Solar PV Install questions

wimpybeaver

Hi All,

I'm in the process of trying to figure out a plan for a PV Solar install for my house and I have a few questions. I have plenty of roof space to choose from and potentially I might add to it later on depending on the answers I can get :-)

So my available roof space is in order of fitting them out is:
Car port: East/West at 15 degrees, galvanised roof with steel supports, Area: 114m2
House: North/South at 45 degrees, normal slate, 28m2
East West at 40 degrees, normal slate, 20m2


So from my calculations I can get a 3.42kW system installed on about 20m2. And the limit the ESB allows for a single phase domestic is 6kW I believe.

I estimate that I will use about 5.5kW in a year. (5500 ESB units looking at my bills)

So what I would like to do is to use any energy I produce for my house, then the immersion @ maybe 75 or 80 degrees for storage, and then export the rest I guess.

Should I fill out the NC6 form with ESB before I even get the PV kit?

What happens if I want to install more than the 6kW? I know the ESB stopped the feed in tariff but do I become a small electricity producer that they have to buy from me if I were to install 15kW?

If I were to install 3kW using a 3.6kW inverter, can I add another 3kW with another 3.6kW inverter with no trouble or should I but a 7kW inverter at the start, even if I only install 3kW to begin with?

If you think I should consider anything else, all information is welcome and thank you in advance,

Seamus

P.S. I will not be installing any battery storage etc as I don't see the benefit and I would really like to have more capacity than I need so even in winter I'll have a lot of my needs covered in duller weather.

quentingargan

You will need to apply for planning if you go above 12 sqM. The exemption also restricts you to staying 50cm away from any ridge, gable or eave, so you probably would be similarly restricted but not necessarily so.

ESB will limit you to 6kw on single phase, or 11kw on three phase. If you want to go above that, you become an "embedded generator" needing a G10 Relay for disconnect and a chequebook. I think they charge about €700 for a survey to approve, but most likely only on three phase.

It would be common to under-size your inverter by as much as 20% because inverters are more efficient at the top of their power range, and they spend very little time actually delivering full power. So a 6kw inverter might operate with 7.5kw of panels, and possibly more on an East-West system where only one array will be in full light at any one time.

If you really want to maximise your power and add more inverters, there are systems that can limit your exports to 6kw. Actually that figure is 25A, which at 230V is 5.75Kw.

Of all the roofs, your galvanised will be the lowest cost mounting system - there are industrial mounting systems for Galv roofs costing about €9 per panel and installation is really quick. So although the production on this would be about 16% less than it is on a south facing roof at 35 degrees, that 16% may be cheaper than the cost of flashing slates etc.

ESB doesn't have to buy from you. It is expected that there will be a feed in tariff introduced in the next year or so, and no promise that it will apply retrospectively to existing systems. But you are supposed to send in an NC6 form at least 3 weeks before installing.

wimpybeaver

Hi quentingargan,

Great information, thanks very much. So ill definitely need to investigate the planning permission end to start with as at a very minimum I'd like to try aim for the ESB limit which will need more than 12sqM.

Something I'm just after realising. When you say I could get a system that would limit my exports to 5.75Kw, I take it then that I could in theory have a 10Kw system installed and as long as I limit my exports to a max of 6/5.75Kw, then that's okay as far as the ESB are concerned. Is that correct? I was assuming that my installed capacity could only be at the 6Kw limit.

Yep, that's why I was thinking about the galvanised roof. It would be cheaper to install and also easier for me to do it myself :-) Also, to help to improve the power the panels would get, I was also thinking the east facing side would be left at the 15 degree pitch and I could get a mounting kit that would more or less have the west facing side at a flat pitch. I havent looked but I was assuming altering the orientation on such a roof would have some standard kits out there for this type of thing.

Thanks Again,
Seamus

quentingargan

wimpybeaver wrote: »

Hi quentingargan,

Great information, thanks very much. So ill definitely need to investigate the planning permission end to start with as at a very minimum I'd like to try aim for the ESB limit which will need more than 12sqM.

Something I'm just after realising. When you say I could get a system that would limit my exports to 5.75Kw, I take it then that I could in theory have a 10Kw system installed and as long as I limit my exports to a max of 6/5.75Kw, then that's okay as far as the ESB are concerned. Is that correct? I was assuming that my installed capacity could only be at the 6Kw limit.

