My 16kWp Domestic System

mp3guy · 18-03-2021 3:33pm #1

TL;DR I've almost completed the install of my domestic single phase solar PV system that provides:

- 16kWp of DC power.
- 11kWp of AC power.
- 18.9kWh of battery storage.
- 6kWp export limitation.
- Full property 20A backup power from battery and PV panels.
- 14MWh of energy per annum.

I started with a "smaller" system (10.24kWp DC / 9.2kWp AC, 12.6kWh battery) but have the deposit paid to add a third array that's facing WNW plus more storage. Once this is finished I'll have 5.76kWp SSW, 4.48kWp ESE and 5.76kWp WNW installed on an outbuilding. Here's the parts list:

50x 320W Solitek SOLID Pro M60 Glass-Glass Panels
1x 5kW SolaX X1 Hybrid Inverter
1x 6kW SolarEdge SE6000H Inverter
32x SolarEdge P370 Optimisers
3x 6.3kWh SolaX Triple Power Batteries
K2 Roof Mounting
Eddi Hot Water Diverter
Zappi v2 Car Charger

I went with these panels as they've a good warranty and power degradation guarantee. I also live very near to the coast and the all-glass structure is ideal for salty sea mist we get oftentimes.

The SolaX inverter is ideal as it supports a large amount of high voltage battery storage, export limiting and also backup power supply if the grid goes down. I have a changeover switch ahead of my main consumer unit that I flick over if power goes and voila, power from stored energy and PV for everything (e.g. our well pump). It supports setting one max battery discharge level for normal grid tied mode and another for backup power mode, so I can always keep some energy in the tank in case of a power cut. It can also harvest excess energy from the second inverter to charge the batteries like a typical AC-coupled battery.

The SolarEdge inverter is being used for its massive DC oversizing capability, I'll have the East/West panels on this inverter. It also supports export limiting so I have the option of using the functionality on both inverters to be doubly safe.

We have a 220L hot water tank so will have plenty of capacity to soak up excess for showers with the diverter and my EV has a 64kWh battery too for even more self usage.

We currently use about 9MWh of energy per annum. Eventually when we switch to having two EVs and replace our OFCH with a heatpump, I'd imagine most if not all of the excess I'll be generating will get used up. As it stands, we have a fully electric kitchen plus some other high load devices that will drain 8.5kWh of battery power by 9pm most days so extra battery plus a "late in the evening" west array is crucial.

The install for this will have taken 5 days labor in total, including 2-3 electricians each day and about half a dozen roofers. If anyone wants to know my installer you can reach out via PM. No chance I was DIYing this, haven't the time or expertise. For the craic I did price up a comparable system on midsummer.ie and it was breaking €20k easily with just the main parts, no mounting, cabling etc... so I did pay more than that certainly but not multiples of. I did also get the grant.

I've setup quite a serious amount of automation on top of this to optimize things, for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day. Or if I'm exporting power and forgot to plug in my EV, I'll get a notification on my phone to remind me. I've also automated some cryptocurrency mining machines (~1kW) to only turn on when there is excess power from PV or when the battery in already empty to avoid wasting stored battery energy. I'm planning to add a destratification pump to my hot water cylinder to allow the Eddi to dump even more power into the hot water tank as my immersion heater is only half length. I'm considering adding wind forecast-based pre-emptive battery charge up from the grid on the eve of weather warnings too.

One thing I noticed over the winter just gone is battery temperature is important, namely keeping them above 0-5c. I'll need to build a mechanism to ensure this next winter (as they're in the outbuilding), I'm thinking a removable enclosure that I can put a small thermostatic heater (500W) in to keep them from shutting down.

With a generous FIT of 5~7c, I might actually break even in the lifetime of this investment (everything is warrantied 20-30 years), but I also might fall short by a couple grand. And I'm ok with that. I'd consider myself an enthusiast. I want the "comfort" features like backup power. Can you put a price on the piece of mind of having power during a storm in the winter with a young family? And I have the added benefit of saving many tonnes of CO2 per year. Even when the Irish grid is eventually fully decarbonised, I'll still be more efficient as I'll generate power on site with not nearly as much loss as the grid has in transmission of power.

Will add photos when its finally complete, should be within a month. Happy to answer any questions people may have.

markpb · 18-03-2021 5:50pm

mp3guy wrote: »

I've setup quite a serious amount of automation on top of this to optimize things, for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day. Or if I'm exporting power and forgot to plug in my EV, I'll get a notification on my phone to remind me.

