Solar panels , would you ?

PJ87

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About 19 for us, but we start every morning with a full battery.

When I get up at 0630 (kids waking time) my 13.5kw battery is at 92-94%

The cheap hours run out at 04:30

But the wife is sleeping with the air con on ATM 🥶

Weekdays we make it through the day 90% or time it's weekends we might struggle. That's with a tumble in the morning aswell

But recently that extra 3kw in solar we had yesterday for example saw us through until 00:30

Once my ohme charger is in I can get on octopus intelligent and not only save a bit but also my hours jump to 6 hours 23:30-0530 so more wiggle room for the battery
 

cliveb

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For this time of year that's still outstanding

I've exported a grand total of 3kw this week
Yes but you've got a battery, so presumably using most of your solar to charge that.

I don't have a battery, and so far this week my modest 3.6kW system has exported 20.7kWh. (Mind you, Monday was an exceptional day with unbroken sunshine).

I'm happy to export - getting 15p a unit, and typically paying about 17p for import, so it's swings and roundabouts.
 

PJ87

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Yes but you've got a battery, so presumably using most of your solar to charge that.

I don't have a battery, and so far this week my modest 3.6kW system has exported 20.7kWh. (Mind you, Monday was an exceptional day with unbroken sunshine).

I'm happy to export - getting 15p a unit, and typically paying about 17p for import, so it's swings and roundabouts.

Yes you are correct Clive I'd also guess my home usage is a lot higher than most so the solars being used just powering the house

ATM I'm on 9p into the house and 8p out

Once the ohme goes live I go onto intelligent octopus and my in drops to 7.5p but the big deal is the out goes to 15p

So then any excess (those early morning in the summer on a full battery for example) start to cover the standing charge
 

PJ87

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😲 What???!!!

Did you marry an inuit?

😂 To be honest with you it's a step up, it always used to be the fan which is a humming

The air con is silent , set to 19 ATM so a nice temp but a bit cold .. it's pleasant

I always get warm anyways so I don't mind

I mean it's February and our duvet is 4.5 tog !! We never use a winter one
 

cliveb

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Your roof must be get good sun.. I have 16 panels and nearly same kWh
I think you've misunderstood. 6.4kWh battery, but 11 panels would be about 4.5kW at most.

Those of you who have more than 4kW of generation capability: what extra red tape was involved in getting DNO permission? 16A is the max you can export to the grid under standard rules.
 

larmen

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You will find that a lot of people with more that 3.6 kW on the roof still use a 3.6 kW inverter. Look for an explanation of clipping.
If you have 4kW for example, there are very few occasions when you are actually above 3.6 kW anyway, this just goes into thin air then. But when you don't have 100% efficiency, you still get closer to the 3.6 kW than someone like me who only has 3.2 kW on the roof.

We only started in November and the highest efficiency I have seen was 72%. I hope in Spring we get higher, and for longer and not just a flash moment.
Right now we run at 63%. It's sunny, but low angle.
 
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cliveb

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You will find that a lot of people with more that 3.6 kW on the roof still use a 3.6 kW inverter. Look for an explanation of clipping.
If you have 4kW for example, there are very few occasions when you are actually above 3.6 kW anyway, this just goes into thin air then. But when you don't have 100% efficiency, you still get closer to the 3.6 kW than someone like me who only has 3.2 kW on the roof.

We only started in November and the highest efficiency I have seen was 72%. I hope in Spring we get higher, and for longer and not just a flash moment.
Right now we run at 63%. It's sunny, but low angle.
Fair point about the inverter limiting maximum output. And although I agree you rarely see 100% output from the panels, it can happen, so it seems a waste to just throw that generation away. I've got 9 x 415W panels, so a nominal peak of 3.7kW. Back on 12th Feb I got a brief spike of 3.6kW output. My inverter is 3.6kW, so I guess it's possible it actually clipped. And that's in February! (Yes, I know that in summer when they get hotter, panels don't work quite as well).

But yes, hitting absolute peak output is probably very rare, so throwing away a tiny bit now and again is OK, I guess.
 

PJ87

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Fair point about the inverter limiting maximum output. And although I agree you rarely see 100% output from the panels, it can happen, so it seems a waste to just throw that generation away. I've got 9 x 415W panels, so a nominal peak of 3.7kW. Back on 12th Feb I got a brief spike of 3.6kW output. My inverter is 3.6kW, so I guess it's possible it actually clipped. And that's in February! (Yes, I know that in summer when they get hotter, panels don't work quite as well).

But yes, hitting absolute peak output is probably very rare, so throwing away a tiny bit now and again is OK, I guess.

My panels are rated higher than the micro inverters below them

380w panels 295 inverters below each one

Means they can lose 22% per panel and still produce what the system produced on day one.
 

Mudball

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I think you've misunderstood. 6.4kWh battery, but 11 panels would be about 4.5kW at most.

Those of you who have more than 4kW of generation capability: what extra red tape was involved in getting DNO permission? 16A is the max you can export to the grid under standard rules.

I have 16 x Exiom 425W panels.. so in all 6.8kW, with a 6.9kWh battery and 5KW invertor

Because we were above 5Kwh, the installers said we can 'apply for a high power invertor'. We have a Growatt SPH5000 Invertor that handles 5Kw. They did all the paperwork and I did not have to get involved in it.
Obviously it is a bit more expensive.
 

PJ87

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I have 16 x Exiom 425W panels.. so in all 6.8kW, with a 6.9kWh battery and 5KW invertor

Because we were above 5Kwh, the installers said we can 'apply for a high power invertor'. We have a Growatt SPH5000 Invertor that handles 5Kw. They did all the paperwork and I did not have to get involved in it.
Obviously it is a bit more expensive.

My solar inverter is 295 per panel so maxes out 3.6kw

my.export is limited to 3.6kw

My powerwall inverter is 5kw so I can use 5kw constant power without touching grid

No extra paper work

Having my charger moved to outside the battery next week when it gets replaced , just means the powerwall can't see it or power it
 

larmen

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Octopus saving session this evening from 18:00 to 18:30, shortest so far.

If you are signed up to Octopus and are on an export tariff they pay you £1.75 for every kWh you export above your usual export during that time, which for most people is 0 in teh winter anyway.

We will roughly output 1kWh tonight, £1.75 + the 30p they pay for peak export, another £2 in the bank.
 
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