Yep, that's why I was thinking about the galvanised roof. It would be cheaper to install and also easier for me to do it myself :-) Also, to help to improve the power the panels would get, I was also thinking the east facing side would be left at the 15 degree pitch and I could get a mounting kit that would more or less have the west facing side at a flat pitch. I havent looked but I was assuming altering the orientation on such a roof would have some standard kits out there for this type of thing.

Thanks Again,
Seamus

Yes - there is equipment sold widely in the UK, but made by an Irish company (if you PM me I can give you the company name) which can allow a 10kw inverter to have exports limited to 25 amps and dump any surplus to heaters.

I'm not sure that it is worthwhile to mount panels off the plane of the roof. The wind loading becomes high, and although we used to do that a few years ago when panels were €5 per watt, we tend not to do it now because it is cheaper and easier to just use more panels.

homewardbound11

Hi,
Great information . Do you have any up to date cost benefit information on pv panels.
From a recently built home owner my biggest bills are not hearing but electricity .

wimpybeaver

Hi quentingargan,

Thanks again, ill send you a PM now.

By the way, I found this piece of information about the planning:

"The size of any such panel together with any other such panel previously placed on or within the said curtilage, shall not exceed 12 sq m or 50 per cent of the total roof area, whichever is the lesser; "

So I'm definitely on the 12sqM side as I have about 160sqM available :-)

Also, im doing a lot of research on my overall electricity upgrade when im doing it. I am planning on getting an electric car in about 24months time as I think battery tech will be able to give me the range for my daily commute then too. So it appears I should plan for having at least 1 32 amp socket for one car, perhaps room to upgrade to a second in the years ahead. I will also have a small workshop so I may either get a single phase upgrade to 16kVa-29kVa or I'll price the cost of getting a three phase. I'll play the long term so ill overkill to make sure I don't have to do it a second time in 30 years :-)

Either way, even if I could export 11kw to the ESB, there would be no point unless they bring back in some form of tariff that would benefit me..

Good news about not having to lift then panels off the roof, the simpler the install the better!


Hi homewardbound11,

I have not done an in-depth cost benefit analysis. I know there are other posts here that have more information on it. But roughly speaking I think with current prices, you can get 1W per €1 with extra equipment around 500-700 and €350 for the import/export meter I believe. So for a 6kvW install, it would usually cost about €6500 I guess, but since ill be installing on a galvanised roof as mentioned above, my costs will be less than that ;-) I'll be able to do most things myself and then ill need a registered electrician to sign off the connections to the board/meter I suppose.

And if you take that install cost, with my annual bills coming to about €1100 (including standing charge), at a worst case basis my payback would be in 8 years roughly.

These are just off the top of my head from what I have been reading, a lot depends on what you can get out of the panels and when you use you electricity during the day. I have a wife and little baby that will be at home during the day which can make planning energy usage easier (putting dryer on etc, heating water to a really high temp so its still hot the next morning etc). There is no sell tariff at the moment so its really how much energy you use when the panels are producing is the key for me. If the tariff comes, then ever better :-)


Seamus

white.knight

Hi,
Just wondering if you followed through on the Instal and what options did you go for

wimpybeaver

Hi white.knight,

Not yet. It's still on the drawing board unfortunately. I got as far as upgrading my car port wiring where the galvanised roof is where I also added in a fuse board etc to bring it up to spec. I'm in a situation where I need to upgrade the cable from my car port to the main board in the house at the minute as it would not be up to spec for what I want to do out there also as all they originally ran was a flex cable for lights :-(

Hoping to buy the roof fittings this year and just install them so I have them in place for the future.

But the option I'm planning on would be the car port and as many as I can fit/need for overcapacity in the darker months. Where I then just have an inverter sized that suits the ESB requirements for single phase. I looked into getting a three phase upgrade but not feasible etc

Also added into the plan an Air to Water heating upgrade around the same time to also make use of anything generated.

quentingargan

wimpybeaver wrote: »

Hoping to buy the roof fittings this year and just install them so I have them in place for the future.

If you are on a galv roof, the fittings will be spaced to match the panels. I wouldn't put them in yet. Anyhow, that is not a major expense on galv roof..

wimpybeaver

quentingargan wrote: »

If you are on a galv roof, the fittings will be spaced to match the panels. I wouldn't put them in yet. Anyhow, that is not a major expense on galv roof..

Good to know. I just assumed that there was some standard around them. I'll wait until I have the panels picked so. Thank you for the heads up! :-)

Why would you install solar PV without a FIT ? having to dump excess is a complete and utter waste or have you another plan ?

