Our solar production

[dgpcolorado]

With unseasonably warm and sunny weather the first three weeks, I thought that February might set a new production record for the month. Then the last week was all snow and clouds and the month ended up pretty average. It was weird to go from bare ground and temperatures in the 50s to twenty inches of snow in two days. The mountain snowpack went from 55% of average to 69%, so we are still well below normal here.

Results for February for the last seven years:
                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
February 2015      80 kWh       224 kWh
February 2014      73 kWh       204 kWh
February 2013      87 kWh       246 kWh
February 2012      89 kWh
February 2011      89 kWh
February 2010      69 kWh
February 2009      88 kWh

Annual production:
2015       459 kWh (so far)
2014      3217 kWh (= an average of 4.06 hours x panel wattage per day)
2013      3327 kWh (4.20 hours x panel wattage per day)
2012      1409 kWh 
2011      1203 kWh (4.71 hours x panel wattage per day)
2010      1132 kWh (4.43 hours x panel wattage per day)
2009      1165 kWh (4.56 hours x panel wattage per day)
2008       232 kWh (partial year)

 

[davewill]

I realized it's been a while since I've posted my stats. They probably need cleaning, but I've got a tile roof where the tiles break if you breath on them, much less walk on them...besides I'm not much for heights.

Monthly Data     2012      2013      2014      2015
January                 1029.29    977.41    894.73
February                1097.92    966.57   1087.38
March                   1399.86   1277.29     41.81
April                   1369.36   1484.59
May                     1640.54   1635.55
June                    1558.77   1648.54
July           380.47   1402.72   1478.01
August        1468.97   1507.32   1541.46
September     1348.08   1370.20   1388.95
October       1206.23   1220.46   1104.42
November       968.34    912.76   1019.90
December       760.29    933.53    757.83
             ========  ========  ========  ========
              6132.38  15442.73  15280.52   2023.92

Still looking pretty good with this Feb almost matching 2013

 

[RegGuheert]

They probably need cleaning, but I've got a tile roof where the tiles break if you breath on them, much less walk on them...besides I'm not much for heights.

Researchers just down the road from you at UCSD find that PAYING someone to clean your PV panels is not justified. That said, I was quite surprised to see that 145 days of drought resulted in a 7.5% reduction in PV production. :shock: That's a bit more than I expected!

The climate here is much different, with precipitation much more frequent than in San Diego. As such I have decided that cleaning the PV is really not an issue here. Even annual scrubbing seems to be accomplished naturally by sliding snow and sleet (although early in the winter season the grit and grime on the panels tends to prevent shedding).

BTW, do you have a link to your array data?

 

[DaveEV]

Nice link from my alma mater, Reg! Though it's conclusion does not appear to require an advanced degree to ascertain, having data is alwats good.

My panels are mounted at less than 5* on my low slope roof - I would not do it this way again unless I used frameless modules. There is enough slope to wash the dirt to the bottom of the panel, but the lip of the frame causes dirt to collect on the bottom row of cells. I end up going on the roof a couple times a year to wipe the dirt off with a dustless car brush, but it's apparent that even with the low slope if the panels were mounted steeper or were frameless cleaning would not be necessary where I live.

Now on the other hand I've seen systems near farmland and near freeways covered with heavy dirt - local conditions can certainly warrant cleaning in some circumstances (also as the study suggests).

 

[davewill]

BTW, do you have a link to your array data?

Sunpower seems to have done away with that feature, although I've asked them about it.

Here's the details:

Direction: SSE (160°)
Roof Pitch: 23°
System Size (DC-kW): 9.16
System Size (AC-kW): 8.10
No. of Solar Panels: 28
Type of Solar Panel: SunPower 327w
No./Size Inverters: (1) SPR-8000m

 

[SilverLeaf]

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

2015 AC Production
Jan 863
Feb 1060
Mar 1333

2014 AC Production
Jan 1048
Feb 977
Mar 1347
Apr 1438
May 1476
Jun 1413
Jul 1346
Aug 1368
Sep 1242
Oct 1193
Nov 1053
Dec 844

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;

 

[RegGuheert]

March's production was just so-so, breaking the all-time March production record from 2012 by less than 15% (with 29% more DC production capability).

March 2015 saw two new all-time record production days due to the additional generation in place:

March 18: 84.738 kWh
March 29: 85.027 kWh

This new one-day record breaks the old March record (set March 13, 2014) of 67.171 kWh by 27%. It edges out the previous record from February 27 (this year) of 82.400 kWh. I expect April will see new records due to the pointing angle of the new array. We will see.

