Our solar production

[mwalsh]

Total kWh Jan    Feb    March  April   May     June   July    August  Sept   Oct    Nov    Dec    Total
2010                                                                                       198.76 198.76
2011      623.61 718.29 900.88 998.07  1063.21 988.45 1112.21 1113.42 873.14 806.53 571.08 601.73 10370.62
2012      623.33 710.72 897.53 1009.51 1060.92 994.92 1027.26 1048.68 968.03 774.73 552.08 451.35 10119.06
2013      631.15 698.26 922.13 929.33  1052.76 971.27 978.93  1079.56 945.70 775.43               8984.52

 

[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
Aug 1230
Sep 1280
Oct 1050
Nov 955

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;
Updated with latest JSunny Reports Data, skewed due to severe weather in October.

* Installed a TED (The Energy Detective) Monitor on 11/29/2013), looking forward to some interesting new data

 

[RegGuheert]

November 2013 seems kinda average.

We are now off last year's pace by 456 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   1414   kWh
October    931    981   1034   kWh
November   949   1041   1018   kWh
December   803    612          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495  13399   kWh

 

[dgpcolorado]

November was fairly cloudy and snowy here, so production was down 23% compared to last year, as was also the case with the last couple of months.

Results for November in recent years:

                   Old panels   Old+New panels
                  (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
November 2013       82 kWh       227 kWh
November 2012      105 kWh       293 kWh
November 2011       94 kWh
November 2010       83 kWh
November 2009       98 kWh
November 2008       74 kWh

 

[SilverLeaf]

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

* Installed a TED (The Energy Detective) Monitor on 11/29/2013), looking forward to some interesting new data

TED has produced some interesting data, and it provides a live feed to PVOUTPUT.ORG.
My link above has been updated to link to the PVOUTPUT website.
The date is LIVE, REALTIME info about both PRODUCTION and USAGE (APS).

JSunny data is uploaded monthly. TED data is a live feed.

Comments and suggestions are definitely welcome. I REALLY LIKE TED (unsolicited endorsement).

Note: on the TED display, click LIVE near the lower left corner. The most accurate date (after final tweaking) is from 12/15/2013 and later.

 

[Berlino]

Having watched grape sized hail bounce off my panels, which are rated for golf ball sized hail I believe, tapping them with something like the metal back of a squeegee is hardly a concern. Fragile that glass is not.

How would panels hold up versus actual golf balls? I am wondering about a case of a home located next to a course that gets hit by 5-10 errant shots per year, with a window being broken once every four or five years.

Would this make them a poor candidate for solar?

 

[RegGuheert]

How would panels hold up versus actual golf balls? I am wondering about a case of a home located next to a course that gets hit by 5-10 errant shots per year, with a window being broken once every four or five years.

Would this make them a poor candidate for solar?

I suspect they would be fine. PV panels are much more rugged than the typical glass in a home. The reason hail is such a concern for PV is that the panels face toward the sky and hail of a sufficient size could destroy all panels in an installation. By contrast, even if a golf ball DID manage to destroy a PV panel, it would only take out a single one.

Here is a YouTube video showing a house which lots of hail damage to the asphalt shingles, but no damage to the PV panels:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qrXhI6TQHQ[/youtube]

 

[dgpcolorado]

I suspect they would be fine. PV panels are much more rugged than the typical glass in a home. The reason hail is such a concern for PV is that the panels face toward the sky and hail of a sufficient size could destroy all panels in an installation. By contrast, even if a golf ball DID manage to destroy a PV panel, it would only take out a single one.

I think that it would also depend on the angle of the impact. Most houses on a golf course would likely get glancing blows to the roof, as opposed to near perpendicular hits. In that case much less of the energy has to be absorbed by the glass. I'd be pretty surprised if modern solar panels would be damaged by golf balls.

My parents live on a golf course fairway near Beaverton OR and they never have to buy golf balls: they get buckets of them for free! They did have a sliding glass door broken by a ricochet that got around their safety nets. Kind of a weird place to choose to live but lots of folks do it. However I've had young bucks jousting with their reflections in my windows and muddy bear paw prints on them, so hazards can come in a variety of forms.

 

[madbrain]

January : 900 kWh
February : 1,050 kWh
March : 1,380 kWh
April : 1,670 kWh
May : 1,730 kWh
June : 1,648 kWh
July : 1,740 kWh
August : 1,600 kWh
September : 1,400 kWh
October : 1,240 kWh
November : 875 kWh
December : 886 kWh

Annual total : 16,131 kWh

This is with 28 Sharp 235W panels and 12 Talesun 240W panels on Enphase micro-inverters.
The Sharp were running on Enphase D380 but were replaced with M215. The Talesun are running with M190 .

 

[RegGuheert]

December 2013 saw lots of snow early in the month, but still managed to beat out 2012

So 2013 ends with our system producing 427 kWh less energy than it did in 2012.

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   1414   kWh
October    931    981   1034   kWh
November   949   1041   1018   kWh
December   803    612    669   kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495  14068   kWh

Since installation, our system has produced 34.924 MWh.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

14 MW in the first 18 months with 28 REC 240 on Enphase (6.72 kW), so avg 9.333 MW/yr.
Ground mount, so easy to keep clean and clear of snow.

