Yes, this was the day my AC pretty much exhausted my battery and then it took a couple of days to get it back up to 100% as it was very overcast, similar to yesterday and today with minimal generation, annoyingly clear skies from 6pm onwards.
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
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Similar to @SDK^ I had mine installed on 30th June so apart from the first 2 hours of 1st July where the battery was force charging to 100% my stats are below.
Generated 999.93kwh, used 745kwh of those either through battery or directly, exported 255, which is more than I would have liked, but waiting on the EV to turn up which should utilise a big chunk of this although might need some sensible thinking for the summer months. Only pulled in 6kwh from the grid...
So close to the magic 1000 kWh
Excellent going, and great generation figures, its a damn shame about that missing panel, would have you well over 1MW for the month then.
Do you know what size battery is in the PHEV you are getting, and the useable capacity, or the potential mpkWh? You can do some maths in advance to figure out how to make most use of the solar, as I am sure diverting generation into the car to save x miles of fuel is going to be one of the biggest savings in value per kWh generated vs what would be expended.
Well, my simple setup doesn't get all this fancy pants graphs.
But, I do have get my basic generation records. My modest setup generated 521kwh in July. For a DIY setup it seems to be working pretty well.
Just remind me what your setup is again - number and of size of panels?
Thanks
CLA250e 15.6kwh, wife is generally doing 3 days a week in the office, so should be able to charge during day/weekend for 2 of those. My actual meter readings for the month came out at 12kwh from the grid. 100% incorrect seems a bit off from the givenergy portal, but will monitor again this month to see how it compares.Excellent going, and great generation figures, its a damn shame about that missing panel, would have you well over 1MW for the month then.
Do you know what size battery is in the PHEV you are getting, and the useable capacity, or the potential mpkWh? You can do some maths in advance to figure out how to make most use of the solar, as I am sure diverting generation into the car to save x miles of fuel is going to be one of the biggest savings in value per kWh generated vs what would be expended.
Thanks
Looks like we generated about the same for July - I've got 14x 375w panels.
My location isn't perfect, it's south facing but is shaded in the morning by trees on next doors garden :/
My garage is SSE facing. So gets good sun from early morning till about 5pm. Then a couple of my panels are in shade. The remaining 8 keep good light till about 6, then after than I'm down to about 4 with direct sun. Still get enough to cover the base load till about 8pm. Although nowhere near enough to cover the evening cooking.Thanks
Looks like we generated about the same for July - I've got 14x 375w panels.
My location isn't perfect, it's south facing but is shaded in the morning by trees on next doors garden :/
Most of my solar goes into charging the car. I've got that set to charge between 10:30 and 3:30 (although usually stops long before that).
This is a typical clear skies generation curve. Getting at least something positive from 5-6am until 8-9pm. Pretty sure it'll be rather different come winter.
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Well looking at the figures for the car (depending on road/speeds) then you should get between 30-40 miles on a charge, the claimed efficeincy is ~4.1mpkWh, but I am not sure how accurate that is. If you break it down to a comparison of MPG it seems to be able to get 37-40mpg, or around 19.8-21.5p per mile (£1.75p/L), so every kW of power you put in and can use could be worth as much as 88.15p, so it is worth topping up the pack to full if you know you'll use the miles, even if you can't then fill up your home battery, as the cost per kWh for electricity is lower than the what you'll get back from the car, in pure value terms.
Do that make sense?
~4.1mpkWh? Maybe if you're hypermiling at 30mph.Well looking at the figures for the car (depending on road/speeds) then you should get between 30-40 miles on a charge, the claimed efficeincy is ~4.1mpkWh, but I am not sure how accurate that is. If you break it down to a comparison of MPG it seems to be able to get 37-40mpg, or around 19.8-21.5p per mile (£1.75p/L), so every kW of power you put in and can use could be worth as much as 88.15p, so it is worth topping up the pack to full if you know you'll use the miles, even if you can't then fill up your home battery, as the cost per kWh for electricity is lower than the what you'll get back from the car, in pure value terms.
Do that make sense?
A car battery pack is the best place to put your solar energy IMO. Especially if the alternative is to use petrol.
Your stats are fantastic. Nice one.
I managed 597kwh in July off 4 east, 7 south and 4 west facing 410w panels in Bucks.
That is why I said claimed, I's say more likely 3mpkWh, but the CLA is actually pretty efficient from what I've seen.
Crickey, Octopus have just increased their Agile import cap from 35p to 55p, I guess for new customers only as my account still shows live pricing at 35p max.
As someone planning to switch to GO for winter, but to make the most of Agile Export in the summer when I have lots of excess solar, the gamble is to do the switch before the 7.5p/40p off-peak/peak increases.
As someone planning to switch to GO for winter, but to make the most of Agile Export in the summer when I have lots of excess solar, the gamble is to do the switch before the 7.5p/40p off-peak/peak increases.
Soldato
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Payments for generated kwh on SEG should just be better whilst prices are high, not fixed like original FIT, but if they buy a unit from you for 5-6p and sell it for 50, it's an insane ratio in favour of the energy companies.
I believe they are trying to address that in the coming year, unless I mis-read it. I'll see if I can find the source.
"The Government said on Thursday night that it had "not been considered appropriate" to set a floor price for the SEG when it was originally designed.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said Ofgem was due to submit a report on the current system this autumn. "We are committed to ensuring households receive a fair price for any renewable energy produced," the spokesman added."
Solar panel owners paid just a fraction of what their power is worth
A three-bedroom household with solar panels should be able to make more than £400 a year
www.telegraph.co.uk
The margin is unreal at current prices anywhere other than Octopus Agile Outgoing. Mind you the cost of administering a relatively small number of exporting customers producing a small and not entirely predictable flow of energy will be very high so the rates were probably quite reasonable up until ~18 months ago.
Soldato
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Bah telegraph paywall but yeah, essentially I'm after a fairer deal, not one that favours one party massively or is unrealistic.