previous load has vanished.

 

Is there any way the Contact guy could be right?

 

Contact is a generator & power retailer ("Gentailer"), voltage regulation is your local lines company's responsibility & problem.
Unfortunately, there's a few places where "the council realised that issuing building permits for a flood plain had been a bad idea" is true, so it doesn't tie down where you are and who your lines company is.

You need to talk to your local lines company, not your power retailer, about voltage fluctuations.
Call them on Monday morning

HarmLessSolutions: I suggest you investigate what large demand customers are being served in your area. Are they shutting down plant during nighttime hours that would result in an oversupply situation on the local grid? I think this scenario would be more likely than longer term infrastructure downgrades causing supply spikes unless those downgrades have included voltage regulator removal.

It's not my area, it's on the other side of Auckland, I'm just asking because I'd heard the saga and was curious.  In terms of load, the transformer serves a quiet cul-de-sac with the Waitakeres on one side and a large residential area on the other, the only possible large-demand customer I can think of is the rail line which runs about 2km away.  There's really not much else in the area, looking at the map in a couple of km around there's a cattery, a beauty salon, some takeaways, a BMX club, an RSA, a cemetary, a golf club, not really much that'd draw any power.

Edited to add: Just got a text that they sent a different person around and he's changed the tap on the transformer, so it should be sorted now.