Solar panel production figures

SpeedFreak said:
It would really help if people included the size of their installs alongside the production figures.

Maybe production as % of installation size?
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As per instructions in the very first post, but people will be people :rolleyes:

Ron-ski said:
If posting how much you've produced it would be useful for others to post what size system you have, and of course a rough location is always useful.

You can also post your efficiency, divide the kWh production figure by your system size.
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Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Yeah but its not just system size, its facing, angle, location etc as well if you care about efficiency comparatives

Which IMO is why an amount vs a realistic target for you is the best indicator of how well your doing.
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I understand you need more details. The guys who installed them said we were in a east/west location, so 8 front and rear and I don't know the angle. Its a solax unit with two batteries, that all the details I have. It works okay
 
Servo said:
I understand you need more details. The guys who installed them said we were in a east/west location, so 8 front and rear and I don't know the angle. Its a solax unit with two batteries, that all the details I have. It works okay
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Nah I agree, I don't really care about someone elses efficiency is my point.
Whats relevant to me is my efficiency, achieved / potential.

My point was the size of the array is only part of the equation. It seems odd to want to compare that whilst ignoring the other factors that are also critical when understanding potential.
Its like when the guy from florida posts up, different location, different weather.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
:D:DNah I agree, I don't really care about someone elses efficiency is my point.
Whats relevant to me is my efficiency, achieved / potential.

My point was the size of the array is only part of the equation. It seems odd to want to compare that whilst ignoring the other factors that are also critical when understanding potential.
Its like when the guy from florida posts up, different location, different weather.
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I guess my point is that your production without context means nothing to anyone. You may as well post that you made 600 potatoes today :D
 
But it is the size that makes the difference. You could argue that even if you had the size, pitch and azimuth, it was meaningless without the minute by minute weather conditions :p
 
Ron-ski said:
But it is the size that makes the difference. You could argue that even if you had the size, pitch and azimuth, it was meaningless without the minute by minute weather conditions :p
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Thats not really true. The size makes part of the difference.

The realistic panel output is : [stated output of number of panels] x [factor due to direction] x [factor due to pitch] x [factor due to latitude]

Eg typical panels facing east or west produce 80% of ones facing south.

So a 5kw array facing east would be the equivalent of a 4kw array facing south. Thats hardly insignificant.
Equally being at a steeper angle optimises vs lower sun where as a flatter angle optimises vs higher summer sun.

The weather conditions is a variable. The impact of the orientation etc of the panels is a known and its fixed.
Which is why saying comparing all generation vs only array size is pretty much irrelevant.
If we adjusted for the main factors and standardised the array in effect then you would be able to make a useful comparison.

If we all used the table in below link to do a quick standardisation on the arrays then it would make more sense.
Eg my roof is fairly steep and I face West, I knew this on install and knew I was basically at about 70% efficiency.
Its pointless to me to compare to a south facing flatter array of the same size.
Over time they are going to produce roughly 50% more than I do (or I am only going to produce 70% of what they do)

My array is in effect equivalent to just under 4kw facing south at the optimum angle. I don't have the option to flip my house 90degrees and flatten the roof ;)
So my nominal array is 5670w with the south and pitch adjusted value, SAP ;) of 3969w approx

Average UK Impact of facing and pitch http://www.freesolarpanelsuk.co.uk/the-best-angle-and-orientation-for-solar-panels-in-the-uk.php
 
21.8kWh generated today and 9.2kWh exported. The best day since the 5th Sept. (4.8kW array)

Up to 317kWh for the month so far. Less than 100kWh more needed to hit the monthly target of 414kWh.
 
I think I'm pretty well aware of the what affects what when it comes to solar panels, I really don't think we need information overload that a lot of people won't understand, there's something to be said for keeping it simple ;)

Anyway a meagre 12.7kWh from who knows what equivalent south facing panels at the perfect angle, as they are at different angles and orientations :D

PS. The point was someone could have 20kW or 2kW of panels, with no indication of system size the figures are meaningless really.
 
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