Update: August 2014

For those people following our blog, I thought that I would give you an update for the summer of 2014.  It continues to be a great solar year.  Enjoy..


UPDATE: AUGUST 2014

The array peaked at about 28% more than south facing panels and approximately 50% more than fixed east panels.  Fixed east panels continue to produce some power up to around 6 PM.  Maximum system peak was around 92 kW hours (one great day). The array adds about 4 kWhrs daily over the year.  That translates to around an extra $12,000 over 20 years so it appears to be a good idea.  Control is via a PLC which I continue to modify the code,  It is programmed for the different months of the year.  I have to still install the auto shutdown due to high winds.  We have the parts.  Wind was only a  problem about 2 days this summer.  I do love how we continue to grab the last rays of sunlight late into the evening and early in the morning.  Again it is all about the ROI and using high quality, Ontario made solar panels.



 2014 due to the cooler weather and more sun, we will expect to harvest 18-20 MW for the year.  All of our testing has basically been completed. 


Being retired, the net income from these panels pay for themselves and pay for our remaining house mortgage which is around $115,000.  So now we only have to pay for the taxes, utilities and up keep.  What a nice retirement planning package.  It also lowers A/C costs by 40% while protecting your roof from the heat and harmful UV radiation. We consider this a Win/Win situation.  

So, provided you can finance at low interest rates, have an good sun exposure with a large roof area facing south or south east, you will do fine. 

Check first with the Flexible Solar people. 

 I am still PO'd with the other guys who don't care about their customers and will basically lie to your face. Some are much worst than others.

If you follow my suggestions you will be fine. You can even use my engineering specification which Mike Holmes would agree is a good idea to specify the work to be done.  Pay when the product arrives on your site.  A small start-up payment is required first.  You can email me if you have any questions.


It is the best thing that we have done in years. Last month we were paid $860. plus HST.  Yes, some people made more than double this but those days are long gone.  Their investment was normally double that of ours.  We expect a December low of around $400.  This will depend on how bad the clouds are.  

An amazing thing happened this year, the system peaked in July and not in May.

Kirk is a retired Professional Engineer with experience in the Electrical Utility sector.  We have no connection with Heliene, Silfab or Flexible Solar.  We just believe that an informed consumer is the best consumer.  Your results may vary from ours. All monitoring results were obtained from SolarEdge panel monitoring reported data.

NOTE:  Life is Short - Try to Help your neighbours and people in need

Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.

More information:

If you are interested in installing a Microfit or Fit solar panel system, I strongly recommend giving Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solutions in Windsor, Ontario serving Southern Ontario.  They are the best and most honest microfit solar panel installers that I have had the pleasure of working with.  They will give you a straight analysis of your roof and what you can expect to earn.  Don't forget to tell them that Kirk sent you.  See my first post for more information on going Solar.

We expect to earn $6500-7500 per year depending on the weather for 20 years.  That should work out to us having an extra $100,000.00 income for our retirement over and above your system costs.  At that point we grid tie and earn the going rate of power which just might be very close to what we are currently being paid.

 Steve at Flexible Solar Serving Southern Ontario 519-962-9218

My Solar Panel System does not seem to be working very well. What should I do?

I heard a terrible story the other day.  An elderly woman in a wheel chair had a solar panel system installed on her roof in Windsor, Ontario.  She had been taken advantage of by both the Solar Panel installers and a high interest loan by the Tom, Dick and Harry screw you bank.  She is losing money, that is how badly these greedy people are.

IMHO there is a special place in Hell for theses people.

Consumer Alert Against Certified Solar Windsor (Click to see): 

One of the problems in the life is that we can never go back, we only can go forward.

Installing a microfit program in short is a business.  You get a certain rate for 20 years of electrical production.  It is up to YOU to maximize your return of your investment ROI.

If I have a bad or poor install I can get Flexible Solar to analyze my system and to make recommendations.

First and foremost, I want to borrow the money at the lowest possible rate.  Stay away from those 6 1/2% loans.  Instead go with a Home owners loan or line of credit.  Ours is at 3 1/2 %.

The first part of the problem is already done.  You have a contract for either 80.2 cents or 54.9 cents or like us 39.6 cents per kW hour.  Now lets maximize our production.

Most applications have some type of shading issues.  This is where Solar Edge really shines.  Remember, if you have string Inverters installed they are a weak link in your system.  A HUGE one with shading of any panel in the string.  Solution: Remove them and install optimizers and SolarEdge Inverters.  The good news here is that most String Inverters only last 10-12 years so replacing them early and taking out the extended warrentee with Solar Edge is not the huge penalty that you may think that it is.

Hopefully you didn't also get poorly producing panels like some locally produced products.  The great news is that panels today cost 1/4 or so of what they did 3-4 years ago.  If you have a very limited roof area then upgrading your panels to Heliene's 335 W mono panels might be a very good way to go.  Almost all early installs were 12 kW on the DC approved by the OPA.  Some installers actually put in great panels but the wrong inverter system.

You may also be able install some panels on the east or west roof.  East is the preferred roof over the west side.

Example:  One rich property owner in Windsor is reported to own 30 microfit applications at 80.2 cents per kW hour.  He removed all of his panels and inverters and went with 280 W mono panels and Solar Edge.  It is now reported that he earns $30,000 per month from all of the installs.  His refurbishing of his installs quickly paid for itself.  You of course will NOT do as well as the tariff rate is 1/2 of his now but you May see a big improvement in your bank account.

You have to do the math.  If your install is so poor (like on a North roof), you most likely will have a South roof to install panels on.

Kirk is a retired Professional Engineer with experience in the Electrical Utility sector.  We have no connection with Heliene, Silfab or Flexible Solar.  We just believe that an informed consumer is the best consumer.  Your results may vary from ours. All monitoring results were obtained from SolarEdge panel monitoring reported data.

NOTE:  Life is Short - Try to Help your neighbours and people in need

Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.

More information:

If you are interested in installing a Microfit or Fit solar panel system or upgrading your system, I strongly recommend giving Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solutions in Windsor, Ontario serving Southern Ontario.  They are the best and most honest microfit solar panel installers that I have had the pleasure of working with.  They will give you a straight analysis of your roof and what you can expect to earn.  Don't forget to tell them that Kirk sent you.  See my first post for more information on going Solar.

We expect to earn $6500-7500 per year depending on the weather for 20 years.  That should work out to us having an extra $100,000.00 income for our retirement over and above your system costs.  At that point we grid tie and earn the going rate of power which just might be very close to what we are currently being paid.

 Steve at Flexible Solar Serving Southern Ontario 519-962-9218

Does Installing Solar Panels on my Roof Help or Hurt our Roof?

Before installing anything on your roof, it must be assessed of capability to handle the load and the life left in your current roof.  Most truss roofs should be able to carry the load.  Some trusses may be borderline and may need an engineer's assessment.  Normally solar panels only add the equivalent weight of a layer of shingles.

If you current shingles are older than 7 year and look poor, they should be replaced with 40 year fibreglass shingles or long life roofing.  The load of the panel railing system must be supported by your roof's structural members, ie: your trusses or roof 2x4's or 2x6's.  Every point load is then screwed into each truss and the tie point sealed with roof caulking.  In our case, this tie in was verified by the installers, me and then the engineer.  The tie point was further protected by a SS flashing which has a rubber seal where the mounting bracket for the railing goes.  This gives a 3 point protection system which is never removed, even when you may have to replace your roof some 30-50 years later.

Our south facing roof is almost 100% covered with solar panels.  What destroys roofs are UV radiation, heat and high winds. You must also have good air circulation in your attic.  If the shingles are installed during warm weather, then they seal themselves from wind damage.  Basically, the solar panels form a protective roof over our asphalt shingles.

