Fuenkli

I have submitted my application to connect a Goodwe GW5048D-ES inverter to the grid 4 weeks ago. I do not have a reply from the CoCT yet. I will update the forum on progress. Is there anybody in CT on the forum who has successfully gone through the process?

not so lucky here in Plattekloof. Power gone down at 13:00. Fortunately there is enough sunshine and I could temporarily connect the oven with the sunday roast in it to the inverter back up circuit 😀

bottom line is that nobody is feeding electricity back in SA (with the exception of the meter back spinners 🤣 ). It is just not financially attractive. Lots of systems idling away during our beautiful sunny days and Eskom is generating unnecessary dirty power. Something is wrong with this picture. I hope this will change soon. It is doable. Other countries show us how it can be done.

I am still of the opinion that this is the wrong approach for a long term sustainable win win situation. I would make it as attractive as possible to buy and sell as much electricity to the City as possible. Offer very attractive low demand purchase and high demand selling prices to the consumers. This would encourage households to invest more in storage capacity and reduce the need for expensive grid peak load and distribution capacity. As long as Cape Town is not officially allowed to purchase electricity this is obviously going nowhere and will drive more and more customers off grid.

I also think that the safety aspect is overemphasized. Whenever we have a power failure here in Plattekloof (because of the shifting ground we have a lot of them) I go and speak to the repair crew to find out what the problem is and how they fix it. What struck me is that they ALWAYS short the live wire they work on to ground with a big heavy duty cable and earth spike. They also told me, that they never had a problem with an inverter back feeding power into a dead grid. I am however in favor of registering/checking grid connected PV systems but the process should be MUCH quicker and simpler. I think the city is seriously paranoid about this and that it has more pertinent challenges it should channel its scares resources and money to.

what does this all mean? I tried unsuccessfully to figure it out. Can you please explain in simple terms if it is possible to legally connect a hybrid inverter like the Goodwe 4.6 kW to a single phase 60A grid supply.

could also be as a result of the higher ambient temperatures in summer.

based on my experience with flooded lead acid batteries excessive water loss is mainly due to gassing. Are your batteries maybe spending to much time above the gassing voltage?

I think by not cycling the batteries you are not getting the best return of your (very expensive) battery investment. Unfortunately it is very difficult to determine what the sweet spot in terms of optimum DOD level to achieve the highest ROI is. It would be handy to have a spreadsheet where you can enter the battery details and cost per kWh and get the result of the best DOD setting.

contact Goodwe support. Based on my experience they are quite good at it.

I am looking for a 63A 2P mini rail (Samite) changeover switch. Does anybody know where I can get one? I could only find Din rail types like the Hager SF263.

I agree. But somehow they do not have the problem we think we might have with connecting a lot of PV capacity to the grid. I admit I am not familiar with the German requirements regarding maximum capacity of grid tied inverters. All I say is that other nations are way ahead of us in this field and we could probably implement their approach.

I know that Germany with a much higher solar penetration than South Africa had this problem with the old "disconnect regulations". The new regulations requiring a gradual reduction (instead of an abrupt stop) of power has addressed this problem.

the problem is that the cable to your property is probably limiting the current to 60A. To upgrade to 80A might require a new cable. Not sure who would have to pay for this.

good idea. I think a very important point to get across would be what the real cost of solar is. There is to much false misleading advertising out there.

correction. System is online since July 2017

excellent idea. Herewith my first question: 1. I have read the entire thread about the 3.5kW inverter capacity limitation for hybrid GTI's. Now I am more confused than ever how to proceed with my application to the CoCT. Can you please get an answer what the correct approach for owners with existing systems with inverters exceeding the above limit is. I have a Goodwe GW5048D 4.6kW inverter with 4.4kW of PV and 20kWh battery capacity. The grid supply is single phase 60A with a prepaid meter. The system is on line since July 2018.

Check the temperature of the 2 HA2's. Mine are getting slightly warm to the touch when they are balancing. If one of them stays cold and the batteries are unbalanced it is probably broken.

Another big advantage if you have lithium batteries is that you do not have to worry about partial stage of charge. Going through a Cape Town winter with lead acid batteries opened my eyes!

I am glad you managed to get the inverter going again. What firmware version do you have now (mine is 1212). Why is it a hassle for you to reboot the inverter? I find it very easy by just confirming reboot after you made the changes with the EzManage app on the cell phone.

once my system has been signed off and legalized by the city (in my case CoCT) as a grid tied zero feed back system would I be allowed to legally do this as well?

what are the advantages and disadvantages of high voltage batteries? Are they available here in South Africa? Are they safe? I am already scared working with the 500V from my pv panels 😨.

thanks Plonkster. I will change the setting.

my Goodwe inverter is still randomly shutting down and restarting (about once a month, sometimes a few times a day). I thought that the reported error message on the EzManage app (SoC delta over range please check the battery capacity settings and charge voltage settings) is the cause. I played around with different battery settings but the problem persisted. Now Goodwe support just told me, that after analyzing the data they believe that the reason for the shutdowns is an unstable grid. They suggested to change the grid supply quality detection to "low sensitivity". I am concerned that if I change the setting it will compromise the anti islanding function. What do you think and is the grid in Cape Town really so unstable?

without any monitoring system you are flying blind and you will not be able to maximize your systems performance and react to problems. To set up your station on the Goodwe portal is very easy. There is a lot of step by step instructions available on the net. It is also well documented in the user manual.