Our solar production

[RegGuheert]

^Interesting that May seems to be your best month. I presume that it is because the average daytime temperatures are lower. May is sometimes my best month unless it is significantly more cloudy than June. Sunny plus cool beats sunny plus warmer.

With our system, April, May and June seem to contend for top month. Per day records tend to occur in early April, but the all-time record happened this year on a cold day later in May. But we don't see a repeat of the peak days after the summer solstice since the hotter temperatures of summer lower the panel production.

SilverLeaf: Any idea why your 2013 production is so much higher than 2012? Fewer clouds? Hotter temperatures in 2012 in March through June?

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

6.72 kW array, 28 240W REC panels w/Enphase, ground mount

Just completed first year, did 9.4 MW vs 8.5 predicted

It was a cool spring, but mostly luck of the clouds. Friend of ours with identical array 50 miles southeast did less mostly because the storms tended to go their way

We might be faster to brush off snow and hose off pollen than they are

 

[downeykp]

I am happy to say that I am now a member of the solar array club. Had 39 Suniva 265 watt panels and Enphase micro inverters installed on Saturday on my house in Keaau, HI (Hilo) for a 10.3 kw system. It generated 47kwh on Sunday and 53kwh on Monday.
It pencils out really good here. Buying power from local utility is the highest in the nation at roughly $.45 a kw. There is also the Fed. and Hawaii deductions which bring the total cost down to around $12,000.
Aloha

 

[DaveEV]

There is also the Fed. and Hawaii deductions which bring the total cost down to around $12,000.

Nice! Not much more than a $1/watt end cost to you. Hawaii is probably one of the best places for solar with lots of sunshine and very high electricity costs due to most of it currently being generated by oil burning power plants. Not to mention the environmental benefits.

The economic payback on a system in Hawaii makes it a complete no-brainer. At 45c/kWh your system is going to pay off in less than 2 years!!! (PVwatts says that 1 kW of PV in Keaau should generate about 1300 kWh / year). Everyone should be installing solar in Hawaii!

 

[RegGuheert]

Everyone should be installing solar in Hawaii!

Absolutely! It's the only way to get affordable electricity there!

Congratulations, downeykp! Please share the public link to your system if you are so inclined!

 

[QueenBee]

There is also the Fed. and Hawaii deductions which bring the total cost down to around $12,000.

Nice! Not much more than a $1/watt end cost to you. Hawaii is probably one of the best places for solar with lots of sunshine and very high electricity costs due to most of it currently being generated by oil burning power plants. Not to mention the environmental benefits.

The economic payback on a system in Hawaii makes it a complete no-brainer. At 45c/kWh your system is going to pay off in less than 2 years!!! (PVwatts says that 1 kW of PV in Keaau should generate about 1300 kWh / year). Everyone should be installing solar in Hawaii!

I hear everyone is. Whenever family and friend visit Hawaii they always come back tan and tell me about all the solar they see. I still need to visit this great state. I wonder how much solar they'll need to get before the cost of power actually starts going down.

 

[Weatherman]

Total for the first year in operation for my 7.2 kW array. Looks like PVWatts gave a pretty good estimate for the entire year. Months when it was clearer and cooler than normal (like November 2012), and when it was warmer and cloudier than normal (like April and June, this year), are very obvious:

Month     Actual   Est        Percent
-----------------------------------
Jul        965    913         106%
Aug        898    895         100%
Sep        852    873          98%
Oct        924    866         107%
Nov        920    752         122%
Dec        822    750         110%
Jan        841    838         100%
Feb        820    837          98%
Mar       1070    956         112%
Apr        965   1037          93%
May       1020    970         105%
Jun        822    891          92%    
-----------------------------------
Totals   10919  10578         103%

Nice, uniform output for the entire year, which is typical for a tropical location.

 

[downeykp]

Everyone should be installing solar in Hawaii!

Absolutely! It's the only way to get affordable electricity there!

Congratulations, downeykp! Please share the public link to your system if you are so inclined!

I would share the public link, but I will be damned if I know how to do that.

 

[DaveEV]

Everyone should be installing solar in Hawaii!

Absolutely! It's the only way to get affordable electricity there!

Congratulations, downeykp! Please share the public link to your system if you are so inclined!

I would share the public link, but I will be damned if I know how to do that.

1. Log in to https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2. Click on the Gear icon on the top-right
3. Scroll down to Privacy Settings
4. Make sure "Allow visitors to my system" is checked
5. Copy / paste the URL under that here and bookmark it for quick access to view your system status!

 

[SilverLeaf]

^Interesting that May seems to be your best month. I presume that it is because the average daytime temperatures are lower. May is sometimes my best month unless it is significantly more cloudy than June. Sunny plus cool beats sunny plus warmer.

SilverLeaf: Any idea why your 2013 production is so much higher than 2012? Fewer clouds? Hotter temperatures in 2012 in March through June?

If you check my signature, you will see that I upgraded from 5.52 to 6.9 to 7.59 over the past two years.

 

[downeykp]

Mahalo Drees. I think I got it.
https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/Z4EF211188" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[RegGuheert]

If you check my signature, you will see that I upgraded from 5.52 to 6.9 to 7.59 over the past two years.

That would certainly explain it!

I would have certainly done the same sort of upgrading had my wife not said "Get the largest system we can fit. You know you will want to later and it might be hard to match the parts." As always, she was right!

 

[RegGuheert]

July was wet and rainy, but we still managed to edge out last year. I'm sure cooler-than-normal temperatures helped.

