Small FIT Applications to be Accepted Starting 14 Dec.

[Right from the OPA Website]

December 4, 2012: Update on Small FIT Application window

• The OPA will start accepting applications under the FIT Program from Small FIT proponents on December 14, 2012. To prepare for the launch of the new phase of this program, the FIT Program website will be shut down for maintenance from 3 p.m. on December 13 until the opening of the application period on December 14.  

This is for projects less than 500 kW. My understanding is that this window of applications will be for 200 MW of projects. I don't know if they will close the window again at a set date or if when they have granted contract offers for 200 MW. In any case it is good news. There are many many companies and people who have been waiting for this. I encourage you to read the Minister's Directive - it covers many clarifications to solar on rural lands, "stranded" solar projects, community and aboriginal support programs, etc.

Power Generation Until End of Nov 2012

Well, there is not much to say other than it has been a very dreary few months and my table of kWhr/month shows it. October and November have been the least sunny of the last 3 years. And in the first 5 days of December my system has only produced 22 kWhr. But hey, who's complaining? Not me... look, we haven't even finished December yet and this year has produced 5974 kWhr compared to 5623 kWhr for all of 2010. Not bad. Let's see what December brings sun, cloud, and snow-wise. Dec 2010 had snow and grey skies whereas Dec 2011 was very much snow free though rather grey. My prediction is grey and little snow in Dec 2012.

Sum - Daily kWhr	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		170	256	426
Feb		275	323	598
Mar		561	569	1130
Apr		493	626	1119
May		534	758	1292
Jun		707	715	1422
Jul		769	762	1531
Aug	164	658	720	1542
Sep	438	528	600	1566
Oct	450	391	338	1179
Nov	355	316	286	958
Dec	78	220	22	320
Total Result	1486	5623	5974	13082
as of:	2012-12-05

Some Basic Parameters of the PV System to Date

There are some handy parameters that can be used to estimate the power or revenue generation of a PV system. Often people will take the kW of the system and multiply it by the expected parameter to get expected value such as kW hours per year or dollars per year. These numbers are relatively easy to calculate. Ideally people are using the most realistic values possible if they want to estimate their expected outcome.

An example is, how many kilowatt hours should I generate from my 5 kW system on my roof?

First, here are my parameters for our 4.9 kW DC system [5 kW string inverter]:

Variables	kW	Dollars
Mean [4.9 kW]	15.81	$12.68
Per [1 kW]	3.23	$2.59
Min [4.9 kW]	0.05	$0.04
Max [4.9 kW]	35.13	$28.17

In this case, applying my parameters to a hypothetical 5 kW DC system, we could estimate mean daily kW production over the year to be 5 kW * 3.23 kW per kW = 16.15 kW per day. Multiply that your FIT contract price and this would be your daily income averaged over the year. 

You can use the values above to estimate your highest and lowest income as $28.17 / 4.9 * your DC kW.

Oh, and you can see that you'll have some bad days too - $0.04 / 4.9 kW will give you $0.01/kW on dark snowy, snow-covered panel days. 

Revenue to Date

A quick post to provide my monthly income to date from the solar panels. Movember is not complete - it is just to 24 Nov 2012.

Sum - Revenue, daily	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		$136.10	$205.18	$341.29
Feb		$220.57	$258.66	$479.22
Mar		$449.77	$456.57	$906.34
Apr		$395.30	$501.84	$897.14
May		$428.51	$607.72	$1,036.24
Jun		$567.19	$573.10	$1,140.30
Jul		$616.75	$611.45	$1,228.19
Aug	$131.53	$528.09	$577.23	$1,236.85
Sep	$351.28	$423.49	$480.85	$1,255.62
Oct	$360.90	$313.65	$270.70	$945.25
Nov	$285.03	$253.69	$193.78	$732.50
Dec	$62.74	$176.31		$239.05
Total Result	$1,191.47	$4,509.43	$4,737.09	$10,437.99
as of:	2012-11-24

Note how the revenue for the dark and dreary October was lower than previous years. With only 6 sun days left for November, I hope it picks up a bit or it will be another low income month.

Results to August 2012

Our solar PV system has been installed for two complete years as of 24 August, it will be the end of September when we have 2 years of full monthly data. Here are my results to date. First I show the monthly revenue in Table 1. August 2010 data (and revenue) is not complete since the system was connected on 24 August.
Comparing 2011 and 2012 months January to August, we see that in particular January, April, May were good months. Interestingly, even after a beautiful summer this year (albeit with very low precipitation), June, July, and August there was only about $50 difference between 2011 and 2012 these 3 months combined. Clearly it was the difference between the winter and spring months that is making 2012 a good solar year for me.

