Solar options for home in 2022

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#3400851 8-Aug-2025 08:57

MikeFly:

Konev:

Just got an email this morning from a solar installer saying that Aurora (otago lines company) is increasing the export limit as part of some govt announcement (never saw it) heres the copy paste of the email.

In case you haven’t heard, Aurora Energy recently announced a significant change that benefits solar homeowners. In response to the Government’s plan to widen the voltage range from +/-6% to +/-10%, Aurora is now allowing increased export capacity for domestic solar systems. This is a fantastic step forward, helping homeowners get even more value from their solar investment.

Do you have a current inverter that is larger than 5kW? – We can increase the 5kW export limit to allow you to export at the maximum your inverter can produce i.e. – an 8kW inverter that was export limited to 5kW will now be able to export at 8kW.

Interesting, I wonder why Powerco have allowed 10kW for a while at least since last year and prior to the voltage spec change?

Not according to Powerco's Distributed Generation T&Cs.

"the maximum single-phase connection is 5 kVA, and above this a two-phase or
three-phase connection is required, noting the 5 kVA unbalance limit between phases."

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

MikeFly

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#3400899 8-Aug-2025 09:06

Ah per single phase. I am 3 phase so probably answers it. Thats good news for single phase generators, hopefully 3 phase households can go to 20kW soon.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3400900 8-Aug-2025 09:14

MikeFly:

Ah per single phase. I am 3 phase so probably answers it. Thats good news for single phase generators, hopefully 3 phase households can go to 20kW soon.

We're with Powerco and have an 8.2kW and a 5kW inverter on our two phases. The 8.2kW one has CT monitoring for throttling it to 5kW max export. Waiting for the +/-10% voltage spec's to be gazetted this month so we can open up the 8.2kW inverter's parameters to avoid it holding back generation and export due to high grid supply voltage, but being allowed to let the 8.2kW export to its full potential would also be nice.

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

Ge0rge

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#3400901 8-Aug-2025 09:27

I haven't read in any of the proposed documentation that the standard will allow an increase in export over 5kva per phase. Certainly increasing the voltage tolerance will allow people like @HarmLessSolutions to export the full 5kva and prevent throttling due to over voltage restrictions, which is great.

I was really surprised to read @konev 's post from Aurora.

I would be keen to see what standard they are basing that on, and more importantly, other lines companies getting on board!

HarmLessSolutions

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#3400949 8-Aug-2025 09:37

Ge0rge:

I haven't read in any of the proposed documentation that the standard will allow an increase in export over 5kva per phase. Certainly increasing the voltage tolerance will allow people like @HarmLessSolutions to export the full 5kva and prevent throttling due to over voltage restrictions, which is great.

I was really surprised to read @konev 's post from Aurora.

I would be keen to see what standard they are basing that on, and more importantly, other lines companies getting on board!

https://www.auroraenergy.co.nz/news/media-releases-news/aurora-energy-to-double-household-solar-export-limits-to-10-kw

I guess Aurora's grid infrastructure is better suited to accepting the extra export capacity. Our supplier maintains that Powerco's infrastructure is largely outdated and already at capacity so don't expect them to follow Aurora any time soon unfortunately.

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

Jase2985

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#3400967 8-Aug-2025 10:42

the export limit i dont believe is standard related, the voltage limits are.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3400973 8-Aug-2025 10:53

Jase2985:

the export limit i dont believe is standard related, the voltage limits are.

But worth noting that Aurora are referring to the 2010 version of the 4777 standards which I understand was more lenient than later iterations.

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

HarmLessSolutions

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#3400984 8-Aug-2025 11:17

Interesting report and an example of the 'utility company death spiral' in action IRL.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/its-a-joke-bill-shock-and-red-tape-pushes-industrial-company-off-the-grid/

Our installer has provided an off grid system for a customer whose location at the end of a rural road was going to result in close to $200K of connection costs. As solar and batteries reduce in price the threshold for moving off grid will continue to get more accessible for such consumers.

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

richms

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#3400990 8-Aug-2025 11:27

Payback is still too long for most businesses, but when you are looking at a huge grid connection cost like that, that also has no return on it other than there being grid power there for the next user of the site.

