Coming Soon to NJ - 12.35 kW Hanwha DUO-G5 + SolarEdge Inverter/Optimizers by GPE

[NJturtlePower]

Lately on and off the SolarEdge app and the web interface have been very slow to connect. SE is probably having some issues on their end.

Just barely over a month into Fall and production has been steadily dropping. Peak power rarely reach 9kw on my system now, and on those couple of rare cloudless days it generated 46kWh, quite a substantial drop from 76kWh I've seen back in August. I wonder what production looks like in the winter..

Haven't checked in in a while. Have you decided on when to have the anniversary reset with JCP&L? Most everyone including GPE say March is ideal and I'll likely go with it, but wanted to monitor it for a few months and see how it goes. As of yesterday, per the JCP&L meter, I have ~480kWh banked.

BTW, a member posted that an owner's version of SetApp is coming. I will try to find info on it whenever I remember to.
https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...725#post405725

I've noticed the slow login to the SE portal as well....

As far as production, I've seen a more gradual drop in my less than 2-month run, but it's interesting when sometimes you get a high spike on a day that you would assume was lower.

On 10/18 my system hit its peak of 11.4 kW on an otherwise lower production day of 29.7 kWh. My high daily production in October was 56.7 kWh on 10/5 down from my Sept. high of 63.2 kWh on 9/19.

I just had my follow-up meeting with Matt from GPE last Monday, and he explained the whole solar year anniversary deal...I'll likely go with their recommendation of Feb/March as well, but have a few months still to put in the request. It also won't matter much for this first partial year anyways since we got a late start on banking.

In better news my system just made it's second SREC in just under fall two months! I'm actually still waiting on my final registration letter from the state, but i'll likely get into the habit of selling them quarterly and reporting production about monthly. Looks like you'll hit #4 in the next day or two

[J.P.M.]

As far as production, I've seen a more gradual drop in my less than 2-month run, but it's interesting when sometimes you get a high spike on a day that you would assume was lower.

On 10/18 my system hit its peak of 11.4 kW on an otherwise lower production day of 29.7 kWh. My high daily production in October was 56.7 kWh on 10/5 down from my Sept. high of 63.2 kWh on 9/19.

While you may have some burn in losses, even with a lot of instrumentation, it's not possible to spot any long trends over 2 months.

Most output spikes/transients occur at non clear times when clouds are present. Most spikes in output occur on partly cloudy days. Also, that 11.4 kW might just be where system clipping occurs.

For daylong production totals, besides probably having more P.O.A. irradiance on the array Sept. 19 vs. Oct. 5 due to solar geometry that gives longer days as well as more favorable solar incidence angles, there's also the effects separate effects of possibly/likely having a less clear atmosphere on 10/5.
Also, the array may well have been operating at a cooler temp. on the Sept. day due to the weather, including amb. air temp. and wind effects that make for lower array temps which will increase system efficiency.
Also, unless you've cleaned the array between the two dates, array performance was probably impaired by maybe a couple of % due to fouling incurred from 09/19 to 10/05.

Without some instrumentation (including a pyranometer), record keeping and a bit of calculation, unless there's something like a quantum change in output, it's not possible to get anything more than anecdotal information about array performance, especially over a short time interval such as 2 months.

You may have some system anomalies and some startup/assembly issues that may be causing problems with system output, but until you become more aware of all the inputs that affect system output, I'd look elsewhere for causes of output variation before I called the vendor.

[macaddict]

This is what I used to calculate my anniversary month: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Nt...if1wJD1WFeOz44

[NJturtlePower]

While you may have some burn in losses, even with a lot of instrumentation, it's not possible to spot any long trends over 2 months.

Most output spikes/transients occur at non clear times when clouds are present. Most spikes in output occur on partly cloudy days. Also, that 11.4 kW might just be where system clipping occurs.

For daylong production totals, besides probably having more P.O.A. irradiance on the array Sept. 19 vs. Oct. 5 due to solar geometry that gives longer days as well as more favorable solar incidence angles, there's also the effects separate effects of possibly/likely having a less clear atmosphere on 10/5.
Also, the array may well have been operating at a cooler temp. on the Sept. day due to the weather, including amb. air temp. and wind effects that make for lower array temps which will increase system efficiency.
Also, unless you've cleaned the array between the two dates, array performance was probably impaired by maybe a couple of % due to fouling incurred from 09/19 to 10/05.

Without some instrumentation (including a pyranometer), record keeping and a bit of calculation, unless there's something like a quantum change in output, it's not possible to get anything more than anecdotal information about array performance, especially over a short time interval such as 2 months.

You may have some system anomalies and some startup/assembly issues that may be causing problems with system output, but until you become more aware of all the inputs that affect system output, I'd look elsewhere for causes of output variation before I called the vendor.

Interesting and detailed response for sure, but way more involved than needed. Appreciate your time and effort though!

I wasn't trying to identify any real patterns or imply there was any issues with my system...just replying to sunpowereddev, a local and nearly as recent GPE install about some random recent data. I realize there is no real weather trends in only 58-days of data. I'm happy it's working as designed, the sun is up and shining again today and the credits are being banked, all is good in the solar world!

[J.P.M.]

I'm not sure I understand. In my case, the reporting outage was an entire production day, where both solaredge and PVwatts reported nothing to the point that PVwatts triggered the "no production for x hours" alert I set up. Good to know that works, incidentally. After I got home from work that day, I reset the inverter. When it came back up the blue light was back and the day's missong production appeared on PVwatts at some point overnight

Well, I guess I was a bit confused as well and ignorant of how an inverter can backfill production to PVWatts. You sure you're PVWatts reference is correct ?

