I’ve got a quote for 17 Jinko cheetah 370 panels plus a 5kw Fronius Symo 5kw inverter. $ 5660. We use between 4 and 5kw per day. Have a north facing sectioned roof and we are going to utilise the east end as well. The west end has significant tree cover so we wont use that.
I am concerned that as the sun leaves the east end in shade that the north facing panels will then under produce if it is an inline system.
I have quotes for Endphase but it works out $2000 more expensive
I am replacing a smaller 1.7kw system that is 10 years old.
What do you think?,
Hi @Bluefish
Is the 1.7kW system no longer working? 1.7kW should cover your usage easily, whereas a 6kW system would produce 25 - 30kWh a day in Perth. If you do get the new system it’s important that you get a good feed-in-tariff because you will be exporting most of your energy.
In answer to your question, the east and north array will have their own MPPT tracker on the Fronius inverter, so they will not under produce because you have two arrays on different roofs. You will likely get a bit higher generation with an Enphase system, but given you will be producing far more power than you need anyway, it seems hardly worth paying more to send more into the grid.
Hope that helps
Marty
If you are upgrading to a much larger system you might want to have most of the panels facing west to take advantage of the new solar feed-in tariffs.
The DEBS rates commence from 6 November 2020:
Electricity exported between the 3pm to 9pm peak time will earn 10 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh);
Electricity exported at other times will earn 3c/kWh.
https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/energy-policy-wa/energy-buyback-schemes
I am just North of the river in the eastern end of Perth’s older suburbs. I have had synergy quote for 17 panels then Termico say they can’t fit any where near that number.
We are on the high feed in tarrif of 47c which ends in November and pay around $25 twice a year so far, but need to install and use aircon in the near future which will ramp up our expenses.
Hi Marty,
Thank you for your feedback. At present the system I have produces 4Kw per day on average across the year. The best was 6Kw between November and January and the worst 2Kw this winter.
I have a quote to add Enphase panels of up to 1.7Kw to what I have. These are individually inverted and can feed into the house and work alongside what is currently here. I would then only pay around $3,000 for the system. This system would go on the remaining north facing space and the east.
At present my system feeds directly into the grid and it seems as though I pay for everything I use. Surely I can change this to feed the house and only export what is not used, but no one is really sure.
I would appreciate your advice.
Kind regards
Bluefish
Hi @Bluefish
Your system would not be exporting directly to the grid. It would feed into your house first, and anything above what you are consuming in your house would be exported. The same will be true when you add more panels. What makes you think it is going straight to the grid?
I think adding a small Enphase system makes sense. $3000 seems reasonably for that.
Cheers
Marty
Hi Marty,
The synergy invoices have no detail of energy consumed that we have produced. Look at the screen shot below.
See what I mean?
Our very generous net feed in tarrif ends in the middle of October so that is why I want to expand the system.
Kind regards
Sophie
Hi @Bluefish
That’s right, you don’t see the solar you consume on your bill. It doesn’t run through your meter, it goes straight into your house.
To see how much you’re using in your house, you can check your solar generation on your inverter, and minus what you are exporting to the grid.
Cheers
Marty
Hi Marty,
I’ve got a quote I’m pretty happy with, but the inverter seems a bit pricy.
SMA Flex Sunny Tripower 5kW as I have 3 phase electricity.
The whole quote covers
16 Jinko cheetah panels,
The SMA inverter
Removing my smaller old system
Total $5300
I’m keen to hear your opinion.
I already have an SMA already and have no issues with it.
Also, is there a market for second hand systems?
Kind regards
Sophie