6Kw going in soon in Aliso Viejo

[jrh]

I think we are all responsible. I remember when Bob was getting his system installed I was standing in a dry creek bed when the flash flood warnings went off. First day of installation for my system it rained (and had to be postponed) and then it rained again right after I got it. Sounds like we have all had similar experiences.

For those who haven't lived in south orange county this probably sounds like a ridiculous conversation but you have to understand how little it rains here. That and the 3+ year drought without significant rain makes the timing very suspicious.

<dons tinfoil hat>

That's 6.66kWh/kW. Very respectable in my book. Congrats.

Thanks! I can't stop refreshing the numbers. It's also flipped my perspective on the weather - I used to love cloudy, rainy days but now I like watching numbers and graphs.

[Alisobob]

solar107.JPG

May wasen't a great month for solar generation, only got 1 full day of sun... on the 10th.

BUT.... thanks to TOU, I still managed a nice credit for this month...

solar108.JPG

I'm currently in month 8 of my net metering cycle... Months 9 ( July) 10 (Aug) and 11 (Sept) should start to consume all this credit with A/C use, then start all over again.

[J.P.M.]

[ATTACH]6982[/ATTACH]

May wasen't a great month for solar generation, only got 1 full day of sun... on the 19th.

BUT.... thanks to TOU, I still managed a nice credit for this month...

[ATTACH]6983[/ATTACH]

I'm currently in month 8 of my net metering cycle... Months 9 ( July) 10 (Aug) and 11 (Sept) should start to consume all this credit with A/C use, then start all over again.

So how did you do relative to what PVWatts estimated for a long term average ? Any takeaway from that ?

[Alisobob]

I'll pull the exact numbers up when I get home.

PVWatts estimates are very close to my actual generation numbers, but I'm way ahead on SCE Net Metering credits, due to the advantages that TOU billing is providing me.

It will be interesting to see where the Month 12 numbers end up...

[bcroe]

May was a cloudy, poor production month last year, but 2015 was much worse. HOWEVER the
new heat pump has drastically cut consumption for April/May 2015. My reserve built up last
year (for winter) was 1713 KWH; 2015 its 3345 KWH. I'll run a curve when I have more data
points. Bruce Roe

[Alisobob]

Great news Bruce!!

[Alisobob]

So how did you do relative to what PVWatts estimated for a long term average ? Any takeaway from that ?

2015

Jan. PV Watts Est. 725 / Actual Production 706 / Ave. Daily Usage -2 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $9

Feb PV Watts Est. 625 / Actual Production 856 / Ave. Daily Usage -7 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $31.50

Switch from Domestic service to TOU-D-T service

March. PV Watts Est. 1003 / Actual Production 1080 / Ave. Daily Usage -8 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $67

Apr. PV Watts Est. 1027 / Actual Production 1100 / Ave. Daily Usage -9 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $60

May. PV Watts Est. 974 / Actual Production 1020 / Ave. Daily Usage -10.3 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $87

Total SCE charges saved in 2015 : $855

Total Generation Credits : $255

Total Solar Value to Date: $1110

For this month ( June) The TOU-D-T rates have changed to the "Summer" schedule, which should provide further advantages for me.

solar109.JPG

[J.P.M.]

2015

Jan. PV Watts Est. 725 / Actual Production 706 / Ave. Daily Usage -2 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $9

Feb PV Watts Est. 625 / Actual Production 856 / Ave. Daily Usage -7 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $31.50

Switch from Domestic service to TOU-D-T service

March. PV Watts Est. 1003 / Actual Production 1080 / Ave. Daily Usage -8 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $67

Apr. PV Watts Est. 1027 / Actual Production 1100 / Ave. Daily Usage -9 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $60

May. PV Watts Est. 974 / Actual Production 1020 / Ave. Daily Usage -10.3 KwH's / SCE $ Credit $87

Total SCE charges saved in 2015 : $855

Total Generation Credits : $255

Total Solar Value to Date: $1110

For this month ( June) The TOU-D-T rates have changed to the "Summer" schedule, which should provide further advantages for me.

[ATTACH]6985[/ATTACH]

Thank you.

[Alisobob]

solar111.JPG

Here's a great, "real world" example for you all....

Yesterday was a beautiful, cloudless, 12+ hour generation day. Output should have been huge.... right?

Wrong. It was also hot!

