See the Solar Output in Real-Time with TigoEnergy System

We recently had Merlyn Power install additional equipment on our 5 kW system. The panels now have TigoEnergy power optimizers on them. I had the old Fronius data logger pro taken out and now the Tigo website provides the online monitoring and data logging. I have not tried out download the data yet. I'll try that later and let you know.
Click the link to see the public access link to our solar panels. http://www.tigoenergy.com/site.php?guelphsolar_blogspot_com

Solar Costs in Germany and USA

I found this interesting article that analyses the differences in costs of solar PV systems in Germany versus USA. I don't have a similar analysis of Ontario costs, but I am looking - let me know if you have seen any research on Ontario solar PV costs.
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/17/why-german-solar-is-so-much-cheaper-than-u-s-solar-updated-study/

Solar Generation Results to Sept 2013

I am updating the results of the solar PV system, below. It is now 3 years and a month since the system was installed [well, and a little bit of October too and the few days in August 2010]. This is giving me a good range to see what good and bad months are, as well as how the system is faring relative to what i hope was to be the rate of return.
First, I have my set of important variables : mean daily total kilowatts, mean kilowatts per watt installed, minimum and maximum output days. And the same is in dollars, as calculated from my data. However, what my datalogger calculates as output and revenue is less than what my Guelph Hydro meter shows. This is what I hear from others - what their system reports seems to be less than their utility's meter.  I haven't heard of anyone producing more than what their meter is reporting.

Variables	kW	Dollars
Mean	15.96	$12.80
Per 1 kW	3.26	$2.61
Min	0.05	$0.04
Max	35.44	$28.42
Sum - Daily kWhr	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total Result
Jan		169.7	255.8	242.6	668.2
Feb		275.0	322.5	213.8	811.3
Mar		560.8	569.3	499.5	1629.6
Apr		492.9	625.7	573.5	1692.2
May		534.3	757.8	767.9	2060.0
Jun		707.2	714.6	632.6	2054.4
Jul		769.0	762.4	693.0	2224.5
Aug	164.0	658.5	719.7	725.9	2268.1
Sep	438.0	528.0	599.6	572.8	2138.4
Oct	450.0	391.1	337.5	87.8	1266.4
Nov	355.4	316.3	286.3		958.0
Dec	78.2	219.8	144.3		442.4
Total Result	1485.6	5622.7	6095.6	5009.5	18213.4
as of:	2013-10-08

And you are likely asking, well, just how variable is it by month? Are the summer months consistently bright and the winter consistently dull? I know, you wanted to know the coefficient of variation, and now that i have 3 months (4 Septembers), i have done the calculations for you:

Month	CV
Jan	0.21
Feb	0.20
Mar	0.07
Apr	0.12
May	0.19
Jun	0.07
Jul	0.06
Aug	0.05
Sep	0.13
Oct	0.14
Nov	0.07
Dec	0.48

What it shows, for this limited dataset is that June, July, and August are fairly consistent between the years, with only 5 to 7% variation, whereas Jan, Feb, and esp Dec are quite variable between the years. 

Plotting microFIT Revenue and System Costs to March 2013

I keep logging the daily power generation and the bank keeps logging my 2nd mortgage payments for the system. Time for another update for you to see if this thing really does make any money. Below are the results for revenue, microFIT payments (cheques from Guelph Hydro), and the loan payments. You'll notice that the microFIT payments are just keeping pace with the loan payments! Hummm,  think I need to figure out why my metering of revenue is so different than my power utility's metering. I have spoken with several friends with PV solar systems in Guelph and in other utility regions and they all report similar findings - no one's meter show LESS power produced than what their utility is reporting, and paying, them.

