 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Solar : 1kw for 1 year
Page 1 of 2   |
|||||
| Author | Message | ||||
| petanque don Senior Member  Joined: 02/08/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 212 |
I have had my 1Kw system connected for 1 year Output for the year was 1620 Kw hours. Best day just over 7 Kw hours Worst day 0.2 Kw hours I am in Adelaide |
||||
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
The first year I had my original solar installed, 2006, 1.7kW, on one day it only made 0.1kWh, and the best day 12kWh. On the 12kWh day, the unit was maxed out at 1710W for a few hours. This was a day when the sun burned your skin. I recorded peak solar insolation levels of 1300W/m^2 on my Davis weather station. I have recorded up to 1600W/m^2, but this was cloud effect, and was not sustained. I have reinvested savings back into more solar, and now I have over 3kW, being directly grid connected. My solar system has exported over 12,000kWhr back to the grid since being installed. I have almost run out of usable roof space, without rearranging the arrays. Solar rocks. Gordon. PS: I am South of Adelaide. become more energy aware |
||||
KarlJ Guru  Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
Petanque 4.4KW/day average isnt too bad, can I ask for brands of equipment used? Gordon -excellent work, pity the feed in tarrif is new or that would be a heap of $$, guess its still pumping it in and will do for a long time to come Luck favours the well prepared |
||||
| brucedownunder2 Guru Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
Mine is partly shaded at some period ,but I will be mounting it on a tracker soon (bruce's "soon") ... I've estimated it saves me around $60 per billing period of 90 days ,,not bad for a $355 outlay ,(1Kw),this should be around $80 when on the tracker. We use ,2 of us, 10-12 Kw h per day . Bruce Bushboy |
||||
| KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
BTW just got some figures from dad. 4.2KW array is yielding average so far or 4.5kw/day, he's slightly off north and just today had some big trees cut down that were shading 1/2 the panels (on a separate inverter) from 4pm (daylight savings time) onwards. in reality the panels that were shaded vs unshaded panels have yielded 10% less than the ones in good sun. Also his roof angle is steep so cop a little less in full summer but bit more in the cooler months. only time will tell Luck favours the well prepared |
||||
| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
Sheesh Karl! That sounds to be be very low. I visited "Loomberah's" solar site yesterday and the Gordon says he has had a MAXIMUM) of 17KWH from a 2 KW system, albeit with a solar tracker, but then some of his panels have been up a few years. (Apples and oranges? Yes, but that is one huge disparity - even for 'the deep south'?) |
||||
| GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
Hi neil0mac, Yes, the 4kWh/day average does sound low. Perhaps, this is 4kWh/day export, or 4kWhr/day/kW solar. The figs I recorded, were at a time, I manually read all my ETSA meters each morning. For the last week, my system has produced 8.0,4.3,3.4,11.4,12,14.7,13.8 kWhr/day. This is now a rated 3.4kW system, so is still making up to 4.3kWhr/kW solar. I am at Lat 35.5, and my panels are aligned 15 degrees max. 1kW is operating but not mounted on frames yet. The 4.3, and 3.4kWh days were overcast all day and looked like this. 
This was the 13.8kWh day, with intermittent cloud effects 
Since I have increased my solar to over 3kW, I have not seen over 3kW produced. There is some interaction problem with the inverters and the grid, so the max power plateaus for a couple of hours on the really sunny days. Most of the time the output is not affected, and the panels produce the appropriate rated power. Gordon. become more energy aware |
||||
| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
From what little I understand, I think it might be worth investigating the volts and amps going to the inverter as one or the other may be limited by it even though the V x A =< the KW rating. I would be interested to your (anyones) thoughts on this. |
||||
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
I think Karl meant to say they had some big trees trimmed back, as in the green view cut down is not well excepted. 
