Our solar production

[SilverLeaf]

I have 33 Sunpower 230 watt panels connected to a Sunpower (SMA Sunnyboy) 7000 watt inverter.

It may be a quirk of the JSunny software, as it seems to be on all/most of the 50 or so systems that the have linked to their website.

 

[RegGuheert]

It may be a quirk of the JSunny software, as it seems to be on all/most of the 50 or so systems that the have linked to their website.

It might be.

But it could also be real. It seems unlikely that the SunnyBoy inverter would slowly move back and forth across the peak power point, but who knows? Maybe it does.

 

[HighDesertDriver]

It may be a quirk of the JSunny software, as it seems to be on all/most of the 50 or so systems that the have linked to their website.

It might be. But it could also be real. It seems unlikely that the SunnyBoy inverter would slowly move back and forth across the peak power point, but who knows? Maybe it does.

It may or may not apply to the newer SMA7000 units, but our 7 year old SMA6000 is quite stable. Just another data point. . .

 

[SilverLeaf]

The graph produced by my Sunny Beam and by Sunny Explorer are much smoother in realtime. However there is still some fluctuation. The actual inverter exported spreadsheet data, over 5 minute intervals, does show the variation.

JSunnyReports is free software that produces my website reports. Try it, and see what you are experiencing. Works with many different inverters.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Link to my solar production

...Date......Monthly......Daily Peak

Jan 2012: 937 kWh..... 39.79 kWh
Feb 2012: 970 kWh.... 43.57 kWh
Mar 2012: 1210 kWh.. 50.72 kWh
Apr 2012: 1267 kWh.. 54.18 kWh
May 2012: 1390 kWh.. 53.6 kWh
Jun 2012: 1455 kWh.. 55.1 kWh
July 2012: 1402 kWh.. 52.4 kWh
Aug 2012: 1318 kWh.. 50.0 kWh
Sep 2012: 1.25 MWh
Oct 2012: 1.12 MWh
Nov 2012: 0.91 MWh
Dec 2012: 0.716 MWh

2012 Year to Date: 13.9 MWh


Jan 2013: 0.955 MWh
Feb 2013: 0.999 MWh
Mar 2013: 1.252 MWh 48.8kW peak
Apr 2013: 1.241 MWh 54.08kW peak
May 2013: ?.??? MWh


Lifetime: 25.1 MWh



Estimated Production

Month Solar Radiation
(kWh/m²/day) AC Energy (kWh)
Jan: 4.10 913.0
Feb: 4.70 937.0
Mar: 5.41 1191.0
Apr: 6.08 1276.0
May: 6.49 1400.0
Jun: 6.67 1376.0
Jul: 6.74 1403.0
Aug: 6.57 1356.0
Sep: 6.01 1213.0
Oct: 4.99 1072.0
Nov: 4.45 946.0
Dec: 3.78 839.0

 

[RegGuheert]

The graph produced by my Sunny Beam and by Sunny Explorer are much smoother in realtime. However there is still some fluctuation. The actual inverter exported spreadsheet data, over 5 minute intervals, does show the variation.

Interesting. So the question is whether the smooth results are from smoothing or whether the results with periodic variations are due to a data error. BTW, I wonder the same things about the reports for my system. For instance, the website only provides data every 5 minutes, but there can be a lot of variation within a 5-minute window. So what is the smoothing function used? Does it simply average the power and integrate the energy? Does it then somehow smooth the result? I simply do not know.

JSunnyReports is free software that produces my website reports. Try it, and see what you are experiencing. Works with many different inverters.

I would give it a try, but I do not know how to extract the data for my system. Enphase makes graphs, but I'm not sure how to get numbers (except manually).

 

[dgpcolorado]

Had my best solar day ever yesterday, over the four and a half years I've been tracking it.

Ideal conditions:
Cloudless day with unseasonably cool weather (high 48ºF) and a brisk breeze keeping the panels cooled to ambient. Plus long days as we near the Summer solstice and I had my panels at their highest pitch, 15º, given the high sun angle near the solstice.

My old 700 Watt array made 5.07 kWh, which is 7.24 hours times rated wattage. The new 1470 Watt array made 9.682 kWh. [The new panels are about 9% less productive because the new Solectria inverter is much less efficient than my older Sunny Boy 725; in retrospect I wish I had purchased two more Sunny Boy 725s.]

I've hit 4.99 kWh a couple of times but never thought I'd break 5.0 on my old array since the panels are getting older.

 

[RegGuheert]

May was the second-highest month ever after April.

One pleasant surprise this month was that we saw a new one-day production record on May 26 of 68.059 kWh which beat the previous record of 67.991 kWh by 68 Wh. It was a bit of a surprise to me because it was not cool that day. All previous records had occurred in early April, so I had come to the incorrect conclusion that records would not happen as late as the ends of May. It seems that a strong breeze is pretty important to aid in maximizing production.