PV Generation to Mid-April 2013

I'm posting my latest data updates here. The April 2013 is only to the 15th of the month hence the 268 kWhr. February, March, and even the first half of April are not so good for production, but then Jan-April 2012 were exceptionally beautiful conditions.
I also have posted immediately below my basic stats of kWhr and Dollars per day, averaged over the 2 3/4 year lifetime of the system. Overall my most interesting stats are 3.05 kWhr/kW/day and $2.44/kW/day. These numbers would be helpful for anyone to help estimate their expected revenues. Of course every system is different, mine is facing south east, etc. A more representative statistic will be from August 2013 when we will have the anniversary date. The 3.05 and $2.44 will increase a bit over the summer because we get most of our solar generation happening then, and the stats below don't include the 2013 summer data of course.

Variables	kW	Dollars
Mean	14.93	$11.98
Per 1 kW	3.05	$2.44
Min	0.05	$0.04
Max	35.13	$28.17
Sum - Daily kWhr	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total Result
Jan		170	256	243	668
Feb		275	323	214	811
Mar		561	569	499	1630
Apr		493	626	268	1387
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	144		442
Total Result	1486	5623	6096	1224	14428
as of:	2013-04-16

MyFreeMonitor.com on Indigogo - Crowdsourcing

I did my first crowdsourcing experience the other day towards a Waterloo-based company called Eyedro. The produce a small system that is a low-cost way to monitor power consumption. Their small devices clamp onto an electrical feed normally at your breaker service box of your home or business. The device connects wirelessly to your router or with a wired connection. The data is uploaded to Eyedro's cloud servers where you can look at your power consumption in a browser.
I sent them an email and asked if I could connect this to my PV system to measure production [instead of consumption] and they said "Sure"! So, I paid up on Indigogo and this will help them develop their MyFreeMonitor.com software system, plus they'll send me a power monitoring system. I think it is really neat! All the power to them!
http://www.indiegogo.com/myfreemonitor
Click on the image to go to their website and see their product and funny video.

PV Revenue to Dec 2012

December was pretty grey here and my solar panel revenue reflect that, see below. However, note the difference between Dec 2010 and Dec 2012 - nearly half the production in '10 and I attribute this to snow cover. It is always hard to assess the impact of snow on panels because it is hard to have a "control" that is snow-free and a "normal" array of panels that are permitted to accumulate snow. It is ether too expensive to set up such a study for a home owner and heck - if you could clear off the snow easily and safely then you'd do it! It is not really a research question anyways, it is a curiosity that has financial implications  And perhaps design considerations too.
One interesting thing I was asked the other day was about the way snow slides off, safety, and panel layout. When I had my panels installed I spoke to my installer where the bottom panel should be placed:

• bottom of panel is above shingles - some rain will fall on a concentrated location on the shingles and could cause excessive wear. Snow can slide off and can cause ice damming.
• bottom of panel is above eavestrough - rain drops into eavestrough. Ice and snow can slide off and accumlate in eavestrough potentially causing high load on eavestrough and/or causing ice damming that may harm shingles.
• bottom of panel extends beyond the eavestrough - show and rain are shed directly below, potentially causing safety issues. 

I opted to have my panels end directly over my eavestrough. I can't say if ice damming has been a significant issue but I don't think so. Only under the most intense thunder storms has rain run off the panels and gone over the eavestrough. Some precip may shoot down the other two rows of panels down onto the lower row and caused a concentration of water on the lower panels, but the small gap between the panel rows is sufficient to minimise that. Overall, I don't think it is a huge issue. However, just like a metal roof on a shed or barn, one must be careful about the risks of snow and ice sliding off the structure and falling on people below.
Table 1. Sum of daily revenue by month.

Sum - Revenue, daily	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total Result
Jan		$136.10	$205.18	$67.37	$408.66
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	$229.61		$768.33
Dec	$62.74	$176.31	$115.73		$354.79
Total Result	$1,191.47	$4,509.43	$4,888.65	$67.37	$10,656.92
as of:	2013-01-13

Table 2. Sum of daily power generation by month.

Sum - Daily kWhr	Years
Date	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total Result
Jan		170	256	84	510
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	144		442
Total Result	1486	5623	6096	84	13288
as of:	2013-01-13

Note: August 2010 and January 2013 are partial months.
It is nice to see that we have 4 months now with 3 years of full data measurements. It shows the considerable variability between the months.