enphase s280 with LG315N1C-G4

[38kW]

Understood. Thank you. Any surprises, good or not so good ? Zip code ?

One surprise is how good the LG315 to Enphase S280 combo performs at less than perfect conditions. I need more experience with the system before I can make any claims. The only issue we have had is getting the Envoy to communicate with all the inverters on both systems. They are physically separated by two hundred feet.

[J.P.M.]

No, custom install by top rated company on SolarReviews both by number of reviews and 5 stars. No exposed conduit, extremely neat and quick design, permitting, install and permission to operate.

Understood. Thank you. Any surprises, good or not so good ? Zip code ?

[38kW]

Understood. The LOCE tends to get quite low with long time frames such as 25 years and a relatively low install price. Self install ?

No, custom install by top rated company on SolarReviews both by number of reviews and 5 stars. No exposed conduit, extremely neat and quick design, permitting, install and permission to operate.

[38kW]

Enphase Enlighten view

[J.P.M.]

SAM estimate of solar expansion = 31,528 kWh per year
14 LG 315s @ 213 azimuth 15 deg tilt
42 LG 315s @ 168 azimuth 15 deg tilt

SAM was necessary because PVWatts can't model a system with existing solar. With SAM, I was able to input my actual hourly production/consumption from APS (local POCO).
Now that I'm producing all of expected usage, I have switched from TOU to standard rate. Estimated payback is 8.8 years. LCOE (real) 1.87 cents/kWh with 25 year mortgage @ 4%
Install was $43,700 less $1,800 roof coating = $41,900 / 17.36 kW DC = $2.41/kWh in Phoenix area before incentives.

Understood. The LOCE tends to get quite low with long time frames such as 25 years and a relatively low install price. Self install ?

[38kW]

Interesting info, particularly for me anyway, the SAM estimates. Thanx.

SAM estimate of solar expansion = 31,528 kWh per year
14 LG 315s @ 213 azimuth 15 deg tilt
42 LG 315s @ 168 azimuth 15 deg tilt

SAM was necessary because PVWatts can't model a system with existing solar. With SAM, I was able to input my actual hourly production/consumption from APS (local POCO).
Now that I'm producing all of expected usage, I have switched from TOU to standard rate. Estimated payback is 8.8 years. LCOE (real) 1.87 cents/kWh with 25 year mortgage @ 4%
Install was $43,700 less $1,800 roof coating = $41,900 / 17.36 kW DC = $2.41/kWh in Phoenix area before incentives.

[ButchDeal]

Last week I received permission to operate my system addition with 56 LG 315s and Enphase S280s. This is an addition to a ground mount system with 70 SolarWorld 255 with Enphase M215 installed in 2013. The DC/AC ratio of the new system is 112.5% vs. 118.6% for the original system so I would expect to see more clipping with the M215s. Typically, the SolarWorld system with a 180 azimuth & 7 deg tilt maxes out in late April to early May at 120 kWh produced. I only saw this level two or three days a year with cool temperatures. The combined system is regular producing 240 kWh per day. Looking at the hourly graphs, I would see the hint of a plateau indicating some clipping on these 2 or 3 days per year. The LG 315s with the S280 inverters seem to get up to max output earlier and stay there longer. There is a slight plateau on the graphs for maybe 90 minutes at midday.
When I checked the production meters, the new system at 17.36 kW DC is outperforming the original system at 17.85 kW DC. Over the last four days, production averaged 112.5 kWh for the LGs and 97 kWh for the SolarWorld.array. Having two nearly equally sized systems to compare with Enphase reporting should be interesting.

BTW, I used SAM to model the system expansion and it shows zero inverter clipping loss due to power limit with the LG 315 & Enphase S280 pairing. One other interesting compare, the M215s actually max out at 225 watts whereas I have not seen the S280s exceed the 280 watt rating.

The M215 can go up to 225W
the M250 and S280 are limited to 250w and 280w respectivly.

you might see some clipping on the S280/LG315 in a cold environment but likely pretty small as the PTC on the LG315 is 287.5w

[J.P.M.]

Last week I received permission to operate my system addition with 56 LG 315s and Enphase S280s. This is an addition to a ground mount system with 70 SolarWorld 255 with Enphase M215 installed in 2013. The DC/AC ratio of the new system is 112.5% vs. 118.6% for the original system so I would expect to see more clipping with the M215s. Typically, the SolarWorld system with a 180 azimuth & 7 deg tilt maxes out in late April to early May at 120 kWh produced. I only saw this level two or three days a year with cool temperatures. The combined system is regular producing 240 kWh per day. Looking at the hourly graphs, I would see the hint of a plateau indicating some clipping on these 2 or 3 days per year. The LG 315s with the S280 inverters seem to get up to max output earlier and stay there longer. There is a slight plateau on the graphs for maybe 90 minutes at midday.
When I checked the production meters, the new system at 17.36 kW DC is outperforming the original system at 17.85 kW DC. Over the last four days, production averaged 112.5 kWh for the LGs and 97 kWh for the SolarWorld.array. Having two nearly equally sized systems to compare with Enphase reporting should be interesting.