So now you have a roof over a roof.  Our roof is 95% shaded as best as possible.  The temperature of the roof on a hot summer day is the same as that in the shade.  Our Air conditioning load is thus greatly reduced.  Further shading comes from mature trees on the west side of our home.  Most days we may not even require AC

There is a 6 inch gap under the solar panels that will allow air to flow upwards cooling the roof further. Almost no snow accumulates on the roof.  It accumulates on the panels and we remove it so that we can generate energy.  The roof does get wet, but tar will repel water for a long time.

In addition, IMHO, the panel rails help to strengthen the structure by stiffening it.  All components are either stainless steel, aluminium or copper wiring.  These are all long life items.  The panel railing system will outlast our house.  The solar panels themselves can be replaced in 30-40 years if you are not happy with their output.  Their output may decrease 0.5% per year or 15% after 30 years.  Inverters may last 12-15 years and we recommend that you buy the extended warranty to make 20 years.  The new smart inverters do not get hot.  They lower the solar panel production output to maintain it below your nominal 10 kW rating.

Using SolarEdge with optimizers also lowers the voltage to 1 V DC at each panel when turned off.  Fire-fighters will like this feature.

Conclusion:

IMHO, solar panels help you to maintain a cool roof and greatly extend the life of your roof.  At the end of your 20 year contract, you grid tie and get pain 3-4 times what you use in your home.  This should pay for all of your energy needs (electrical and gas).  Electrically heated homes are not included here. You also save on your AC bill.  The panels must be installed properly by an experienced installer.

So, I only see a win/win situation where your return is 100% guaranteed.  Hydro-One put our monthly check directly into our account and we pay them for the power that we use like everyone else. Our last bill for our house electricity was reduced by 10% because of our green energy program.

Kirk is a retired Professional Engineer with experience in the Electrical Utility sector.  We have no connection with Heliene, Silfab or Flexible Solar.  We just believe that an informed consumer is the best consumer.  Your results may vary from ours. All monitoring results were obtained from SolarEdge panel monitoring reported data.

More information:

If you are interested in installing a Microfit or Fit solar panel system, I strongly recommend giving Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solutions in Windsor, Ontario serving Southern Ontario.  They are the best and most honest microfit solar panel installers that I have had the pleasure of working with.  They will give you a straight analysis of your roof and what you can expect to earn.  Don't forget to tell them that Kirk sent you.  See my first post for more information on going Solar.

We expect to earn $6500-7500 per year depending on the weather for 20 years.  That should work out to us having an extra $100,000.00 income for our retirement over and above your system costs.  At that point we grid tie and earn the going rate of power which just might be very close to what we are currently being paid.

 Steve at Flexible Solar Serving Southern Ontario 519-962-9218

Side by Side Mono-crystalline verse Poly-crystalline Solar Panel Comparision

Mono or Poly-crystalline?

UPDATE June 2015:  See my review of the next generation Polycrystalline solar panels.  Unless we see this type of improvement with mono panels, these panels are the way to go period.


This is always an interesting choice that people have to make.  I will discuss the pro's and con's of each type of solar panel for a location in Southern Ontario. I compare my installation - Poly-crystalline Panels with one 265 W Silfab MONO panel.  Individual results may vary.  We are just a microfit customer trying to help others in the Province to have the best and up to date information so that the consumer can make the best educated choice.  We have no allegiance with Heliene, Flexible Solar or anyone for that matter.

Introduction:

I have spoken about getting the highest ROI on your investment before in my opening blog (see Dec 2013). If you have a very limited roof area, then you may get a higher ROI and income by using higher capacity panels which are the mono type.  With no roof area limitation, then poly might be your best choice. Presently, poly-crystalline panels appear to be the best choice for me.  You will pay a high penalty for little benefit to get 10-20 Watt more per panel using mono panels.  I believe that in the past, there was a bigger difference between the two.

Simply put, both work.  Mono crystalline cells use more expensive refined silica.  Poly-crystalline panels use a lower cost silica and look a bit different than mono.

You can check on line what is a mono and what is a poly-crystalline solar panel and what is the physical differences.  It has been reported that Poly-crystalline panels work better in low light situations, off axis production and in hotter climates.  Though-out the winter months you will experience at least 30-40% over cast days with some intermittent sun light.  Panel orientation is not relevant when the day is over cast.  The clouds act as a big soft-box and spread the light every where evenly.  Our testing confirmed these assumptions.

Discussion:

Poly-crystalline panels are increasing in output as the years progress.  You can get 260 W poly's verse 280 W mono's.  Because Mono panels can cost 20-25% more than Poly, Poly will win on the best ROI.  That makes the cost of that small incremental difference of 10 or so watts very high. Panel orientation, south or the angle of the sun of your roof is of much more importance.  Unfortunately we can not change the angle of our roofs.

There is another consideration for mono.  You just might like the look of mono panels better.  You might also like the look of black panels better.  Black panel backing is a great thing to have in winter but gets hotter in summer.  Over all I stuck with the blue panels but it is a personal thing.  My wife likes the blue.

Getting a quality installation is extremely important as it will add  significant value to your property at re-sale due to the income generating ability of the panels.  The Flexible Solar people did a great looking job for us. They don't cut corners and use or offer the best materials for long life project.  Remember that solar panels perform poorly at higher temperatures.  They do great in the cold and not so great in the summer.

Comparison:

We removed one of our poly panels and installed a 265 W mono from Silfab.  We have a 9.9 kW system so we are under 10 kW rule.  So far I have learnt or confirmed this:

1. Low light and early morning light:  Winner goes to poly panels.  I have 250 W Poly panels making more than the mono who should be making the most as it is rated 6% higher by the manufacturer.

2.0 Overcast and over head:  Winner Goes to polycrystalline.

3.0  Bright sun both do well.  Mono does perform well under bright sunlight.  Problem is that this May -2014, we have had very few days with full sunlight.  Winner goes to polycrystalline.  You may see different results from different manufactures.  Perhaps some manufacture's MONO will do better.  Look at the STC and PTC ratings of the panel and the tolerance:  A +1-4% is much better than a +1%.  IMHO, all panels should have a +2-4% tolerance like our poly panels do.

Testing Conditions: - Almost equal to Standard Testing Conditions -STC

On the 19 May 2014 we had a very good solar day.  No visible clouds at solar noon. Temperature around 20 C with a small wind. reported 13 kph.  System would not peak showing that we have high level light scattering occurring.  The angle of the sun hitting the panel nearly a perfect 90 degrees.  Solar harvesting in AM 46 kW hr and 88 kW hr total for the day.  That is best for May to date.  Based on these very sunny conditions, all of my Poly-crystalline panels worked better than the mono when adjusted to equal rating.  We are comparing 250 W poly, 300 W poly and 265 W mono.

These testing conditions are similar to that of the STC or standard testing conditions.  We were lucky as our roof reaches perpendicular to the sun on the 22 May and we got these results on the 19 May.  These panels did not give STC results but rather PTC or PVUSA standard testing results.  STC is at 25 C so these conditions were even better at 20 C.

Several of my poly panels harvested the same as the 265 W mono with no adjustment based on there STC ratings.  All panels were performing closer to their PTC rating and not their STC rating.  Winner goes to polycrystalline hands down.   All of Heline's 72 cell polycrystalline 300 W panels exceeded the 265 W Mono by 5%.. Several of our 250 W CG poly panels equalled the Mono panel.  In addition, the mono panel had not yet had time to burn in.  The Mono panel did work well, but not as well as I expected because of its higher nameplate capacity.  Mono did show more harvesting over the week than my 250 W poly panels but IMHO it should have harvested more.  That could be due to the fact that my 250 W poly panels for the most part do better than the 250 W rating which is expected to decrease annually by 1/2%.

