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Old 09-04-14, 04:33 PM   #311
pinballlooking
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I found this interesting. This is 23 months of my elect bill history.

This month was 0 usage also so make that 24 months. (not added to this chart yet)

This includes covering the electric to charge and drive 25,000 EV miles with our Chevy Volt. It also covers reducing out natural gas bill in the winter by now mostly heating with Mini Split heat pumps.

This year we should reduce the natural gas bill even more. Because I am adding two more Mini Splits to heat with. I am at 3,747 kwh carrying over into the winter to heat with. This will hopefully cover the three month in the winter that I had to pay for elect last winter.

Closer to net zero while keeping warner in the winter and cooler in the summer!


One great thing about getting closer to Net zero is I did not hiring out any projects at all. The mini splits install info came from here. LED lighting not hard at all. This can be done by just a handy home owner that does not mind putting in the work. Exciting times we live in.



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Old 11-05-14, 03:31 PM   #312
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My November power bill. We made 214kwh more than we used we are carrying 3,866kwh into the winter to heat with.
This is our eight month with a zero usage bill. This covers charging our Chevy volt 2-2 ½ times a day week days. This will cover driving 17-20k EV mile this year.

We have not turned on natural gas heat or needed to yet. The Mini Splits are doing just fine.



Making sense of the numbers for Nov. (elec bills are no longer straight forwarded)
We made solar power 1,668 kwh
We put back to the grid 1,050 kwh
The solar power we used is 618 kwh (this did not go back to the grid)
The grid power we used was. 836 kwh
Total usage was 1,454 kwh

About 528 kwh went into charging you EV car driving about 1,800 EV miles on this power.

Solar production.
http://www.pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=23064&sid=20945
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Old 11-05-14, 04:50 PM   #313
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Gary,
That's pretty good output for this time of year! I'm about 5Kwh ahead for the year now but haven't started using any electric heat yet.

Rob
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Old 11-05-14, 04:55 PM   #314
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Rob
Yes I was pleased with its output this month.
How much did you make last month?
Mark
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Old 11-05-14, 05:12 PM   #315
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Mark,
Not much, 347 Kwh but it was more than I used so I'm still ahead. We get this overcast weather that can last for days. That's what you get for living in the watershed!
Rob
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Old 11-05-14, 07:44 PM   #316
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From my 4.4kW array:
566kWh in August
445kWh in September
511kWh in October
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Old 11-05-14, 07:50 PM   #317
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Quote:
Originally Posted by where2 View Post
From my 4.4kW array:
566kWh in August
445kWh in September
511kWh in October
Nice numbers! You Must Be Above PVwatts estimate.
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Old 11-05-14, 08:19 PM   #318
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinballlooking View Post
Nice numbers! You Must Be Above PVwatts estimate.
All depends on what you use for the DC to AC derate factor in PVWatts.
The PVWatts combined prediction for those 3 months for my system can be computed as:
.77 derate = 1513kWh
.80 derate = 1574kWh
Actual collected =1523kWh
Looking at my system on an annual basis, my annual production numbers very closely followed the .77 model for year one. I was within +/-20kWh of the .77 derate model which predicted an annual generation of 6019kWh for my setup. Some months are over, others are under. I generally like to consider more of an averaging method rather than a month at a glance when comparing to PVWatts. A few days of cloudy weather can swing my numbers considerably. Then again, too much sunny weather means I have to run the irrigation pump...
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Old 11-05-14, 08:45 PM   #319
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.86 is what I read in Enphase documents. (but it is still system dependent)
You are right solar is all about averages over time. That FL sun is pretty sweet.

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Old 11-06-14, 04:20 PM   #320
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Oops! Forgot to add my other system in, that's ~ 600Kwh for last month. That's a little better and not bad for my neck of the woods and a lot of cloudy days!
Rob

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