Perfect weather today producing electricity ....

[cyprusmax47]

I agree that optimisers are not a financial benefit but only on condition that all your panels receive whatever sunlight there is. If, during the day, some of your panels become shaded while others are in full sunlight, optimisers can allow the full output of the sunlit panels to provide energy.

Without knowing the exact situation on the roof of an PV installation you cannot give a verdict if optimizer are worth it installing or not. I am surprised that you are suddenly a expert for PV as if I remember back some years, you was always against photo-voltaic....

Max

[Devil]

Without knowing the exact situation on the roof of an PV installation you cannot give a verdict if optimizer are worth it installing or not. I am surprised that you are suddenly a expert for PV as if I remember back some years, you was always against photo-voltaic....
Max

Yes, Max, I was initially against PV when it would take three decades to amortise an installation producing little over 10 W per square metre. Today, the price has more than halved and the efficiency has just about doubled. As an ex-engineer and an ex-scientist, I still try to keep an open mind about controversial subjects. As to the question of optimisers, my previous answer is not opinion but common sense. It does not require Einstein to tell you or me that the production from a PV panel is higher when it is in sunlight and lower when it is in the shade nor that an optimiser allows unshaded panels to be connected when otherwise their output would be blocked by the shaded panels.

[mark4007]

Without knowing the exact situation on the roof of an PV installation you cannot give a verdict if optimizer are worth it installing or not. I am surprised that you are suddenly a expert for PV as if I remember back some years, you was always against photo-voltaic....
Max

Yes, Max, I was initially against PV when it would take three decades to amortise an installation producing little over 10 W per square metre. Today, the price has more than halved and the efficiency has just about doubled. As an ex-engineer and an ex-scientist, I still try to keep an open mind about controversial subjects. As to the question of optimisers, my previous answer is not opinion but common sense. It does not require Einstein to tell you or me that the production from a PV panel is higher when it is in sunlight and lower when it is in the shade nor that an optimiser allows unshaded panels to be connected when otherwise their output would be blocked by the shaded panels.

Hillarious and so dead pan....

An ex-engineer / ex-scientist disagreeing with the idea of establishing the facts and instead jumping to conclusions using "common sense". Wonderful.

it's common sense that the Earth is flat and stationary, that time doesn't depend on whether or not you're moving, that what goes up must come down (for clarity all these notions are false)

the fact that you refer to Einstein in the sentence after choosing to use "common sense" i thought was a delight... (id be surprised if Einstein ever used "common sense").

in these times of doom and gloom.. you provided some light relief.. Thank you

As to the subject of the debate.... i confess a vested interest.. i have them on my modules.. they are great fun.. i can see the power produced by each module on a real time basis.. fantastic.. But i am not convinced that they have much impact on actuall output.. theres lots of stuff about them on the internet... most of wch is on websites trying to promote their use and or sale. This is an alternate view ..

https://www.sma-sunny.com/en/five-myths ... ptimizers/

[mark4007]

A big round duck-egg zero from a 4 kW system. Why? I don't really know, but I suspect that there is a row going on between my contractor and the EAC. The panels were installed in May of last year but the rest of the installation wasn't finished until 2 February of this year but still no sign of connection to the grid. This prevarication has been going on since December 2020, partially held up by coronavirus restrictions and partly due to my own health problems but I tried to get it moving again in January 2022 and am furiously peeved at all the delays.

Has your electric meter been changed yet... thats the first sign that EAC are doing something ...

[mark4007]

We have a 4 kw pv system, 16 panels two aspect ( 8 facing SW, 8 facing West roughly) only producing around 10kw a day.....any idea how to improve?
Was told that optimisers were not financially worth fitting......

The last 3 days have been good producing weather (for me).. if you are still only getting 10kw production per day id suggest getting someone to have a look at your system.. doesnt sound right to me ..

[daveg]

Just to clarify,I take my readings directly from the AIK meter......
I assume that is correct way to judge how the PV system is performing.......?

[cyprusmax47]

Just to clarify,I take my readings directly from the AIK meter......
I assume that is correct way to judge how the PV system is performing.......?

Like this you get the wrong results. You have to read the daily kWh on the display of your inverter.

Max

[Devil]

am furiously peeved at all the delays.

Has your electric meter been changed yet... thats the first sign that EAC are doing something ...

Yes!, Weeks ago!

[daveg]

Thanks for the clarification Max....but the reason I take reading from the AIK meter is simply because that's the one that matters re the Electricity bill that drops through the door....
This week, according to the AIK meter , was the first time since 24th November that input to the grid,from the PV system was more than output from AIK supplied to the Villa...

[cyprusmax47]

Thanks for the clarification Max....but the reason I take reading from the AIK meter is simply because that's the one that matters re the Electricity bill that drops through the door....
This week, according to the AIK meter , was the first time since 24th November that input to the grid,from the PV system was more than output from AIK supplied to the Villa...

Only if you check the readings of your inverter display tells you if your PV installation is working correct. The point was that In your other post you complained that you produced only 10 kWh or so these days from your 4 kwp solar installation, which was wrong as it should have been much more. In your case as your modules are installed in west and south/west position you could have produced ca 16 kWh.( In south position however ca 20 kWh!!)