4.0 Comparison between Silfab's mono and our 60 cell CG panels and our 72 cell Heliene panels.  Panel monitoring is a bit addictive.  You must resist using the instantaneous number and wait for the Solar Edge monitoring system to fully report at the end of the day.  The 265 W mono Silfab would be a  good 255 W panel.  It is a very poor 265 W panel. You must be the judge in this matter. That is because some manufactures and Silfab is not the only one over rate the performance of their panels.  I have had days where some of our 250 W CG poly panels produce more than the mono or very close to the mono.  We hope to try the Heliene's mono panels rated at 17.5% efficiency.  My heart skips a beat when you see the power rating of their 72 cell poly panel.  It is a bit unfair as it does have 20% more cells but the numbers do speak for themselves.  The performed on a watt by watt comparison a bit better (5%) than the 265 W mono. Don't mis-interpret what I am saying.  The weekly summary showed that the Mono did in fact do better than the 250 W Poly panels but it IS rated 15 W higher.  It could be in the nature of the beast.  Perhaps Poly due to their intrinsic design have a 1-4% rating naturally.  This means that some panels will be closer to 262 W and others closer to 250 W.  We do see that there is a range of outputs per panel.  You win with the higher performing panels and you still win with the 250 W performing panels.  I have yet to test the two when the temperature hits the high 30's C.  Poly should win as all other indicators have been proven to be true.  Your ROI is just better with poly panels.

5.0  Mono offers higher outputs and better efficiency and the chance to have the backing in Black.  As temperature does effect performance significantly, we kept to the white backing.  You many choose mono over poly if you have a limited roof area as you can get more watts per square foot or you just like the look of mono over poly.  All in all, poly panels are the better choice in a warmer environment for max ROI.  I am not including the SunPower panels in this discussion as it is something you have to pay too much for and most of us can not even get them.  The funny thing is that SunPower take these great panels and sell them with a String inverter system with no optimizers, thus IMHO it appears to nullify the basic design feature of their panels.

6.0  Silfab also use the lower cost PET backing material verse the better backing material used by Heliene and CG.  You can see my posts on suitable panel backing materials.  Personally I would stay away from PET and request Tedlar or Kynar backing be used.  I got the Silfab to replace one of my panels that was producing 30% lower than expected.  Heliene suggested (it is a CG panel) that perhaps one of the diodes was not working.  I tried to check the diode and found what appears to be a loose connection at the back of the panel.  I need to replace the battery in my Multi Meter to check the diode.  The connection may have been all that was wrong.  I will re-install the panel to check it out in the near future. I took the panel outside in the sun and it read 37 V DC showing that all cells are now working.  I still have to check which diode is not  working.

FYI the backing material used for a panel is critical to ensure long life of the panel as it's purpose is to seal it from moisture and oxygen attack.  There is a link on one of my posts showing cracking problems with someone's (?) PET backing panels.  People understandably are using lower cost materials to help them save money.  These materials however must last for a very long time: - 20-50 years.  It is the yellowing of this white backing that reduces the panel's output over its life time.

This is important: Solar Harvesting is a long term investment and you must use the best materials available so that you don't have to replace your panels early.

This chart show the daily output of 3 different solar panels. 300 W  Poly- from Heliene, 265 W Mono from Silfab, and 250 W CG Poly panels.  Can you find the 265 W Mono Panel?  A 265 W panel should produce 6% more than the 250 W Poly panels.  Likewise, the 300 W Poly panel should produce 13 % more than the Mono Panel.  

The Mono Panel produced 1.8 kWhr

What you see then, all the 250 W poly panels should have produced 1.69 kW hrs.  All except 2.20.11 which has a known problem are exceeding that value.  Accordingly, based on the 265 W Mono, all of the 300 W Heliene Poly panels should be less than  2.03 kW hrs.The fact is they are producing 2.125 kW hrs, much more than an equivalent Silfab 72 cell Mono based on this testing.  Also the Mono panel is not yet burnt in, so we are seeing the good side of this panel.  The Silfab panel is 2;20;19  These results were taken on a good sunny day without visible clouds when the sunlight was perpendicular to the panels based on the time of the year.  The Heliene 72 cell panels are 5% over and above this 265 W  Mono panel.  It is all about ROI and Poly is winning here.  If the Mono is really a 255 W panel, then poly is still the clear winner.  I would like to have other manufacture's Mono panels to test, but we are not going to buy their panels just to test them.  It is always best to get a random panel test.  A single panel taken from a larger order would do the job well.

August 2014 Update: The mono panel is producing some where around 255-260 W panel as compared to the 250 W poly panels.  Rating is poor to fair.  If it performed at 265 W I would give it a good rating.

For us, Poly-crystalline panels win over mono-crystalline because we have a good roof area and are most interested in ROI.  If we didn't have a 10 kW limitation, then it is quite likely that high output mono would be the way to go.  The best would be SunPower Mono but you can't get them or the price is way too high.  All of these things can change over night.  Many times products are prices not on cost but on how much one can get.  That is why we must always look at ROI.  Pay strict attention to quality build and quality long life components.  Look at the type of backing being used.  Stay away from PET backing and stick with Tedlar and or Kynar.

Thus we have verified that Poly-crystalline panels do a bit better than Mono-crystalline panels in all conditions.

What about the ROI?

Based on our one day test, I calculate that we would lose the output of two panels over twenty years using the Silfab panel verse our Polycrystalline panels on a 10 kW system.  There is no reason to believe that the panel will produce more power and it is likely to produce less power as it burns in.  All of the poly panels have been burnt in for months.  We harvest about $150-160 per panel per year.  Losing two panels because some one wanted to make more money would have cost us over $6000 over 20 years.  IMHO, panel manufacturers need to under rate and not over rate their panels.  They need to make money so charge accordingly.  Panels will lose about 10% over 20 years, so starting at +3-4% is a good way to rate the panel.  You will sell more panels under the 10 kW microfit limitation any way.  That IMHO is a no brainer.

Our recommendation:  Heliene 60 or 72 Cell polycrystalline panels.  Note:  We have not yet tested the Heliene 60 cell mono but make the inference that they are identical minus the 12 extra cells.  Heliene have NOT over rated these panels making them the best buy for the microfit program.

Kirk is a retired Professional Engineer with experience in the Electrical Utility sector.  We have no connection with Heliene, Silfab or Flexible Solar.  We just believe that an informed consumer is the best consumer.  Your results may vary from ours. All monitoring results were obtained from SolarEdge panel monitoring reported data.

More information:

If you are interested in installing a Microfit or Fit solar panel system, I strongly recommend giving Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solutions in Windsor, Ontario serving Southern Ontario.  They are the best and most honest microfit solar panel installers that I have had the pleasure of working with.  They will give you a straight analysis of your roof and what you can expect to earn.  Don't forget to tell them that Kirk sent you.  See my first post for more information on going Solar.

We expect to earn $6500-7500 per year depending on the weather for 20 years.  That should work out to us having an extra $100,000.00 income for our retirement over and above your system costs.  At that point we grid tie and earn the going rate of power which just might be very close to what we are currently being paid.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  See my review of Canadian Solar's next generation poly panels

 Steve at Flexible Solar Serving Southern Ontario 519-962-9218

Masters' Microfit Solar Panel Harvesting April 2014 Summary

April 2014 Solar Harvesting Summary Results

April again proved to be a great solar month.  The Polar Vortex kept temperatures below norm which helps your solar panels to produce more energy along with the longer days and improved angle or attitude of the sun in the sky..  We reached a new daily peak of 90.4 kW hrs.  We only had 3 days below 20 kW hrs, two of these days was due to snow and because we were in Florida we couldn't clear the panels.  They cleared with the next days intense sunlight, but it did reduce our overall harvesting. For April, we produced 1.7 MW hrs.  I predicted that 1.7-8 was possible.  With one more great sunny day we would have made it and or if we did not take our 10 day vacation that for safety reasons, we shut down the moving array in case of high winds which did occur on one day. 

