Does solar work in Dunedin?
This is the question on peoples minds when they first enquire about installing solar on their property in Dunedin.
In order answer this question accurately, Dunedin Solar has been pulling data from the first system that was installed in the local area.
The system consists of 23 QCELL Peak Duo G9 375w panels, running through a 6kW Fronius Primo inverter.
The solar array is configured with 8 panels on the East aspect of the roof, 8 panels on West and 7 panels to the North. Each solar design varies and is tailored to the needs of the client.
Many people are under the impression that you must have a North facing roof for solar to work at its optimum, however, this design was created for a family who works 9 till 5. By arranging the panels on all 3 aspects of the roof, power will be generated not only at the peak of the day but also in the early morning through into the evening. This allows them to consume the power being created, making the most of their system. Although the system consists of 8.6kW of panels, because of the design, not all panels will be producing power at the same time, this therefore allows us to team it with a 6kW inverter.
How much money has been saved since installing solar?
Since installing the system in August 2021 (5 months of data) the family have saved $790.46
How are the savings calculated?
The total savings are calculated by not only looking at what power you have sold back to your electricity provider but also the power that is consumed directly from what your solar system is creating.
The families electricity provider is Ecotricity. They currently purchase their power at a rate of 0.36 cents per kW and any excess power created gets brought back at an export rate of 0.1057 per kW. Therefore, since solar was installed on their property, they have saved $476.62 by consuming 1324.13 kW of power at the time of consumption and $313.84 by exporting 2969.15 kW of unused power back to the grid.
What has the system been producing?
The graph below highlights the monthly production, the yellow area of the bar shows what has been produced and directly consumed by the household and the grey area shows what has been exported back to the grid.
How we monitor the systems production?
The Fronius smart meter is a piece of technology that gets installed into the switch board and is connected to the inverter. This therefore allowing you to see in real time, your power usage, generation and export. All information is readily available in the Fronius solarweb app, the app then stores all this information for 3 days or if you opt to upgrade to premium you can back date and compare data from when the system was first installed.
So… Does solar work in Dunedin?
In short – YES!
Since installing solar on this property, the family have saved significant amount of money and will continue for many years to come.
By using the return of investment calculator on our website, we are able to forecast savings of up $53 000 over the lifetime of the system and the family will have it paid off within 11 years of install, making it a worthwhile investment.