Solar panel production figures

Zeeflyboy said:
Yeah, not a cloud in the sky today so it's pretty much going to show peak performance for me I think - oddly enough the peak power was lower today (a smooth topped 3.87kw vs a 4.38kw spike yesterday) which I don't really understand
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If the panels are shaded by a cloud they will cool down, then the sun comes out, the cold panels will give much more power than hot panels, so you get a spike until they warm up.
 
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HungryHippos said:
Speaking of I noticed in your screenshots with Ron-Ski your battery had only been cycled 20 odd times.

My 8.2kWh GE battery has been cycled over 200 times since I had it installed start of September last year!

More than once per day on average :cool:

Their warranty info states unlimited charge cycles on it though, but it seems they kind of put fair use at 500 cycles per year.
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There are 3 batteries each running with their own BMS each cycle is 280aH, we are low electric users now though.
Plus our use is very nearly all on the cheap rate, immersion for hot water is our main use, at a cost of 15p a day its not worth our while changing to anything else.

vQvhPy0h.jpg
 
Freefaller said:
Nice! Days like today makes me think we should have another battery (9.5kw).

We are as a family of 4 relatively high users of energy, although when idle at night (when everyone's asleep) it's no more than 200W or so. However we don't have a gas hob or oven, so everything is electric, and we like to cook, so the oven and hobs are on a lot!
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Our electric cooker went the same time as the storage heaters, now use a gas cooker(propane)

Two of us here at least one of us at home, house is in use 24/7.
 
Ron-ski said:
If the panels are shaded by a cloud they will cool down, then the sun comes out, the cold panels will give much more power than hot panels, so you get a spike until they earn up.
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Funny I was just figuring this was why on my good days I see lower peaks.
Days that are semi sunny the spikes are massive, and I assume thats exactly the reason this time of year, panels at ambient will produce more when suddenly sun comes out than a panel thats at 30 degrees and warming up
 
Nice day today and I like getting odd days like this, it helps to clearly see where things like shading kick in.

My panels are on the inner elbow of an L-shape roof, so early in the morning the W facing set blocks the sun to the S facing set.

At this time of year:

09:15 - S facing panels start to get un-shaded.
10:15 - S facing panels fully un-shaded.
11:00 - W facing panels don't suffer shading but slowly ramp up into the afternoon.
12:30 - W facing panel generation peaks.
14:30 - W facing panel generation peaks.
14:45 - S facing panels start to get shaded by the nearby taller houses as the sun dips.
15:15 - W facing panels start to get shaded delayed a little from the S facing ones.
15:45 - W facing panels fully shaded. Generation ends.

As the year progresses such shading will matter less, though it's clear to see it's losing some potential earlier in the day, and later in the afternoon the W facing panels should carry on for longer but the day kind of gets cut short.

SLmF4CR.png

Generation per string:

Total: 12.1kWh today
String 1 - W facing = Sum (Watts) of 47766
String 2 - S facing = Sum (Watts) of 103400
Combined Strings = Sum (Watts) of 151166

S facing = 68.4% of Total. Generated = 8.28 kWh. Efficiency = 8.28 / 2.22kW = 3.73 kWh per kW.
W facing = 31.6% of Total. Generated = 3.82 kWh. Efficiency = 3.82 / 2.59kW = 1.47 kWh per kW.
Avg Efficiency = 12.1 / 4.81 = 2.51 kWh per kW.

It's clear the S facing panels are the real winners, wish I had more of those!
 
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Troop said:
Our electric cooker went the same time as the storage heaters, now use a gas cooker(propane)

Two of us here at least one of us at home, house is in use 24/7.
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I want to move to induction hobs but at the moment it doesn't seem worthwhile as we're still putting together our plans for a large extension.

Yeah when all 4 of us are at home, we hammer the electricity in the winter, when it's nice outside we spend most of the time in the garden. But I only wfh 2/3 days a week so that helps with lowering our usage.
 
Boom! Smashed through my 9kwh ceiling with a new record of 12.24kwh

Starting to see the potential now
Was basically a better than perfect day. The mist earlier on meant I was seeing higher generation than a normal day, the mist reflecting the light I assume.
Then from lunchtime onwards its been clear.
My new blocker is a low rise set of flats (3 storey plus loft) to my almost west which blocks from around 4pm now. Give it a couple of weeks and the sun should be clearing that roof however.
Last obstacle will be the townhouses directly to my west which are end on, but again pretty high. Think they will shade slightly even peak summer will be close.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Boom! Smashed through my 9kwh ceiling with a new record of 12.24kwh

Starting to see the potential now
Was basically a better than perfect day. The mist earlier on meant I was seeing higher generation than a normal day, the mist reflecting the light I assume.
Then from lunchtime onwards its been clear.
My new blocker is a low rise set of flats (3 storey plus loft) to my almost west which blocks from around 4pm now. Give it a couple of weeks and the sun should be clearing that roof however.
Last obstacle will be the townhouses directly to my west which are end on, but again pretty high. Think they will shade slightly even peak summer will be close.
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Hacks! :D
 
Ron-ski said:
If the panels are shaded by a cloud they will cool down, then the sun comes out, the cold panels will give much more power than hot panels, so you get a spike until they earn up.
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Thanks, that makes sense.

Just hit 17kwh today… and that’s with the dramatic fall off as the shading starts to impact the system.

Will be interesting to see what it makes when the sun gets a bit higher and the neighbours roofline gets out the way.
 
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