Early morning sun saw big changes. The easterly location of the sun rise moved northerly by quite a lot to the point that our north facing bay window gets the early morning sun.  We designed our system to harvest some of this early morning and late day light.  In order to maximize your solar harvesting, you do need to have some east and west facing panels along with your south facing panels.  We did this by building an array on the east and west side of our garage roof and dynamically moving the panels to follow the sun.  These panels now produce 50% more energy than statically east facing panels.  They also produce 20% more than our south facing panels.  We shut down the array for the 10 days that we were on holidays to protect us against high winds.  This was a good idea as with the unexpected snow we also had 45 mph wind gusts.  This was another reason why we didn't reach 1.8 MWhrs.  We do have a sensor for high wind speed but it is not yet connected to the system.

For April we only had 7 days below 20 kWhrs and most days were above 60.  Our monthly average was 57 kW hrs well within our 50-60 kW hrs forecast.  Morning maximum harvesting reached 46-47 kW hrs on a sunny day.

May's Forecast

We will gain an extra hour of sunlight in May and May has 31 days.  Temperatures will remain cool making a 2 MW hrs of harvesting possible.  It always depends on the cloud cover. The sun's attitude will increase by 6.8 degrees to 69.7 degrees.  That means the sun will be perpendicular to the panels on May 22.which will give maximum solar intensity, sky cover willing.  We still have two panels not producing well.  I hope to replace one shortly. I can't stress enough that you must have a panel monitoring system to discover problems like this.  We use SolarEdge Optimizers which prevent total system disasters from occurring.  If we had straight string inverters, we would be producing 40% less power and our system would not work.  

May historically is the best harvesting month due solely to the cooler temperatures.  June should be the best month except for the higher temperatures.  I have thought of using a water mist system to cool the panels but I would need rain water or RO water to do this to prevent hardness spots on the glass and a pump to push the water up the 40 feet to reach the panels.  I might test water cooling out one day with tap water to see if it helps and how much it helps.

NOTE:  Life is Short - Try to Help your neighbours and people in need

Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.

We do not work for Flexible Solar serving Windsor and Southern Ontario.  I do however promote any honest person in their business where I have had the pleasure of working with them.  That is really hard to find in the solar business.  These guys use the best components for a long system life.  You can even ask them for a copy of my engineering specification that you can use to outline the work specification.  I am 100% sure that Mike Holmes would say that is the way to do things to protect yourself.  They also use the best guys out there to install your system.

Do you want to have an extra $60,000 to $100,000 to spend over the next 20 years?

If you have been wondering whether or not to go solar, I strongly recommend that you give

 Steve a call at: 

Steve -519 962 9218

He will give you an honest analysis of your house to see if it is worthwhile to install a microfit solar panel system.  For what we earn, we will payoff our mortgage on our retirement house. We still have to pay utilities and taxes but we are way ahead of where we were and we are lowering the carbon dioxide levels as best as we can.  A basic system will produce about $5,000 per year with straight string inverters.  Stay away from that and go with optimizers.  With a few tweaks, you could produce $6-7000 per year.  I still don't trust microinverters to last much more than 12 years with a horrible replacement cost as they are under the panels. Read all of my posts, starting from the beginning to get a better understanding of solar.

Fun watching the sun.

How the sun keeps changing the angle that it hits our roofs.

I had been waiting for April to arrive so that the sun light would hit our east/west and south panels perpendicular to their orientation.  Our house sits almost perfectly east/west giving us a south facing roof and the garage an east/west orientation.  We do not have the best pitch of our south roof for the winter months. That turned out to help the east west facing panels.

I have watched almost daily to see the sun rise northerly each day at different locations on my neighbours houses.  Early in April I was some what surprised to see the first light coming through our kitchen's bay windows on the north side of our house.  It cast a S-E shadow on the light pole across the street from us. By 8:30 am it had changed to due west and one hour later to N-E.  All of this is good news for our east panels as they start to produce 4 times as much as the early morning south facing panels.  We produce over 4.5 kW by 8:45 am  That is 45% of our maximum 10 kW.  The south shifting direction helps to turn on our main generators which are our south facing panels.  We are trying to maximize our harvesting of solar energy by widening the curve or by grabbing those early morning and late afternoon rays.

The reason that the angle change so much at this time of the day is because we are looking at spherical objects and the path that the sun follows is called a great circle.  We are at 42 degrees N Lat. and the sun never reaches more than 23.5 deg N Lat on 21 June.

The negative impact of our poor roof pitch now has all but disappeared.  An interesting fact which I had over looked is now helping us.  A low pitch roof offers some benefits to east/west facing panels as the east panels harvest energy much later in the afternoon than I originally thought they would.

How is our Dynamic Positioning Array Working? 

Those of you who have been following this post know that we move our east and west panels throughout the day to maximize the harvesting and utilization of our system.  As they are east/west facing we are seeing an approximately 50% increase over statically mounted east panels.  As compared to south facing panels we are seeing a 22% increase. We don't see high power outputs from east/west but we do see it happening for the entire day. All of this is occurring at the peak harvesting time of the year.

Our goal is to maximize our ROI.  We want to bring up the inverter output to near maximum but not over the maximum for as long as possible.  This can be achieved by blending the east and west inputs.  Exceeding the inverter output really only means that we are wasting power.  Some inverter peaking is desirable but to date, little is occurring and is not a problem.

Conclusion; the array is working great and will pay for it self many times over.  Remember, if we can harvest just 1 kW hr more each day, that is 0.5 kW hr in both am and pm we will earn 39.6 cents per day.  Or $144 per year or $2892 over the 20 years.  Now we are talking money and not pennies. In 2014 we pay less than $1400 for our electrical bill.  That 1 kW hr per day will give us 2 years of free electricity.  We are using 21-22 kW hrs per day in our home.  

Remember to check visually for any fouling of your panels.  We feed the birds and they then sometimes leave the food on our panels.  I have not yet had to clean the panels but I am keeping an eye on them.  I am hoping the rain will do that job for me.

NOTE:  Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.  For the small cost of your daily Tim's Coffee you can make a big difference in a family's life.

Do you want to have an extra $60,000 to $100,000 to spend over the next 20 years?

If you have been wondering whether or not to go solar, I strongly recommend that you give

 Steve a call at: 

Steve -519 962 9218

He will give you an honest analysis of your house to see if it is worthwhile to install a microfit solar panel system.  For what we earn, we will payoff our mortgage on our retirement house. We still have to pay utilities and taxes but we are way ahead of where we were and we are lowering the carbon dioxide levels as best as we can.  A basic system will produce about $5,000 per year with straight string inverters.  Stay away from that and go with optimizers.  With a few tweaks, you could produce $6-7000 per year.  I still don't trust microinverters to last much more than 12 years with a horrible replacement cost as they are under the panels. Read all of my posts, starting from the beginning to get a better understanding of solar.

We do not work for Flexible Solar serving Windsor and Southern Ontario.  I do however promote any honest person in their business where I have had the pleasure of working with them.  That is really hard to find in the solar business.  These guys use the best components for a long system life.  You can even ask them for a copy of my engineering specification that you can use to outline the work specification.  I am 100% sure that Mike Holmes would say that is the way to do things to protect yourself.  They also use the best guys out there to install your system.