That's pretty cool!

Patmwgs · 18-03-2021 7:11pm

Thats a pretty impressive system. To get more self use you could up your hot water tank to 500 litres and it will make a nice storage backup. If your floor can take the weight.
What county are you in? if we ever get back on flights we might spot that size from the air.

mp3guy · 18-03-2021 7:16pm

Patmwgs wrote: »

Thats a pretty impressive system. To get more self use you could up your hot water tank to 500 litres and it will make a nice storage backup. If your floor can take the weight.
What county are you in? if we ever get back on flights we might spot that size from the air.

I'm hesitant to make any more moves on the hot water tank as we'll likely replace it whenever we get the heatpump. The current one loses round 0.5c an hour, sometimes more, if it's not used which I'm not really happy with.

I'm in Cork. You can see my house when landing there, though I haven't taken a flight since getting the panels.

Patmwgs · 18-03-2021 7:43pm

Im up the other end of the country in south donegal, you will get more sun than us.

the_amazing_raisin · 18-03-2021 9:00pm

mp3guy wrote: »

I'm hesitant to make any more moves on the hot water tank as we'll likely replace it whenever we get the heatpump. The current one loses round 0.5c an hour, sometimes more, if it's not used which I'm not really happy with.

I'm in Cork. You can see my house when landing there, though I haven't taken a flight since getting the panels.

Probably a smart move as several heat pumps have their own proprietary tanks that you have to use

I'm looking into installing solar myself, eventually up to 14kWp maybe. We have a heat pump and an EV and might be a 2 EV household by then, so there's plenty there to soak up excess

One thing I've toyed with is getting an oversized buffer tank for the heat pump, something like 250l as opposed to the normal 50l. You could use a diverter then to heat up the water so you essentially have a big thermal battery for space heating (or even cooling) during the night

Has anyone else ever tried this? I've seen a few articles about larger scale thermal storage but not much around a domestic day to day size store

unkel · 18-03-2021 10:29pm

Impressive setup! Keep us updated on any work / improvements you make, could be an inspiration for anyone else reading this

mp3guy wrote:

I'm hesitant to make any more moves on the hot water tank as we'll likely replace it whenever we get the heatpump. The current one loses round 0.5c an hour, sometimes more, if it's not used which I'm not really happy with.

That's crazy. We got a well insulated 360l Joule hot water tank installed 5 years ago and it loses 1C per day!

Replacing the hot water tank is relatively very cheap (compared to any of the other stuff you have done). If the heatpump is still a bit of a pipe-dream or still a good few years away, you might consider doing it?

mp3guy · 18-03-2021 10:35pm

unkel wrote: »

That's crazy. We got a well insulated 360l Joule hot water tank installed 5 years ago and it loses 1C per day!

Replacing the hot water tank is relatively very cheap (compared to any of the other stuff you have done). If the heatpump is still a bit of a pipe-dream or still a good few years away, you might consider doing it?

Wow, ok maybe I do need to consider replacing it. The existing one is 15 years old but is factory insulated, perhaps it's time for a change.

Ballylad · 19-03-2021 9:47pm

mp3guy wrote: »

TL;DR I've almost completed the install of my domestic single phase solar PV system that provides:

- 16kWp of DC power.
- 11kWp of AC power.
- 18.9kWh of battery storage.
- 6kWp export limitation.
- Full property 20A backup power from battery and PV panels.
- 14MWh of energy per annum.

I started with a "smaller" system (10.24kWp DC / 9.2kWp AC, 12.6kWh battery) but have the deposit paid to add a third array that's facing WNW plus more storage. Once this is finished I'll have 5.76kWp SSW, 4.48kWp ESE and 5.76kWp WNW installed on an outbuilding. Here's the parts list:

50x 320W Solitek SOLID Pro M60 Glass-Glass Panels
1x 5kW SolaX X1 Hybrid Inverter
1x 6kW SolarEdge SE6000H Inverter
32x SolarEdge P370 Optimisers
3x 6.3kWh SolaX Triple Power Batteries
K2 Roof Mounting
Eddi Hot Water Diverter
Zappi v2 Car Charger

I went with these panels as they've a good warranty and power degradation guarantee. I also live very near to the coast and the all-glass structure is ideal for salty sea mist we get oftentimes.

