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2013
June. 62.5 KWh
July 1.34 MWh
August 1.41 MWh
September 1.45 MWh
October 1.15 MWh
November 915 kWh
December 913 kWh
2013
January 1.08 MWh
February 966 kWh
Lifetime since June 29, 2013 9.35 MWh
This system is awesome. I would have spent in the neighborhood of $2700 in electricity during this timespan if not for PV system. This is only for appliances and lights. No heater or air conditioning.
 
Like January, February 2014 was also much colder than any previous months this system has ever seen.

Also like January, this record cold weather saw three new record production days for this month of the year:

February 24: 62.763 kWh
February 27: 62.945 kWh
February 28: 62.632 kWh

The previous February production record had been 61.885 kWh on February 21, 2013.

Unfortunately, in addition to the extreme cold, we have also had frequent snowfall this winter, which hurts monthly production. After two months in 2014 we are now 43 kWh behind the pace of our record year of 2012. (I could try to blame being behind February 2012 on the fact that it was a leap year, but the system produced less than 6 kWh on February 29, 2012!)

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

Code: 
Month     2011   2012   2013   2014  Units
------------------------------------------
January    669    869    822    857   kWh
February   158   1085    866   1054   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   1911   kWh
Since installation, our system has produced 36.836 MWh as of the end of February 2014.

In looking at production histories for the PV array, I have noticed that the microinverters on the roof are a decent way to find the lowest temperature of the day since that tends to occur at about the time as when the array awakens in the morning. At least this tends to be true in the wintertime. However, some records may be missed if none of the inverters wakes up due to snow cover. Our system has never recorded a temperature below 0F before this year, but so far in 2014 it has logged seven days with temperatures below that level:

January 7, 2014 at 7:26 AM: -4F
January 22, 2014 at 8:14 AM: -2F
January 24, 2014 at 7:20 AM: -2F
January 30, 2014 at 7:30 AM: -4F
February 12, 2014 at 7:12 AM: -2F
February 28, 2014 at 6:45 AM: -2F
March 4, 2014 at at 6:49 AM: -2F

Honorable Mentions (five days below 5F):

January 4, 2014 at 7:58 AM: 1F
January 8, 2014 at 7:23 AM: 3F
January 28, 2014 at 7:29 AM: 1F
January 29, 2014 at 7:30 AM: 1F
February 11, 2014 at 7:06 AM: 3F

While I'm sure dgpcolorado's system sees lower temperatures than this EVERY winter, I'm interested in seeing what minimum temperatures everyone has been getting this year.
 
RegGuheert said:
...While I'm sure dgpcolorado's system sees lower temperatures than this EVERY winter, I'm interested in seeing what minimum temperatures everyone has been getting this year.
Click to expand...
Not so much for me this winter: it was a very mild one, for the most part. For below zero temperatures I had a single -1ºF in January and another -1ºF in February. Fall was colder: I had a stretch from December 5th to 10th that was -9ºF, -5ºF, 6ºF, 10ºF, -5ºF, -9ºF. Other than that, it was pretty much a "non-winter" over on this side of the Continental Divide. It was odd reading about the "polar vortex" events in the East while having a balmy winter here in the Southern Rockies. Even the snow didn't tend to last long at my altitude (7670 feet), although it held on better higher up, so the ski areas were/are happy.

March is looking good for solar, as usual: sunny but still cool. My first wildflower (Cymopterus bulbosus) appeared last Tuesday and the first chipmunk last Monday, although spring doesn't really get going until May around here.
 
March 2014 saw the lowest total production for this month to date, producing 237 kWh less energy than the peak year 2012. In spite of the record cold temperatures, the low production was caused by snow on the panels and quite a bit of rain.

Like January and February, the record cold weather enabled two new record production days for this month of the year:

March 13: 67.171 kWh
March 24: 66.809 kWh

The previous March production record had been 65.724 kWh on March 14, 2013.

After three months in 2014 we are now 280 kWh behind the pace of our record year of 2012.

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

Code: 
Month     2011   2012   2013   2014  Units
------------------------------------------
January    669    869    822    857   kWh
February   158   1085    866   1054   kWh
March        0   1350   1152   1113   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   3024   kWh
Since installation, our system has produced 37.949 MWh as of the end of March 2014.
 
Production from my 33 230wDC Sunpower Panels via Sunnyboy (SMA) 7000US Inverter (7.59kW DC)

2014 AC Production
Jan 1048
Feb 977
Mar 1347

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;
 
March was pretty average here, alternating between lovely sunny days and stormy weather, but generally warm and dry. More snow would have been nice for the mountain snowpack.