I assumed (probably incorrectly ?) that you were somehow putting or getting inverter output to a spreadsheet and somehow comparing that output to some PVWatts' output. If so, a common error for that type of operation happens when the necessary D.S.T. adjustment is not done and the hourly timestep is off by one hour when D.S.T. is in effect, making any hourly comparisons of system output to PVWatts modeled hourly output, which are already meaningless with respect to system performance, more meaningless yet.

Take it FWIW. Perhaps others reading this thread may find it useful with respect to the D.S.T. adjustment.

[ButchDeal]

Well, I guess I was a bit confused as well and ignorant of how an inverter can backfill production to PVWatts. You sure you're PVWatts reference is correct ?

I assumed (probably incorrectly ?) that you were somehow putting or getting inverter output to a spreadsheet and somehow comparing that output to some PVWatts' output. If so, a common error for that type of operation happens when the necessary D.S.T. adjustment is not done and the hourly timestep is off by one hour when D.S.T. is in effect, making any hourly comparisons of system output to PVWatts modeled hourly output, which are already meaningless with respect to system performance, more meaningless yet.

Take it FWIW. Perhaps others reading this thread may find it useful with respect to the D.S.T. adjustment.

I think he meant pvoutput.org not pvwatts.

[jordgubbe]

Right, sorry, I meant pvoutput, not PVwatts. Your confusion was understandable and well deserved, haha. Thanks for the detailed explanation anyway!

[J.P.M.]

Right, sorry, I meant pvoutput, not PVwatts. Your confusion was understandable and well deserved, haha. Thanks for the detailed explanation anyway!

As long as correct information is the result, all's well. What I wrote may be of some use to others.

[J.P.M.]

I think he meant pvoutput.org not pvwatts.

Yea, that's what the 2d sentence of my post was about .

[jordgubbe]

Thanks for the info.....

Kinda amusing in a way you're dealing with an SREC meter replacement since that was GPE's argument about ONLY using the RGM inverter option...they said they never fail unlike the inverters.... proved them wrong!

Interestingly, I got an email from GPE this morning announcing a recall of Vision brand rec meters installed this summer. Ours was already replaced a couple of months ago and no problems since, but I wonder how many other people have had problems with them.

[NJturtlePower]

Interestingly, I got an email from GPE this morning announcing a recall of Vision brand rec meters installed this summer. Ours was already replaced a couple of months ago and no problems since, but I wonder how many other people have had problems with them.

Yup same here. Mine was DOA on the install date and was replaced on the township inspection day...so far so good.

[DJRNJ05]

Hi NJTurtlePower. New member here who also chose GPE. Saw many positive GPE reviews on Energy Sage and read through many posts in this thread. I felt really good going with GPE. I had my site survey first thing AM on 11/8 and have heard nothing since. I've sent a few emails as suggested by my sales guy and had no response.

Thank you so much for sharing the timeline in post #213. Could you elaborate a little more of what happened between site survey and design approval? Did they contact you at all between 4/16 and 4/24?

[NJturtlePower]

Hi NJTurtlePower. New member here who also chose GPE. Saw many positive GPE reviews on Energy Sage and read through many posts in this thread. I felt really good going with GPE. I had my site survey first thing AM on 11/8 and have heard nothing since. I've sent a few emails as suggested by my sales guy and had no response.

Thank you so much for sharing the timeline in post #213. Could you elaborate a little more of what happened between site survey and design approval? Did they contact you at all between 4/16 and 4/24?

First off, congrats on your GPE solar journey!

I'm glad to hear my timeline was helpful, but my initial response right now would be to expect some significantly longer waiting periods.

I say this because first off this is crunch time to squeeze in every last install possible to quality for the full 30% federal credit. There seems to be some debate even among GPE of at what point a system qualifies. What did they tell you in regards to this?

Second reason to expect additional dead time is the upcoming holiday season. Even if not so much on GPE's end, much of the permitting and approvals is in the hands of State and local agencies which will for sure be affected.

Lastly, the combination of the volumes of pending installs and the two factors above PLUS weather delays this time of year. My advice would be to resort to old fashion phone calls to the GPE office for updates in times of no contact. Obviously bugging them every day doesn't speed anything up but at least they could tell you if your contact is out of the office, unavailable or otherwise just slammed with the year end chaos.

Good news is sometime early next spring you'll be banking some sweet solar rays, so hang in there!!!!

I'm closing in on 3 months of runtime and turning the corner on my third SREC with an $8 electric bill last month due to some poor weather. If you start your own thread feel free to tag me so I can follow along and add any input along the way.

[DJRNJ05]

Thanks! I'd expect to get the 26% credit from everything I read. I've heard from different installers that it's when major installation starts, but tax forms seem to indicate completion date for non-businesses. Also, I figure there is a good chance that I'll be in the SREC interim program - but I'd still like to try to get in the current program. I understand it's crunch time due to end of year and holidays (plus weather), but I don't understand ignoring my emails. Just a total lack of communication at this point - which concerns me. I don't even know who is in charge of my project to contact. That's why I wondered about your experience in that week long phase. I'll make a phone call on Monday. Thanks again for your input.

[sunpoweredev]

@NJturtlePower, how's your system been doing in December? My production fell off the cliff, even compared to November's 794kWh, and never mind the peak in August at 1.7MWh - three weeks into December and it generated a whopping 147kWh In August on a perfect day it made 76kWh IIRC in a single day. My problem here is even couple inches of snow will stick around for 4-5 days since I'm pretty high up, so much of this month my panels are covered. Even after the warm day we had yesterday, four of the panels are still covered in ice. Brushing the snow off is out of the question for me.

I might as well call JCP&L now and reset my anniversary to March. Should it be on March 1st or April 1st? I'm guessing March 1st.

For some reason I can't tag forum members any more, so I figure I'd ask you in your thread. Have a great holiday!