Having a full hot water tank all the time is a waste if you have another way to heat it such as central heating.

Even if you have heat pump and heat the house/water this way you'll have far too much excess energy in the Summer and not enough in winter, the only way that makes is a FIT where you export all your excess in Summer and import back in winter.

I'd be interested to know how you're going to manage all this. I was thinking about this before but decided it's not worth it without a FIT and giving the current electricity costs, no grant etc.

wimpybeaver

Hi Mad_Lad,

So my answer is more of a part lifestyle option that will in the end make things work out (or break even).

My main driving force is to reduce or remove as much future outgoings in life as I can. My work provides yearly bonuses that allow me to indulge in projects like this one part at a time without impacting my month to month budget.

What I ideally want (or need) is to install overcapacity on an East/West configuration. What this does is to have a smaller overall peak (and total) generation on a yearly basics. But it also reduces the larger peak in the summer months and it allows a longer generation period throughout the year. I can't remember exactly off the top of my head but I think from my previous research it added 7-11 weeks overall of useful generation a year. Think of it as extending into Autumn and starting useful spring generation earlier in the year than what a south facing PV system would be able to do if you know what I mean.

I'm not overly concerned with getting payback within 6-10 years. PV panels have a life expectancy of 25 years and I'll get my money back or break even eventually. But what I want to do is to constantly use my bonus money to reduce more of my month to month expenditure.

Having said that, here is my current plan.
1) Install PV panels (most likely not starting this year)
2) Add Air to Water heat pump to my heating system
3) Move over to EV only car when battery capacity meets my requirement (batteries are probably there within 18 months for what I need)
- I follow your updates in the Electric Vehicles & Hybrids section
- My wife is at home so car can be charged during the day for most scenarios
4) Install battery storage (maybe 4-8 years away I guess before its feasible and useful)

It goes without saying that having a FIT would be the best option for fastest payback but it really depends how I look at the problem and do I have other goals to achieve.

Also, bear in mind that I may not at first install all PV panels straight away. It may be enough to install a minimum amount to meet my current needs and expand as I add the above options.
This would give other advantages
(1) less of an overall install cost
(2) less wastage of generation by giving it away for free
(3) not under pressure to do everything else on the list asap because I have so much overcapacity (life happens when your making plans)
(4) more efficient PV panels are available each year (hopefully)

Admittedly my original post and research was 2 years ago so I may be going off some outdated thoughts. I bought an old house and theres lots of things that keep getting in the way

A bit of a ramble and I'm sure theres some holes in my thinking but I've always tried to constantly reduce any reoccurring bills in life and it's worked out so far.

unkel

wimpybeaver wrote: »

What I ideally want (or need) is to install overcapacity on an East/West configuration. What this does is to have a smaller overall peak (and total) generation on a yearly basics. But it also reduces the larger peak in the summer months and it allows a longer generation period throughout the year.

This might not be a bad plan at all. I installed 3 * 250W panels on my shed a bit over a week ago and they are 100% west facing. This is the coldest week in many years and I still regularly see well over 400W coming from them any time the sun comes out after midday or so. Far higher than I expected.

With the price of panels plummeting and saving money on a smaller capacity inverter, an east / west oversized configuration seems to make a lot of sense in 2018 when there is no sign of any (highish) feed in tariff

What do our knowledgeable regulars reckon? Quentingargan, Sir Liamalot, others?

unkel

unkel wrote: »

I still regularly see well over 400W coming from them any time the sun comes out after midday or so. Far higher than I expected.

PV works best in the cold.
+1% uprating per 2°C below 25°C cell temperature.

West suits some lifestyles.
I'm more of an East-South-West & Horizontal kindov guy.

East-west works better in reality than on paper. South is a numbers queen, the majority of most peoples' power usage is morning and evening.

unkel

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I'm more of an East-North-West & horizontal kindov guy.

East-west works better in reality than on paper. South is a numbers queen, the majority of most peoples' power usage is morning and evening.

Here's my one million dollar question

How would you setup cost effective solar PV with the shortest possible ROI (with no FIT and no subsidies for purchase) for a household with a 900W base load 24/7/365 with a night rate meter?

East and West arrays with their own inverters or something else?

The thing I am doing and what I have in mind for this setup is cryptocurrency mining. Preferably mostly done with renewable solar PV and / or with cheap night rate electricity (also quite a lot of that is renewable wind energy)

I don't do cost-effective grid systems Unkel I do reliable high efficiency, high fidelity battery systems.

