August 2015 Worst Solar Month

After recording the numbers for August 2015 it's clear that it has been the worst summer month for our solar panel electricity generation since we had our solar PV panels installed in 2011.

The total electricity generated was only 307kWh compared to 366kWh last year and 405kWh in 2013. I think the combination of both cloudy days and rain has caused this but on the flip side July and June 2015 were very good months for electricity generation.



August 2015 Worst Solar Month

May 2015 Solar output

The data for May 2015 has now been loaded to the site. Another good month and 2015 has so far been very good for solar PV electricity generation.

Tesla Batteries for Home Electricity Storage

It looks like the dream of being able to store solar electricity to use overnight might be coming a step closer to reality.

Tesla have announced new battery technology that may start to make it viable.

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Perfect Day for Maximum Solar Power Generation

Today has been one of those spring or summer days that is ideal for getting the maximum power from your solar panels but not for being outside.



Perfect Day for Maximum Solar Power Generation

The sun has been out all day with pure blue skies but the temperature has been fairly low with a cool breeze too. These are perfect conditions for getting the maximum power generated from solar panels as it keeps their temperature down which improves electricity generation.

When solar panels get hot their efficiency drops so they produce less electricity. On a day like today with a cooler breeze and lower temperatures we can get over 21kWh of electricity produced which equates to over 7kWh per kWp of solar panels.

Solar Data for Feb & March 2015

I've now loaded the data for Feb and March 2015. Both fairly average months

http://solar-panels-review.321web.co.uk/yearly-solar-panel-stats.php

No snow this year so no loss of production from panels being covered

http://solar-panels-review.321web.co.uk/yearly-solar-panel-stats.php

Solar Data January 2015

Sorry folks for the delayed service but the solar panel data for January 2015 has now been loaded.

http://solar-panels-review.321web.co.uk/yearly-solar-panel-stats.php

We've not had any snow this year but January 2015 has only just matched January 2012 when we did have snow settled on the panels.

We generated 112kWh of electricity in January, just below the 120kWh we got last year.

FIT Rates - New Feed in Tariff Rates from April 2015

The Feed In Tariff Rates (FIT) are uprated every year in line with inflation (Retail Price Index, RPI measure) and the increase is based on the RPI figure for the previous December and applied in the April the following year.

In December 2014 the RPI inflation rate was 1.6%, dropping from 2% the previous month.

This means that the FIT Feed in Tariff payments will be increased by 1.6% as of April 2015. 

The current FIT rate is 48.07p per kWh generated so the new rate in April 2015 will be 48.84p per kWh. The existing export rate is 3.39p per kWh so the new rate from April 2015 will rise to 3.44p per kWh.

Other FIT rates apply to solar panels installed from March 2012. The Feed in tariff rates above apply to those solar panels installed prior to March 2012.

Main FIT rate from April 2015 will be 48.84p per kWh

Export FIT rate in April 2015 will be 3.44p per kWh

FIT Rates from April 2015