 

[dgpcolorado]

December 2013 was up 48% over a very snowy December 2012. That's the first increase over the previous year since July. But December also seems the be the month during which production fluctuates the most.

Over the past year my 2170 watts of panels produced 3327 kWh, or an average of 4.2 hours x panel wattage per day, which is decent in my climate. My best day was May 2nd with 14.75 kWh (6.8 hours x panel wattage), a new record thanks to the cloud edge effect. The worst day was December 4th, a rare zero production day during which it snowed continuously from dawn to dusk.

The 3327 kWh produced was 103% of my total electricity usage for my LEAF plus house. So, my electric bills consist of just a $16 monthly service charge plus a small local sales tax. Which was the whole point of installing the solar panels.

January 2013        247 kWh
February 2013       246 kWh
March 2013          302 kWh
April 2013          282 kWh
May 2013            338 kWh
June 2013           356 kWh
July 2013           290 kWh
August 2013         253 kWh
September 2013      268 kWh
October 2013        276 kWh
November 2013       227 kWh
December 2013       242 kWh
        Total:     3327 kWh

 

[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
Aug 1230
Sep 1280
Oct 1050
Nov 955
Dec 1005

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;
(click on JSunny Reports for detail day, month, year Reports. Click on TED for LIVE data.)

 

[RegGuheert]

January 2014 was the coldest month we have seen since installing this system. As a result of this very cold weather, we saw three new record production days for January:

January 6: 54.165 kWh
January 29: 55.414 kWh
January 30: 57.542 kWh

The previous (January) record was 52.381 kWh on January 18, 2013.

We begin 2014 producing 12 kWh behind our record year of 2012.

Here are all our numbers for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014:

Month     2011   2012   2013   2014  Units
------------------------------------------
January    669    869    822    857   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   1414          kWh
October    931    981   1034          kWh
November   949   1041   1018          kWh
December   803    612    669          kWh
------------------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495  14068    857   kWh

Since installation, our system has produced 35.781 MWh.

 

[mwalsh]

Thought I would have a killer January, since there has been very little resembling rain clouds in the skies last month (that I recall anyway). But I was actually down about 50kWh on previous January totals.

Total kWh Jan    Feb    March  April   May     June   July    August  Sept   Oct    Nov    Dec    Total
2010                                                                                       198.76 198.76
2011      623.61 718.29 900.88 998.07  1063.21 988.45 1112.21 1113.42 873.14 806.53 571.08 601.73 10370.62
2012      623.33 710.72 897.53 1009.51 1060.92 994.92 1027.26 1048.68 968.03 774.73 552.08 451.35 10119.06
2013      631.15 698.26 922.13 929.33  1052.76 971.27 978.93  1079.56 945.70 775.43 561.88 592.58 10138.98
2014      571.84

 

[SilverLeaf]

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

2014 AC Production
Jan 1048

2013 AC Production
Jan 910
Feb 1105
Mar 1328
Apr 1444
May 1474
Jun 1447
Jul 1284
Aug 1230
Sep 1280
Oct 1050
Nov 955
Dec 1005

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;

 

[thankyouOB]

https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=12789&autologin=true&s_src=214ACOAW03" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tell the CA Public Utilities Commission to not bow to ALEC pressure, which seeks to drastically cut net-meter credits for solar production on residential buildings and homes.

It would be a blow to the environment, greenhouse gas reduction and all Californians if current net-metering policies were changed.

I believe Californians should be encouraged to go solar and have a right to receive full credit for the clean energy they deliver to the grid. The system of "net metering" has been crucial to recent growth in solar power.

Utilities should not be allowed to reduce the benefits of solar. We have a right to solar and to offset costs and earn money if we are producing electricity via solar and other means of alternative energy/

California has more than 200,000 solar roofs, and we hope to boost that number to half a million by the end of 2017. With all this sunny momentum going for us, now is not the time to change the rules unexpectedly on solar customers.

 

[RegGuheert]

Agreed, thankyouOB, but perhaps this post belongs in a different thread.

 

[dgpcolorado]

An unusually sunny January, with a snow drought until the last two days, led to a new high for January solar for me:

Results for January in recent years:

                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
January 2014       95 kWh       262 kWh
January 2013       88 kWh       247 kWh
January 2012       93 kWh
January 2011       88 kWh
January 2010       76 kWh
January 2009       77 kWh

The snow reappeared on January 30-31 with eighteen inches, the most I've seen from one storm in this dry area. The snow had fairly high water content — so it was heavy — and I've spent about eight hours shoveling my 400 feet of driveway thus far. I'm glad that much snow at one time is uncommon here. But we sure needed it so I shouldn't complain! The forest trees and other plants will appreciate the snow when it eventually melts into the soil.

 

[SilverLeaf]

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

2014 AC Production
Feb 977
Jan 1048

2013 AC Production
Jan 910
Feb 1105
Mar 1328
Apr 1444
May 1474
Jun 1447
Jul 1284
Aug 1230
Sep 1280
Oct 1050
Nov 955
Dec 1005

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;