Code: 
Results for March for the last six years:

                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
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
 
April 2014 was the lowest April for our system, producing 157 kWh less energy than the peak year 2013.

Like January, February and March the record cold weather enabled a new record production day for this month of the year. However, in this case the record is also an all-time one-day production record for our array:

April 16: 68.924 kWh

The previous March production record had been 67.991 kWh on April 2, 2013. The previous all-time record had been recorded 68.059 kWh on May 26, 2013. This new record occurred even though the previously-highest-producing module malfunctioned late in March and is now producing 6% less under new limp-along firmware.

After four months in 2014 we are now 407 kWh behind the pace of our record year of 2012.

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

Code: 
Month     2011   2012   2013   2014  Units
------------------------------------------
January    669    869    822    857   kWh
February   158   1085    866   1054   kWh
March        0   1350   1152   1113   kWh
April        0   1465   1495   1338   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   4362   kWh
Since installation, our system has produced 39.287 MWh as of the end of April 2014.
 
Low rainfall has a flip side: Best solar April in the eight years that I have had our system. 843 kWh solar production in Orange County CA from a 5.16 kW system on south facing roof. This April barely topped April 2008 by 1 kWh, when the panels were just a year old and much cleaner.

Given the choice, I'd take a rainy April.
 
Production from my 33 230wDC Sunpower Panels via Sunnyboy (SMA) 7000US Inverter (7.59kW DC)

2014 AC Production
Jan 1048
Feb 977
Mar 1347
Apr 1438

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;
 
Boomer23 said:
Low rainfall has a flip side: Best solar April in the eight years that I have had our system. 843 kWh solar production in Orange County CA from a 5.16 kW system on south facing roof. This April barely topped April 2008 by 1 kWh, when the panels were just a year old and much cleaner.

Given the choice, I'd take a rainy April.
Click to expand...

Monthly production is up for April. But peak daily production is down slightly, and the months prior during this winter/spring have not been spectacular. Think I need to get me on the roof and clean the panels in the absence of any natural help.

Code: 
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      571.84 622.83 886.12 1031.34
 

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mwalsh said:
Think I need to get me on the roof and clean the panels in the absence of any natural help.
Click to expand...
Yeah, drought cannot be great for PV production, even if you get lots of sunshine. I've decided that the best cleaner for our panels is sleet. As it slides off the panels, it scrubs the surface quite well! Snow also works, but last winter the first frozen precipitation was just snow and the grime on the panels was enough to keep the snow from shedding!
 
RegGuheert said:
mwalsh said:
Think I need to get me on the roof and clean the panels in the absence of any natural help.
Click to expand...
Yeah, drought cannot be great for PV production, even if you get lots :) of sunshine. I've decided that the best cleaner for our panels is sleet. As it slides off the panels, it scrubs the surface quite well! Snow also works, but last winter the first frozen precipitation was just snow and the grime on the panels was enough to keep the snow from shedding!
Click to expand...

I'm now praying for sleet. :)
 
I was surprised to find that April had the lowest production in the six years I've been keeping track. Although it was rather cloudy and snowy, that seems pretty normal for April here in the mountains.

I am getting tired of pulling snow off the panels — it's spring, time for rain! When I have them at pitch angles of 25º and 15º (the current angle) I have to get a step ladder out to reach high enough with my squeegee on a 16 foot pole. Much easier in fall and winter when I have the panels at angles of 45º and 55º and the snow usually slides right off with just a bit of a tug.

[April 2012 had the highest production because it was part of driest spring I've seen in my thirty years in Colorado: no measurable precipitation; very unusual.]

Code: 
Results for April for the last six years:

                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
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
As it happens, yesterday, May 1st, was one of the highest production days I've seen in a year: cold, sunny, with some cloud edge effect.
 
Production from my 33 230wDC Sunpower Panels via Sunnyboy (SMA) 7000US Inverter (7.59kW DC)

2014 AC Production
Jan 1048
Feb 977
Mar 1347
Apr 1438
May 1476

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;
 
May is usually one of the best production months here because of long days plus cooler temperatures than summer, but the output was down 7% from last May and on the low side for the month in the six years I've been tracking it. One of the reasons was a lot of rain/snow in the middle and the end of the month and that precipitation was very welcome — the spring wildflowers are loving it (the lupines and locoweeds are very showy today)! [And the wildfire danger is much reduced for now.]

Code: 
Results for May for the last six years:

                Old panels   Old+New panels
               (700 Watts)   (2170 Watts)
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
 

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