The SolaX inverter is ideal as it supports a large amount of high voltage battery storage, export limiting and also backup power supply if the grid goes down. I have a changeover switch ahead of my main consumer unit that I flick over if power goes and voila, power from stored energy and PV for everything (e.g. our well pump). It supports setting one max battery discharge level for normal grid tied mode and another for backup power mode, so I can always keep some energy in the tank in case of a power cut. It can also harvest excess energy from the second inverter to charge the batteries like a typical AC-coupled battery.

The SolarEdge inverter is being used for its massive DC oversizing capability, I'll have the East/West panels on this inverter. It also supports export limiting so I have the option of using the functionality on both inverters to be doubly safe.

We have a 220L hot water tank so will have plenty of capacity to soak up excess for showers with the diverter and my EV has a 64kWh battery too for even more self usage.

We currently use about 9MWh of energy per annum. Eventually when we switch to having two EVs and replace our OFCH with a heatpump, I'd imagine most if not all of the excess I'll be generating will get used up. As it stands, we have a fully electric kitchen plus some other high load devices that will drain 8.5kWh of battery power by 9pm most days so extra battery plus a "late in the evening" west array is crucial.

The install for this will have taken 5 days labor in total, including 2-3 electricians each day and about half a dozen roofers. If anyone wants to know my installer you can reach out via PM. No chance I was DIYing this, haven't the time or expertise. For the craic I did price up a comparable system on midsummer.ie and it was breaking €20k easily with just the main parts, no mounting, cabling etc... so I did pay more than that certainly but not multiples of. I did also get the grant.

I've setup quite a serious amount of automation on top of this to optimize things, for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day. Or if I'm exporting power and forgot to plug in my EV, I'll get a notification on my phone to remind me. I've also automated some cryptocurrency mining machines (~1kW) to only turn on when there is excess power from PV or when the battery in already empty to avoid wasting stored battery energy. I'm planning to add a destratification pump to my hot water cylinder to allow the Eddi to dump even more power into the hot water tank as my immersion heater is only half length. I'm considering adding wind forecast-based pre-emptive battery charge up from the grid on the eve of weather warnings too.

One thing I noticed over the winter just gone is battery temperature is important, namely keeping them above 0-5c. I'll need to build a mechanism to ensure this next winter (as they're in the outbuilding), I'm thinking a removable enclosure that I can put a small thermostatic heater (500W) in to keep them from shutting down.

With a generous FIT of 5~7c, I might actually break even in the lifetime of this investment (everything is warrantied 20-30 years), but I also might fall short by a couple grand. And I'm ok with that. I'd consider myself an enthusiast. I want the "comfort" features like backup power. Can you put a price on the piece of mind of having power during a storm in the winter with a young family? And I have the added benefit of saving many tonnes of CO2 per year. Even when the Irish grid is eventually fully decarbonised, I'll still be more efficient as I'll generate power on site with not nearly as much loss as the grid has in transmission of power.

Will add photos when its finally complete, should be within a month. Happy to answer any questions people may have.

That’s one hell of a well thought out system, can you pm me your installer, tried a couple of installers expanding mine and run into that 6kw export limit where export limitation is not allowed on an inverter , only 6kw inverter limit size applies.

Coltrane · 21-03-2021 8:21pm

mp3guy wrote: »

TL;DR I've almost completed the install of my domestic single phase solar PV system that provides:

- 16kWp of DC power.
- 11kWp of AC power.
- 18.9kWh of battery storage.
- 6kWp export limitation.
- Full property 20A backup power from battery and PV panels.
- 14MWh of energy per annum.

I started with a "smaller" system (10.24kWp DC / 9.2kWp AC, 12.6kWh battery) but have the deposit paid to add a third array that's facing WNW plus more storage. Once this is finished I'll have 5.76kWp SSW, 4.48kWp ESE and 5.76kWp WNW installed on an outbuilding. Here's the parts list:

50x 320W Solitek SOLID Pro M60 Glass-Glass Panels
1x 5kW SolaX X1 Hybrid Inverter
1x 6kW SolarEdge SE6000H Inverter
32x SolarEdge P370 Optimisers
3x 6.3kWh SolaX Triple Power Batteries
K2 Roof Mounting
Eddi Hot Water Diverter
Zappi v2 Car Charger

I went with these panels as they've a good warranty and power degradation guarantee. I also live very near to the coast and the all-glass structure is ideal for salty sea mist we get oftentimes.

The SolaX inverter is ideal as it supports a large amount of high voltage battery storage, export limiting and also backup power supply if the grid goes down. I have a changeover switch ahead of my main consumer unit that I flick over if power goes and voila, power from stored energy and PV for everything (e.g. our well pump). It supports setting one max battery discharge level for normal grid tied mode and another for backup power mode, so I can always keep some energy in the tank in case of a power cut. It can also harvest excess energy from the second inverter to charge the batteries like a typical AC-coupled battery.

The SolarEdge inverter is being used for its massive DC oversizing capability, I'll have the East/West panels on this inverter. It also supports export limiting so I have the option of using the functionality on both inverters to be doubly safe.

We have a 220L hot water tank so will have plenty of capacity to soak up excess for showers with the diverter and my EV has a 64kWh battery too for even more self usage.

We currently use about 9MWh of energy per annum. Eventually when we switch to having two EVs and replace our OFCH with a heatpump, I'd imagine most if not all of the excess I'll be generating will get used up. As it stands, we have a fully electric kitchen plus some other high load devices that will drain 8.5kWh of battery power by 9pm most days so extra battery plus a "late in the evening" west array is crucial.

The install for this will have taken 5 days labor in total, including 2-3 electricians each day and about half a dozen roofers. If anyone wants to know my installer you can reach out via PM. No chance I was DIYing this, haven't the time or expertise. For the craic I did price up a comparable system on midsummer.ie and it was breaking €20k easily with just the main parts, no mounting, cabling etc... so I did pay more than that certainly but not multiples of. I did also get the grant.

I've setup quite a serious amount of automation on top of this to optimize things, for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day. Or if I'm exporting power and forgot to plug in my EV, I'll get a notification on my phone to remind me. I've also automated some cryptocurrency mining machines (~1kW) to only turn on when there is excess power from PV or when the battery in already empty to avoid wasting stored battery energy. I'm planning to add a destratification pump to my hot water cylinder to allow the Eddi to dump even more power into the hot water tank as my immersion heater is only half length. I'm considering adding wind forecast-based pre-emptive battery charge up from the grid on the eve of weather warnings too.

One thing I noticed over the winter just gone is battery temperature is important, namely keeping them above 0-5c. I'll need to build a mechanism to ensure this next winter (as they're in the outbuilding), I'm thinking a removable enclosure that I can put a small thermostatic heater (500W) in to keep them from shutting down.

With a generous FIT of 5~7c, I might actually break even in the lifetime of this investment (everything is warrantied 20-30 years), but I also might fall short by a couple grand. And I'm ok with that. I'd consider myself an enthusiast. I want the "comfort" features like backup power. Can you put a price on the piece of mind of having power during a storm in the winter with a young family? And I have the added benefit of saving many tonnes of CO2 per year. Even when the Irish grid is eventually fully decarbonised, I'll still be more efficient as I'll generate power on site with not nearly as much loss as the grid has in transmission of power.

Will add photos when its finally complete, should be within a month. Happy to answer any questions people may have.

Congrats on a great setup and thanks for sharing!

I would recommend you look next at a heat pump. It’ll cost you much more all-in than your oil, even allowing for your solar-surplus, but will be the right thing for the environment and an interesting project for an enthusiast! It will also tend to focus your mind on more insulation/air tightness. Don’t worry overly about which comes first (insulation or HP). I put an A2W into a very old, largely un-insulated house when I bought it and haven’t been too shocked by the bills and the comfort levels have been incomparable with the too hot/too cold regime of previous central heating systems. You may to invest in a few supplemental electric space heaters until you’ve done your insulation, in case the HP can’t manage.

I had terrible problems with my EPS/changeover switch. I wanted and paid for something that would power some or all of the house through the panels or battery if the grid failed. It seemed to work but while commissioning it the installer zapped about 10 devices in the house. The power supply while in EPS mode seemed to be ‘dirty’. Still working my way through replacing the fried devices. And won’t be using EPS again any time soon.

Well done again, enjoy the installation and post those pics when ready!

mp3guy · 21-03-2021 9:52pm

Coltrane wrote: »

Congrats on a great setup and thanks for sharing!

I would recommend you look next at a heat pump. It’ll cost you much more all-in than your oil, even allowing for your solar-surplus, but will be the right thing for the environment and an interesting project for an enthusiast! It will also tend to focus your mind on more insulation/air tightness. Don’t worry overly about which comes first (insulation or HP). I put an A2W into a very old, largely I insulated house when I bought it and haven’t been too shocked by the bills and the comfort levels have been incomparable to the too hot/too cold regime of previous central heating systems. You may to invest in a few supplemental electric space heaters until you’ve done your insulation, in case the HP can’t manage.

I had terrible problems with my EPS/changeover switch. I wanted and paid for something that would power some or all of the house through the panels or battery if the grid failed. It seemed to work but while commissioning it the installer zapped about 10 devices in the house. The power supply while in EPS mode seemed to be ‘dirty’. Still working my way through replacing the fried devices. And won’t be using EPS again any time soon.

Well done again, enjoy the installation and post those pics when ready!

Heatpump is definitely the next item on the list, but a few years down the line as the existing boiler is only a year and a half old. Happy to take a financial hit on it, even if it reverses most of my PV generation gains. Will be approaching carbon neutrality then

I had some initial troubles with my EPS also, turns out it was just lots of tiny little amounts of earth leakage adding up across the house and numerous outbuildings tripping a 30mA RCBO between the EPS and my consumer unit. Had to trade it up for a 300mA, but it doesn't bypass the more sensitive ones protecting the house.

holdfast · 21-03-2021 10:37pm

Insulate for sure before fitting a heat pump and size it right in relation to the heat load. It will save money and more important prevent short cycling

quietsailor · 24-03-2021 10:58pm

mp3guy wrote: »

TL;DR I've almost completed the install of my domestic single phase solar PV system that provides.

Thank you for such a comprehensive write up, that's a great explanation

Spocker · 25-03-2021 12:20am

Thats a great system mp3guy, and this is the icing on the cake :pac: :

mp3guy wrote: »

I've also automated some cryptocurrency mining machines (~1kW) to only turn on when there is excess power from PV or when the battery in already empty to avoid wasting stored battery energy.

unkel · 25-03-2021 2:04pm

I missed that bit about the miners!

I wouldn't do that by the way. Mining is insanely profitable at the moment, even if you'd pay €0.50 / kWh. Either sell those rigs at inflated prices and use the proceeds towards your system, or keep mining with them and use the mining proceeds to fund your system. You can't lose here

(except when you keep your rigs and only run them for a few hours here and there)

mp3guy · 25-03-2021 2:26pm

unkel wrote: »

I missed that bit about the miners!

I wouldn't do that by the way. Mining is insanely profitable at the moment, even if you'd pay €0.50 / kWh. Either sell those rigs at inflated prices and use the proceeds towards your system, or keep mining with them and use the mining proceeds to fund your system. You can't lose here

(except when you keep your rigs and only run them for a few hours here and there)

I happened to already have the rigs for other purposes so took the opportunity. We have a water treatment shed that needs to stay above freezing in the winter, so rather than put a small oil filled radiator in there I'll be putting one of the rigs in. It's 2021, why put in an electric rad when you can put in a radiator that does sums that people pay you for?

Niceday20 · 25-03-2021 6:18pm

mp3guy wrote: »

TL;DR I've almost completed the install of my domestic single phase solar PV system that provides:

- 16kWp of DC power.
- 11kWp of AC power.
- 18.9kWh of battery storage.
- 6kWp export limitation.
- Full property 20A backup power from battery and PV panels.
- 14MWh of energy per annum.

I started with a "smaller" system (10.24kWp DC / 9.2kWp AC, 12.6kWh battery) but have the deposit paid to add a third array that's facing WNW plus more storage. Once this is finished I'll have 5.76kWp SSW, 4.48kWp ESE and 5.76kWp WNW installed on an outbuilding. Here's the parts list:

50x
1x
1x
32x
3x

I went with these panels as they've a good warranty and power degradation guarantee. I also live very near to the coast and the all-glass structure is ideal for salty sea mist we get oftentimes.

The SolaX inverter is ideal as it supports a large amount of high voltage battery storage, export limiting and also backup power supply if the grid goes down. I have a changeover switch ahead of my main consumer unit that I flick over if power goes and voila, power from stored energy and PV for everything (e.g. our well pump). It supports setting one max battery discharge level for normal grid tied mode and another for backup power mode, so I can always keep some energy in the tank in case of a power cut. It can also harvest excess energy from the second inverter to charge the batteries like a typical AC-coupled battery.

The SolarEdge inverter is being used for its massive DC oversizing capability, I'll have the East/West panels on this inverter. It also supports export limiting so I have the option of using the functionality on both inverters to be doubly safe.

We have a 220L hot water tank so will have plenty of capacity to soak up excess for showers with the diverter and my EV has a 64kWh battery too for even more self usage.

We currently use about 9MWh of energy per annum. Eventually when we switch to having two EVs and replace our OFCH with a heatpump, I'd imagine most if not all of the excess I'll be generating will get used up. As it stands, we have a fully electric kitchen plus some other high load devices that will drain 8.5kWh of battery power by 9pm most days so extra battery plus a "late in the evening" west array is crucial.

The install for this will have taken 5 days labor in total, including 2-3 electricians each day and about half a dozen roofers. If anyone wants to know my installer you can reach out via PM. No chance I was DIYing this, haven't the time or expertise. For the craic I did price up a comparable system on midsummer.ie and it was breaking €20k easily with just the main parts, no mounting, cabling etc... so I did pay more than that certainly but not multiples of. I did also get the grant.

I've setup quite a serious amount of automation on top of this to optimize things, for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day. Or if I'm exporting power and forgot to plug in my EV, I'll get a notification on my phone to remind me. I've also automated some cryptocurrency mining machines (~1kW) to only turn on when there is excess power from PV or when the battery in already empty to avoid wasting stored battery energy. I'm planning to add a destratification pump to my hot water cylinder to allow the Eddi to dump even more power into the hot water tank as my immersion heater is only half length. I'm considering adding wind forecast-based pre-emptive battery charge up from the grid on the eve of weather warnings too.

One thing I noticed over the winter just gone is battery temperature is important, namely keeping them above 0-5c. I'll need to build a mechanism to ensure this next winter (as they're in the outbuilding), I'm thinking a removable enclosure that I can put a small thermostatic heater (500W) in to keep them from shutting down.

With a generous FIT of 5~7c, I might actually break even in the lifetime of this investment (everything is warrantied 20-30 years), but I also might fall short by a couple grand. And I'm ok with that. I'd consider myself an enthusiast. I want the "comfort" features like backup power. Can you put a price on the piece of mind of having power during a storm in the winter with a young family? And I have the added benefit of saving many tonnes of CO2 per year. Even when the Irish grid is eventually fully decarbonised, I'll still be more efficient as I'll generate power on site with not nearly as much loss as the grid has in transmission of power.

Will add photos when its finally complete, should be within a month. Happy to answer any questions people may have.

Thanks for you detailed write up.

Very interested in "I've setup quite a serious amount of automation on top of this to optimize things, for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day."

What's involved in setting the automation up?

mp3guy · 25-03-2021 6:25pm

Niceday20 wrote: »

Thanks for you detailed write up.

Very interested in "I've setup quite a serious amount of automation on top of this to optimize things, for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day."

What's involved in setting the automation up?

I'm using https://www.home-assistant.io/ as the main engine behind it all. You have to get your hands dirty with Python, yaml and Jinja when writing custom integrations for devices that don't have anything pre-existing.

unkel · 26-03-2021 1:03am

mp3guy wrote: »

I happened to already have the rigs for other purposes so took the opportunity. We have a water treatment shed that needs to stay above freezing in the winter, so rather than put a small oil filled radiator in there I'll be putting one of the rigs in. It's 2021, why put in an electric rad when you can put in a radiator that does sums that people pay you for?

Tell me about it. I saved a small fortune on my gas bill this winter

My point is that it is a very inefficient use of your mining rig. Either sell it for ludicrous money, or mine with it 24/7 (preferable using the heat obviously)

mp3guy · 26-03-2021 1:29am

Well I can't sell them as I use them for other things. And I don't want them draining the green energy I capture in my batteries either.

unkel · 26-03-2021 2:16am

mp3guy wrote: »

Well I can't sell them as I use them for other things. And I don't want them draining the green energy I capture in my batteries either.

Perhaps a bit of topic, but interesting all the same

what miners do you have, what hardware and what do you mine?

mp3guy · 26-03-2021 10:17am

unkel wrote: »

Perhaps a bit of topic, but interesting all the same what miners do you have, what hardware and what do you mine?

Just a few modern GPUs, 3090, 2080 Ti and 1660 Ti. Ethash. The machines are suspended most of the time. They wake up every 20 minutes to check for surplus power / empty battery and run for however long.

unkel · 26-03-2021 9:39pm

Nice. If I were you I'd put some effort into finding a way to run them 24/7 and mine when you don't need them for your other stuff. Not only can they run mostly directly on PV or on cheap environmentally friendly night rate, they will also generate the revenue for you to do more renewable / environmental stuff. Think about it, double whammy!

That 3090 alone makes about €2,500 net profit per year...

Northumberland · 30-03-2021 6:44pm

I read the description of your system carefully and with a lot of interest, it really looks very good, the sort of thing that i have dreamt of. But I have a rather nice smaller system here in Ireland that serves me well, 4 Pylontech batteries, Solis Hybrid inverter, (and a second small inverter for a couple of large panels on a SW facing roof side).

The thing I wanted to ask you - I read "for example the system will automatically decide whether or not to charge up the battery on night rate based on the solar forecast for the next day" - I am a long way I am afraid from doing that automatically, but would quite like to do it manually for a while - Question - where do you get your solar forecast for the next day from?

mp3guy · 30-03-2021 7:33pm

I use https://solcast.com/. It's an API, so you can't browse it like a weather forecast.

Northumberland · 01-04-2021 12:49pm

Thanks for that info, I 'signed up' and find it absolutely brilliant, it predicts my past, and most probably future, generation to within 100 watts, uncannily accurate. Wish there was an easy way to automate a link between that and my Solis Hybrid inverter, but dont think I will be getting in to Python programming, although that would be a challenge! Thanks again and good luck

mp3guy · 13-04-2021 5:10pm

And here it is

slave1 · 13-04-2021 5:16pm

Nice!!

KCross · 13-04-2021 7:26pm

mp3guy wrote: »

And here it is

Room for plenty more! :pac:

I see the transformer is casting a shadow. Does it affect it much or is that facing a direction where it doesnt matter much?

mp3guy · 13-04-2021 7:30pm

KCross wrote: »

Room for plenty more! :pac:

I see the transformer is casting a shadow. Does it affect it much or is that facing a direction where it doesnt matter much?

That's a reflection, not a shadow. But even on the summer solstice it will barely cast a shadow on the edge of the array at sunset. Have optimizers on E/W anyway!

mp3guy · 24-05-2021 10:28am

Just got word today ESB have acknowledged receipt of my new Form NC6, to dispell any myths about > 6kW installs with export limiting.

KCross · 24-05-2021 12:27pm

mp3guy wrote: »

Just got word today ESB have acknowledged receipt of my new Form NC6, to dispell any myths about > 6kW installs with export limiting.

Which myth exactly?

Were some people saying you cant install >6kWp and you are saying you can as long as your inverter is <=6kWp... is that what you mean?

unkel · 24-05-2021 1:36pm

KCross wrote: »

Which myth exactly?

Were some people saying you cant install >6kWp and you are saying you can as long as your inverter is <=6kWp... is that what you mean?

I'm a bit confused myself. He has 11kW in two inverters but both can limit the export from what I understand from the OP

Not sure what they do with the NC6 forms BTW, I get the impression that they just acknowledge receipt of them and then just file them away without taking a closer look

mp3guy · 24-05-2021 2:36pm

KCross wrote: »

Which myth exactly?

Were some people saying you cant install >6kWp and you are saying you can as long as your inverter is <=6kWp... is that what you mean?

The myth purveying everywhere that you can't install inverter capacity above 6kW for 1P and 11kW for 3P without going the heavy duty NC5 direction, I see it all the time. My point is you can if you have an export limit.

unkel · 24-05-2021 5:06pm

I know you're correct, but I'm not so sure if you have proven that point, mp3guy. The ESB have just acknowledged they received your NC6 form, that's all isn't it? They haven't approved your install or anything like that.

mp3guy · 24-05-2021 6:32pm

unkel wrote: »

I know you're correct, but I'm not so sure if you have proven that point, mp3guy. The ESB have just acknowledged they received your NC6 form, that's all isn't it? They haven't approved your install or anything like that.

So you're suggesting despite the fact I've informed them of the specifications of my installation and that they've acknowledged these specifications and come back to me with no problems, they assuredly have an issue with it? Not to mention the fact that even before my initial 9kW install began they confirmed via email to my installer it was acceptable and the initial NC6 also passed without issue?

This is literally the channel the ESB provide for this, it even says on the micro generator page, after you've made your application:

Do not proceed if you have been notified by ESB Networks (within the specified time-frame) that you cannot proceed with installation of the micro-generator.

If I had to guess, I'd say up until now it has been a combination of people simply not sizing arrays bigger than 6kW, or being scared off by murky information being circulated around the topic of this limit.

unkel · 24-05-2021 7:31pm

You're assuming that their confirmation of receipt of the form is the same as them having checked it out thoroughly and have approved it. I'm just saying I would not assume that!

idc · 23-07-2021 8:15am

Mp3guy with the size of your system what the lowest you've generated on your worst day? is the array big that you could go off grid?

unkel · 23-07-2021 11:20am

I can answer that last question: no

You can't go off grid with only solar PV in Ireland (and no backup) unless your PV array and your battery are extremely big and / or you have tiny electricity needs.

From personal experience, in an average to large household with a 8kwp array and a 10kWh battery, you could go without consuming a single unit from the grid for a couple of weeks if you get weather like we have now.

idc · 23-07-2021 11:59am

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117650832#Comment_117650832

I can accept that for most users but mp3guys is the largest home setup that anyone has on boards so far hence curious how much it generates on the worst day. I use 10-18kWh a day so curious how far that is off his worst day of production

mp3guy · 23-07-2021 12:21pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117649984#Comment_117649984

What month? And no, mainly because my wife likes to use the electric power shower which pulls 9kW, above what my battery can output. During Summer otherwise, yeah probably for a while. But don't have any good reason to go down that route.

idc · 23-07-2021 12:39pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117651140#Comment_117651140

Month doesn't matter - what is the lowest you ever produced on a single day?

unkel · 23-07-2021 2:44pm

Well, well, well under 1kWh even with a very large system

the_amazing_raisin · 23-07-2021 3:03pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117650832#Comment_117650832

Out of curiosity, if you had proper V2G capability in your EVs would that make some difference?

It'd be interesting with the likes of the Ioniq 5 if there's a charger similar to a Zappi which will not only charge your car from excess solar, but will also supply your house from the battery if it sees power being drawn from the grid

SD_DRACULA · 23-07-2021 3:48pm

It is almost released: https://wallbox.com/en_catalog/quasar-dc-charger

Price is a very ouch £4500 or thereabouts.

Also the car must support bidirectional charging, I was chatting to them and currently the only supported EV is the new leaf.

the_amazing_raisin · 23-07-2021 3:51pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117649984#Comment_117649984

The problem with going off grid in Ireland with only solar PV is Irish seasons

Off grid systems can't just match the generated kWh to the house's consumption because unless you can't store energy generated in summer for winter (unless you've a handy lake for pumped hydro)

I did the math some time ago with a similar sized array to mp3guy and while I could in theory generate enough kWh annually to match my usage, I still fall short in winter due to the combination of higher demand and lower output

Now if there's a semi decent FIT tariff, you can probably export enough in summer to offset your bills in winter so you're not paying any bills annually, but that's not the same as off grid

The other thing to watch out for off grid is instant demand. If your house is trying to pull 9kW, but you only have 5kW being generated from solar, then normally you'd pull from the batteries (if they have enough energy) or the grid. Without the grid, you'll need a bigger battery to match the required discharge rate, and likely a generator to give you on demand power when you can generate it from solar

unkel · 23-07-2021 6:48pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117652505#Comment_117652505

LOL, that system is not new, that's ancient! It was developed after the nuclear disaster in Japan 10 years ago. It only works with the obsolete Japanese CHAdeMO DC charging system.

unkel · 23-07-2021 6:50pm

Fun fact:

The average Irish household consumes 3,500 kWh per year

A 10 panel or so PV system south facing in a reasonably good area for PV in Ireland produces 3,500 kWh per year

SD_DRACULA · 23-07-2021 7:17pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117653346#Comment_117653346

Nope, they have a CCS version in the works but they're waiting for CCS to be officially approved for bidirectional charging which should be this year, just like FIT 😂

unkel · 23-07-2021 7:58pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117653462#Comment_117653462

It was actually me who posted that in the EV forum. About 3-4 years ago 😂

We're still waiting...

the_amazing_raisin · 23-07-2021 8:23pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117653350#Comment_117653350

Aye, but I'm not an average consumer, heat pump, electric cooking and 2 EVs, consumption is more like 8000-12000kWh per year 😅

My 16kWp Domestic System

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