Pete. Sometimes it just works |
||||
| petanque don Senior Member Joined: 02/08/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 212 |
The panels are 10 x MA 100 by Mitsubishi they are 1.4m x1.1m (bigger than the other panels I have seen). With a sunny boy SB1100 inverter. They are wired up as 5 sets of 2 in series so there is an open circuit voltage of about 216V most of the time the inverter operates at about 180 Volts |
||||
| GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
Those Mitsubishi panels are thin film [alias amorphous]. These are similar to Kaneka or Shott panels. The PV knee curve is quite broad, with a similar broad MPP. They perform well in higher temperatures, and have a higher than average output when they are new. I would expect the panels to have a longer life to mono-crystalline panels, but I probably won't care by then. They do take up more roof/tracker space for the same output. Gordon. become more energy aware |
||||
| KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
oops I'm talking per kw of panels so 4.5x4.26 = 19KW/day for the lot the shaded ones (albeit 60W less in that array too), makes 8.9KW and the other non shaded 10.1~10.2. I'm sorry i didnt make that clear, trying to compare apples with apples ie 1KW system vs 4KW obviously should make roughly 4x the power. After the whole lot was up and running a few weeks after they were actually put on the roof and a cool day Peak output has been over the 4.26KW as I got a phone call at 4.4KW for the array BUT its going to be another 7months before we'll see that again if ever... could be interesting as the panels have a 38-40degree pitch on them so if all is good may see higher outputs this year yet. You really do need the perfect day though, no clouds, high insolation, right angle to the panels, cool breeze from the right direction. the cool breeze did get me thinking about boxing them in and ventilating the space behind but fast gets messy and probably only a handful of watts to be gained Luck favours the well prepared |
||||
| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
Talking to 'Loomberah' last week, he mentioned that spraying his panels with water (actually, washing dust off them in the middle of the day) made a sudden jump in output of '20%'. As they re-heated, the output returned to 'normal'. About cooling the roof mounted arrays, has anyone heard of people with an evaporative Air Conditioner using a skylight (roof ventilator) system in reverse to send the exhasust air out under the panels. Perhaps some simple 'boxing' around the sides of the panels to keep the cool air where it is most effective would help? Other ideas? |
||||
SSW_squall Senior Member Joined: 20/03/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 111 |
Spraying cold water on a panel thats baking at 50 odd degrees would not be something i'd choose to do. The thermal shock could crack the glass and/or the cells!! Einstein: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler |
||||
| rgormley Senior Member Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 245 |
small scale 12v solar powered pond pump that slowly pumps and dribbles water over the panels from sun up to sun down (so no thermal shock) have the water pumped from a water tank up and over the panels then back into the gutter and back to you water tanks (reticulation?) just thoughts |
||||
| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
All water will contain salts of some sort and will dry on the glass as a scale, and the losses would soon outweight the small gain in the beguning. The solution is simple just dont leave your panels out in the sun 
Pete. Sometimes it just works |
||||
| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
There was no evidence of any scale on the panels that I looked at - but then he does use rainwater and he hoses them down every few weeks to remove dust from them. The panels only get to about 45 deg. C. |
||||
| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
What i was referring to was constant reticulation and not just a hose off evey couple of weeks to remove dust. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
||||
Loomberah Regular Member  Joined: 11/06/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 43 |
when you visited they were about that or a bit more, but I have hosed them down from 62C often enough. No sign of any stress fractures in them yet, and I must have done it dozens of times now. Heck, I've even thrown buckets of water over them when it was too much hassle to organise a long enough hose to reach. Loomberah weather +solar&UV, astronomy, photography, organic farm |
||||
| GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
I think you will find that the normal ambient temp was around 25C when you did this measurement. The panel will be close to 20C above the ambient, so the panel would be at around 60-63C on a hot summers day, at midday. This is as hot as the water in most electric hot water systems. Water Cooling systems may work, but are not sustainable over time. I rate well ventilated panels as most sustainable. Your time would be better spent with a weekly/monthly cleaning reigime to remove collected dust. Many solar car teams cooled the arrays with water when the car was stationery. This water was distilled, and without salts, and was certainly not recirculated. A well ventilated array, and not one in close proximity to the roof is a good compramise. There are council regs that contradict this best practice. Gordon. become more energy aware |
||||
| Page 1 of 2 |
|||||
 Print this page |
