Our solar production

[thankyouOB]

-december 2012 was our worst production kWh month in 3.5 years. 303kWh.
-for october/november (2-month billing at LADWP) we had to draw $30 from our solar bank and pay $3 in cash (u cant use bank for the 10% tax). That covered all our power useage for the house and our LEAF.

spring is usually the best producer of kWh, but because of TOU metering and DWP having a "summer rate" from June to October, where the high peak period runs to 22 cents a kWh sted of base at 8.8 cents kWh at base, our truly bet banking months are the summer rate time.

Solar has been a fabulous experience. it is a 3.4 dc kw system. DWP also gives a 2.5-cent reduction to base rate if you have an EV. that covers up to 500kWh of base usage a month.
originally the system was to return about 100% but because TOU was added as an option by DWP, we now bank some excess, about $130 a year.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Add me to the list of those with a poor December for solar output. It was down 34% from December 2011, although solar production was substantially lower in December 2010, my worst month ever. This December was mostly cloudy, with lots of snow the last two weeks (which was good because it was very needed and the skiing at my house at present is the best in years). Quite a contrast from the very warm, dry November.

I'm hoping for a better January!

 

[SilverLeaf]

December 2012 Production - 853 kWh (low = 5, high = 34, avg = 27.5) lifetime = 22.688 mWh since 3/2011 :mrgreen:

 

[Weatherman]

I was warmer, here along the southeast Florida coast, in January than it was in Honolulu, HI (highs around 80 and lows in the upper 60s). The year without a winter. Plenty of clouds but still enough sun to give the "expected" 0.904 kWh per panel per day (841 kWh total).



7.2 kW system installed at the end of June 2012:

July: Expected: 913; Actual: 965 (1.038 kWh per panel per day)
August: Expected: 895; Actual: 898 (0.966 kWh per panel per day)
September: Expected: 873; Actual: 852 (0.947 kWh per panel per day)
October: Expected: 866; Actual: 924 (0.994 kWh per panel per day)
November: Expected: 752; Actual: 920 (1.022 kWh per panel per day)
December: Expected: 750; Actual: 822 (0.884 kWh per panel per day)
January: Expected 838; Actual: 841 (0.904 kWh per panel per day)

February: Expected 837
March: Expected 945
April: Expected 1037
May: Expected 970
June: Expected 891

Total Expected for Year: 10,567 kWh or 0.965 kWh per panel per day (solar radiation 5.25 kWh/m2/day)

 

[RegGuheert]

O.K. 2013 is starting out slightly behind 2012.

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

Month     2011   2012   2013  Units
-----------------------------------
January    669    869    822   kWh
February   158   1085          kWh
March        0   1351          kWh
April        0   1465          kWh
May          0   1478          kWh 
June         0   1478          kWh
July       595   1396          kWh
August    1347   1447          kWh
September  910   1294          kWh
October    931    981          kWh
November   949   1041          kWh
December   803    612          kWh
-----------------------------------
Totals    6362  14497    822   kWh

 

[dgpcolorado]

O.K. 2013 is starting out slightly behind 2012.

Yes, I was also down from last January, but the solar output was up sharply from a rather cloudy, snowy December. Why do you not have production numbers from March-June 2011? You seem to see a bit more seasonal fluctuation than I do here, perhaps because I can adjust the pitch of my panels.

Old panel numbers:

January 2013 •88 kWh
January 2012 •93 kWh
January 2011 •88 kWh
January 2010 •76 kWh
January 2009 •77 kWh

Monthly totals since my new panels were added:

August 2012       •271 kWh
September 2012    •308 kWh
October 2012      •322 kWh
November 2012     •293 kWh
December 2012     •163 kWh
January 2013      •247 kWh

My system is tiny compared to most but the new panels should cover all my LEAF driving and the old ones most of my household electricity usage.

 

[Weatherman]

My system is tiny compared to most but the new panels should cover all my LEAF driving and the old ones most of my household electricity usage.

That's why I like to include the kWh per panel per day in my results. Makes it a bit easier to compare the output from one array to another.

 

[dgpcolorado]

My system is tiny compared to most but the new panels should cover all my LEAF driving and the old ones most of my household electricity usage.

That's why I like to include the kWh per panel per day in my results. Makes it a bit easier to compare the output from one array to another.

Doesn't that depend on the panel size and even the inverter? My four old panels are 175 Watts each and the six new ones are 245 Watts. However, my new inverter (Solectria) is less efficient than the old one (Sunny Boy) so the energy output is about 10% less than expected from the power readings (the panels are right on spec).

 

[Weatherman]

My system is tiny compared to most but the new panels should cover all my LEAF driving and the old ones most of my household electricity usage.

That's why I like to include the kWh per panel per day in my results. Makes it a bit easier to compare the output from one array to another.

Doesn't that depend on the panel size and even the inverter? My four old panels are 175 Watts each and the six new ones are 245 Watts. However, my new inverter (Solectria) is less efficient than the old one (Sunny Boy) so the energy output is about 10% less than expected from the power readings (the panels are right on spec).

Sure. But it makes it a lot easier to compare numbers between someone with a 45-panel array and someone with a 10-panel array. When I take a look at other, nearby arrays to me on Enphase's web site and compare them to my own to see how well I'm doing, I always normalize the results to output per panel. If I'm starting to fall behind on the per-panel output I know it's time to clean my panels.

