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  • BrightDaze
    Junior Member
    • Aug 2014
    • 21

    #1

    Confused: Three kWh values show on Net meter.

    My system went “legal” here in Austin TX on October 2; inspection passed and two meters installed, PV and Net.

    There are three kWh values shown on the Net meter and I’m wondering what they mean:

    DE, RE and NE

    When the PV showed a production of 96kWh the Net showed KWh values of:
    DE 00066;
    RE 00070;
    NE 99997.

    With the PV @ 164, the Net shows:
    DE 00130;
    RE 00110;
    NE 00019.

    Austin energy pays close to 11¢ (10.7¢). All meters started at zero when installed.

    Thanks
  • inetdog
    Super Moderator
    • May 2012
    • 9909

    #2
    Just a guess, but based on the PG&E categorization of energy as being delivered or received (bought or sold by consumer) what you are seeing is
    Delivered Energy
    Received Energy and
    Net Energy (the difference between the two.)

    What you have to realize though is that the meter only sees the difference between what you produce and what you consume.
    So for one 8 hour period you could have an NE of zero if you purchased 2kWh per hour for 4 hours and then sold 2kWh per hour for 4 hours or if there was zero power flow at the meter for the whole 8 hour period because your loads exactly matched your PV.

    Do not expect to see any of the numbers on the meter directly matching up with your PV production.
    SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

    Comment

    • SunEagle
      Super Moderator
      • Oct 2012
      • 15163

      #3
      Originally posted by inetdog
      Just a guess, but based on the PG&E categorization of energy as being delivered or received (bought or sold by consumer) what you are seeing is
      Delivered Energy
      Received Energy and
      Net Energy (the difference between the two.)

      What you have to realize though is that the meter only sees the difference between what you produce and what you consume.
      So for one 8 hour period you could have an NE of zero if you purchased 2kWh per hour for 4 hours and then sold 2kWh per hour for 4 hours or if there was zero power flow at the meter for the whole 8 hour period because your loads exactly matched your PV.

      Do not expect to see any of the numbers on the meter directly matching up with your PV production.
      I will add one more clarification.

      Delivered Energy = (what you purchased from the Utility)
      Received Energy = (what you sent to the Utility that was generated by your PV system that you did not use)

      Some people install another meter or monitoring hardware like the TED 5000 that captures the kWh the PV system generates.

      Comment

      • inetdog
        Super Moderator
        • May 2012
        • 9909

        #4
        And for states where there are SRECs or other direct production incentives, there must be a separate sealed, revenue grade, meter that just records production. The total output counter on your inverter or your TED is not acceptable for this purpose.
        SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

        Comment

        • BrightDaze
          Junior Member
          • Aug 2014
          • 21

          #5
          Thanks everyone; its all starting to make sense. BTW, regarding monitoring, the TED system looked quite nice; I opted for the dedicated Fronius WiFi card which tracks $ generated, total kWh generated for the day, daily highs/lows as well as emailing me sytem reports and any generated error messages.

          Comment

          • ButchDeal
            Solar Fanatic
            • Apr 2014
            • 3802

            #6
            Originally posted by inetdog
            And for states where there are SRECs or other direct production incentives, there must be a separate sealed, revenue grade, meter that just records production. The total output counter on your inverter or your TED is not acceptable for this purpose.
            Well mostly. Mine is in WV but registered for PA under estimated generation (only for systems under 5kW in PA). They wanted some values to validate before allowing the system so any meter reading would do. I was able to use my TED output and PVOutput.org for them. They did question my January and early february output even though we sent a note explaining that there was "record setting cold weather and snow fall in the area for the month of january". They replied that it shouldn't matter as they used PVWatts models which used typical weather and the results should still be in the ball park. I had to call them and explain (via the dictionary) the difference between "typical" and "record setting", and that while my solar panels were under snow they tended to not generate any power...
            The debate lasted into late February when I was able to show them more reasonable results which they then accepted.
            OutBack FP1 w/ CS6P-250P http://bit.ly/1Sg5VNH

            Comment

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