In daytime, when the sun produces electricity and you have electric consumers on, your meter runs slower or in the best case, when you produce more than you consume, you deliver to EAC grid and will get a credit on your meter.

Max

[mark4007]

Thanks for the clarification Max....but the reason I take reading from the AIK meter is simply because that's the one that matters re the Electricity bill that drops through the door....
This week, according to the AIK meter , was the first time since 24th November that input to the grid,from the PV system was more than output from AIK supplied to the Villa...

if you only look at the EAC meter you will not be recording any self consumption of electricty.

Self consumption is electrity generated by the modules and used by you before it is exported to the grid. It is entirly possible for you to generate say 17 units in a day, self consume say 7 and your EAC meter show 10 units exported to grid. If you only read the EAC meter you might believe you were only generating 10 units in this example

[sunspot]

Thanks for the clarification Max....but the reason I take reading from the AIK meter is simply because that's the one that matters re the Electricity bill that drops through the door....
This week, according to the AIK meter , was the first time since 24th November that input to the grid,from the PV system was more than output from AIK supplied to the Villa...

if you only look at the EAC meter you will not be recording any self consumption of electricty.

Self consumption is electrity generated by the modules and used by you before it is exported to the grid. It is entirly possible for you to generate say 17 units in a day, self consume say 7 and your EAC meter show 10 units exported to grid. If you only read the EAC meter you might believe you were only generating 10 units in this example

We did not know this, Mark. We have the SolarEdge app. It consistently tells us we are generating more than the export number on our meter. What you say makes sense. Does this mean that the import number on our meter is not our total consumption, because it does not include the energy used that we have generated ourselves?

[mark4007]

Thanks for the clarification Max....but the reason I take reading from the AIK meter is simply because that's the one that matters re the Electricity bill that drops through the door....
This week, according to the AIK meter , was the first time since 24th November that input to the grid,from the PV system was more than output from AIK supplied to the Villa...

if you only look at the EAC meter you will not be recording any self consumption of electricty.

Self consumption is electrity generated by the modules and used by you before it is exported to the grid. It is entirly possible for you to generate say 17 units in a day, self consume say 7 and your EAC meter show 10 units exported to grid. If you only read the EAC meter you might believe you were only generating 10 units in this example

We did not know this, Mark. We have the SolarEdge app. It consistently tells us we are generating more than the export number on our meter. What you say makes sense. Does this mean that the import number on our meter is not our total consumption, because it does not include the energy used that we have generated ourselves?

Yes.. thats right..

the difference between your export units as measured via you EAC export meter readings and your production values from your app is the self consumption. Add that figure to your EAC inport meter readings to get your total consumption figure.

Its a common issue that people cant understand why the app says one thing for production/generation and EAC export meter readings appear to suggest a much lower figure..

[daveg]

Having looked at the performance history on the Inverter, am pleased to confirm that the PV system is producing around the same as others have quoted....
Thank you Max for pointing out my mistake.....

[cyprusmax47]

Having looked at the performance history on the Inverter, am pleased to confirm that the PV system is producing around the same as others have quoted....
Thank you Max for pointing out my mistake.....

You are welcome. Not many people have knowledge about their PV installation, however I suggest that from time to time to have a look at the readings of the inverter how much is produced. If you look at the results below, one can see what every month should be achieved. (the line showing: Energy kWh every month of the year per one kWp modules installed) These figures are for south position, free-standing, 25 degree slope.

I wrote the topic, because my results were much better than the graphic shows....(5.1)



Max

[sunspot]

if you only look at the EAC meter you will not be recording any self consumption of electricty.

Self consumption is electrity generated by the modules and used by you before it is exported to the grid. It is entirly possible for you to generate say 17 units in a day, self consume say 7 and your EAC meter show 10 units exported to grid. If you only read the EAC meter you might believe you were only generating 10 units in this example

We did not know this, Mark. We have the SolarEdge app. It consistently tells us we are generating more than the export number on our meter. What you say makes sense. Does this mean that the import number on our meter is not our total consumption, because it does not include the energy used that we have generated ourselves?

Yes.. thats right..

the difference between your export units as measured via you EAC export meter readings and your production values from your app is the self consumption. Add that figure to your EAC inport meter readings to get your total consumption figure.

Its a common issue that people cant understand why the app says one thing for production/generation and EAC export meter readings appear to suggest a much lower figure..

Thank you. As you seem knowledgeable, can you answer this question: When we have a power cut then power is restored, sometimes the net metering does not turn back on when the power does. If we are away, we lose harvesting until we return and switch the net metering back on. Is that normal? Is it possible to prevent this tripping of the net metering system?

[trevnhil]

I can say that when we have a power cut at our house the solar panels comes back online automatically when the electricity comes back on

[Anarita John]

Sunspot, ours come on automatically after a power cut and we begin producing and exporting immediately. We can monitor our production, but not how much we export by the app.We have a solar edge inverter.

[jeba]

When we have a power cut then power is restored, sometimes the net metering does not turn back on when the power does. If we are away, we lose harvesting until we return and switch the net metering back on. Is that normal? Is it possible to prevent this tripping of the net metering system?

Usually my Solaredge system will turn back on automatically. However, e.g. after a thunderstorm it may not. In those cases I have to flip the switch manually.