TL;DR: Solar rules. Get on it.
Background: Got my 8.1kw system installed a few months ago (very smooth process, only took a few weeks if you ignore the times where *I* was the holdup), with PTO in early December. I put on as big of a system as I could reasonably fit, with the goal of minimizing how much money I give to PG&E in the short term, and profiting in the long term.
My overall goal is to be able to average around 28kWh per day for the year, which "should" cover my usage completely other than NBCs. All of December had me getting at best around 18kWh per day, which had me a little worried. However, I knew that these numbers were about as bad as it'd get, with the short days, bad angles, and the neighbor's house cutting off my late afternoon production with the low winter sun.
Here was a typical December day for me:
As winter went on, I was less and less convinced that I should switch to a heat pump when I get my HVAC system replaced in the next couple of months, with how little power I was generating in the winter, and with the amount of heat that I thought the house was using to stay warm. Then I realized I had insight into that data, too, and almost all of our gas heating happens off-peak.
Hey, good news! Maybe a heat pump makes sense after all, but what about my system production?
Well, as the days get longer and as the angles of the sun begin to move towards what my system has been waiting for, the numbers and the curves are looking one hell of a lot better. I saw my first day over 30kWh by the last week of February, and now I find myself genuinely curious to see what the real peak of my system will be.
I'm also monitoring a wide variety of things for my system and house in general, and despite not having a powerwall or neurio, I'm able to monitor my grid power consumption with a rainforest eagle 200.
On February 23rd, I was almost perfectly at 50% net grid consumption since bringing the Eagle online:
Just three short weeks later, I'm down to 39% net grid consumption:
At this rate, things are looking really good and I'm thrilled with the system. I do wish I could add a powerwall or two, but right now with demand and prices so high, I'm not really enthusiastic about the cost vs benefit. I remain somewhat hopeful that the third-gen powerwall will come out once they're not as battery-constrained as they are right now, with higher capacity and/or lower costs to reflect improvements in technology (in terms of $/kWh, the powerwall is DRAMATICALLY more expensive than the cars!)
So… yeah. Kinda pointless post, but wanted to share.
Background: Got my 8.1kw system installed a few months ago (very smooth process, only took a few weeks if you ignore the times where *I* was the holdup), with PTO in early December. I put on as big of a system as I could reasonably fit, with the goal of minimizing how much money I give to PG&E in the short term, and profiting in the long term.
My overall goal is to be able to average around 28kWh per day for the year, which "should" cover my usage completely other than NBCs. All of December had me getting at best around 18kWh per day, which had me a little worried. However, I knew that these numbers were about as bad as it'd get, with the short days, bad angles, and the neighbor's house cutting off my late afternoon production with the low winter sun.
Here was a typical December day for me:
As winter went on, I was less and less convinced that I should switch to a heat pump when I get my HVAC system replaced in the next couple of months, with how little power I was generating in the winter, and with the amount of heat that I thought the house was using to stay warm. Then I realized I had insight into that data, too, and almost all of our gas heating happens off-peak.
Hey, good news! Maybe a heat pump makes sense after all, but what about my system production?
Well, as the days get longer and as the angles of the sun begin to move towards what my system has been waiting for, the numbers and the curves are looking one hell of a lot better. I saw my first day over 30kWh by the last week of February, and now I find myself genuinely curious to see what the real peak of my system will be.
I'm also monitoring a wide variety of things for my system and house in general, and despite not having a powerwall or neurio, I'm able to monitor my grid power consumption with a rainforest eagle 200.
On February 23rd, I was almost perfectly at 50% net grid consumption since bringing the Eagle online:
Just three short weeks later, I'm down to 39% net grid consumption:
At this rate, things are looking really good and I'm thrilled with the system. I do wish I could add a powerwall or two, but right now with demand and prices so high, I'm not really enthusiastic about the cost vs benefit. I remain somewhat hopeful that the third-gen powerwall will come out once they're not as battery-constrained as they are right now, with higher capacity and/or lower costs to reflect improvements in technology (in terms of $/kWh, the powerwall is DRAMATICALLY more expensive than the cars!)
So… yeah. Kinda pointless post, but wanted to share.