We are now off last year's pace by 519 kWh.

Here are all our numbers for 2011, 2012 and 2013:

Month     2011   2012   2013  Units
-----------------------------------
January    669    869    822   kWh
February   158   1085    866   kWh
March        0   1350   1152   kWh
April        0   1465   1495   kWh
May          0   1477   1491   kWh 
June         0   1478   1368   kWh
July       595   1395   1406   kWh
August    1347   1447          kWh
September  910   1295          kWh
October    931    981          kWh
November   949   1041          kWh
December   803    612          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495   8600   kWh

 

[dgpcolorado]

July was pretty average for solar here. Monsoon season was a bit late but did eventually drop enough rain to lower the fire danger, which was welcome.

Results for July in recent years:

          Old panels   Old+New panels
         (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
July 2013    103 kWh       290 kWh
July 2012     97 kWh       179 kWh (partial month)
July 2011    108 kWh
July 2010    105 kWh
July 2009    112 kWh

Over the past year my solar production of 3418 kWh was about 108% of my total electricity use for LEAF driving plus household consumption.

 

[SilverLeaf]

Production from my 33 230wDC Sunpower Panels via Sunnyboy (SMA) 7000US Inverter (7.59kW DC)

2013 AC Production
Jan 910
Feb 1105
Mar 1328
Apr 1444
May 1474
Jun 1447
Jul 1284

2012 AC Production
Mar 1228
Apr 1217
May 1416
Jun 1325
Jul 1189
Aug 1168
Sep 1118
Oct 603
Nov 970
Dec 851

Link to my Solar Production - http://pvpwrev.webs.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All Data computed via JSunnyReports

 

[devprius]

We just hit our 1 year anniversary on our rooftop system. Our system is 4.94 kW DC / 4.31 kW AC, comprised of 26 Suntech 190W panels and a PowerOne Aurora PVI-5000 central inverter.

Full month stats:
Aug 2012 699.1
Sep 2012 643.0
Oct 2012 501.6
Nov 2012 357.5
Dec 2012 256.3
Jan 2013 407.8
Feb 2013 456.4
Mar 2013 570.7
Apr 2013 730.3
May 2013 699.6
Jun 2013 723.2
Jul 2013 779.9
Total 6825.4

PVWatts had predicted 6236 kWh & Sungevity had predicted 6178 kWh with a guarantee of 5869 kWh, so I'm pretty pleased with the actual results we got. PG&E says we consumed a total of 1832 kWh for a total of $200. Prior to solar, we paid $2890 for 10,669 kWh of electricity. Even with the $100 a month lease payment, we still saved over $1400 on electricity bill. I'm pretty happy with those results.

 

[RegGuheert]

August was another wet and rainy month, failing short of both 2011 and 2012.

We are now off last year's pace by 605 kWh.

Here are all our numbers for 2011, 2012 and 2013:

Month     2011   2012   2013  Units
-----------------------------------
January    669    869    822   kWh
February   158   1085    866   kWh
March        0   1350   1152   kWh
April        0   1465   1495   kWh
May          0   1477   1491   kWh 
June         0   1478   1368   kWh
July       595   1395   1406   kWh
August    1347   1447   1333   kWh
September  910   1295          kWh
October    931    981          kWh
November   949   1041          kWh
December   803    612          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495   9933   kWh

 

[dgpcolorado]

This was the cloudiest August in the five years I've been tracking solar production. But not as wet as last August, which was disappointing (if it is going to be cloudy at least it could rain more!).

Results for August in recent years:

             Old panels   Old+New panels
            (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
August 2013    91 kWh       253 kWh
August 2012    97 kWh       271 kWh
August 2011   102 kWh
August 2010    99 kWh
August 2009   109 kWh

Over the past year my solar production of 3400 kWh was 106% of my electricity use for LEAF driving plus household consumption.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Week Peak Power Energy Produced
08/01/2013 - 08/07/2013 6.87 kW 319 kWh
08/08/2013 - 08/14/2013 6.59 kW 313 kWh
08/15/2013 - 08/21/2013 6.83 kW 312 kWh
08/22/2013 - 08/28/2013 6.41 kW 304 kWh
08/29/2013 - 08/31/2013 6.80 kW 105 kWh
August 2013 Total: 1.35 MWh
Previous Month Total: 1.26 MWh
Year to Date: 9.89 MWh

 

[downeykp]

This is the printout for the first two months of the systems existence. We are making so much energy that we are actually encouraging people in house to use hot water for washing clothes and will buy a second refrigerator. This stuff is sweet.

07/01/2013 - 07/07/2013 8.71 kW 307 kWh
07/08/2013 - 07/14/2013 8.70 kW 314 kWh
07/15/2013 - 07/21/2013 8.76 kW 293 kWh
07/22/2013 - 07/28/2013 8.65 kW 325 kWh
07/29/2013 - 07/31/2013 8.51 kW 106 kWh
July 2013 Total: 1.34 MWh
Previous Month Total: 62.5 kWh
Year to Date:
08/01/2013 - 08/07/2013 8.76 kW 316 kWh
08/08/2013 - 08/14/2013 8.75 kW 301 kWh
08/15/2013 - 08/21/2013 8.70 kW 327 kWh
08/22/2013 - 08/28/2013 8.76 kW 306 kWh
08/29/2013 - 08/31/2013 8.72 kW 160 kWh
August 2013 Total: 1.41 MWh
Previous Month Total: 1.34 MWh
Year to Date: 3.02 MWh