Sun hours

[bcroe]

Interesting, in the months before my array went active, we had hot, sunny drought which lasted so long, it killed a
couple dozen of my trees. It seems like, as soon as the array switched on, the weather turned cloudy, and that has
continued a couple years now. I have yet to see peak production with a clear day in June.

Since I have been running like 83%, maybe I just need to bump up the number of panels by 20%. Bruce Roe

[DanS26]

Bruce, enjoy very much your energy manipulation saga.

I overproduce also, but unlike you I get to sell my excess to a REMC that pays me ~$.07 per kWh. They settle up once a year at the end of March...just received a $350 check for last year's net overproduction.

So I am constantly looking at whether it is better to sell @ 7 cents or to use the excess internally. Just recently the price of propane has dropped to $1 per gallon here in Indiana. My back of the envelope calc says that I should burn propane to heat my house this winter and sell kWh. A gallon of propane is 83,400 BTUs and a kWh is 3,413 BTUs. If my math is correct then a gallon of propane is worth 24.4 kWh or $1.71 which is substantially higher than the $1 per gallon of propane. Of course there are inefficiencies that are not factored in but not enough to over come the huge price differential.

[bcroe]

Bruce, enjoy very much your energy manipulation saga.

I overproduce also, but unlike you I get to sell my excess to a REMC that pays me ~$.07 per kWh. They settle up once a year at the end of March...just received a $350 check for last year's net overproduction.

So I am constantly looking at whether it is better to sell @ 7 cents or to use the excess internally. Just recently the price of propane has dropped to $1 per gallon here in Indiana. My back of the envelope calc says that I should burn propane to heat my house this winter and sell kWh. A gallon of propane is 83,400 BTUs and a kWh is 3,413 BTUs. If my math is correct then a gallon of propane is worth 24.4 kWh or $1.71 which is substantially higher than the $1 per gallon of propane. Of course there are inefficiencies that are not factored in but not enough to over come the huge price differential.

Those numbers look good. However, here my heat pump multiplies my KWH by 2 or 3 most of the year, so that is
the way I go. I haven't forgotten 17 months ago, in the midst of the coldest winter I have ever experienced, that
the (artificially created) propane shortage caused prices of $5 a gallon. I wonder how many people noticed, they
could save a lot with plain resistance heaters at that point? Guess you could get a tank large enough
to ride through the winter; I had to use resistance heat when night air was well below zero.

My goal is to be free of the electric and fuel price roller coaster, and to minimize the number of utilities I am paying
monthly connect fees to. At the very least, being flexible about which energy source to use is good. And running
a "science project" can be fun. Bruce Roe

[DanS26]

...... Guess you could get a tank large enough
to ride through the winter......

Yes, that's what I did, in fact I bought two 1000 gal tanks....a multi-year supply. Propane stores well and I also use it for my back up generator.

Last year I installed a Steffes ETS (electric thermal storage) system. I charge the unit from 10am to 2pm and then discharge the unit anytime I need the heat. That soaks up a lot of my excess kWh and makes sense for me since I am on a net billing system. In your case and anyone on net metering it does not make sense, since a kWh used or sold anytime is the same price, thus timing is not an issue.

Also installed a Nyle heat pump water heater, also set up on a timer to run in daylight hours only.

But now that propane is the cheapest form of energy (not counting wood), I'll probably switch back to heating my house and my water with propane as long as the price stays under $1.75 a gallon.

[DanKegel]

But now that propane is the cheapest form of energy (not counting wood), I'll probably switch back to heating my house and my water with propane as long as the price stays under $1.75 a gallon.

Sssh, don't give away your price point, or the enviros will levy a $0.75/gallon carbon tax on propane to get you to change your behavior

[J.P.M.]