Richard rich.ms

fastbike

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#3405166 17-Aug-2025 09:07

Interesting, I had my 3 phase Solis S6 inverter go off line on Wednesday for 30 minutes. The voltage reading were 237,238,248. I'm guessing it decided that phase 3 was well out of spec so stopped exporting.

It was still powering the house but not exporting nor charging the DC coupled battery. So 1 out 3 functions worked.

Luckily it did not last too long as we were exporting around 8kW (@ 17c) at the time.

Going forward what changes do we need to make to the inverter to configure with the new voltage limits, or will an update be pushed out by the manufacturer ?

P.S. I'm a lot more aware this year off how the sunpath is rapidly changing at this time of the year (system installed last summer). The last week we've had some nice clear days so the "power station" is mostly in a daily net export mode - in the 5 days of the current power bill we have imported 113kWh (mainly battery charging) and exported 178. So probably I'll be a net exporter for the next 8 months. The amount we have drawn from the grid in the last 4 months is less than 50% of last year, and we have run the house a bit warmer (all heating is electric). So good for us, and good for the country's "fragile" power supply as we only used about 20kWh of peak time power over those 4 months.

Otautahi Christchurch

Jase2985

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#3405169 17-Aug-2025 09:26

fastbike:

Going forward what changes do we need to make to the inverter to configure with the new voltage limits, or will an update be pushed out by the manufacturer ?

once the changes come into force from your lines company then you should just be able to go into the inverter settings and change it. For my inverter (Fronius) you need a special password, over and above the technician one which most people would have.

Manufacturer would have nothing to do with it, as it should already be able to go to +/- 10% in the settings.

fastbike

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#3405171 17-Aug-2025 09:33

Jase2985:

once the changes come into force from your lines company then you should just be able to go into the inverter settings and change it. For my inverter (Fronius) you need a special password, over and above the technician one which most people would have.

Manufacturer would have nothing to do with it, as it should already be able to go to +/- 10% in the settings.

There is a Grid Code Setting section which includes a Grid Code drop down list that has a huge list of various standards and countries. I'm assuming this will be changing a whole bunch of internal voltage and frequency related config registers deep inside the machine. I will email the supplier to see what they say. Otherwise I think there is the ability to configure individual registers via the Modbus port ....

Otautahi Christchurch

Ge0rge

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#3405173 17-Aug-2025 09:38

Jase2985:

fastbike:

Going forward what changes do we need to make to the inverter to configure with the new voltage limits, or will an update be pushed out by the manufacturer ?

once the changes come into force from your lines company then you should just be able to go into the inverter settings and change it. For my inverter (Fronius) you need a special password, over and above the technician one which most people would have.

Manufacturer would have nothing to do with it, as it should already be able to go to +/- 10% in the settings.

I'd argue the manufacturer will have a huge amount to do with it. They will be the ones who will create the updated grid profiles.

Jase2985

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#3405174 17-Aug-2025 09:38

fastbike:

Jase2985:

once the changes come into force from your lines company then you should just be able to go into the inverter settings and change it. For my inverter (Fronius) you need a special password, over and above the technician one which most people would have.

Manufacturer would have nothing to do with it, as it should already be able to go to +/- 10% in the settings.

There is a Grid Code Setting section which includes a Grid Code drop down list that has a huge list of various standards and countries. I'm assuming this will be changing a whole bunch of internal voltage and frequency related config registers deep inside the machine. I will email the supplier to see what they say. Otherwise I think there is the ability to configure individual registers via the Modbus port ....

For me its inside that setting, ie i can modify the country setting through the GUI. I dont have access to the inverter at present but ive been in and looked at the setting and in my case its all very simple to do.

Jase2985

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#3405176 17-Aug-2025 09:39

Ge0rge:

Jase2985:

fastbike:

Going forward what changes do we need to make to the inverter to configure with the new voltage limits, or will an update be pushed out by the manufacturer ?

once the changes come into force from your lines company then you should just be able to go into the inverter settings and change it. For my inverter (Fronius) you need a special password, over and above the technician one which most people would have.

Manufacturer would have nothing to do with it, as it should already be able to go to +/- 10% in the settings.

I'd argue the manufacturer will have a huge amount to do with it. They will be the ones who will create the updated grid profiles.

In my case you go in select the grid profile and then you can go in and modify the settings under it. its already baked into the inverter. YMMV

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