-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Considering solar panels, looking for sizing/financing advice
- Thread starter willow_hiller
- Start date
Yeah, it's my only theory at the moment. The inverter was covered in a thick layer of dew, so maybe some of it condensed inside of the electronics as well. The only suggestion the technician offered was a tripped breaker, but the breakers inside weren't physically tripped, so I figure there must be something acting as a breaker inside of the inverter.
I wasn't sure if the pvwatts calc was accurate, so I just pulled it up for my zip, and calculated for my system. Here's what I have so far for full months.
Looks very close to the estimate, which is good news to me since I'm expecting a number around 26,000 kwh. Only thing I changed was system size, and cost per kwh. The angles of roof and all that I left at the defaults. My system is broken up into two sides of my roof, so peak generation occurs twice a day, not as ideal as it could be. But sometimes thats a good thing because of the mid day rain that would otherwise kill peak.
It's Panasonic panels.
Um, I would just like to point out that 2.5kWh is considerably less than 2493kWh. Perhaps you installed your solar panels upside down?
Last edited:
Nope. Dead again. Since I've got the screen, I was hoping to get it online and check to see if there was anything in the error logs, but it's not even responding to the same reset procedure as Friday... I do wonder if this is somehow related to water; been very rainy here recently. Even tried toweling off the water around the switches.
At least this isn't a bad week to go without solar, we're expected to have clouds and rain all week.
At least this isn't a bad week to go without solar, we're expected to have clouds and rain all week.
Well, that sucks. Even if they can figure something out to get it working or repair it, I would be looking to get a new inverter (assuming that is the problem) as I would have to think it is going to continue to be a problem once water has gotten in.
Any yeah, good week around here to have an issue - got my lowest daily total ever yesterday, and today will only be a bit better. I just hope they don't take months to replace the unit if they can't get it working again, but I suppose it is at least some of the less productive time overall with both weather and less daylight.
Quick refresher, 16 kwh system with 3 power walls in central md. BGE was just out to install our net meter and we will be inspected tomorrow.
I hadnt put much thought into the optimal configuration of my system until last night. Any thoughts? I am on a cheap plan already with BGE, but Time of Use might be cheaper?
I hadnt put much thought into the optimal configuration of my system until last night. Any thoughts? I am on a cheap plan already with BGE, but Time of Use might be cheaper?
I'm assuming BGE has an option to export your "green button" data like PEPCO. That would allow you to do some math to get an idea of what your hourly usage is to get an idea of how much TOU rates would cost. With PWs, you can adjust assumptions about how much you want to use them to shift loads - some folks will more aggressively use PWs to shift load, recognizing the risk that an outage in the evening could mean they have little backup, while others prefer to keep theirs closer to full to guard against outages. You will know best what your risk tolerance is and how common outages are for you. (Depending on how serious you are, you might also want to pull data from PVWatts to get a sense of how much you could actually shift at different times of year - on a sunny summer day, no doubt you can re-fill 3 PWs pretty quickly from a 16 kWh system, but it may not be the case in the winter.)
I don't know enough about BGE's offerings. PEPCO (which is also owned by Exelon) does not seem to have any open TOU rates - they have a pilot program (R-TOU-P) which is closed, and a time-metered rate (R-TM) which has been closed to new customers for 20 years. So I have been unable to choose TOU rates as an option.
Just as an aside @wjgjr how did you get the NABCEP certified installer contact information out of Tesla? I've mentioned it to every customer service agent whenever I call Tesla, and they always seem extremely baffled by the question. On hold with a guy that's calling Beltsville directly now.
EDIT: I've also got good news and bad news about the future of Tesla solar service. The good news is they do seem to be working on automated alerts and scheduling. After my call with Tesla I got a text message saying "Our monitoring team has detected an issue with your system that requires service. Schedule service in your Tesla mobile app." and indeed when I go to the Service section of the app there's a new "Alert" section that allows me to schedule a time and date for service... The bad news is that when I click to schedule, the calendar shows up absolutely blank, so I can't schedule through the app. Either way, they told me to expect a call from the scheduling team.
EDIT EDIT: Screenshot of a nice email too. This will be very convenient when it works!