BTW, I used SAM to model the system expansion and it shows zero inverter clipping loss due to power limit with the LG 315 & Enphase S280 pairing. One other interesting compare, the M215s actually max out at 225 watts whereas I have not seen the S280s exceed the 280 watt rating.

Interesting info, particularly for me anyway, the SAM estimates. Thanx.

[38kW]

Don't worry, the clipping will probably stop as summer comes in and temperatures go up. The amount of energy you are losing is likely to be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.. if you know the azimuth and tilt of the array, PVWatts can help quantify what that loss might be in a typical year. The efficiency of those panels is paying off every non-clipped hour of the day, more than compensating for any clipped energy.

Last week I received permission to operate my system addition with 56 LG 315s and Enphase S280s. This is an addition to a ground mount system with 70 SolarWorld 255 with Enphase M215 installed in 2013. The DC/AC ratio of the new system is 112.5% vs. 118.6% for the original system so I would expect to see more clipping with the M215s. Typically, the SolarWorld system with a 180 azimuth & 7 deg tilt maxes out in late April to early May at 120 kWh produced. I only saw this level two or three days a year with cool temperatures. The combined system is regular producing 240 kWh per day. Looking at the hourly graphs, I would see the hint of a plateau indicating some clipping on these 2 or 3 days per year. The LG 315s with the S280 inverters seem to get up to max output earlier and stay there longer. There is a slight plateau on the graphs for maybe 90 minutes at midday.
When I checked the production meters, the new system at 17.36 kW DC is outperforming the original system at 17.85 kW DC. Over the last four days, production averaged 112.5 kWh for the LGs and 97 kWh for the SolarWorld.array. Having two nearly equally sized systems to compare with Enphase reporting should be interesting.

BTW, I used SAM to model the system expansion and it shows zero inverter clipping loss due to power limit with the LG 315 & Enphase S280 pairing. One other interesting compare, the M215s actually max out at 225 watts whereas I have not seen the S280s exceed the 280 watt rating.

[J.P.M.]

I installed myself, and received the M250's at a great deal. The cost wasn't a huge concern, but I couldn't justify the 60 dollars extra for each inverter. I'm guessing I average 30 watts of clipping for 3 hours a day which totally stinks. But at the end of the day I'm enjoying the project and even thinking about my next addition. Power bill looks like it will be zero cost which is awesome.

If that 30 Watts clipping X 3 hrs./day is all that's lost from the entire array production, I' d guess it will take some time for the NPV of the lost production from that clipping to equal $60/panel.

[Engineer]

I installed myself, and received the M250's at a great deal. The cost wasn't a huge concern, but I couldn't justify the 60 dollars extra for each inverter. I'm guessing I average 30 watts of clipping for 3 hours a day which totally stinks. But at the end of the day I'm enjoying the project and even thinking about my next addition. Power bill looks like it will be zero cost which is awesome.

That's great, good for you. Wish I could have self installed, but I don't know enough about solar to have done that with my installation which was a little complicated. Even my installer which has been doing in the business for 30 years (long before it because a common thing) got down checks on the first inspection. Mainly around grounding, they needed to do the panels grounding slightly differently, separate the sub panel ground from the sub panel neutral, and run a separate #8 ground wire from the sub to the main (instead of the 10 gauge which was in the four wire 6 gauge Romex). All this for lightning protection it seemed.

[jetsurgn]

I installed myself, and received the M250's at a great deal. The cost wasn't a huge concern, but I couldn't justify the 60 dollars extra for each inverter. I'm guessing I average 30 watts of clipping for 3 hours a day which totally stinks. But at the end of the day I'm enjoying the project and even thinking about my next addition. Power bill looks like it will be zero cost which is awesome.

[ButchDeal]

How does a 6.9kw system have a 3.9kw theoretical max???

[Engineer]

How was that 3.9 kW estimated ?

ACK, I mean 6.9 kW, I'll fix the post. Just 315*22=6930W

[J.P.M.]

ButchDeal - yeah we've had a couple of perfect sunny days so far and no clipping I could see at all. Total system delivered 6.1kW peak on 3.9kW theoretical maximum.

How was that 3.9 kW estimated ?