The COCT grid tied is a super option:

Since 1 Oct 2023:

 

Oct 23	520.794	1,256.083	-735.289	R-9.37
Nov 23	452.996	1,192.301	-739.305	R-119.85
'Dec 23	381.076	1,833.817	-1,452.741	R-1,031.33
‘Jan 24	342.252	1,967.088	-1,624.836	R-1,284.77
Feb 24	362.053	1,741.858	-1,379.805	R-979.38

 

A whopping cash back return of R 3424.71

Add my normal account was ore than R3K  a total saving of more than 5 x R3500 = R17500  + R3424.71  =  R20,924.71

Account for 13 Jan - 14 Feb 24:

Generation Offset  ( 1952.501 kWh X R 0.8700 )                    1698.68-
Generation Offset Incentive  ( 1952.501 kWh X R 0.2500 )     488.13-

R 2181 cash back for this period.

Grid tied the best option there is!!!

 

Feb SAP curves on COCT system:

 

 

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by NoJ

40 minutes ago, NoJ said:

The COCT grid tied is a super option:

Since 1 Oct 2023:

 

Oct 23	520.794	1,256.083	-735.289	R-9.37
Nov 23	452.996	1,192.301	-739.305	R-119.85
'Dec 23	381.076	1,833.817	-1,452.741	R-1,031.33
‘Jan 24	342.252	1,967.088	-1,624.836	R-1,284.77
Feb 24	362.053	1,741.858	-1,379.805	R-979.38

 

A whopping cash back return of R 3424.71

I can't make sense of those figures without column headers and totals. Maybe they got lost in the copying and pasting.

When you say "grid tied", is this an option that allows you to sell back to the city?

From that questions arise.
1) What's the spec of your system?
2) How much did the meter and any other admin fees cost?
3) Is this for private or business premises?

I am afraid to say the stuff are all cheap and nastiest.

1. I have 1 Solis 3k3 bought new was +/- R7K5
2. I have 2 5KW grid tied inverters nobody wanted to buy this so it was dumped at a low fee. Cause every one is scared to feed back.😳
3. There was a special on the 420W panels for R1300 each and I bought 10 they are brilliant panels
4. There was a special on the 550W for R2200 and I bought 5
5. Then I have some older 330W a mixture of panels
6. The meter installation by the council was R11K in 2019

Currently I generate about 115KW per day and it peaks at about 13KWh.

The only name brand are the 550W they are JAP panels they was on a special

My total capital lay out was less than R75K  this is ex the meter.

But the meter was paid in 5 months and the total savings for these 5 months are more than R26K.

The 26K savings.

• Meter                     R11000
• 10 420 @ 1300R   R13000

So the COCT sponsored my meter installation plus 10 420W panels.

 

"En wie moet ons bedank?   Boland bank   😉"

The actual cash back for 1Oct - now is:

Oct              R -1,406.81
Nov             R -1,335.38
Dec             R -2053.88
Jan              R -2203.14
Feb             R -1816.34
Total           R -8815.54

 

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by NoJ

Thanks. I assume the returns are more modest in the winter.

Interesting that you started this some years back. I assume that means you registered your system back in 2019.  You got in ahead of the rush, and that seems to have worked for you.

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by Bobster.
sppeling

5 minutes ago, NoJ said:

Currently I generate about 115KW per day

That does not sound right, for 10 X 420W aka 4k2W + 5 X 550W aka 2k75W, I'd think daily production may be more like 45kW, at best, 115kW sounds really high, unless those other mix of panels add up to another 10kW or so, but then all of this on a city sized plot? You'd have to have 45 panels or so, needing lots of space, I'd imagine...

I think it is fair to state that I did not believe sales reps.  This winter it will be more I am adding another 7KW grid tie it was sold on FB as a second hand for R2000.

 

There is no rush people must not be fooled that's the most important part of solar.

Just now, Kalahari Meerkat said:

That does not sound right, for 10 X 420W aka 4k2W + 5 X 550W aka 2k75W, I'd think daily production may be more like 45kW, at best, 115kW sounds really high, unless those other mix of panels add up to another 10kW or so, but then all of this on a city sized plot? You'd have to have 45 panels or so, needing lots of space, I'd imagine...

I can go and count each one if you wish as I honestly don't know the exact panel configurations.  Many sold at a special and I bought and made use of the ignorance factor

2 minutes ago, Kalahari Meerkat said:

That does not sound right, for 10 X 420W aka 4k2W + 5 X 550W aka 2k75W, I'd think daily production may be more like 45kW, at best, 115kW sounds really high, unless those other mix of panels add up to another 10kW or so, but then all of this on a city sized plot? You'd have to have 45 panels or so, needing lots of space, I'd imagine...

 

this is the actual data for Jan:
 

Jan	R Flux	Home Use	Import Kwhr	Export Kwhr	R Import	R Export	Nett R X.xx	Time Tariff Rval	Ttf N Val	R Total	Follow The Sun
1	0.0	-60.312	9.550	-69.862	R 25.63	R-78.25	R-52.62	R 5.29	R-72.95	R-52.62	60.312
2	0.0	-51.956	11.565	-63.521	R 31.03	R-71.14	R-40.11	R 6.08	R-65.06	R-92.73	51.956
3	0.0	-44.334	9.726	-54.060	R 26.10	R-60.55	R-34.45	R 5.62	R-54.93	R-127.18	44.334
4	0.0	-59.429	9.568	-68.997	R 25.67	R-77.28	R-51.60	R 5.54	R-71.74	R-178.78	59.429
5	0.0	-58.946	11.960	-70.906	R 32.09	R-79.41	R-47.32	R 7.15	R-72.26	R-226.11	58.946
6	0.0	-60.813	10.178	-70.991	R 27.31	R-79.51	R-52.20	R 5.38	R-74.13	R-278.31	60.813
7	0.0	-33.528	9.597	-43.125	R 25.75	R-48.30	R-22.55	R 5.07	R-43.23	R-300.85	33.528
8	0.0	-66.873	9.318	-76.191	R 25.00	R-85.33	R-60.33	R 4.93	R-80.41	R-361.18	66.873
9	0.0	-58.314	9.478	-67.792	R 25.43	R-75.93	R-50.49	R 5.93	R-69.99	R-411.68	58.314
10	0.0	-62.425	10.488	-72.913	R 28.14	R-81.66	R-53.52	R 5.81	R-75.86	R-465.20	62.425
11	0.0	-58.977	7.954	-66.931	R 21.34	R-74.96	R-53.62	R 4.92	R-70.04	R-518.82	58.977
12	0.0	-56.813	9.990	-66.803	R 26.81	R-74.82	R-48.01	R 5.59	R-69.23	R-566.83	56.813
13	0.0	-61.181	10.857	-72.038	R 29.13	R-80.68	R-51.55	R 6.79	R-73.89	R-618.38	61.181
14	0.0	-45.287	7.399	-52.686	R 19.85	R-59.01	R-39.15	R 4.27	R-54.73	R-657.54	45.287
15	0.0	-54.670	13.802	-68.472	R 37.03	R-76.69	R-39.65	R 8.23	R-68.46	R-697.19	54.670
16	0.0	-39.278	13.717	-52.995	R 36.81	R-59.35	R-22.55	R 9.07	R-50.29	R-719.74	39.278
17	0.0	-59.236	11.403	-70.639	R 30.60	R-79.12	R-48.52	R 6.77	R-72.35	R-768.26	59.236
18	0.0	-61.392	9.564	-70.956	R 25.66	R-79.47	R-53.81	R 6.10	R-73.37	R-822.06	61.392
19	0.0	-40.828	11.412	-52.240	R 30.62	R-58.51	R-27.89	R 7.01	R-51.50	R-849.95	40.828
20	0.0	-28.687	10.575	-39.262	R 28.38	R-43.97	R-15.60	R 5.72	R-38.25	R-865.55	28.687
21	0.0	-56.528	11.956	-68.484	R 32.08	R-76.70	R-44.62	R 7.15	R-69.55	R-910.17	56.528
22	0.0	-57.718	13.119	-70.837	R 35.20	R-79.34	R-44.14	R 7.42	R-71.91	R-954.30	57.718
23	0.0	-49.097	12.167	-61.264	R 32.65	R-68.62	R-35.97	R 7.29	R-61.33	R-990.27	49.097
24	0.0	-59.438	11.074	-70.512	R 29.71	R-78.97	R-49.26	R 6.70	R-72.28	R-1,039.53	59.438
25	0.0	-53.152	13.152	-66.304	R 35.29	R-74.26	R-38.97	R 8.18	R-66.08	R-1,078.50	53.152
26	0.0	-44.982	12.731	-57.713	R 34.16	R-64.64	R-30.48	R 8.09	R-56.55	R-1,108.98	44.982
27	0.0	-49.190	10.531	-59.721	R 28.26	R-66.89	R-38.63	R 6.24	R-60.65	R-1,147.61	49.190
28	0.0	-36.776	12.676	-49.452	R 34.01	R-55.39	R-21.37	R 7.37	R-48.01	R-1,168.98	36.776
29	0.0	-50.342	11.521	-61.863	R 30.91	R-69.29	R-38.37	R 7.61	R-61.68	R-1,207.35	50.342
30	0.0	-53.269	11.199	-64.468	R 30.05	R-72.20	R-42.15	R 6.84	R-65.36	R-1,249.51	53.269
31	0.0	-51.065	14.025	-65.090	R 37.63	R-72.90	R-35.27	R 10.14	R-62.76	R-1,242.62	51.065
	0.000	-1,624.836	342.252	-1,967.088	R 918.36	R-2,203.14	R-1,284.77	R 204.30	R-1,998.83
	0.000	-3,591.924	-1,967.088	-1,624.836	R 204.30	R-71.07	R-1,819.82	R 204.30	R 1,711.37

 

 

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by NoJ

The Time Tariff Rval column is what the council pays "Eskom"   Ttf N Val column is what the council gains from selling solar and not coal.

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by NoJ

The only objective is to show people solar pays for itself and you add more panels  then your account drops drastically:

My account was way more than R7000 per month.  I did not show all the data as the savings is actually way more

This is a summary of my COCT account for Jan:

	R-1,711.37
	R-491.77
Export	R-2,203.14
Import	R 918.36
Connection Fee	R 219.21
Data	R 4.92
Tax	R 2,092.71
Rubish	R 158.30
	R 1,190.37

This is what the daily feedback to the COCT looks like:

The 550W is from Lee Roy Marlin in Oct they shipped it from Jhb
The 420W is from olirosssolar  and sorry the cost was actually R1350 per panel.   https://olirosssolar.co.za/

What a super panel this is.

 

12 minutes ago, NoJ said:

The only objective is to show people solar pays for itself and you add more panels  then your account drops drastically:

That goes without saying, but not everyone has huge amounts of space to put down many solar panels...

Also, last I read, I understood CoCT to say that they would not allow you to put more power into their grid than what you were using, thus getting payouts from them, like you seem to be getting was a no-no and it seems to be a bit more problematic getting connected for feedback to them, by now as well, it seems.

How about some photos of your setup, specifically the solar panel side, I'm guessing you're on a small holding or at least on an acre plot... here in the Green Kalahari we are on probably 2 acres and the solar panels here (17 X 280W) are ground mounted and we are off the grid, daily production could be up to 35kWh from the panels, but you wold have to consume this as well, only one 5kWh inverter here, though...

The mayor in Cape Town actually announced that they will pay back cash.  You can trust them on this.

Thus far I truly think the COCT is doing their best so we all can benefit from it.  There been some "changes in their reasoning" if I may and that is beneficial for all of us. They had a gr8 change of heart if you wish and it is working extremely well. I think like all new stuff they had some issues to sort but currently I can only complement them on their calculations and they way they attend to problems. They are doing absolutely great.

I stand to correction but I believe all future inverters mus be a proper hybrid system and not as commonly known in SA.  The COCT I believe is in the process or its already the case that inverters must be grid tied and supply the "house" from solar.

It will be very wise for the COCT to force all solar installations by law to be grid tied and stand alone and not the once that's hybrid and not grid tied.

I do not have a smart setup so if you will forgive me.  I do not have expensive stuff.  It is the minimal requirements to comply to the law.  This is a photo of a 12V  3.6KW Lipo battery with 10 000 cycles.

The total cost is about R6900 and it works extremely well.

 

So if you would spare me the embarrassment.

1 hour ago, Kalahari Meerkat said:

That does not sound right, for 10 X 420W aka 4k2W + 5 X 550W aka 2k75W, I'd think daily production may be more like 45kW, at best, 115kW sounds really high, unless those other mix of panels add up to another 10kW or so, but then all of this on a city sized plot? You'd have to have 45 panels or so, needing lots of space, I'd imagine...

Yes it seems some items are not counted. Even 5x5kW plus a 3kW cannot provide 115kwh per day. 

8 minutes ago, NoJ said:

This is a photo of a 12V  3.6KW Lipo battery with 10 000 cycles.

Hmmm... no BMS, I see and not compressing your cells... no 10 000cycles for that one, I suspect... didn't want photos of your inverters, just all the panels to see how clear they are and how *large* a property you have, since your setup would not likely fit onto most Cape Town city lots, I suspect...

3 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Yes it seems some items are not counted. Even 5x5kW plus a 3kW cannot provide 115kwh per day. 

Its not about the accuracy of the system  its about the savings. 

I have 44 panels on my roof.  Yes on my roof not on a small holding on the roof of my house.  the capability is more that 130KW per day..

This is not about my systems its about the savings the system generates with grid tie

37 minutes ago, NoJ said:

Its not about the accuracy of the system  its about the savings. 

I have 44 panels on my roof.  Yes on my roof not on a small holding on the roof of my house.  the capability is more that 130KW per day..

This is not about my systems its about the savings the system generates with grid tie

Oh dear me.

 

The post was not about my system but about the impact of grid tied and how the COCT put things together so we all can benefit.  But lets talk about BMS.

The BMS I use does the following:
 

1. Active balancer.  This means that each 12V sub system has its own controller board with a 5 or 10 amp current supply.  When a cell has a serious issue it will disconnect the batteries and attend to the cell thus the cell will be charged using 5amps and then 16 steps down to .3amps till at the same voltage.  The boards communicate with each other meaning that 4 cells get balanced and 4 cells gets attended too.  When done the batt is switched back. During normal operations the cell that has a lower voltage will get charged and topped up to the same voltage of the other cells without switching of the system.
2. It monitor the temp between 2 cells and if to high or low it will cut off the battery.
3. It monitors the charging and discharging current plus rates of each cell
4. It monitors the ambient C and if outside the manufacturers spec it will protect the battery.
5. Batt gets disconnect on HighV and Low V

Its all about the life of the battery.  One step more the battery is assembled so that it is under pressure 24/7. This photo was taken during assembly not the final product.

Not sure if you are aware of such system

Thus at 80% of the operational specs this battery should last more than 20 years.

It has a guarantee of 10 years provided data is supplied.

Its not about my system and the looks of it.  Its all about the impact of a proper grid tie system  the savings and the way the City Of Cape Town provides the means to get our municipal account at paid by the sun!!!

 

Not a look at me I am fancy but a look at the savings through grid tie

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by NoJ

52 minutes ago, NoJ said:

Oh dear me.

 

The post was not about my system but about the impact of grid tied and how the COCT put things together so we all can benefit.  But lets talk about BMS.

The BMS I use does the following:
 

1. Active balancer.  This means that each 12V sub system has its own controller board with a 5 or 10 amp current supply.  When a cell has a serious issue it will disconnect the batteries and attend to the cell thus the cell will be charged using 5amps and then 16 steps down to .3amps till at the same voltage.  The boards communicate with each other meaning that 4 cells get balanced and 4 cells gets attended too.  When done the batt is switched back. In normally operational matters the cell that has a lower in voltage will get charged and topped up to the same voltage
2. It monitor the temp between 2 cells and if to high it will cut out the battery.
3. It monitors the charging and discharging current plus rates
4. It monitors the ambient C and if outside the manufacturers spec it will protect the battery.
5. Batt gets disconnect on HighV and Low V

Its all about the life of the battery.  One step more the battery is assembled so that it is under pressure 24/7.

 

Not sure if you are aware of such system

Thus at 80% of the operational specs this battery should last more than 20 years.

It has a guarantee of 10 years provided data is supplied.

Its not about my system and the looks of it.  Its all about the impact of a proper grid tie system  the savings and the way the City Of Cape Town provides the means to get our municipal account at paid by the sun!!!

 

Not a look at me I am fancy but a look at the savings through grid tie

Thanks for sharing your system that does not fit in with most back up systems. 

I have also been running with grid tied Solis inverters. My back up is very small and caters for my low power draw during LS. 

Enough battery power to run even my heat pump if I need to. 

My be you are on the money why CoCT only want to approve full hybrids so that all loads can be fed from PV during the day time and not only those on the essential side as with the non grid tied or full hybrids. 

 

I get confused when we start chucking around terms like "grid tied". Everybody seems to have a different idea of what this means. Now we also start talking about "full hybrids".

I know what I think of when I see the term "grid tied", but it may be helpful to understand what is being referred to here. Clearly COCT mean a specific thing when they say "grid tied".

 

Very rough thumbsucks. Just trying to understand the scenario and plausibilise the situation. Not to be naar, just my cautious banggat nature. Open to corrections.

So we take 1 January where you had around 60kWh of self-consumption and 70kWh of export. That's 130kWh of total power, and it seems typical of some of the best days for generation. Less 10kWh of import, which we say was at night, so let's say 120kWh was generated throughout the day.

That's on a system consisitng of (5kW + 5kW + 3kW) 13kW of inverter power at the height of summer, very near within 2 wks of the summer solstice where you could expect 7-7.5 hrs of effective sunlight hours.

Connected panels are in total 44, of which 5x540W, 10x420W, so I gather the rest will should be 29x330W panels. Equals a total of 12.7kW of connected panels. If we're generous, this system could generate just under 100kWh of power per day on 1 Jan. If it should be that you've over-panelled the inverters by 20%, say with 15-16kW or so of panels, you'd be generating more earlier and later, clipping at mid-day, and I'd think your 115kWh of units per day could be nearly plausible, but 130kWh is a stretch.

Be that as it may, what's the point here? Well, it's a lot of panels for a grid-tied system for home. In the past there were discussions of grid-tie being limited to no more than 25% of notified maximum demand, ie. approx 4.6kW on a typical home supply of 60A, with say a 13.8kW peak. I don't know whether it's strictly a law, or whether CoCT is  bothering to apply that limit when it comes to getting more generation on-board. Certainly a typical and common/popular 8kW hybrid inverter is capable of exporting in excess of that 4.6kW limit, but not over 13.8kW, and in it has the benefit of a battery bank behind it that could be charged, and a CT coil that could limit export. 

Or do you have a higher 80A breaker, or a 3-phase supply to your home? You haven't mentioned anything so far about the capability of the wiring in your house to carry the solar export, but yet you are planning on adding more to make more money. No mention either of who did the installation and at what cost, and if they gave the CoC. Already today I'd be wondering what happens when your loads take a dip (away on holiday, or circuits trip), and there are some cloud-edge spikes mid-day. Will you be tripping the mains more frequently? Is there an increased fire risk? When is it enough? When is it too much? 

 

 

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by GreenFields
Figures updated

1 hour ago, Bobster. said:

I get confused when we start chucking around terms like "grid tied". Everybody seems to have a different idea of what this means. Now we also start talking about "full hybrids".

I know what I think of when I see the term "grid tied", but it may be helpful to understand what is being referred to here. Clearly COCT mean a specific thing when they say "grid tied".

 

I talk of grid tied = string for some. Not connected to a DB only but what feeds the whole DB. Since the Sunsynk hit our shores it is mostly referred to as non essential. These inverters like a Synsynk/Deye/Solis RHI/S6/Luxpower are full hybrids. 

For some time hybrids were classified as an inverter with PV controller and AC charger included with the inverter like the off grid units. Full hybrids adds the ability to export into the grid. Luxpower call their hybrid as the mode where power can be exported. When no export is active they refer to off grid. 

From Google(wiki) :

A grid-tie inverter converts direct current (DC) into an alternating current (AC) suitable for injecting into an electrical power grid, at the same voltage and frequency of that power grid. Grid-tie inverters are used between local electrical power generators: solar panel, wind turbine, hydro-electric, and the grid. ^[1]

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by Scorp007

1 hour ago, GreenFields said:

Very rough thumbsucks. Just trying to understand the scenario and plausibilise the situation. Not to be naar, just my cautious banggat nature. Open to corrections.

So we take 1 January where you had around 60kWh of self-consumption and 70kWh of export. That's 130kWh of total power, and it seems typical of some of the best days for generation. Less 10kWh of import, which we say was at night, so let's say 120kWh was generated throughout the day.

That's on a system consisitng of (5kW + 5kW + 3kW) 13kW of inverter power at the height of summer, very near within 2 wks of the summer solstice where you could expect 7-7.5 hrs of effective sunlight hours.

Connected panels are in total 44, of which 5x540W, 10x420W, so I gather the rest will should be 29x330W panels. Equals a total of 12.7kW of connected panels. If we're generous, this system could generate just under 100kWh of power per day on 1 Jan. If it should be that you've over-panelled the inverters by 20%, say with 15-16kW or so of panels, you'd be generating more earlier and later, clipping at mid-day, and I'd think your 115kWh of units per day could be nearly plausible, but 130kWh is a stretch.

Be that as it may, what's the point here? Well, it's a lot of panels for a grid-tied system for home. In the past there were discussions of grid-tie being limited to no more than 25% of notified maximum demand, ie. approx 4.6kW on a typical home supply of 60A, with say a 13.8kW peak. I don't know whether it's strictly a law, or whether CoCT is  bothering to apply that limit when it comes to getting more generation on-board. Certainly a typical and common/popular 8kW hybrid inverter is capable of exporting in excess of that 4.6kW limit, but not over 13.8kW, and in it has the benefit of a battery bank behind it that could be charged, and a CT coil that could limit export. 

Or do you have a higher 80A breaker, or a 3-phase supply to your home? You haven't mentioned anything so far about the capability of the wiring in your house to carry the solar export, but yet you are planning on adding more to make more money. No mention either of who did the installation and at what cost, and if they gave the CoC. Already today I'd be wondering what happens when your loads take a dip (away on holiday, or circuits trip), and there are some cloud-edge spikes mid-day. Will you be tripping the mains more frequently? Is there an increased fire risk? When is it enough? When is it too much? 

 

 

Nope,

Lets take 1 Jan

The home use is not currently working as I have removed my 3 phase multi direction meter. Its a 3 phase 3 direction meter that is multi function device and ....

Thus it measures home usage, import per phase power in per phase from inverters and exports per phase.  Not the average device.

So I do not have exact figures on that.  My rough usage per day with solar is +/- 16KWH without solar I use more than 45KWHR

So ignore that column please. I am just lazy to reconnect the "meter" and get the data into the records.

(5k2W + 5k2W + 3k5W+2k5W) = >15Kw.

The panels are so stacked that 3 inverters runs at 100% and max out early.  Thus I have more than 5Kw for the 5 KW more than 3KW ...  solar panels and I have some lying on my roof not even connected. They are for the "new" 7KW inverter.  I dump solar when the sun is at max so that I loose less in the winter. Too many KW from the panels for the existing system.

X panels are 330 & 405, some 420 and others 550W. I think in fact I don't know exactly the ratings of the panels. I can assure you they work.

The inverters has dual separate in puts.  That's a huge plus

So as I stated its not about my system its about the way the COCT structure the grid tie so we can benefit from it. 

No matter how anybody argues its about the account from the COCT and the savings and that is accurate.  My savings are more than R6K per month.  In fact my total saving on solar will create a stir if I pen it.

So the point is.:

• If you have a solar system that is not grid tied get rid of the dumb inverter and get a grid tie combination
• They are not expensive that is if you do not get tricked.
• The cost of the meter gets paid by the feedback into the grid
• The more panels etc you add the greater the return
• The more there are of these installations the greater the impact on load shedding where the dumb systems is actually not helping with the black outs we get.

Sorry I did not realized I had to be this detailed to be sensible I am an extremely lazy writer/communicator.

The most important fact is that council will refund you for your solar expenses and it will continue to grow. It will not only be an expense but an income as well.

This is something people should be made aware of.  I have seen a 6KW multi purpose inverters for +/-R13K. It does the following:

• Supply the house with electricity from solar panels only
• Can connect a generator
• Can connect Eskom and when no sun it switches to Eskom
• It is grid tied thus excess is feedback into the grid and one get refunded
• It works of batteries only.
• Both solar and Eskom can charge the batteries.

Thus for a littler extra you can still have no load shedding, solar and Eskom connection plus money back.

This is my point I am trying to make and it is backed with documentation from the COCT.

IT IS WORTH IT.

So forget about my system I am not interested to be technically accurate or impress people but rather show them with documentation from an COCT account it pays and nope matter the cost of the meter it is worth it.

So in short enough is when you have an municipal account that pays you and not them.

I have 100A 3phase supply to my house   😉 . The meter can make use of CT's so I can add a lot more and its now a sponsored product.

 

IT IS WORTH IT.

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 20242 yr by NoJ

1 hour ago, GreenFields said:

Very rough thumbsucks. Just trying to understand the scenario and plausibilise the situation. Not to be naar, just my cautious banggat nature. Open to corrections.

So we take 1 January where you had around 60kWh of self-consumption and 70kWh of export. That's 130kWh of total power, and it seems typical of some of the best days for generation. Less 10kWh of import, which we say was at night, so let's say 120kWh was generated throughout the day.

That's on a system consisitng of (5kW + 5kW + 3kW) 13kW of inverter power at the height of summer, very near within 2 wks of the summer solstice where you could expect 7-7.5 hrs of effective sunlight hours.

Connected panels are in total 44, of which 5x540W, 10x420W, so I gather the rest will should be 29x330W panels. Equals a total of 12.7kW of connected panels. If we're generous, this system could generate just under 100kWh of power per day on 1 Jan. If it should be that you've over-panelled the inverters by 20%, say with 15-16kW or so of panels, you'd be generating more earlier and later, clipping at mid-day, and I'd think your 115kWh of units per day could be nearly plausible, but 130kWh is a stretch.

Be that as it may, what's the point here? Well, it's a lot of panels for a grid-tied system for home. In the past there were discussions of grid-tie being limited to no more than 25% of notified maximum demand, ie. approx 4.6kW on a typical home supply of 60A, with say a 13.8kW peak. I don't know whether it's strictly a law, or whether CoCT is  bothering to apply that limit when it comes to getting more generation on-board. Certainly a typical and common/popular 8kW hybrid inverter is capable of exporting in excess of that 4.6kW limit, but not over 13.8kW, and in it has the benefit of a battery bank behind it that could be charged, and a CT coil that could limit export. 

Or do you have a higher 80A breaker, or a 3-phase supply to your home? You haven't mentioned anything so far about the capability of the wiring in your house to carry the solar export, but yet you are planning on adding more to make more money. No mention either of who did the installation and at what cost, and if they gave the CoC. Already today I'd be wondering what happens when your loads take a dip (away on holiday, or circuits trip), and there are some cloud-edge spikes mid-day. Will you be tripping the mains more frequently? Is there an increased fire risk? When is it enough? When is it too much? 

 

 

Great contribution. Now a twist in the tail from systems that are common. What about storing power in batteries and then discharging it at night via the grid tied inverter. It does not increase the daily export ability but excess PV during the day can be stored and exported at night. 

On a Sunsynk this can be as known via the Aux port. Yes most but not all systems a battery cannot be connected to a MPPT but it is easy to do it via a controller. Again the Sunsynk can be limited so no controller needed. This is ideal when TOU metering is used. 

16 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

I talk of grid tied = string for some. Not connected to a DB only but what feeds the whole DB. Since the Sunsynk hit our shores it is mostly referred to as non essential. These inverters like a Synsynk/Deye/Solis RHI/S6/Luxpower are full hybrids. 

Some googling (and some searching on this forum) leads me to conclude that what COCT really mean is "grid connected". But that doesn't seem right, as what I call "grid-tied" is connected to the grid (though on the customer's side, so maybe not) but can't send anything back. I am not the first person to wonder what excatly the City want, and why they use the term "grid-tied". 

They changed their rules last year. See https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/718812/big-changes-for-inverters-and-solar-in-cape-town-next-month though there is no word of that being changed retrospectively so that you may already have registered but now find yourself illegal.

5 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Great contribution. Now a twist in the tail from systems that are common. What about storing power in batteries and then discharging it at night via the grid tied inverter. It does not increase the daily export ability but excess PV during the day can be stored and exported at night. 

 

There is no benefit in it as the cost at this moment is fixed @ R0.87 + R0.25.  If the talks actually becomes implemented and there is time of use then one can look at that because one should then get more @ peak hour than normal hours.

For now the batteries at night is a saving as my usage for my electricity is when its dark and @ about 11Kw average per day I would rather expand my panels and inverters.

It better cost that way as batteries costs are high compared to panels and inverters.  But when time of use is applied then I think it will be worth it.