Below are all our numbers for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 along with the PVWatts predictions for the old array (PVW42: good through June 2014) and the new array (PVW54: good starting with July 2014):

Month    PVW42   2011   2012   2013   2014   2015  PVW54  Units
---------------------------------------------------------------
January    916    669    869    822    857   1006   1229   kWh
February   702    158   1085    866   1054   1361    915   kWh
March      965      0   1350   1152   1113   1547   1240   kWh
April     1465      0   1465   1495   1338          1899   kWh
May       1583      0   1477   1491   1457          2074   kWh 
June      1268      0   1478   1368   1521          1666   kWh
July      1448    595   1395   1406   1880          1902   kWh
August    1442   1347   1447   1333   1794          1875   kWh
September 1209    910   1295   1414   1577          1555   kWh
October   1304    931    981   1034   1258          1713   kWh
November   864    949   1041   1018   1227          1154   kWh
December   820    803    612    669    812          1108   kWh
---------------------------------------------------------------
Totals   13986   6362  14495  14068  15888   3914  18330   kWh

Since installation, our system has produced 54.727 MWh as of the end of March 2015.

Grid consumption since July 2011 (when PV was turned on permanently) has been 14.8 MWh. Solar production during this period was 53.9 MWh. Total consumption equals 68.7 MWh. Solar has accounted for 78% of that total.

 

[dgpcolorado]

March was unseasonably warm and dry here so I wasn't surprised to find that my solar production almost matched the record set in 2012:

Results for March for the last seven years:
                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
March 2015        114 kWh       325 kWh
March 2014        102 kWh       289 kWh
March 2013        107 kWh       302 kWh
March 2012        115 kWh
March 2011         95 kWh
March 2010        101 kWh
March 2009        108 kWh

Annual production:
2015       784 kWh (so far)
2014      3217 kWh (= an average of 4.06 hours x panel wattage per day)
2013      3327 kWh (4.20 hours x panel wattage per day)
2012      1409 kWh 
2011      1203 kWh (4.71 hours x panel wattage per day)
2010      1132 kWh (4.43 hours x panel wattage per day)
2009      1165 kWh (4.56 hours x panel wattage per day)
2008       232 kWh (partial year)

 

[RegGuheert]

Like March, April's production was just so-so, breaking the all-time April production record from 2013 by only 16% (with 29% more DC production capability).

April 2015 saw a new all-time record production day due to the additional generation in place:

April 24: 89.123 kWh

This new one-day record breaks the old all-time record (before the addition to the system, set April 16, 2014) of 68.924 kWh by 29.3%, which is almost exactly the amount of DC PV which was added (29.1%). As such, I don't expect to see any new records set this year. If this record does get broken in the future, I don't expect it will be by much. FWIW, it does appear that the system could have produced about 2kWh more electricity that day had all of the panels had M215 microinverters under them rather than M190s.

Below are all our numbers for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 along with the PVWatts predictions for the old array (PVW42: good through June 2014) and the new array (PVW54: good starting with July 2014):

Month    PVW42   2011   2012   2013   2014   2015  PVW54  Units
---------------------------------------------------------------
January    916    669    869    822    857   1006   1229   kWh
February   702    158   1085    866   1054   1361    915   kWh
March      965      0   1350   1152   1113   1547   1240   kWh
April     1465      0   1465   1495   1338   1737   1899   kWh
May       1583      0   1477   1491   1457          2074   kWh 
June      1268      0   1478   1368   1521          1666   kWh
July      1448    595   1395   1406   1880          1902   kWh
August    1442   1347   1447   1333   1794          1875   kWh
September 1209    910   1295   1414   1577          1555   kWh
October   1304    931    981   1034   1258          1713   kWh
November   864    949   1041   1018   1227          1154   kWh
December   820    803    612    669    812          1108   kWh
---------------------------------------------------------------
Totals   13986   6362  14495  14068  15888   5651  18330   kWh

Since installation, our system has produced 56.464 MWh as of the end of April 2015.

Grid consumption since July 2011 (when PV was turned on permanently) has been 14.3 MWh. Solar production during this period was 55.6 MWh. Total consumption equals 69.9 MWh. Solar has accounted for 80% of that total.

 

[dgpcolorado]

The trend continues: April was unseasonably warm and dry here so I my production was near the record set in 2012. I'd rather have more rain or snow instead!

Results for April for the last seven years:
                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
April 2015         105 kWh       296 kWh
April 2014          93 kWh       262 kWh
April 2013         100 kWh       282 kWh
April 2012         107 kWh
April 2011          95 kWh
April 2010         105 kWh
April 2009          99 kWh

Annual production:
2015      1080 kWh (so far)
2014      3217 kWh (= an average of 4.06 hours x panel wattage per day)
2013      3327 kWh (4.20 hours x panel wattage per day)
2012      1409 kWh 
2011      1203 kWh (4.71 hours x panel wattage per day)
2010      1132 kWh (4.43 hours x panel wattage per day)
2009      1165 kWh (4.56 hours x panel wattage per day)
2008       232 kWh (partial year)

 

[SilverLeaf]

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

2015 AC Production
Jan 863
Feb 1060
Mar 1333
April 1441

2014 AC Production
Jan 1048
Feb 977
Mar 1347
Apr 1438
May 1476
Jun 1413
Jul 1346
Aug 1368
Sep 1242
Oct 1193
Nov 1053
Dec 844

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;

 

[RegGuheert]

May 2015 broke all the monthly records for this system! This was the first month the system produced over 2 MWh. This is an impressive result, considering that result was 39% above the previous May record from 2013, even though there is only 29% more DC production capability installed compared with 2013. On top of all that, one of the inverters was broken and not producing during much of the month.

In spite of the record monthly production, there were no overall record daily production days in May 2015. In fact, the peak production day in May was more than 5 kWh lower than the all-time daily peak record set last month. The daily production peak was a record for the month of May due to the additional panels:

May 14: 83.978 kWh

This result was about 25% above the previous May record production day set in 2013.

Below are all our numbers for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 along with the PVWatts predictions for the old array (PVW42: good through June 2014) and the new array (PVW54: good starting with July 2014):

Month    PVW42   2011   2012   2013   2014   2015  PVW54  Units
---------------------------------------------------------------
January    916    669    869    822    857   1006   1229   kWh
February   702    158   1085    866   1054   1361    915   kWh
March      965      0   1350   1152   1113   1547   1240   kWh
April     1465      0   1465   1495   1338   1737   1899   kWh
May       1583      0   1477   1491   1457   2069   2074   kWh 
June      1268      0   1478   1368   1521          1666   kWh
July      1448    595   1395   1406   1880          1902   kWh
August    1442   1347   1447   1333   1794          1875   kWh
September 1209    910   1295   1414   1577          1555   kWh
October   1304    931    981   1034   1258          1713   kWh
November   864    949   1041   1018   1227          1154   kWh
December   820    803    612    669    812          1108   kWh
---------------------------------------------------------------
Totals   13986   6362  14495  14068  15888   7720  18330   kWh

Since installation, our system has produced 58.533 MWh as of the end of May 2015.

Grid consumption since July 2011 (when PV was turned on permanently) has been 13.5 MWh. Solar production during this period was 57.7 MWh. Total consumption equals 71.2 MWh. Solar has accounted for 81% of that total.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

May was good for PV here, few clouds, hardly any rain. Only the second month we broke 1MW.

 

[SilverLeaf]

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

2015 AC Production
Jan 863
Feb 1060
Mar 1333
April 1441
May 1447

2014 AC Production
Jan 1048
Feb 977
Mar 1347
Apr 1438
May 1476
Jun 1413
Jul 1346
Aug 1368
Sep 1242
Oct 1193
Nov 1053
Dec 844

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;

 

[dgpcolorado]

The rain and snow I was hoping for sure came in May: it was the wettest I can remember with 229% of average precipitation and much cooler than usual temperatures. The cloudy weather led to a record low for the month of May in solar production. By a lot!

Results for May for the last seven years:
                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
May 2015            90 kWh       250 kWh
May 2014           111 kWh       313 kWh
May 2013           119 kWh       338 kWh
May 2012           127 kWh
May 2011           111 kWh
May 2010           122 kWh
May 2009           108 kWh

Annual production:
2015      1330 kWh (so far)
2014      3217 kWh (= an average of 4.06 hours x panel wattage per day)
2013      3327 kWh (4.20 hours x panel wattage per day)
2012      1409 kWh 
2011      1203 kWh (4.71 hours x panel wattage per day)
2010      1132 kWh (4.43 hours x panel wattage per day)
2009      1165 kWh (4.56 hours x panel wattage per day)
2008       232 kWh (partial year)

 

[JasonA]

We had TONS of May Grey here...

The main array put out...
May 2015 Total: 1,171.7 MWh

and the 3kw string tie put out...
383.94 kWh

And both my net meter and TED500 show identically the same thing... -471kWh extra left over so we're doing pretty well.

 

[dgpcolorado]

...And both my net meter and TED500 show identically the same thing... -471kWh extra left over so we're doing pretty well.

I've been gradually building a net-metering kWh credit with my power co-op over the last couple of years. As of the last billing it was 474 kWh heading into peak production and lowest usage season (fall/winter is highest usage here in snow country).

Several years ago the power co-op changed policy to allow us to carry over our excess generation for as long as we want, or cash it in at wholesale rates whenever we want. I'm trying to build up a substantial credit because I am assuming that a future Tesla Model 3 will use more energy than my LEAF (primarily to run the TMS). Our co-op is very friendly to renewables, which reflects the wishes of the membership, who technically own and run the company.

 

[JasonA]

Summer is not going to be so pretty here but again, it was mostly grey this entire month. I can crank out over 2.7MWh now and still have plenty left over... but LADWP doesn't pay out..

just rolls it over :roll:

So my house stays at 74* no matter what.. :lol:

 

[dgpcolorado]

Summer is not going to be so pretty here but again, it was mostly grey this entire month. I can crank out over 2.7MWh now and still have plenty left over... but LADWP doesn't pay out..

just rolls it over :roll:

So my house stays at 74* no matter what.. :lol:

I pretty much nailed my output when I expanded my array after getting the LEAF. The last two years of production have been 104% and 103% of the electricity needed to fuel my LEAF and run my house. Our power co-op limits net-metering to 120% of usage. More than that and they want to negotiate a wholesale power purchase agreement.

 

[Valdemar]

My new 9kW DC system is up, producing more than 60kWh/day this time of year on a good day, over 12 months estimating about 90% offset but on SoCal Edison TOU plan I should be able to erase most if not all of my bill. Here is my public monitoring portal.