 

[SilverLeaf]

January 2013 generated 920 kWh A/C from my 6.9 kW array.
As of yesterday, my array is now 7.59 kW.

 

[RegGuheert]

Why do you not have production numbers from March-June 2011?

The simple answer is that our old energy meter (which was actually new) at the time the array was installed had a fraud prevention feature that caused it to integrate the absolute value of the power flowing through the meter rather than integrating the actual power flowing into the house. In other words, the kWh meter counted up regardless if we were consuming or producing power. This fact combined with the size of our array meant that were paying more if we left our solar array turned on, so we switched it off until the meter was changed. There was a bit of a calamity of errors involved, so we decided to let things run their course to resolution. I think we lost about $600 worth of production in that deal, but all is well now.

You seem to see a bit more seasonal fluctuation than I do here, perhaps because I can adjust the pitch of my panels.

Yes, our panels are at a fixed angle on our roof. mrradon has the most seasonal production that I have seen. He lives in Seattle and has a very flat roof with panels pointed in all four compass directions.

 

[turbo2ltr]

My December output was 431kWh which was exactly the same as my 2011 output.

Jan was 476kWh this year as opposed to 485 last year.

I have not paid for any on peak power since I got the system in Oct 2011. I even started charging on peak to offset the off peak power I do pay for. The credit I earned last year thy applied to my bill in Dec. It has paid my bill in Jan and Feb, and will easily pay March and maybe even a little bit of April. Solar is awesome. (My average bill is somewhere in the $35 range.)

Now if I can only do something about the power bill at my office that just went to $280/month (average).

 

[dgpcolorado]

My December output was 431kWh which was exactly the same as my 2011 output.

Jan was 476kWh this year as opposed to 485 last year.

I was surprised that your production is so consistent from year to year until I saw your Phoenix location. Not much "weather" there!

I have not paid for any on peak power since I got the system in Oct 2011. I even started charging on peak to offset the off peak power I do pay for. The credit I earned last year thy applied to my bill in Dec. It has paid my bill in Jan and Feb, and will easily pay March and maybe even a little bit of April. Solar is awesome. (My average bill is somewhere in the $35 range.)

Now if I can only do something about the power bill at my office that just went to $280/month (average).

I've been paying the minimum $15 a month service charge to my power co-op since my new panels went in service in July and expect to have enough credit for the next bill also. Although my system isn't cost-effective, it sure is nice driving and running my house on "sunpower"!

 

[LKK]

From my inverter. Time on the grid - 16,378 hours. Production - 21.321 MWH. Not bad for someone SDG&E calls a "freeloader" since I'm not paying for the power I'm trading for the clean power I provide to them during peak hours.

 

[TNleaf]

2.4 kW system installed late July 2012

July(partial)  185
August         341
September      307
October        290
November       262 
December       156
January        195

------------------
Lifetime       1736

 

[RegGuheert]

Wow! February was 219 kWh lower than last year! It was a very cloudy month.

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          kWh
April        0   1465          kWh
May          0   1477          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   1688   kWh

Thinking sunny thoughts for March...

Edit: Updated numbers to match those found on the new public website (now in my signature).

 

[Boomer23]

We had a sunny February out West. 606 kWh generated from our 5.16 kW system. That's not near our best February on record, but about the third best Feb in our six years running the system. And a slightly better daily average than last February, which, for those keeping score at home, was a leap year.

 

[dgpcolorado]

February 2013 was down just 2% from the previous two years here, although way above the low in February 2010. The month started out with a week of sunny cloudless days but the latter half was very snowy.

February 27th was mostly sunny and cold—the high was 27ºF—and was my best solar day since my new panels were installed in mid July: 13.77 kWh. (That may be a pittance for those of you with gigantic arrays but it is pretty good for my 2170 watt system.) Kind of a surprise given that the days are relatively short in winter.

Feb 2009   88 kWh
Feb 2010   69 kWh
Feb 2011   89 kWh
Feb 2012   89 kWh
Feb 2013   87 kWh  (246 kWh total with new panels)

 

[ghabel]

Didn't meet expectations in feb because lots of snow on the roof. 519kwh vs 750 kwh. Hoping to make up in march. From MA.

Date/Time Generation (kWh) 9.81 kW PV (kWh)
02/01/2013 23.59 23.59
02/02/2013 28.191 28.191
02/03/2013 7.432 7.432
02/04/2013 26.545 26.545
02/05/2013 7.792 7.792
02/06/2013 26.97 26.97
02/07/2013 33.061 33.061
02/08/2013 1.823 1.823
02/09/2013 0 0
02/10/2013 0 0
02/11/2013 0.048 0.048
02/12/2013 14.683 14.683
02/13/2013 31.88 31.88
02/14/2013 33.907 33.907
02/15/2013 36.871 36.871
02/16/2013 8.9 8.9
02/17/2013 7.725 7.725
02/18/2013 43.492 43.492
02/19/2013 18.473 18.473
02/20/2013 33.737 33.737
02/21/2013 48.167 48.167
02/22/2013 35.512 35.512
02/23/2013 7.828 7.828
02/24/2013 2.664 2.664
02/25/2013 1.376 1.376
02/26/2013 16.659 16.659
02/27/2013 4.246 4.246
02/28/2013 18.193 18.193
03/01/2013 15.614 15.614

 

[SilverLeaf]

1,105 kWh a/c production from my 7.59 kW d/c array for February 2013 :mrgreen: