Solar options for home in 2022.

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212 posts

Master Geek

#3335251 24-Jan-2025 16:10

Power bill from 11 Dec to 10 Jan was $172.05 CR. This comprised $110 for imported energy, $32 for line charges and an export credit of $282.

We had the house (10kw) installed at the end of Nov so this covered the whole month, but the stand alone garage (5kW) only came online on 3 Jan so the bill does not fully reflect our setup yet.

We have an Iammeter 3 phase meter at the grid connection, this showed we consumed 382 kWh from the grid (Night 312, Day 72) and exported 1655kWh. These figures are close to the figures on the bill so the meter is within 1% accuracy.

It's a little hard at the moment to figure out self consumption as most of the load is in the house, except when we charge the car which is plugged into the garage so the consumption figures are not included on the house inverter meter. Although we don't use the car much so maybe 50kWh of charge over the month.

The house consumed 704 and it looks like 377 of that was self generated. I have not made any effort to move any of the night time loads yet as our export rate and night time rate are very close (17c vs 18.4c).

I am working on some automation for hot water heating and car charging during the day to keep our exports and imports lower.

Otautahi Christchurch

richrdh18

210 posts

Master Geek

#3336361 27-Jan-2025 15:45

Hi All,

Anyone bought a system from Sunshine solar? What is their after sales support like? Their proposal sounds reasonable so far. I have been doing my due diligence on the panels and bty.

They are advertising in the Manawatu region but CHCH based. I met with two of their reps last week and have two quotes, 22 x Panels (440), 1 x 5Kwh Inv with (27k) and without (20k) a 10Kwh Bty. Still pondering over whether to go with a bty or without. No pool, air con or spa but I just remembered that I have underfloor heating in all tiled areas which we only used once until the power bill arrived. Gas water heating, fire and cook top.

My end goal is not a ROI but to knock the power bill on the head before retirement in a few years time. 1 less bill to pay.

Have a meeting with a Harrison's rep 5th Feb to see what they can offer.

To me, its never been cheaper to do this until now.

Thoughts?

Jase2985

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#3336362 27-Jan-2025 15:58

Why would you have a 5kW inverter with 9.7kW of panels? you should be looking at a 7 or 8kW inverter

fastbike

212 posts

Master Geek

#3336363 27-Jan-2025 16:00

richrdh18:

Hi All,

Anyone bought a system from Sunshine solar? What is their after sales support like? Their proposal sounds reasonable so far. I have been doing my due diligence on the panels and bty.

They are advertising in the Manawatu region but CHCH based. I met with two of their reps last week and have two quotes, 22 x Panels (440), 1 x 5Kwh Inv with (27k) and without (20k) a 10Kwh Bty. Still pondering over whether to go with a bty or without. No pool, air con or spa but I just remembered that I have underfloor heating in all tiled areas which we only used once until the power bill arrived. Gas water heating, fire and cook top.

My end goal is not a ROI but to knock the power bill on the head before retirement in a few years time. 1 less bill to pay.

Have a meeting with a Harrison's rep 5th Feb to see what they can offer.

To me, its never been cheaper to do this until now.

Thoughts?

Not used them but I'm Chch based so we see lots of their display advertising. I would question why ~10kW of panels if you have no battery.
As a reference point I installed 27 panels with a 10kW Solis 3 phase hybrid inverter for ~$15k - although I did the mechanical install (rails and panels).

Otautahi Christchurch

richms

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#3336398 27-Jan-2025 16:58

Jase2985:

Why would you have a 5kW inverter with 9.7kW of panels? you should be looking at a 7 or 8kW inverter

Usual reason is they are on a different plane of the roof so you have a morning/afternoon split in production.

Richard rich.ms

Jase2985

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#3336405 27-Jan-2025 17:10

richms:

Jase2985:

Why would you have a 5kW inverter with 9.7kW of panels? you should be looking at a 7 or 8kW inverter

Usual reason is they are on a different plane of the roof so you have a morning/afternoon split in production.

totally get that but IMO thats just too much for an east west split on a 5kW inverter, you are giving up too much power for a lot of the year, you can still sell 5kW back to the grid so even if your base load is less than 1kW then you would want a 6kW inverter.

richms

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#3336409 27-Jan-2025 17:27

Probably so they dont have to mess around with a export limiting inverter which is going to add to the cost.

Richard rich.ms

wongtop

563 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3336415 27-Jan-2025 17:45

Had this system installed by Bay Solar in December 2023, in Papamoa.

Production in calendar 2024 was 10,303 kWh so about 12% higher than the estimate.

fastbike

212 posts

Master Geek

#3336421 27-Jan-2025 17:59

richms:

Probably so they dont have to mess around with a export limiting inverter which is going to add to the cost.

Export limiting is no big deal. With the peak PV output ~10kW they should be allowing for some growth in self consumption, so 6 to 8 kW inverter is a better match. Just set the export limit to 5kW.

P.S. I got "pinged" by the local lines company for being 2% over their export limit, so we set the export limit on the inverter back by 500W. I did point out to them that base load of the house meant we would never exceed their limit - but it's their lines I'm using so I'm happy to play within their (otherwise reasonable) rules.

Otautahi Christchurch

richrdh18

210 posts

Master Geek

#3336425 27-Jan-2025 18:34

richms:

Jase2985:

Why would you have a 5kW inverter with 9.7kW of panels? you should be looking at a 7 or 8kW inverter

Usual reason is they are on a different plane of the roof so you have a morning/afternoon split in production.

I did wonder why the Panel output and Invertor figure was a huge difference, but it makes sense now. Yes, they intend to do a split array, east and north facing roof.

thanks for clearing that up.

Jase2985

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#3336442 27-Jan-2025 19:49

richrdh18:

richms:

Jase2985:

Why would you have a 5kW inverter with 9.7kW of panels? you should be looking at a 7 or 8kW inverter

Usual reason is they are on a different plane of the roof so you have a morning/afternoon split in production.

I did wonder why the Panel output and Invertor figure was a huge difference, but it makes sense now. Yes, they intend to do a split array, east and north facing roof.

thanks for clearing that up.

if its east and north with little to no shading, i would 100% be getting a bigger inverter unless the company can justify why its so small compared to the amount of panels.

fastbike

212 posts

Master Geek

#3336467 27-Jan-2025 21:38

Jase2985:

if its east and north with little to no shading, i would 100% be getting a bigger inverter unless the company can justify why its so small compared to the amount of panels.

100%. The Niwa solar view site is great to compare your site (orientation and tilt) with any other local (within 500km) site that is publishing data. https://solarview.niwa.co.nz/

My modelling shows my garage roof facing slightly to the south of West is chucking out decent amounts of power after 10am, so a East facing roof will be hitting peak at around 11am when the north facing panels will be at 80%.

From what I can see an East / West setup would justify about 60% of the panel Wp, a site with East and North should be closer to 75% of Wp. So ask for a 8kW inverter.

Otautahi Christchurch

Jase2985

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#3336468 27-Jan-2025 22:02

My east string (117 degrees) is peaking at 3kW (3.3kW of panels) about 11am in Auckland, at the same time my west string (297 degrees) was making 3.5kWh (6.7kW of panels). The west string peaks about 1530 at about 6.35kW and the east is making about 1.65kW (8kW total). I'm hitting 8kW from about 1230 to 1545.

fastbike

212 posts

Master Geek

#3336472 27-Jan-2025 22:17

Jase2985:

My east string (117 degrees) is peaking at 3kW (3.3kW of panels) about 11am in Auckland, at the same time my west string (297 degrees) was making 3.5kWh (6.7kW of panels). The west string peaks about 1530 at about 6.35kW and the east is making about 1.65kW (8kW total). I'm hitting 8kW from about 1230 to 1545.

You've nailed it. Your 10kWp gives 8kW peak output. And that is a E/W layout. The people doing the quote for the OP are unskilled contractors. My advice is to find a local installer.

Otautahi Christchurch

LightbulbNeil

57 posts

Master Geek

#3336510 28-Jan-2025 08:46

On a really good day for Dec Jan , our 10kW east west will get to 10kW output. Our roof is shallow at 15deg. Nov 2024 to now has been alot more productive than Nov 2023 to end of January 2024. Its looking like about 8 to 10% more production. So it seems there are quite significant changes in the years for solar production. We based our system for the highest winter production. On average the 10kW east west is about 8 kW of peak production and about 6kW from 10 to 3 pm or so in Dec Jan. This season our peak daily production has been up to 112kWh a day or more are in the 107 a day range. A lot higher than last year.

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