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Muntanui goes solar

6/5/2013

4 Comments

 
On 2 April 2013, the Muntanui 5kW Solar Power Station was officially commissioned and came on line. It is now supplying power, not only to Muntanui, but also the surrounding properties and anyone else connected to the New Zealand power grid.

It was a long time in the planning and execution. We placed orders for equipment back in October 2012. The solar panels arrived in late November and the inverter and cabling in January. Installation of the panels and inverter took a couple of days in late January and then there was a wait for the power company to supply the new import/export meter. In the meantime, we arranged for power cables to be run through a trench from the shed to the house.

Here are a few technical details:

22 x 230W PV-TJ230GA6 Mitsubishi Solar Panels
1 x SMA SB5000TL Solarworld 5kW Inverter

Our average power consumption at this time of year is around 13kWh per day. Working on the basis of approximately six hours of useful daylight, this gives a required system size of 2.2kW. We decided to go for the most we could afford now and sell excess power to the grid, hence the 5.0kW installed. It was not cheap and certainly nowhere near as cheap as systems being offered for sale in Australia these days. But, as with most things, you get what you pay for. We have Japanese manufactured panels and the inverter is from Solarworld in Germany, both good quality and reliable suppliers.

We missed out on all of the great weather in Feb/Mar and, as you can see from the graph below, production is already slowing down as we get into winter. Our second day of production was a satisfying 27.55kWh.  We have already produced a total of 400kWh and look forward to celebrating our first 1MWh in about seven weeks time -- depending upon the weather, of course.

We haven't yet received our first power bill to confirm import/export prices. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

Now we shall be looking at ways of reducing our existing usage to enable us to export as much as possible back to the grid.
Picture
Muntanui power production from 02/04/13 to 04/05/13 (the red dashed line is calculated average usage)
Posted by Farmer Wan
4 Comments
BLT
9/5/2013 03:04:03 pm

Very impressive / impressed! Good on you. Would love to do it here to. Looking forward to see how it works out for you. Funny thing is, your average power usage it the same as ours. How many hours of sunlight per day are you averaging?

Reply
Farmer Wan link
10/5/2013 03:14:50 pm

We're getting around 7 hours of sun at the moment, but it disappears behind the hill at around 3:30pm and getting earlier every day, roll on next summer!

Reply
Juddy
6/7/2013 12:43:48 pm

Some good stats there, we got a small system installed in Perth in December 1.9 panels 1.6 inverter. Will hit 2 mwh next week, avg just over 9 a day.

Reply
Farmer Wan link
9/7/2013 02:52:19 am

Hi mate, we're averaging about 6kWh per day at the moment, low angle of the sun and not much of it. We're looking forward to cranking it in summer. Hope you're all well.

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    About Ewan and Niki

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    Farmer Wan

    Scottish mechanical engineer with a deep and abiding passion for good food. Outstanding cook. Builder of lots of stuff. Cattle whisperer. Connoisseur of beer. A lover rather than a fighter.

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    Farmer Nik

    Kiwi writer and broadcaster who hates cabbage, even though she knows it's good for her. Chook wrangler. Grower of food and flowers. Maker of fine preserves. Lover of dancing and wine. Definitely a fighter.

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