16.03.16: Start of photovoltaic assembly

PS: I am already blown away by this thing.

The system started operating at 1:30 PM.

Cloudy sky, occasional sun: 5kW power was briefly available.

Now it’s cloudy again, 1.2 to 1.5 kW are available. The east string is still contributing something, I’m surprised.

That was easily enough for a dishwasher at first, right now the washing machine is running on electricity for free.

So far, the system has produced 5.3 kWh in this very short time.

All this doesn’t bring much, but it’s fun.

Short break from home office, I had to buy something to eat at the supermarket next door. In the store I realize: forgot the crutches. I was so stunned that I almost fell. The first time in 8 weeks without crutches, just like that, simply *forgot* and it worked.

07.04.15....the day is good.

Short break from home office, I had to buy something to eat at the supermarket next door. In the store I realized: forgot my crutches. I was so stunned that I almost fell over. The first time in 8 weeks without crutches, just like that, simply *forgot* and it worked.

07.04.15....the day is good.

I’m happy for you. You once mentioned elsewhere that you had a serious accident that changed your entire outlook on life (as can also be seen in post #30). I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.

what changed your entire attitude towards life (as can also be seen in post #30). I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Thank you very much.

No - fortunately, my entire attitude towards life has not changed; I am a positive, optimistic/realistic thinker, I always have been.

But you are right: I now get upset about even less than before.

Broke the wrong rib and 8 weeks of terror - it makes you reflect....

Best regards
and thanks again.

Thorsten

The photovoltaic system has - still without battery operation, without internet connection, and without monitoring - completed its first days of operation.

Yesterday the weather was quite good. The photovoltaic system generated 27 kWh. The thermal solar system, by the way, 9 kWh. The house thus produced about 36 kWh of energy yesterday, more or less environmentally friendly.

From 8:30 to about 19:00 - whenever I looked at the display - there was always > 2,500 watts. I couldn’t observe the peak at solar zenith yesterday at 13:33, as the first clouds moved in. The P_Max I saw was 4,500 watts, but as I said, I can’t constantly stand in front of the device.... The individual strings do deliver their power properly, only the theoretically maximum sum I have not yet been able to determine.

Due to a celebration, we worked with the power-hungry electric grill for two hours yesterday afternoon. That was the only time during the day that caused a grid consumption of a total of 1.3 kWh, since it was cloudy. Several dishwashers and washing machines ran during the day until evening without grid consumption.

Today the weather is bad again, 7/8 to 8/8 cloud cover. How could it be otherwise? Velbert in NRW, and I haven’t experienced two good weather days in a row there for ages. The system is limping along at 600 watts. This, however, largely covers the base load in the house (ventilation, refrigerators, freezer chest, coffee machine).

It’s fun.

Our system has an installation capacity of 6.675 kWp

2.94 kWp east roof
3.74 kWp west roof

After I just saw your electricity production from yesterday, your performance interested me.

Yesterday we also produced 27.4 kWh with 5.4 kWp -45° SW with 10° mounting. The difference is quite remarkable. But probably you have the significantly better prospects in winter.

Yes, the east-west orientation (we have it precisely at 38 degrees roof/cell tilt) has visible disadvantages in terms of yield compared to south or southwest.

Depending on the season, it is certainly 10% or more lower yield. Yesterday I also compared with a friend from AB who has a south-facing system with 6.6 kWp. Of course, he had more yield than us (I think he had 34 kWh).

Even at solar noon, the angles of incidence don’t fit anymore for us, the system can never deliver the installed maximum power. I would be happy if it can reach a total of 5,000 Watt Peak.

However, the system was not planned and built for maximum yield/feed-in. With a feed-in tariff of 12 ct/kWh, feed-in has become uninteresting anyway.

It was planned for as even yield as possible for self-consumption from early to late. My first assessment is that exactly this works. The decision to install more panels on the west side (14 west, 11 east) was clearly right.

As soon as the system delivers around 2.5 kW, you can also work well and save with larger consumers like washing machine/dishwasher. The base loads in the house run easily for free even in bad weather like now. And here small things add up, which then become a considerable amount over the month.

I am really looking forward to next week, when the missing part is supposed to arrive and be installed. Then the battery and monitoring can be put into operation, only then will I get more parameters to assess.

Best regards
Thorsten