Table 1. Monthly revenue totals for 4.9 kWe solar PV system.

Sum - Revenue, daily	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		$136.10	$205.18	$341.29
Feb		$220.57	$258.66	$479.22
Mar		$449.77	$456.57	$906.34
Apr		$395.30	$501.84	$897.14
May		$428.51	$607.72	$1,036.24
Jun		$567.19	$573.10	$1,140.30
Jul		$616.75	$611.45	$1,228.19
Aug	$131.53	$528.09	$577.23	$1,236.85
Sep	$351.28	$423.49		$774.77
Oct	$360.90	$313.65		$674.55
Nov	$285.03	$253.69		$538.72
Dec	$62.74	$176.31		$239.05
Total Result	$1,191.47	$4,509.43	$3,791.76	$9,492.66

I've listed kWhr generation summary in Table 2. below. It is interesting that the longest days being in June and July certainly translate to additional generation with July having the highest combined amounts over two years. Don't be fooled but the Total Result column with August showing the highest result - there was a full week of generation in August in 2010 that is being tallied. The 2011 + 2012 total is 1378 kWhr, notably less than the June and July totals.

Table 1. Monthly power generation totals for 4.9 kWe solar PV system.

Sum - Daily kWhr	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		170	256	426
Feb		275	323	598
Mar		561	569	1130
Apr		493	626	1119
May		534	758	1292
Jun		707	715	1422
Jul		769	762	1531
Aug	164	658	720	1542
Sep	438	528		966
Oct	450	391		841
Nov	355	316		672
Dec	78	220		298
Total Result	1486	5623	4728	11836

I will share some additional statistics and parameters in my next post. 

Logging into Fronius Solarweb to see our Data

You can see our system's data on-line by logging into http://solarweb.fronius.com, user name: 243farley and passwd is the same: 243farley.
I'm not all that impressed with Fronius' online data viewing system. You'll notice some gaps in the data. For some reason it is not always uploaded. My computer-based program that comes with the datalogger for the system has a similar look and feel, but it shows all the data [below].

Charting out the Generation, Revenue, Expense of our PV System

I've cumulatively plotted out the revenue my PV system has generated over time as well as what I've paid on our load. I've also plotted out the microFIT payments I've received from Guelph Hydro. Note the following:

• revenue (blue) increases relatively over the spring and summer months and slows down over the winter
• our revenue was initaially greater than out payments, then over the first winter revenue was lower than the payments. The revenue overtook the loan payments in June 2011 and has been a net income ever since
• our net earnings to date have been approximately $8500-$7500=$1000
• the microFIT payments are lagging my loan payments - I've needed to keep a float in my account to cover the delay of payments
• the time period between microFIT payments from Guelph Hydro is rather variable. The last payment in particular was delayed quite a bit and I had to put extra money in my account to cover the automatic withdrawal of the loan payments. Guelph Hydro told me they are implementing a new billing and payment system that will automate their payments. They told me they had now over 100 microFIT contracts connected in Guelph. It also tells me that Guelph Hydro is much more consistent in sending bills to me than wanting to pay me.

Revenue generated, loan expenses, and microFIT payments

Results of My System and My Colleagues' to July 2012

An email from my colleague prompted this posting. I updated my stats and post them below and reflect on what some comments from today's email I received.

Revenue to 12 July 2012

Sum - Revenue, daily	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		$136.10	$205.18	$341.29
Feb		$220.57	$258.66	$479.22
Mar		$449.77	$456.57	$906.34
Apr		$395.30	$501.84	$897.14
May		$428.51	$607.72	$1,036.24
Jun		$567.19	$573.10	$1,140.30
Jul		$616.75	$230.88	$847.63
Aug	$131.53	$528.09		$659.62
Sep	$351.28	$423.49		$774.77
Oct	$360.90	$313.65		$674.55
Nov	$285.03	$253.69		$538.72
Dec	$62.74	$176.31		$239.05
Total Result	$1,191.47	$4,509.43	$2,833.97	$8,534.86
To 12 July 2012

This July has been very bright and very hot. The longer and clear days have been very good for power output, but the heat seems to have taken their toll on the maximum output too. 

Last July 2011 was my best production, closely followed by May 2012. This June was also good but the first 4 days were cloudy and seems to have reduced the power generation for the month compared to June 2011. 

I think there is a temperature effect that is reducing the panel production. The panels seem to max out at 4000 to 4200 W in June and this July, but 4500 to 4700 W in April. 

