Bad month for solar generation

[JohnV6]

On grid with batteries and export tarriff.

 

[Everest]

I'm losing track of people here. Are you guys off-grid, without an export tariff?

We're grid-tied, but don't use any grid power for 9 months of the year. Not yet paid for export (work in progress), but we generate much more than we are permitted to export, so can still charge the EV from solar for free.

 

[Rolfe]

Everybody's system seems to work differently!

 

[T1 Terry]

You people are just rubbing in .... we are getting close to the very poor solar mths, May, June, July and sometimes August, the punishment for living so far south I guess, it must get close in winter in sth Tassie, but the BIL seems to get by just fine ..... although, his stove, heating and hot water are through a wood stove, so he only has lights, fridge, water pump and tv to power from the solar .... and he has pelton wheel generator as well when needed.

T1 Terry

 

[decrep]

Yes tapering off here as well. Car's on charge but half the power is from the grid, (it's a little overcast)
I'm not sure of the details, but households here are limited to 6kW systems, ours is only 3kW, I think we need more panels for Winter.

 

[T1 Terry]

Yes tapering off here as well. Car's on charge but half the power is from the grid, (it's a little overcast)
I'm not sure of the details, but households here are limited to 6kW systems, ours is only 3kW, I think we need more panels for Winter.

Put the extra panels on an off grid battery charging system, they can't restrict the capacity for off grid, make up a battery from tired EV cells/modules and use a 2500w inverter and the granny charger ..... or wait until I sort out how to do direct DC charging from the solar and install the number of panels required for an open circuit voltage a bit higher than the pack max voltage .....

T1 Terry

 

[decrep]

our problem here is room, there's a bit of space on the east roof. But not enough to even get to 6kW. Not much point on the South roof.

 

[Rolfe]

You people are just rubbing in .... we are getting close to the very poor solar mths, May, June, July and sometimes August, the punishment for living so far south I guess, it must get close in winter in sth Tassie, but the BIL seems to get by just fine ..... although, his stove, heating and hot water are through a wood stove, so he only has lights, fridge, water pump and tv to power from the solar .... and he has pelton wheel generator as well when needed.

T1 Terry

Stop complaining. You guys have it jammy most of the time. You know how much solar generation I got on New Year's Day? 340 watt-hours.

 

[T1 Terry]

our problem here is room, there's a bit of space on the east roof. But not enough to even get to 6kW. Not much point on the South roof.

Make a gate with rollers that you can move to the desired nth facing direction, then a pivot point to tilt the panels to the best angle .... it's not a fixed solar array .... it's a gate that you are utilising as a spot to mount solar panels ........ I can't claim originality on that one, read it somewhere years ago when a council wouldn't allow him to build a ground mounted solar array

T1 Terry

 

[mg4nick]

Bumper April for me this year with 796kWh Yield (6.5kW solar and 9.6kWh battery system).
April 2024 - 600kWh, April 2023 - 635kWh

I've been discharging the battery to 30% around dawn so that it has room to collect the solar generation that would otherwise be clipped by my 5 kw export limit.

When they designed my system they've planned for a 5kW export limit but I "begged" them to install the "strongest" inverter in the series (Solis RHI-6K-48ES-5G which happened to have a 6kW max grid output power).
The initial DNO letter had the 5kW limit set but after pointing out that the inverter can do more they've gone back to the DNO and I now have an updated letter with a 6kW limit (it took about 8 months to get the updated version).
I suspect the inverter had to dissipate the extra energy as heat (obviously very wasteful and turning the garage into an oven in the middle of summer).

Maybe you can talk to your installer to get you an updated DNO letter...