Review of Heliene's 72 Cell Poly-crystalline 300 W Solar Panels

Review of Heliene's 72 Cell 300 W  Poly-crystalline Solar Panels

The Kortright Ontario solar panel demonstration project was set up to prove that Ontario Manufacturer's could produce excellent solar panels.  It was NOT intended to promote one manufacturer over another. Some wise marketing people saw this as an opportunity to show case their products by any means. Most or all equipment performed well with in normal operating tolerances.  However, an alert marketing manager could select his best panel, burn it in and then send it in for the project. That would give you a false high value.  It would have been much better to randomly select 3-4 panels off of the line and use those.

Heliene's panels did not come out on top.  Our review shows that their performance is of equal quality to all of the other manufacturers.  You can read my earlier comments on how someone might of twisted the Kortright demonstration to their advantage.


We got 5 of these panels to test (not one).  Every panel has a slightly different peak value but their daily harvesting value is close.  If we choose the best one of these 5 panels to talk about, then we would be squewing the results.  We didn't do that.  They were placed on our south facing roof to fill in some gaps.  As we are operating polycrystalline panels - 60 cell type, we are able to extrapolate directly as to their performance. The panels were installed by Flexible Solar of Windsor who also installed our microfit project. These are the best guys out there to deal with.

A bit of information first about these panels.

We were able to get Heliene to ship us these panels in late February for installation in March.  The bad winter delayed install until early April.  The panels have been running for over 2 weeks.  Heliene also  produce a 17.5% efficient panel in the second quarter of 2014 but it is mono-crystalline. That given them a 280 W 60 cell mono solar panel.

I chose these panels as I needed 72 cell panels to help utilize as much as possible my south facing roof. Initial results are proving extremely good.  My original  panels were suppose to flash 3-4% on the + side.

A result of 20% above our existing panels was expected.  These panels are showing excellent low light gathering abilities along with a measured output about 21% above an equivalent 250 W panel (flashed to 262 W).  Because of a 1-3% burn in loss that normally occurs within the first week of operation, all solar panels should flash +3% above nameplate.  Some manufactures are ignoring this and charging a surcharge for + flash ratings.  Heliene did not partake in this questionable practice which I am very pleased that they didn't.  I was informed recently, that the glass used in these panels is stippled to improve the panel's efficiency.  Every little bit helps, even a small 1% improvement from stippled glass will give you more money in your pocket over the life time of the panels, which I hope to be well over 30 years.

Conclusion:

Based on our SolarEdge panel monitoring system, everything that Heliene states in their product description is 100% true.  They also use a Kynar (PVDF) backing material which is very similar to Tedlar which has become a standard in the industry.  Kynar is reported to being used in Germany for the past 25 years with excellent results.  I can not comment of the life of the panels and if and when I do, it will be too late for all of us anyway.  The panels do have an excellent backing material and long life should not be an issue.  The panels are also built for the Canadian snow load.  To date, there is only about a 3 Watt (1%) difference at peak output between all of the 5 panels.  With SolarEdge, it is best to review the output at the end of the day as some optimizers are slow to report their values.  At peak power, they were about 21% better than my existing panels which is excellent.  The day did yield our highest kw hrs but the sun or sky was NOT at it's clearest possible value as we did not peak as high as other days.

 I give them my 5 STAR Rating.

NOTE:  Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.  For the small cost of your daily Tim's Coffee you can make a big difference in a family's life.

Do you want to have an extra $60,000 to $100,000 to spend over the next 20 years? At the end of your 20 year contract grid tie and Never pay for your electricity again.  It is the project that keeps giving and giving.  See my design post.

If you have been wondering whether or not to go solar, I strongly recommend that you give

 Steve a call at: 

Steve -519 962 9218

He will give you an honest analysis of your house to see if it is worthwhile to install a microfit solar panel system.  For what we earn, we will payoff our mortgage on our retirement house. We still have to pay utilities and taxes but we are way ahead of where we were and we are lowering the carbon dioxide levels as best as we can.  A basic system will produce about $5,000 per year with straight string inverters.  Stay away from that and go with optimizers.  With a few tweaks, you could produce $6-7000 per year.  I still don't trust microinverters to last much more than 12 years with a horrible replacement cost as they are under the panels. Read all of my posts, starting from the beginning to get a better understanding of solar.

We do not work for Flexible Solar serving Windsor and Southern Ontario.  I do however promote any honest person in their business where I have had the pleasure of working with them.  That is really hard to find in the solar business.  These guys use the best components for a long system life.  You can even ask them for a copy of my engineering specification that you can use to outline the work specification.  I am 100% sure that Mike Holmes would say that is the way to do things to protect yourself.  They also use the best guys out there to install your system.

NOTE:  We booked a holiday in Florida in March.  The microfit Solar Panel system's March's production covered the rental at the Resort plus $300 towards food and gas. You might say that the Sun gave us a holiday in the Sun.  We sure enjoyed ourselves.

Solar Harvesting microfit March 2014

March 2014 Masters Microfit PV Solar Harvesting Results:

March 2014 has been an outstanding month for solar harvesting.  We hit our first 3 MW hrs of solar harvesting and our highest daily peak of 75 kW hrs (78 kW hrs adjusted)..  During the month, the attitude  of the sun increased by 11.7 degrees and the sunlight hours increased by 1 hr 26 min.  We maintained our system by removing snow covering the panels which just will not melt off on the cold days.  I calculate that if the month was clear every day (dreaming), we could have harvested 2.5 + MW hrs ($1,000 for the month). We achieved a level of around 1.4 MW ($558.4 for the month). hrs which is up from February's result of 0.967 MW hrs.  Both are highs for this area compared to previous years.  I believe that this is due to the Polar Vortex keeping the skies clearer.  We saw very few completely sunny days to see just how much we could harvest.  Generally we started out with the ability to harvest 70+ kW hrs and ended the month around 78 kW hrs+.  System start-up problems are to be corrected at the end of the month adding about 400 W more capacity at peak times.

I concluded this:  The capability to harvest solar is always there, it just may be hidden above the clouds.  On a bright cloudy day we still produce 4-5 kW's.  For 2/3rds of the month we harvested more than 40 kW hrs per day.  For more than 1/3rd of the month we exceed 64 kW hrs per day.  We had 2 bad snow days reducing production below 5 kW hrs per day and several very dark and overcast days.  The last week of the month was heavily clouded thus preventing us from hitting 1.5 MW hrs for the month.  For example, our daily use is 22-23 kW hrs which we pay separately to Hydro-One at around 10 cents per kW while they pay us 39.6 cents per kW.  There were only 8 days in the month that what we harvested didn't exceed what we used.  That means there were 23 days in the month that we harvested far exceeded what we used. We all don't like those dark days period.

On 30 March, we finally had a great solar day to test the system.  System problems were not yet corrected and we harvested 75 kW hrs.  Most interesting is that the East/West array harvested 15% more than the average south facing panel.  The array is now starting to work as designed.  It will only get better as the angles move to optimum and the days have longer sunlight hours.  The wind was 7 km from the North. That direction has the smallest amount of cooling on the south facing solar panels but was good for the East/West panels.  We barely hit the 9 kW peak for the day.  The day was very clear.  I believe that the little amount of cooling from the wind, caused the panels to produce at a lower rate.  It also could have been high level cloud disruption, which is really hard to see. I was even able to sit in a sheltered corner and soak up a few rays with my shirt off. The temperature was 9 degrees C.  I was sitting in a 5500 deg K radiant field (sunlight).

Historically we are starting to enter the best time of the year for harvesting, March to October.  Peak is expected to be in May.  Ironically, the weakest solar day is 5th of July (aphelion - farthest away from the sun) due to the earth's orbit by about 7% less solar radiation.  This and the increased negative effects of the temperature tend to make May better than June.  Again this is totally dependent on the weather.  Here is a link to see how clear the sky actually is:

http://cleardarksky.com/f.php?Mn=Solar%20Power&p=4C2700Detroit

I also use accuweather's radar and satellite combo.  This helps me to see the weather patterns and any approaching weather front and of course any high wind alerts. Just last week, near the end of the month, I was monitoring our site at around 3 PM (8 kW) and saw the output soar about 10.4 kW.  I knew what was happening.  The sky just in front of a cloud front is normally very, very clear.  Even though we had passed solar noon by 90 min, we hit our maximum output for about 10 min and solar output dropped when the clouds hit.  I was expecting us to hit in the mid 70's that day but the clouds said no (63 kW instead)  Still a good day but not a peak day.

Our Dynamically Positioned Array: (Photos on a previous post)

Our West-East array started to exceed the results of the south facing panels by about 5% at the first part of the month.  Only on 1-2 days we could not operate it due to high winds. The angle of sunrise to the panels is still not ideal but I have noticed peak values of 80%+ from the panels.  The early morning shading issues of the array to the lower south facing panels now dissipates around 10:30 am.  As the sun rises more from the east, this will totally disappear.  By the end of the month, the array was posting 15 % better than  south facing panels as seen below.  Load following arrays typically harvest 75% more than fixed panels.  Based on this number, we might expect to see a virtual installed capacity of 11+ kW (actual installed is 9.9 kW).  Over twenty years that might add another $10,000 in electrical harvesting.  It is really nice to see the East/West panels maintaining a good output while the south facing panels pass their daily peak.  This helps to maintain a high rate of energy harvesting for a longer period of the day.  And that spells more $$ in the bank.

The above is a diagram of our panel layout.  The black panel needs the optimizer to be replace.  Panel 1.019 will be replaced this week.  Total production just under 75 kW hrs.  We lost about 3 kW hrs due to the start-up items, which will be repaired this week.  The vertical group represents the West/East array while the other the South Facing Panels.  The array shows an approximately 14% more harvesting than south.  If all of the panels did this well, we would have harvested 89 kW hr and not our 75 kW hrs.  We are very pleased to see this improved result in just over one month.

Here is an almost perfect production graph for that day:

Notice that solar noon peak is at 1:35 PM here.  We start making some power at around 7:15 AM until 7:45 PM.  We try to grab every Watt that we can until the Sun sets at 7:58 PM.  This is a penny grabbing game.  If you can harvest one extra kW per week, that amounts to $416. over the 20 years and beyond.  That is like running our kitchen's 4 W LED for 15 days straight.  Now translate that to 1 kW more per day and you end up with close to $3000 over 20 years.  For us, that is more than 2 years worth of our annual electric bill.  That is why I call it the "penny game".

UPDATE: AUGUST 2014

The array peaked at about 28% more than south facing panels and approximately 50% more than fixed east panels.  Fixed east panels continue to produce some power up to around 6 PM.  Maximum system peak was around 92 kW hours (one great day).  2014 due to the cooler weather and more sun, we will expect to harvest 18-20 MW for the year.  All of our testing has basically been completed.  Being retired, the net income from these panels pay for themselves and pay for our remaining house mortgage which is around $115,000.  So now we only have to pay for the taxes, utilities and up keep.  What a nice retirement planning package.  It also lowers A/C costs by 40%.  We consider this a Win/Win situation.  So, provided you can finance at low interest rates, have an good sun exposure with a large roof area facing south or south east, you will do fine.  Check first with the Flexible Solar people.  I am still PO'd with the other guys who don't care about their customers and will basically lie to your face. Some are much worst than others.  If you follow my suggestions you will be fine.  It is the best thing that we have done in years.  Last month we were paid $860. plus HST.  Yes, some people made more than double this but those days are long gone.  We expect a December low of around $400.  This will depend on how bad the clouds are.  An amazing thing happened this year, the system peaked in July and not in May.

Raw Results:

Last month I predicted to average between 40-50 kW hrs per day.  The actual number is just over 45 kW hrs per day. The first part of the month exceeded that while due to cloud cover, the latter part decreased a bit.  I predicted that we would peak around the high 60's.  While we did that on the 3rd of the month.  We could have been in the 70's for many days but the clouds kept us from that.  Never the less, overall production was up over 50% from last year.

April's Prediction:

We gain an extra 78 minutes of sunlight by the end of the month.  The sun's attitude will also increase by 10.2 degrees.  We lose one day as  April has 30 days.  Thus a 1.78-1.8 MW or more is not unreasonable.  I believe that our system can produce more than 80 kW hrs in a day.  The local high I believe is 83 kW hrs. The negative effect of our poor roof angle has all but past.  The East/West array is now out producing straight south facing panels on sunny days.  I expect this to increase to 20-30% or more this month due to the longer sun light hours and better angle of attack.  Average days should be 50-60 kWhrs.  We will have corrected some issues with one optimizer and two panels.  Income for the April should meet or exceed $700.  We also expect to meet or exceed that value for the next 6 months (April-September).  All of this will depend on seasonal cloud cover.  Even on cloudy but bright days we should peak at around 5-6000 kW.

Conclusion:

With 80% or more of your system facing south with a good pitch, you will do quite well with your microfit program.  Even a modestly sized house like we have (1100 sq ft roof), you could produce more than the 10 kW microfit limit.  Our inverters restrict us from producing more than 10 kW as per the contract.  I contacted the Ministry of Energy to give them my feedback that the microfit level should be increased to 20 kW.  An average 200 A service results in about 35 kW.  If the microfit limit was set to 20 kW a lot of people would be happier and the country as a whole would benefit. The Green Energy Act does not put this restriction on the homeowner.  It is 100% organization generated.  I do not expect to see any changes and is not in the spirit of the Green Energy Act.

Do you want to have an extra $80,000 to $100,000 to spend over the next 20 years?

If you have been wondering whether or not to go solar, I strongly recommend that you give

 Steve a call at: 

Steve -519 962 9218

He will give you an honest analysis of your house to see if it is worthwhile to install a microfit solar panel system.  For what we earn, we will payoff our mortgage on our retirement house. We still have to pay utilities and taxes but we are way ahead of where we were and we are lowering the carbon dioxide levels as best as we can.  A basic system will produce about $5,000 per year with straight string inverters.  Stay away from that and go with optimizers.  With a few tweaks, you could produce $6-7000 per year.  I still don't trust microinverters to last much more than 12 years with a horrible replacement cost as they are under the panels. Read all of my posts, starting from the beginning to get a better understanding of solar.

Being retired, because of the small income from the Solar Panels, we were able to re-start our support of a child in need from Nicaragua.  If you are better off, please also consider helping those in need though the Christian Children Fund of Canada.

We do not work for Flexible Solar serving Windsor and Southern Ontario.  I do however promote any honest person in their business where I have had the pleasure of working with them.  That is really hard to find in the solar business.  These guys use the best components for a long system life.  You can even ask them for a copy of my engineering specification that you can use to outline the work specification.  I am 100% sure that Mike Holmes would say that is the way to do things to protect yourself.  They also use the best guys out there to install your system.

NOTE:  We booked a holiday in Florida in March.  The microfit Solar Panel system covered the rental at the Resort plus $300 towards food and gas. You might say that the Sun gave us a holiday in the Sun.  We sure enjoyed ourselves.

How to make access to your roof safer in winter.

Safer Method to access a snow covered roof:

Attention:   Please refer to my previous posts on roof access and using ladders safely.

This has been a very snowy winter.  I thought that we had seen the last of the snow in March.  I have strict rules about accessing my roof in winter.  We had a large snow fall several days ago on Sunday.  I went to clean the snow off of our panels and achieved it with all but one panel.  This panel was 70% clear and simply not producing any real power compared to its neighbors.  We are waiting for better weather to fix 3 problems that have developed.  This means that we are already down by about 400 Watts peak.  I wanted to get up and clear the remaining snow off of that panel safely.  The panel is located at my ridge line of my south facing roof.

Monday and Sunday afternoon we had periods of great sunlight.  As Monday promised to be a great solar day, I took my broom and cleared several locations on my east facing roof and let the sun do the rest.  On a great day, we have about 60 kW of energy hitting the roof from 11 am to 3 pm.  It didn't take long to see wet black roofing shingles with steam rising from the roof.  I could now enter and exit the roof safely.  I could also move from the garage roof to the house roof without any problems.  I was able to quickly and safely, clear the panel and our two sky lights. The power from the panel shot up to 225 Watts almost immediately.  As an after thought, one could also tie a rope to one of the rail anchors and use it with accessing the roof year round.  Solar is about harvesting the pennies that will turn into dollars over the month and years of the installation.  We are hoping to clear after interest and capital depreciation about $100 per week for the year.That is not a lot of money but again it is equal to another old age pension coming in and the end of paying for your electrical bills for ever.

 Let me clear that up, ( Many people have the wrong idea about solar panels.) you will make more money selling the power that you generate verse what you will use for your home.  Grid-tie is the way to go and NOT an expense battery system. The power generated fluctuates much too often as clouds pass by the sun.

 The money that you earn could also be used to pay for:

•  all or most of your monthly mortgage ($100,000 over 20 years)
•  take 2-3 nice vacations a year.  
• Golfing green fees
• Boating fees

I know that this is only 4th of March but at the end of February I forecast that we hoped to exceed 70 kW hrs by the end of March.  Well even with our 3 problem areas, we harvested almost 69 kW hrs on Monday. I also predicted that we would average 40-50 kW hrs per day.  Even with  one very poor day due to the snow, we are averaging 40 kW hrs per day.  It's too early for the month but we are on track.  Weather permitting, we should see even higher peak days as the month progresses.  Early in the month we should expect on a so, so day, 30-40 kW hr (we got 35 kW hr) and later in the month around 40-50 kW hr per day.  It is very important to harvest the most that you can during the off days when the sun doesn't really come out from behind the clouds.  I am always amazed to see 5 or 6 kW's of power with dull sunlight.

• Your best months of the year run from March to October.  You want to cover your expenses during the other months.  In February 2014 we grossed $383. of power generated.  In short, we made money in one of the poorer months of the year. We expect to more than double this amount in May. This is dependent on the weather.  Last summer was extremely wet and cloudy.  Perhaps this summer will be back to sunny normal.

We are very happy with our system and the income that it is producing.  To us it is a no brainier, but you must be really careful.  I would love to post the BS that others told me but I am being kind not to. Please trust me when I say that we now have seen 3 roofs with panels on the north side in Windsor.  With normal string inverters that would limit the output to the lowest value.  Also there most likely is no monitoring system so the owner can't see what is happening.  Horrible installers, run from them and give Flexible solar a call.  Remember that there is a consumer alert against Canadian Solar of Windsor.

If you are thinking about going solar, then I give my highest recommendations to Flexible Solar Solutions serving Windsor and Southern Ontario.  They will tell you straight up if it is good idea or not.

 Just call:

Steve -519 962 9218

If you are already a microfit power producer with a DC limit on your installation, please write to the Energy Review Board to ask that it be removed so that you can have a real 10 kW microFIT installation limited only on the AC side.  IMHO, this DC limitation is a direct violation by OPA to discriminate against the small home owner.  The next jump is to a FIT program from 10+ to 500,000 kW.  Very few do the max so they are not limited at all.  Permit the home owner to produce the maximum green energy that they can with the 10 kW limit.  I also believe that should be a 20-30 kW limit and not 10 kW.

February 2014 Summary - Optimization of your Solar Panel System

February 2014 Summary:

What an interesting month February 2014 was.  The first week we were plagued with snow storms.  Only the 3rd had a moderate production of 45 kW hr. I was out of service during this time so no snow removal occurred.  The rest of the month was very good.  Overall we exceeded our expectations.  We benefited from the polar vortex.  Solar panels work great in cold temps.  Add that cold and clear normally means very little high level losses.  You can tell that by the output of your panels. Peak on 28 Feb 61 kW hr. Good day with intermittent clouds.

This is what I noticed during this month:

1.0 The sun's position during dawn significantly moved towards the east.

2.0 The sun's attitude during the month increased 9.1 degrees from 30.8 degrees

3.0  The day's sunshine increased by 1 hour and 11 min. (approx 10%).

4.0  After the 15th, on most average days we were getting 30-40 kW hrs.  On good days this was in the mid 50's.  It should have peaked above 60 but the clouds prevented that and no great days occurred (no clouds)

6.0  All of this helped the east west array to harvest daily equal to the south facing panels after around the 22nd of Feb.

7.0  When the snow melted, I installed safety chains on the array.  I still do not want to operate it in wind speed in excess of 20 mph. from the west.  A strong wind under neath your panels and you have a sail.

8.0  Overall solar harvesting exceeded 960 kW hrs for a 28 day month.

9.0  Initial start up fixes are scheduled for early March.

10.0  On bright cold days, windy days, the panels exceeded there design output by at times over 27 W.  This is because the cooling of the surface is ideal for solar production with no high level clouds
11.0 On two days I had to lower the array due to high winds.  Normally in mid position (horizontal), flat, the wind has no or little effect.  Safest position is hugging the roof.  You will notice that tracking arrays do the same thing in high winds.  We have the added benefit that roof hugging is good for one side at any time of the day and the other side can be flat reducing harvesting by about 20% only.  Don't play with the wind.  If you boat, you know what winds can do.  We don't lose as much as we think up until around 11 AM the west array will shade two panels.  This limits their production.  This is a seasonal problem and will disappear shortly as the sun start to rise more easterly.  Daily production results only show a very limited loss now.
12.0  We benefited from the polar vortex as at times it was very cold and clear maxing out our system at times

We expect to earn around $380 for February.  That is great for this time of year.  You must still remove any snow that fouls the panels to maximize the production.

Expectations for March:

If the weather holds, we expect to earn on average days 40-50 kW hrs.  Month's target is 1.4 MW hr.  I am optimistic. I expect peak days to be 60- 70 kW hrs with possibly low 70's near the end of the month.  The attitude of the sun will increase by 12 degrees during March and the daylight hours by 1 hour and 26 min.  The higher sun angle means near perfect radiance absorption and the longer day more harvesting.  This will peak on the 19th of May.  We are now entering the best time of the year for solar harvesting.  May is normally the best month when June should be.  That is what effects the warmer temperatures have on the system.  Also expect the sun to rise more easterly every day until 21 June.  All of this is sunshine dependent.

NOTES:

If you have a microfit contract that is DC limited, please refer to my blog and write to the Energy Review Board to complain that this limitation is in violation a the 10 kW microfit legislation. 

If you are interested in making some money, give Steve a call at Flexible Solar Solution.  He will give you a no BS analysis of your system.  Be ware of the others.  You can read all of my posts to educate yourself and be a better consumer.  Don't give any money until you get an offer to connect and then be careful.  Remember that you can claim back all of your HST spent to install your system.

We are very happy with our system and the income that it is producing.  We strongly believe that there should be no limitations on the DC side, only on the AC side. To us it is a no brainier, but you must be really careful.  I would love to post the BS that others told me but I am being kind not to.  Just call:

Steve -519 962 9218

What is the best solar panel system for Ontario's microfit program?