Those numbers look good. However, here my heat pump multiplies my KWH by 2 or 3 most of the year, so that is
the way I go. I haven't forgotten 17 months ago, in the midst of the coldest winter I have ever experienced, that
the (artificially created) propane shortage caused prices of $5 a gallon. I wonder how many people noticed, they
could save a lot with plain resistance heaters at that point? Guess you could get a tank large enough
to ride through the winter; I had to use resistance heat when night air was well below zero.

My goal is to be free of the electric and fuel price roller coaster, and to minimize the number of utilities I am paying
monthly connect fees to. At the very least, being flexible about which energy source to use is good. And running
a "science project" can be fun. Bruce Roe

As long as you can live with the idea and expense of having two sources of energy for DHW and space heating (electricity and propane it seems), enjoy the ride. It may be worth noting that some of the advantages of large propane storage facilities are somewhat analogous to large electricity storage. At this time however, propane storage seems a much more settled proposition than electrical energy storage in spite of all Mr. Musk seems to be doing to convince us to the contrary.

[SunEagle]

...... At this time however, propane storage seems a much more settled proposition than electrical energy storage in spite of all Mr. Musk seems to be doing to convince us to the contrary.

That is because he has not invested in either the natural or bottle gas industry (yet).

[bcroe]

Rain

And the rain goes on......

It was already heavily overcast, but in the afternoon the sprinkles got really serious.
It got so dark, the inverters shut down, which rarely happens days. What surprised me,
is after the heavy rain and the inverters came back on, the readings for the day were
carried through, not reset. Running at 30%, managed 44 KWH, but the prediction is
for 2 all out sunny days. We shall see. Bruce Roe

[DanS26]

And the rain goes on......

It was already heavily overcast, but in the afternoon the sprinkles got really serious.
It got so dark, the inverters shut down, which rarely happens days. What surprised me,
is after the heavy rain and the inverters came back on, the readings for the day were
carried through, not reset. Running at 30%, managed 44 KWH, but the prediction is
for 2 all out sunny days. We shall see. Bruce Roe

Same thing happened to me for the first time. It got so dark in the middle of the day that the inverters shut down. Very unusual for SE Indiana.

We had a hail storm...3/4 inch hail..no damage but I was on pins and needles as we took a pounding. Kyocera panels rated for 1" hail and came through with flying colors.

[inetdog]

[QUOTE=bcroe;164414]What surprised me,
is after the heavy rain and the inverters came back on, the readings for the day were
carried through, not reset. Running at 30%, managed 44 KWH, but the prediction is
for 2 all out sunny days. QUOTE]
I guess it knows the difference between "not enough power to operate" and "no power".
I wonder what would happen if you cover the panels well?

[bcroe]

What surprised me,
is after the heavy rain and the inverters came back on, the readings for the day were
carried through, not reset.

I guess it knows the difference between "not enough power to operate" and "no power".
I wonder what would happen if you cover the panels well?

It might have a clock that needs 6 hours of darkness to pass before it declares a new day. Or
possibly could still detect a level of energy of panels running at under 0.2% but not zero. No
way will all those panels get covered, but a power supply could be connected to emulate a very
low light level. Or ask Fronius how they do it? Bruce Roe

[bcroe]

2015/16 Energy Reserve

Here is the energy reserve to date for next winter, with the 2 previous years. Generation isn't any
better than a year ago; probably a little worse (more clouds). Its got a jump on last year, because
this year I was heating with a new heat pump in the spring. Bruce Roe

[bcroe]

Not only is the weather conspiring to keep PV production down. Now it seems smoke from the
left coast fires is hazing up skies here in the Wild West (NW IL). Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

Not only is the weather conspiring to keep PV production down. Now it seems smoke from the
left coast fires is hazing up skies here in the Wild West (NW IL). Bruce Roe

Darn those unreliable weather patterns. It almost sounds like a gamble to put all my power generation into RE from the sun.

[J.P.M.]

Darn those unreliable weather patterns. It almost sounds like a gamble to put all my power generation into RE from the sun.

Climate's what you expect. Weather's what you get.