I'd throw all the multi-aspect panels onto the same inverter in parallel as long as they are not shaded and when I'm constantly seeing the inverter hit max output I'd consider another inverter.

900W baseload..sheesh...mine's 120W...um 3kW PVto offset the energy cost, I suppose after that we could look into some lunar panels.

Horizontal mount is second best (sloped just enough south to self-clean). Best is subjective.

A lot of wasted money if you ask me, too much trying to manage energy to prevent wastage, "the sun is out, quick turn on the immersion" jaysus, no, I wouldn't do it.

Try reduce energy.

At 17 Cent day 7 odd night, I wouldn't be bothered.

I can't see a FIT introduced here for years, the grid is overwhelmed with commercial wind energy and we can't use all of our peak supply either as the grid can take 60 odd % max for now.

When there's a FIT I'd definitely consider Solar PV.

As for the Heat Pump, have you a well insulated air tight house or are you planning renovation ?

unkel

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

900W baseload..sheesh...mine's 120W

It's an estimate. About 100W baseload + 800W mining rig running 24/7

KCross

Topical question.... does snow completely shutdown the Solar PV's ability to generate or do the "rays" get through snow on the panels?

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

A lot of wasted money if you ask me, too much trying to manage energy to prevent wastage, "the sun is out, quick turn on the immersion" jaysus, no, I wouldn't do it.

Try reduce energy.

At 17 Cent day 7 odd night, I wouldn't be bothered.

I can't see a FIT introduced here for years, the grid is overwhelmed with commercial wind energy and we can't use all of our peak supply either as the grid can take 60 odd % max for now.

When there's a FIT I'd definitely consider Solar PV.

As for the Heat Pump, have you a well insulated air tight house or are you planning renovation ?

You don’t have to manage the system. It’s a smart divertor that automatically diverts excess to the immersion or any other heater you wire in.

Gumbo

KCross wrote: »

Topical question.... does snow completely shutdown the Solar PV's ability to generate or do the "rays" get through snow on the panels?

My system is currently generating 0.
Generated 0 today so far.

Panels are completely covered in snow but we are getting short bursts of sun here in north dublin.

unkel

KCross wrote: »

Topical question.... does snow completely shutdown the Solar PV's ability to generate or do the "rays" get through snow on the panels?

I just went out to the shed to check that especially for you and yup, zero output (while the sun was shining)

kceire

kceire wrote: »

You don’t have to manage the system. It’s a smart divertor that automatically diverts excess to the immersion or any other heater you wire in.

Yeah that's the waste, how much hot water do you need ? What good is that in Summer during full production ? Not a good solution. Only so much hot water you can use.

You'll spend all your time listening to the forecast to know when to do the next washing !

Diverting energy is another term for dumping energy , energy you would otherwise not need to use.

unkel

In fairness, kceire got his fairly large system installed for far less than market rates. It's a new build where he will probably live the rest of his life. So even without subsidies and without FIT ever, his system will pay back for itself in reasonable time (and he'll be green while doing this and giving the grid - all of us - some free electricity back)

Although the diverter is about the slowest way to do so

Gumbo

unkel wrote: »

I just went out to the shed to check that especially for you and yup, zero output (while the sun was shining)

Mine starting to clear now and generating 180w

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah that's the waste, how much hot water do you need ? What good is that in Summer during full production ? Not a good solution. Only so much hot water you can use.

You'll spend all your time listening to the forecast to know when to do the next washing !

Diverting energy is another term for dumping energy , energy you would otherwise not need to use.

But I don’t listen to any forecast or anything. They are in the background doing their thing. I do nothing.

There’s 2 adults and 2 kids in mine so we use most of the hot water generated tbh, and I have 200L cylinder.

During the summer will actually benefit me more as the kids are off school, so that means Mrs. kceire is at home so any generation will be used alongside heating the water.

It’s not all about money, if I wanted to save money I would
Not have installed the system. It’s about us all doing a small bit to reduced CO2 and carbon emissions for the next generation and the generation after that.

I didn’t even do an ROI calculation before buying. I wanted to get the system from the moment I knew I was working on the house.

Co2 ? oh Brother !

If you said Nox emissions or at least saving the oil then I'd say fair play to you !

If people really want to save the earth then we'd not waste as much as we do and would not use and throw away as much plastic as we do, plastic is a far greater hazard to this Earth and is beginning to come to light.