We are still off last year's pace by 420 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          kWh
July       595   1395          kWh
August    1347   1447          kWh
September  910   1295          kWh
October    931    981          kWh
November   949   1041          kWh
December   803    612          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495   5826   kWh

 

[TonyWilliams]

Link to my solar production

Month     2011   2012   2013  Units
-----------------------------------
January     0     937    955   kWh
February    0     970    999   kWh
March        0   1210   1252   kWh
April        0   1267   1241   kWh
May          0   1390   1450   kWh 
June         0   1455          kWh
July         ?   1402          kWh
August       ?   1318          kWh
September  ?     1250          kWh
October     ?    1120          kWh
November     ?    910          kWh
December     ?    716          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals           13.9 MWh

...Date......Monthly......Daily Peak

Jan 2012: 937 kWh..... 39.79 kWh
Feb 2012: 970 kWh.... 43.57 kWh
Mar 2012: 1210 kWh.. 50.72 kWh
Apr 2012: 1267 kWh.. 54.18 kWh
May 2012: 1390 kWh.. 53.6 kWh
Jun 2012: 1455 kWh.. 55.1 kWh
July 2012: 1402 kWh.. 52.4 kWh
Aug 2012: 1318 kWh.. 50.0 kWh
Sep 2012: 1.25 MWh
Oct 2012: 1.12 MWh
Nov 2012: 0.91 MWh
Dec 2012: 0.716 MWh

2012 Year to Date: 13.9 MWh


Jan 2013: 0.955 MWh
Feb 2013: 0.999 MWh
Mar 2013: 1.252 MWh 48.8kW peak
Apr 2013: 1.241 MWh 54.08kW peak
May 2013: 1.450 MWh 53.30kW peak


Lifetime: 26.5 MWh



Estimated Production

Month AC Energy (kWh)
Jan: 913.0
Feb: 937.0
Mar: 1191.0
Apr: 1276.0
May: 1400.0
Jun: 1376.0
Jul: 1403.0
Aug: 1356.0
Sep: 1213.0
Oct: 1072.0
Nov: 946.0
Dec: 839.0

 

[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

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/

All Data computed via JSunnyReports

 

[dgpcolorado]

May here was down 6% over last year, which had the driest Spring I've seen in my 29 years in Colorado. I've been down every month since November given cloudier weather than the previous year. But May solar was the highest this year so far, as one might expect. May is often my highest production month of the entire year because of cooler weather than in June, the sunniest month. (July and August are "monsoon" (thunderstorm) season here, so production tends to be lower.)

Results for May in recent years:

          Old panels   Old+New panels
         (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
May 2013   119 kWh       338 kWh
May 2012   127 kWh
May 2011   111 kWh
May 2010   122 kWh
May 2009   108 kWh

 

[Cheezmo]

6kW system, south facing roof (185 degrees actually I think), Plano, TX

Dec 12 624kWh
Jan 13 604kWh
Feb 13 733kWh
Mar 13 866kWh
Apr 13 748kWh
May 13 743kWh

 

[TonyWilliams]

6kW system, south facing roof (185 degrees actually I think), Plano, TX

Magnetic or true north?

 

[turbo2ltr]

Got this from solar city..

You may have heard about an issue called "net-metering" lately. Net-metering is a statewide policy that allows you to receive fair credit for the surplus electricity that your solar system produces.

Arizona utilities are beginning to challenge Arizonans' right to net meter and receive fair credit for their systems' contribution to the Arizona electrical grid. Though choice and competition is good for consumers, utilities would rather protect their monopoly.

Please contact members of the Arizona Corporation Commission (all five of them represent you!) to let them know that you support net metering. Click here to stand up for solar in Arizona now.

Note: Though a change to net metering policy probably would not affect current solar customers like you, it would make it harder and costlier for other Arizonans to follow your lead.

Let’s protect the progress we’ve made. Let’s protect Arizonans’ right to go solar. Take action now.

Sincerely,

Lyndon Rive
CEO, SolarCity

 

[smkettner]

First full day 17 kWh from a 3kW (DC) system. LEAF is sitting at VLBW to recharge overnight. The solar will barely fill the LEAF it seems. TOU rates being about 3 to 1 will be rather interesting.

I hear SCE is also complaining about net metering at some level. This is potentially going to be a real shakeout.

 

[RegGuheert]

June was wet and rainy, with the result being 110 kWh less production versus last year, even with a full-day power outage on a perfectly sunny day June 30, 2012.

We are now off last year's pace by 530 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          kWh
August    1347   1447          kWh
September  910   1295          kWh
October    931    981          kWh
November   949   1041          kWh
December   803    612          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14495   7194   kWh

 

[hill]

6kW system, south facing roof (185 degrees actually I think), Plano, TX

Magnetic or true north?

Isn't this the end of the 5 thousand year cycle ... where the magnetic poles reverse anyway?

 

[dgpcolorado]

This June was pretty average, compared to previous Junes; I was up 3% over last year. But that breaks a string of six months in a row that were lower for solar than the previous year.

Results for June in recent years:

          Old panels   Old+New panels
         (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
June 2013   124 kWh       356 kWh
June 2012   120 kWh
June 2011   134 kWh
June 2010   117 kWh
June 2009   101 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

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

 

[dgpcolorado]

^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.