EDIT: I've also got good news and bad news about the future of Tesla solar service. The good news is they do seem to be working on automated alerts and scheduling. After my call with Tesla I got a text message saying "Our monitoring team has detected an issue with your system that requires service. Schedule service in your Tesla mobile app." and indeed when I go to the Service section of the app there's a new "Alert" section that allows me to schedule a time and date for service... The bad news is that when I click to schedule, the calendar shows up absolutely blank, so I can't schedule through the app. Either way, they told me to expect a call from the scheduling team.
EDIT EDIT: Screenshot of a nice email too. This will be very convenient when it works!
Last edited:
My project advisor (who, despite spells with no communication, was very competent when he was in communication) got it to me. It took a few rounds of email, however, because he was also baffled and first tried giving me various state licenses and names. I eventually wrote a polite but firm email making it clear what I needed and reminding him that Tesla advertised eligibility for this state credit as part of their marketing, so they better be in compliance and needed to provide the info. Took some internal digging, but I eventually got what I needed.
I'm not sure I should be providing the NABCEP number without Tesla approval, but if you have no luck, perhaps I could PM you that person's name so when you call Tesla you can at least say "I understand employee so-and-so is NABCEP-certified. Can you check with this person?" I am still unclear as to the involvement of the NABCEP installer on my project but I did not feel a need to inquire further.
That’s unfortunate. Obviously the inverters are rated to be installed outside and they are installed outside all the time, so rain and fog and water really shouldn’t affect them at all. But that’s not to say that there isn’t a defect in yours that is causing it to be affected by moisture. You could try pulling off the covers to see if it looks like any water has made it’s way into the housing. They are pretty easy to unscrew and remove, but obviously you would want to make sure that all the breakers and disconnects are turned off first.
Thanks, I just fired off an email to BGE. They have a time of use plan, but it doesnt tell me the cost per kw/h on peak/off peak and whether or not I would receive a higher credit for feeding back to the grid during peak periods.
Looks like they have ToU rates posted here: https://www.bge.com/MyAccount/MyBillUsage/Documents/Electric/Rdr_1.pdf
I find it interesting that there is not much variation between peak ($0.085) and off-peak ($0.066). (This is also not the full rate, but the additional amounts appear not to vary by time or choosing fixed vs TOU.) So, I looked up the schedule (https://www.bge.com/MyAccount/MyBillUsage/Documents/Electric/P3_SCH_RL.pdf) and they define their times as follows:
So, a really large peak, and a small difference between peak and non-peak means the savings are probably going to be small when fixed-rate service is listed as $0.073.
But this all seems to be academic as the above rate does not seem to be compatible with NEM. Note in the above link that the list of applicable riders does not include #18. As seen for standard residential service - https://www.bge.com/MyAccount/MyBillUsage/Documents/Electric/P3_SCH_R.pdf - rider #18 is net energy metering. This suggests that you cannot use their TOU rate with NEM, so you would likely only get a wholesale rate, which would almost certainly make it worse. BGE should be able to confirm this, however.
Yeah, just glancing over the rates and for the most part, the total price was only off by a couple cents per kWh. Here in Colorado, peak rates are more like 2.5x off-peak rates (~$0.20/kWh peak to ~$0.08/kWh off-peak). In California, the differences between peak and off-peak rates is even higher. Powerwalls and solar are definitely worth it here since 99.9% of our grid usage is at the off-peak rate and nearly 100% of our peak (and a high percentage of our part-peak) production goes back to the grid. We earn kWh credits for production at the same rate we would be charged.
That is more what I was expecting, and even their schedule RD (which is a pilot) has $0.273 peak vs. $0.078 off-peak (including distribution, as far as I can tell) and has smaller peak periods. And that rate is compatible with NEM, but - if it is like the PEPCO pilot - it is already ongoing and not accepting new customers at the moment.
Well hell. Repair was scheduled for tomorrow, but just got a text message rescheduling to December. I called customer service, and they said the one technician at the Beltsville location that does repairs has tested positive for COVID-19. It's not fun to be without production for another month, but I hope their tech gets well soon...
pdx_m3s
Active Member
At least its winter. A month of production loss in winter is probably like a couple weeks at most in the summer.
Very true, though I still feel like Tesla needs to be more responsive on these warranty issues. I do understand that covid is impacting businesses, but Tesla has had issues that have nothing to do with covid. That they only have one person in the area who does repairs is concerning, and part of the problem, whether the issue is a sickness, the person quitting, or just a surge in issues.
Thanks, just got permission to operate yesterday!