My colleague said there are water cooling systems you can add to the panel backing which cools the panels. He heard/read that you can attach a water pad on the back of the panels that produces at least 2 kWh heat for every kWh electricity. Cooling the panels should increase the voltage and therefore the total output. Some of dude posted a video on You Tube of temperatures, voltages, of a dry panel and one he dumped into an aquarium. He shows the differences of a cool panel and hot panel. Quirky, but good on him for the demo. Another fellow experimented with spraying water over his panels. There is even a Wiki page about "hybrid panels". I wouldn't be spraying water on the panels - the salts would accumulate and reduce power output. And I found this discussion on a forum based in Australia about cooling PV panels. (BTW, that Aussie whirlpool forum has all kinds on info on it).

The most interesting example of water-cooled panels is a floating solar concentrating research system in Italy.  They take advantage of mirrors to increase the amount of light. 

Another neat story about Solimpeks hybrid panels. And yet another interesting solar source on this Environment Advantage energy blog.

Some Observations from My Colleagues

• a 10 kW tracker (need to confirm the amount of solar panel wattage) produced 2500 kWhr.
• my system in June: daily max 33.2 kWhr, monthly daily average 23.8 kWhr, monthly total 714.6kWhr
• another colleague has has his 10 kW tracker running for 18 months. One day high was 127 kWhr and a monthly max total of 2575 kWhr. He reports many other days of 115 to 120 kWhr. He reports daily average in June was 85.8kWhr. He also said that June's daily average output was 10 kWhr higher than any other month daily average. 

So... so what? I'll look into these water pads for the back of solar panels. It would be neat to heat my pool by cooling off my roof-top panels. One thing I did do to keep my panels cool was to:

• use relatively high rack mounts to raise the panels off my roof
• have a gap between column 3 and 4 of my solar panel array to increase a little more air movement (my array is 3x3 panels, separated by this small gap, then another 3x3 panels)
• see a close-up picture of my panels below.

Close-up of my solar panel install.

Generation Results up to June 2012

A quick post here to share my June power generation. It was a great month, and so far every month this year has been better than last year. Much more sun, not as much snow.

Sum - Revenue, daily	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		$136.10	$205.18	$341.29
Feb		$220.57	$258.66	$479.22
Mar		$449.77	$456.57	$906.34
Apr		$395.30	$501.84	$897.14
May		$428.51	$607.72	$1,036.24
Jun		$567.19	$573.10	$1,140.30
Jul		$616.75	$61.57	$678.32
Aug	$131.53	$528.09		$659.62
Sep	$351.28	$423.49		$774.77
Oct	$360.90	$313.65		$674.55
Nov	$285.03	$253.69		$538.72
Dec	$62.74	$176.31		$239.05
Total Result	$1,191.47	$4,509.43	$2,664.65	$8,365.55

December 2010 Power Production

December was generally -8 to -1 with about 10 cm snowfall mid-month. The second half of the month was almost always overcast. A thaw with rain melted all the snow on 27 Dec.
The panels were snow-covered most of the second half of the month and power generation was significantly reduced (see chart, Whr/day). The overcast days which were slightly below 0C did not provide sufficient radiant heat to warm the panels and melt all the snow off. This was clearly shown in the previous postings of the snow-covered panels. Partly sunny days just after Christmas resulted in some snow melt and snow sliding off about half of the panels (see earlier post with photos). This resulted in an increase in generation on 27 Dec.
The remaining days of December were very overcast with heavy dark cloud. Even the melt that occurred on 29 Dec was not sufficient to increase production even though the panels were clear. The increase on 31 December showed the benefit of clear panels and a little sunshine. Fortunately, the clear panels is helping increase generation during the first week of January which are a little more bright. Happy New Year!

Generation Results up to May 2012

The results of the power generated, in kWhr up to May 2012:

Sum - Daily kWhr	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		170	256	426
Feb		275	323	598
Mar		561	569	1130
Apr		493	626	1119
May		534	758	1292
Jun		707	13	720
Jul		769		769
Aug	164	658		822
Sep	438	528		966
Oct	450	391		841
Nov	355	316		672
Dec	78	220		298
Total Result	1486	5623	2544	9652

And the revenue, gross, generated up to May 2012:

Sum - Revenue, daily	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	Total Result
Jan		$136.10	$205.18	$341.29
Feb		$220.57	$258.66	$479.22
Mar		$449.77	$456.57	$906.34
Apr		$395.30	$501.84	$897.14
May		$428.51	$607.72	$1,036.24
Jun		$567.19	$10.30	$577.50
Jul		$616.75		$616.75
Aug	$131.53	$528.09		$659.62
Sep	$351.28	$423.49		$774.77
Oct	$360.90	$313.65		$674.55
Nov	$285.03	$253.69		$538.72
Dec	$62.74	$176.31		$239.05
Total Result	$1,191.47	$4,509.43	$2,040.28	$7,741.18