I barely made it over the 40 KwH mark, and peak production was barely 5KW, where it should have been 5.5. And look, no clipping either.

I have the monocrystalline style panels, that are supposed to be a little more heat tolerant... Poly's would have felt the heat effect even more.

Heat is not your friend ....

[jrh]

Yesterday was a beautiful, cloudless, 12+ hour generation day. Output should have been huge.... right?

Wrong. It was also hot!

I thought it was going to be a the new record day for me as well (which isn't hard granted when you only have 7 of them) but nope, it was just under. I came to the same conclusion - heat. The LG300's I have have a .42 panel coefficient and it was 11C above 25C for the high yesterday. That works out to 11C * .42 = 4.62 percent less efficient at peak.

I just got my Rainforest Eagle installed and inputting energy consumed into PVOutput. All kinds of fun being able to monitor production vs consumption.

[sensij]

I have the monocrystalline style panels, that are supposed to be a little more heat tolerant... Poly's would have felt the heat effect even more.

Not really. Monocrystalline panels are capable of having a better thermal coefficient, but in the case of the SolarWorld 270's, your coefficient for power is -0.45%/deg C. Compared to the Canadian Solar 260P (poly), with a -0.43%/deg C, the Solarworld coefficient is slightly worse. Even an LG300 mono panel is only -0.42% / deg C.

Also, keep in mind that the mono panels tend to be darker in color, and are therefore likely to get hotter under equivalent solar conditions.

For those reasons, I don't think there is much support for mono's categorically being better in heat. If anything, with the panels on the market today, they might be slightly worse.

[OftheSeven]

Yesterday was a beautiful, cloudless, 12+ hour generation day. Output should have been huge.... right?

Wrong. It was also hot!

Heat is not your friend ....

Same here in north Orange County. Sunny all day (low 90s) but slightly less output than previous partly cloudy, cooler days.

[rwb1921]

[ATTACH]7006[/ATTACH]

Here's a great, "real world" example for you all....

Yesterday was a beautiful, cloudless, 12+ hour generation day. Output should have been huge.... right?

Wrong. It was also hot!

I barely made it over the 40 KwH mark, and peak production was barely 5KW, where it should have been 5.5. And look, no clipping either.

I have the monocrystalline style panels, that are supposed to be a little more heat tolerant... Poly's would have felt the heat effect even more.

Heat is not your friend ....

I basically have same system as AlisoBob but a little smaller. 21 Solarworld 285 mono panels. My total yesterday was almost at 35 (34.7) kWh. Peak was 4.5 at most I think. Same as others, the earlier days had higher peaks and more total than yesterday. Only live a week now, highest has been 35.9 on Sunday. But it also did not have highest peak which came on an earlier day with clouds.

Bob in Mission Viejo

[J.P.M.]

[ATTACH]7006[/ATTACH]

Here's a great, "real world" example for you all....

Yesterday was a beautiful, cloudless, 12+ hour generation day. Output should have been huge.... right?

Wrong. It was also hot!

I barely made it over the 40 KwH mark, and peak production was barely 5KW, where it should have been 5.5. And look, no clipping either.

I have the monocrystalline style panels, that are supposed to be a little more heat tolerant... Poly's would have felt the heat effect even more.

Heat is not your friend ....

Bob: FWIW, REAL ROUGH SWAG - knock ~~0.7%/1.8 off expected performance per ESTIMATED deg. F. of panel/array temp. The rub there is to get the panel temp. est. close to reality.

Or get two consecutive/close in date "clear days" that have a relatively large temp. diff. between them and divide the output diff. to the temp. diff. for an ESTIMATE of performance change per deg. F. or C. as you choose.

Suggest you don't get too frazzled if you're off the spec. sheet temp. coeff. by some. Lots of variables and this ain't rocket science, but high temps. do hinder performance, often in qualitatively noticeable ways.

[bcroe]

I thought it was going to be a the new record day for me as well (which isn't hard granted when you only have 7 of them) but nope, it was just under. I came to the same conclusion - heat. The LG300's I have have a .42 panel coefficient and it was 11C above 25C for the high yesterday. That works out to 11C * .42 = 4.62 percent less efficient at peak.

Its doing what its spec'd to do. I avoided that by boosting the number of panels in each string from
10 to 12; I never see a temp effect. Helps under clouds too. Panels have become cheap; harder to
do though if you're not using strings, or are trying to cram them onto a roof. Bruce Roe