Solar installed last week

[dimipiraat]

I’m new here. Got our solar installed last Tuesday. We have 8.88 kW of panels on our roof, an 8kW Sunsynk inverter and two 5.12 kWh Hubble AM-5 batteries. Everything is working great, just feel like we are not using enough power since the batteries are fully charged by 10AM and we aren’t using most of our Sun generated power after that. Anyway, looking forward to discussing how to tweak, improve, expand our setup. 

[Bobster.]

How much electricity do you usually use? Your bills will tell you that.

Looking at my home as an example, we usually use 13 to 14 kWh per day. I have about half the panel power you do. On a sunny day my system is usually charged by 11:30.

You could look at selling your excess BUT check the tariffs that apply where you live, and the accompanying regulations, very carefully.

I am supplied by City Of Johannesburg, and as I read the current tariffs that are in the public domain, I won't even break even on feeding back, so I don't. Also I'd have to work my system harder, which is not going to do anything positive for the life of the inverter.

I do wish I had more panels. On a sunny day, as I said, the system is charged by 11:30, sometimes 11:00. On overcast days it can take a lot longer, and if I had more panels I would recover more quickly on those days. 

So (we get to the conclusion eventually), live with this for a couple of of months. Watch how it behaves on overcast days. THEN decide if you want to feed back your excess. A sunny day is a poor test of a system. 2 or 3 overcast days in a row... now THAT is a test.

[Peter V]

9 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

How much electricity do you usually use? Your bills will tell you that.

Looking at my home as an example, we usually use 13 to 14 kWh per day. I have about half the panel power you do. On a sunny day my system is usually charged by 11:30.

You could look at selling your excess BUT check the tariffs that apply where you live, and the accompanying regulations, very carefully.

I am supplied by City Of Johannesburg, and as I read the current tariffs that are in the public domain, I won't even break even on feeding back, so I don't. Also I'd have to work my system harder, which is not going to do anything positive for the life of the inverter.

I do wish I had more panels. On a sunny day, as I said, the system is charged by 11:30, sometimes 11:00. On overcast days it can take a lot longer, and if I had more panels I would recover more quickly on those days. 

So (we get to the conclusion eventually), live with this for a couple of of months. Watch how it behaves on overcast days. THEN decide if you want to feed back your excess. A sunny day is a poor test of a system. 2 or 3 overcast days in a row... now THAT is a test.

Very similar setup capacity wise with similar consumption. Only time I use more is on very hot summer days when load shedding allows me to run a few aircon units (Aircons on non-essential circuits).

[JacoG]

Do you have your Geyser on the system? I run my geyser from 10:00 to 16:00.

[dimipiraat]

6 hours ago, JacoG said:

Do you have your Geyser on the system? I run my geyser from 10:00 to 16:00.

Yes, our geyser is on a timer from 11:00 till 13:00 so I could extend that.

I think I'll wait till after winter, see how the system holds up when there's less sun and then decide if I want to add load (maybe a Bitcoin miner) or extra batteries or both.

Thanks everyone for the replies!

[dimipiraat]

On 2024/03/17 at 8:48 AM, Bobster. said:

You could look at selling your excess BUT check the tariffs that apply where you live, and the accompanying regulations, very carefully.

I am supplied by City Of Johannesburg, and as I read the current tariffs that are in the public domain, I won't even break even on feeding back, so I don't. Also I'd have to work my system harder, which is not going to do anything positive for the life of the inverter.

It's a bit better here as the City of Cape Town pays an extra 25 cent per kW and the deduct from you municipal account and pay you back if you sell/supply more than your municipal account comes to. But the special meter you need apparently cost 12k so I don't think it would make sense as it would take a very long time to break even just on the cost of that meter.

https://contenthub.looksee.co.za/looksee/content-hub/articles/time-running-out-for-home-solar-tax-incentive

Maybe if the cost of the meter comes down or they allow cheaper ones then it could make sense to sell my surplus electricity.

[Bobster.]

15 hours ago, dimipiraat said:

It's a bit better here as the City of Cape Town pays an extra 25 cent per kW and the deduct from you municipal account and pay you back if you sell/supply more than your municipal account comes to. But the special meter you need apparently cost 12k so I don't think it would make sense as it would take a very long time to break even just on the cost of that meter.

https://contenthub.looksee.co.za/looksee/content-hub/articles/time-running-out-for-home-solar-tax-incentive

Maybe if the cost of the meter comes down or they allow cheaper ones then it could make sense to sell my surplus electricity.

They are evaluating a cheaper meter - but it looks like "cheaper" = 5K. The 25c extra per kWh incentive, and the waiver of the net consumer requirement are both time limited. It may be that the City will renew them, but it's also not guaranteed. So, again, understand the offering before taking the plunge.

I hate to bash COCT. They have certainly been the most proactive around feed-in tariffs, and they have the best offering, but the devil is in the details.