When we throw plastics into the recycling we thing we're saving the planet, this couldn't be further than the truth, the truth is no one knows what to do with the majority of it. And since China said no more to the worlds waste we'll have to incinerate it.....

We were told we'd have no sea ice years ago, we were told we'd have no snow by the year 2000 etc etc. All bollocks !

Real issues are plastics, air pollution and over farming, and the increased waste in producing things we don't need and also water contamination and the over use of chemicals and processed foods to name just some things of far greater threat.

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

Co2 ? oh Brother !

If you said Nox emissions or at least saving the oil then I'd say fair play to you !

Not just EV is my interest, also sustainable construction and future proof construction etc trying to get my
Builders to think ahead though is another battle!

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

If people really want to save the earth then we'd not waste as much as we do and would not use and throw away as much plastic as we do, plastic is a far greater hazard to this Earth and is beginning to come to light.

When we throw plastics into the recycling we thing we're saving the planet, this couldn't be further than the truth, the truth is no one knows what to do with the majority of it. And since China said no more to the worlds waste we'll have to incinerate it.....

We were told we'd have no sea ice years ago, we were told we'd have no snow by the year 2000 etc etc. All bollocks !

Real issues are plastics, air pollution and over farming, and the increased waste in producing things we don't need and also water contamination and the over use of chemicals and processed foods to name just some things of far greater threat.

Agree. I wouldn’t be a wasteful person myself. I rather see stuff used than threw away etc

kceire

kceire wrote: »

Not just EV is my interest, also sustainable construction and future proof construction etc trying to get my
Builders to think ahead though is another battle!

Ah right now I believe you, sorry, Co2 is a bad word to me and I tend to go off on a rant but the above statement sounds a lot better !

I'm not just interested in EV, I'm all for sustainable living. For instance if I could get glass milk bottles again I would not buy tetra or Plastic, not a hope and that would greatly cut down on our waste and the amount produced. If we all went back to glass bottles it would make a major impact.

In Germany there's a tax on plastic bottles, you bring them back to the shop and get the money back , the result is Germany is the cleanest place I ever saw, this place is a disgrace with rubbish tipping in ditches and plastic everywhere. My Partners Parents are always utterly disgusted when they come here form Germany and I do not blame them. It is horrid !

I would invest in solar PV if there was a FIT, other than this dumping energy is a very poor solution, we only need so much hot water and in the brighter months there's be far too much energy to dump.

I'd be more of a fan of a hybrid installation of wind and solar PV where you have a better chance of more predictable generation all year around, or rather more chance of generating electricity all year around even in the darker months but wind turbine installations are ridiculously high.

My requirements for electricity are around 7,000 Kwh ish for the year, car and house. More than half that is on night rate.

However , heating oil has to be factored in, we're on our 2nd tank of oil probably more than half way through at this stage.

1000 Litres of oil is about 10,350 Kwh.

Yes Ideally it would be better to gut the house and bring to modern passive standards but that would just be too expensive on an older house, we'd have been far better to build from scratch and it would have been much cheaper than to gut the house. We can look at external insulation at a later point and better windows but you're not going to get much change out of 50 K for that alone......

It would be good to be able to export all the excess in Summer then heat a few storage heaters like my OH Parents do in Germany and it works very well but they have a 13 Kw/p system we're only allowed 5,500. Yes they have 3 phase too which helps and of course we have no FIT at all.

On a good day in Summer they can generate almost 80 Kwh. Now they haven't a hope in hell to dump most of that energy so it goes to the grid and they buy it back when they need it in winter for the storage heaters. This is the perfect solution.

KCross

KCross wrote: »

Topical question.... does snow completely shutdown the Solar PV's ability to generate

Not if you sweep it off.

KCross

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Not if you sweep it off.

Is that right Darcy! Funny man ha!

Gumbo

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Not if you sweep it off.

+1 but I didn’t fancy getting onto my roof

I generated 1.2kwh today when the sun did get through to the panels.

wimpybeaver

unkel wrote: »

This might not be a bad plan at all. I installed 3 * 250W panels on my shed a bit over a week ago and they are 100% west facing. This is the coldest week in many years and I still regularly see well over 400W coming from them any time the sun comes out after midday or so. Far higher than I expected.

With the price of panels plummeting and saving money on a smaller capacity inverter, an east / west oversized configuration seems to make a lot of sense in 2018 when there is no sign of any (highish) feed in tariff

Just curious, did you do this yourself? Was it a first PV install or was it to add to other panels you already have?