What is the best microfit solar panel system to use in 2014?

The post that I see on the net is way out of date (2011).  It is an orphan as you no longer can contact the poster.  

Let us first set some design criteria to look at the various system:  Solar harvesting involves installing a system that best meets our needs.  It is not just choosing solar panels but rather looking at the bigger picture that will occur over the projects 30 year life span.

1.0 Safety - you want the system to shut off when you turn it off. Fire fighters want this.

2.0 Maximum return on your investment.  You want this.

3.0 Maintainability - you want to be able to maintain the components as easily as possible.  If maintenance is or will be required, locate it in an easy to access location.  It does effect your ROI big time.

4.0 Long life components

5.0 Ability to monitor each panel's performance.  You want to know if something is wrong so that it can be fixed.

6.0  Individual component failure should not effect the entire system.  Aside from inverters, each panel should operate independently of the other panels.

7.0 Ability to handle shading issues.  Almost every one has some shading issues.

8.0 Design flexibility

9.0 Long life solar panels.  Solar panels with a tedlar or equivalent backing material. Try to use a high efficiency panel with good high temperature operation.  Polycrystalline panels tends to be lower cost but give a better ROI.  Mono panels seem to be over priced.  Make sure that the panel has a strong, stiff frame to support the glass.

Sun power makes one of the best solar panels out there.  If one cell is fouled, then you get the power from all of the other 59 cells.  To fully utilize this great feature, you need to also have optimizers installed.  Sun Power has linked up with Fronius which to my understanding do not yet have optimizers.  That is what I would call a not too bright act.  You will lose the benefit of the solar panel design.

Discussion:

There is currently only one system that meets all of these criteria.  That is a SolarEdge string inverter system with their optimizers.

1.0 Safety- Unlike other systems that maintain their 600 V bus voltage when shut off, Solar Edge maintains 1 Volt at each panel when shutdown/off.

2.0  Optimizers give you the maximum output for each panel and do not degrade the entire string's output when one or more panel is shaded giving maximum ROI.  This is a huge advantage.

3.0 All inverters will require maintenance or replacement after 10-12 years.  Locate inverters at side of house makes this a low cost situation verse under every panel.

4.0 SolarEdge Optimizers use ceramic capacitors verse electrolytic (shorter life -expect 10-12yrs for EC).

5.0 Built in panel monitoring system with optimizers

6.0 Optimizers isolate each panel

7.0 Optimizers handle shaded panels

8.0 You no longer have to have all panels on a string face in only one direction.  You can mix up directions, south and east on the same string.  This is a huge advantage for our installation.

Summary:

I am not going to review every string inverter out there.  You can read my earlier posts that warn you against using micro inverters because they can limit the panel's output and will fail with horrible maintainability under the panels.  At this time, I know of no other manufacturer who does this.  One major string inverter manufacturer opted to go micro inverters and later on add optimizers to their line up.  I believe that they chose the wrong path to go to.

Now use FlexibleSolar Solutions from Windsor Ontario to install your system and you are away.  Steve and Glen will help you to chose which solar panels you may want to install in your system, so give them a call.

Steve -519 962 9218

Optimization of your Microfit Solar Panel System.

Click to photos/graphs to enlarge viewing:

How to Optimize Your Microfit Solar Panel System

I have written all ready about the optimization features of our 10 kW microfit solar panel system installed by Flexible Solar of Windsor Ontario.  I believe that I highlighted 3 optimization features of our program.  Only one feature remained to be verified. We need to verify that the array will harvest more energy than straight South facing panels.  This will require looking at all results up to and including 21 June.  Initial results show that all is working as designed.

East-West Dynamic Tilting Array:

I designed a two dimensional array located on our East-West facing garage.  This consists of two -4 panel arrays each located on the East and West roof at the peak line.  The purpose was to have for example, the west facing array face east in the AM and the east face west in the PM.  Control is via a PLC and is automatic.

Here is a photo taken looking West to show both arrays in the AM.  Not a good solar day so far.

Here is the array looking from the West to East.  You can see the full extension of the West panels and the optimizers under neath the panels.

We even got some geese taking a look.  The alumimum plate is to stiffen the panel against vibration caused by wind loading.  Safety chains now installed and eliminate wind vibration. I still have yet to install the automatic shutdown when wind exceeds 20 mph.

Initially, during December and January, we were able to harvest about 80% of what a good South facing panel will do.  South facing panels being the best and the standard for comparison.

Here is the results from 19th February.  Total harvesting was 46 kW hours.  Not too bad for a day that was terrible in the AM with scattered clouds in the PM.  You will see two panels not producing well.  One is from a defective panel and the other from a defective optimizer.  These will be replace in a few weeks once we can again access the roof with out any snow or ice on it.

The array is shown as the vertical bunch of 8 panels.  The other is the south facing roof. Notice panel 2.0.20 was better than most south facing panels except  those which harvested 1.14 kW hours.  This is approximately two months from the winter solace on 21 December.  We have harvested approximately 1.4 MW hours and expect to harvest 16-18 MW hours.  That means we have harvested 8.75% of our annual harvesting.

The benefit of have a SolarEdge system with optimizers is evident from looking at the variation of output from each panel.  With a straight string inverter system, all of the south panels would be forced to produce the lowest value achieved by you worst panel.  In our case that would be horrible as one panel is only producing 70% of what it should be.  I bought two spare panels for this reason.  The problem with the optimizer just started I believe in February.  It is covered under warrenty.

In perspective, for approximately 4 months of the year you will produce less than south facing panels on sunny days.  On cloudy days, all panels produce equally.  That means for the peak harvesting months your gain will equal or exceed south facing panels when you harvest 82% of your energy.  Panels 1.0.18 and 20 show little loss from the shading from the array that occurs before 11 AM.

The proof of concept is still on going.  To me it only makes sense to use your panels as much as you can though out the day.

How much the array will harvest over and above normal south facing panels is left to be verified.  I can see before 10 AM that west/east at time harvest 50% more than south facing panels.  We still are no where near the optimum AM/PM angle for the panels to achieve their design output. 

To repeat, I designed the system to be optimized from March 21 to Sept 21.  By having some high functioning East/West facing panels you help to square up you harvesting curve or to maximize harvesting.  Basically, you want to have your inverter output to be as high as possible for as long as possible.

As a side note, it is fun to watch the solar gain increase, some times on a daily basis.  This is because the sun's attitude in the sky is increasing daily.  I can see for the past week that the daily peak is steadily increasing from the previous day's result as long as it is sunny around 1 PM.  I though that this would be much slower.  We suffer from a low roof pitch of 22.5 degrees which will disappear by 21 March though to September. For the month of February, the sun's attitude increases by 9 degrees in the sky.  From December 21 there is a 15.6 degree increase the the sun's attitude. By the end of March this will be 27.7 degree increase from December 21.  In addition, the hours of sunlight are getting much longer.  We even saw a robin at our bird feeders yesterday.

At the start of February, I was forecasting a minimum of 20 kW hrs per day with a maximum of 30kW hours for a cloudy day.  We have been fortunate that even with the two panel problems and some snow issues, we peaked at near 58 kW hours on one day and over the past 10 days only had one day below 31 kW hours.

Accordingly, for March we are now forecasting 30-40 kW hrs minimum with peaks about 60-70 kW hours of harvesting on sunny days.  We just might achieve 800 kW hours for February (28 days).  Possible March harvesting of 1 MW hour or more.

If you are thinking about going solar, then I give my highest recommendations to Flexible Solar Solutions serving Windsor and Southern Ontario.  They will tell you straight up if it is good idea or not.

 Just call:

Steve -519 962 9218