Sunny Cold April Best Solar Panel Generation - Maximum Electricity Output from PV Solar Panels

One bonus of the cold weather we have experienced in the UK recently is that the cold improves the generation from solar panels by increasing their efficiency. Today has been a perfect example, a very sunny day but with below average temperatures of around 8C.

The net outcome has been the best ever electricity generation from our solar PV panels. Temperature does make a massive difference and a cold sunny day like today has generated more electricity than any day in 2012 which is pretty incredible when we are still 2 months away from the longest day.

Just imagine how much solar electricity you could generate from a very cold sunny day in June when the sun is above the horizon for so much more of the day.

The electricity generated today was 21.4kWh which is the first time our solar panels have breached the 21kWh level. In 2012 we had a few days that hit 20.5kWh but clearly the effect of temperature on the solar panel performance has outweighed the effect of the longer days in June and July.

The electricity generated per kWp of panels works out at over 7kWh per kWp which is quite an impressive performance and obviously is improved by our location and orientation of SSW facing solar panels.



Sunny Cold April Best Solar Panel Generation - Maximum Electricity Output from PV Solar Panels

Solar Panels India - Rural Electricity Generation by Solar PV

I recently returned from a trip to India travelling from Delhi to Agra and Pushkar then back to Delhi. Overall given the amount of sun in India I was surprised to see how few solar panels were installed. This was about the only set of Solar Panels we found in India that were in a nature reserve powering a school and other buildings.

Interestingly they were on a rotation mechanism so that they could turn to follow the direction of the sun giving better electricity generation. The downside of solar power generation in India is the temperature which reduces the efficiency of the solar panels. At least in the UK the lower temperatures compensate for the lesser amount of sun so




Solar Panels India - Rural Electricity Generation by Solar PV

 

Solar Panels India - Rural Electricity Generation by Solar PV

 

March 2013 Solar Panel Output - Cloudy days ruin Electricity Generation!

Having returned from holiday and found the weather to still be cold and damp it was no surprise to discover that the electricity from our solar panels in March 2013 was massively lower than in 2012.

The total generation shows the full horror!

 

March 2012 : 310 kWh

 

March 2013 : 173 kWh

Yes that is 137kWh less for the month than we obtained in 2012 which equates to over £60 in lost FIT income as a result. The SAP estimate was 210kWh and the PVGIS estimate 241kWh so this was a spectactually poor result compared to the estimates.

The total for the first 3 months of 2013 shows an equally bad picture with 376kWh compared to 599kWh in 2012 giving £100 less in FiT income.

You can see the full breakdown of 2013 Solar Panel electricity generation compared here



March 2013 Solar Panel Output - Cloudy days ruin Electricity Generation!

Solar Output March 2013 Compared to 2012

After such a poor December, January and Feb, there were high hopes for March 2013 to be a far better month for the solar panels to generate some good amounts of electricity. Sadly these have been savagely dashed and March 2013 looks to be almost 50% down on March 2012.

Solar Output March 2013 Compared to 2012

While we have had one half of the weather that could give some very good solar panel outputs - the cold - we have been completely missing the critical part with a total lack of sun this month. As will be seen on some of the outputs at the end of the month a sunny day with temperatures of 2C will give much better electricity generation from Solar PV panels than a hot sunny day at 25C.

March 2012 was very sunny but also quite warm so sunny days this month with the freezing temperatures should give much better output. Sadly the number of sunny days has been severely lacking!

FIT Increase April 2013 - New Feed in Tariff Rates from April 2013?

What is the FIT Feed in Tariff Increase for April 2013?

The RPI figure for December has just been announced at 3.1% which means that the Feed in Tariff rates (FIT) will go up by this amount on 1st April 2013.


new rate Feed in Tariff rates (FIT) from 1st April 2013

Last year the rate increased from 43.3p to 45.4p per kWh of electricity generated and to 3.2p for exported electricity (deemed at 50%)

The new rate Feed in Tariff rates (FIT) from 1st April 2013 will be 46.8p and the export rate will be 3.3p.

2011 43.3p
2012 45.4p
2013 46.8p

With the 50% deemed export this means the main FIT rate is equivalent to 48.5p per kWh of solar PV electricity generated.

Another terrible solar month

At the mid point of march the solar power generated is looking as poor as that for February and January and way below 2012. However on closer inspection the generation to date of 90kwh for march is identical to last year so fingers crossed that the remainder of the month matches last year and hits the 300kwh target.

Terrible Solar Start to 2013: Comparison to Winter 2012

Our solar panels were installed mid way through November 2011 so we have now had 3 full months of year on year comparisons. With some really cloudy dull days they don't make very impressive reading!

Dec 2011 : 105
Dec 2012 : 92

Jan 2012 : 114
Jan 2013 : 89

Feb 2012 : 190
Feb 2013 : 118

Total for 3 months:

2012: 409 kWh
2013: 299 kWh

As can be seen on the month by month solar panel system stats the generation for Feb 2013 was badly hit by cloudy days with under 2kWh generation of solar power. In 2012 only 3 days generated less than 2kWh but in Feb 2013 this jumped to 12 days and in Feb 2012 there were 14 days with more than 10kWh generated but in 2013 this had dropped to only 9 days.

The combination of these meant that Feb 2013 was vastly lower for solar electricity generation than Feb 2012.

The only consolation is that these are the worst months of the year and a 25% lower generation won't make as much difference as a very poor summer.



solar power Comparison to Winter 2012