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I don't do cost-effective grid systems Unkel I do reliable high efficiency, high fidelity battery systems.

I'd throw all the multi-aspect panels onto the same inverter in parallel as long as they are not shaded and when I'm constantly seeing the inverter hit max output I'd consider another inverter.

What happens if you get to the stage of producing more than your inverter is rated for? Is it a safety issue or do the PV panels have some sort of feedback where they don't produce if the inverter can't take it?

I was half thinking of just getting an inverter on the export to the grid (not sure if thats the correct way to describe it) at the max allowed by ESB. Use as much as I can, if I can and just so long as I don't export more than what I'm allowed on a single phase then I don't care.

Deleted User wrote: »

I can't see a FIT introduced here for years, the grid is overwhelmed with commercial wind energy and we can't use all of our peak supply either as the grid can take 60 odd % max for now.

When there's a FIT I'd definitely consider Solar PV.

As for the Heat Pump, have you a well insulated air tight house or are you planning renovation ?

Personally I don't think a FIT will be introduced for a long time. Now that the government seem to be pushing the commercial PV thing and ignoring the amount of roof space that is available right now on peoples houses which would help the consumer/homeowner a lot more. But they seem to be more concerned with keeping the dividends nice from the ESB each year and the 13.5% VAT on every electricity bill than to do the right thing. But I'll not rant about that too much. This also motivates me for other non financial reasons to buy my own PV panels etc ;-)

Working on insulating my house is also on the list. Its scheduled for 36 months from now for a full external wrap with other upgrades as long as the money keeps coming. Its not a one or the other choice, its planning when to do one and then the other next.

Then adding batteries after all that etc. Its a process and something that interests me in general so its not all about making sure I get my money back asap.

wimpybeaver

For reference, this is the East-West car port I was planning on putting the panels on. East facing is the near side, west the far side. You can see that the East facing should be shadow free. West will probably have shadows from some of the neighbours trees.

I'd install better insulation before I'd give a cents worth of electricity to the ESB for free !

I think this is where the greatest savings would be.

unkel

wimpybeaver wrote: »

Just curious, did you do this yourself? Was it a first PV install or was it to add to other panels you already have?

It's only a mickey mouse DIY system really

All the parts are click and play, just had to make one cable up myself to the length I needed

wimpybeaver wrote: »

For reference, this is the East-West car port I was planning on putting the panels on. East facing is the near side, west the far side. You can see that the East facing should be shadow free. West will probably have shadows from some of the neighbours trees.

Probably a lot of shadowing, but you do have a huge surface. Just source a lot of cheap panels is what my plan would be! You could probably fit two rows of panels on each side with a bit of overhang. My panels are 165cm long and 99cm wide. I don't know if that's an industry standard or not.

Unkel, what are you running of the solar ? batteries , 12v -220 inverted etc ? I think you said in another thread but forget.

wimpybeaver

wimpybeaver wrote: »

What happens if you get to the stage of producing more than your inverter is rated for?

EU standard domestic MPPT grid tie inverters will have current limited inputs.

rolion

kceire wrote: »

My system is currently generating 0.
Generated 0 today so far.

Panels are completely covered in snow but we are getting short bursts of sun here in north dublin.

I've disconnected the inverter off the panels adn of the grid.
These on / off sequences "can/may" damage the cells due to shadowing and powerful sun rays hitting only few spots on the internals of the panels.

Unlikely and besides disconnecting the inverter won't do anything to prevent it.

rolion

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Unlikely and besides disconnecting the inverter won't do anything to prevent it.

unlikely...but i like to better be safe than sorry !
having inverter cycling on and off due to start-up power doesn't give me any joy...

But,let's enjoy a green whittey day with ZERO production !

The inverter isn't cycling on and off it's going from a sleep state to idle.

Hard starting MPPT inverters creates a massive inrush load due to the capacitance so it's very hard on the inverter filtering and switchgear.

rolion

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

The inverter isn't cycling on and off it's going from a sleep state to idle.

Hard starting MPPT inverters creates a massive inrush load due to the capacitance so it's very hard on the inverter filtering and switchgear.

It makes sense what you say...i'll get the inverter ON ... and ... with the grid connected.

My LG panels hugged by Emma

Other way around R. DC input off (which the snow is already doing for you) AC input on.

I use an adjustable photodiode controlled relay to switch the panel between grid and battery.

Instead of feeding the inverter quiescent I float charge my house battery with a charge controller in low light conditions.