PV Reporting

[Tay]

Hi, (apologies for all the questions),

I've carried out some testing and had a bit of a play with PV/microinverters and I'm close to deciding the next steps (Full blown static PV setup despite the awful roof profile I have) when funds permit (maybe next month).

I'll be engaging pro's to do the job, I'm too old and big to be clambering around 'my' roof so I'll get somebody to put most of or all of the kit in. But I need to ask the right questions and choose the right kit.

At the heart of my new system I want good flexible reporting, from the outset if possible.
A simple mobile app isn't going to cut it for me, I want to be able to export data/stats into excel or a decent purpose built solution. I'd like granular down to the panel performance reporting if financially feasible too.

I presume that most of the stats would come from micro invertors or the main inverter itself?. Is there anything I should be looking for specifically? I'd like an old iPad to sit on a wall showing overall performance, panel performance, historical stats, battery status (when I get to that stage), costs/savings for existing utilities etc

Does anybody have any examples of output I could or perhaps should be expecting from these devices? are there bolts ons after the fact I could use?

I have an emonCMS/emonTX4 in my electrical cupboard that is currently providing my real time power usage, I could utilise the clamp transformers to monitor the inbound solar but want more than that. The kit is likely to be located in the garage (currently housing my m'cycle/tools/stuff) there is space for a 19inch rack (possibly for use with batteries etc)

I'm guessing that extra features come at a price, I don't mind paying extra for this stuff but I don't want to get something that paints me into a corner where options are then limited.

Am I looking at a more expensive Inverter, are there 3rd party systems available? Are there modular systems that can provide extra functionality that can provide extra feature sets by means of upgrades or bolt ons?

As a former user of Hive devices and other subscription based services (read: Adobe!!! tossers) I have an immense dislike of these systems, subscription based cloud services would not place highly on my list versus locally hosted, I'm more than happy to run a few dockers on my low power unRAID server to store stats and access if that what it needs?

thanks in advance

[nowty]

Given your difficult roof layout and your wish for individual panel monitoring a Solar Edge System may fit the bill. They don't use micro inverters, but they do use voltage optimisation modules (one for each panel), and each panel's power is individually reported.
https://www.solaredge.com/en/home/solaredge-home

If you want microinveters, then enphase also gives you per panel reporting.
https://enphase.com/en-gb/homeowners/home-solar-systems

Or you can use a standard string inverter and use TIGOs (voltage optimisers) and buy the optional monitoring kit for per panel reporting.
https://www.tigoenergy.com/markets/residential

[Joeboy]

Given your difficult roof layout and your wish for individual panel monitoring a Solar Edge System may fit the bill. They don't use micro inverters, but they do use voltage optimisation modules (one for each panel), and each panel's power is individually reported.
https://www.solaredge.com/en/home/solaredge-home

If you want microinveters, then enphase also gives you per panel reporting.
https://enphase.com/en-gb/homeowners/home-solar-systems

Or you can use a standard string inverter and use TIGOs (voltage optimisers) and buy the optional monitoring kit for per panel reporting.
https://www.tigoenergy.com/markets/residential

Solaredge map looks like this. My E/W system.

[sharpener]

Before you spend £££ on this ask yourself WHY? What will you DO with all the data? Maybe my experiences will help you decide...

I have got very detailed records of my original PV output at 10 min intervals dating from 2011, using the original rather flakey Stecagrid software (which seems actually to have been produced by Philips). From this I can that see one string is consistently better than the other but the total output has not deteriorated in 12+ years. But total output per day is all I have needed for statistical analysis e.g. to plot by month the cumulative probablity of any particular daily power level being exceeded. We also have records of the TGM readings on a weekly basis.

Fortunately all this is adequate to tell me there is nothing needing attention, as getting people in to sort any major problems would probably need scaffolding again. Providing your system is correctly installed in the first place and commissioned properly - which should be verifiable while the people are still on site - then I don't see having detailed per-panel figures will do anything for you.

I have also got a Carlo Gavazzi meter so the AC inverter output can be correctly recorded by the Victron Multiplus, and also an Eastron DIN-rail mounted multifunction meter on the grid connection which allows me to measure total export as I do not have and cannot have a smart meter. Both these meters could be connected to yr iPad etc using their Modbus outputs.

The 2022 panels do not have any specific metering on the DC output because their yield is almost identical (despite being lower nominal capacity). I can download their detailed output history from the MPPT controller but in practice do not bother.

The Victron app shows me the history by selectable time interval from 1 hr to 6 months and also now includes Solcast forecasts for the next 7 days which is enough to enable me to decide how much if at all to charge the batteries overnight on E7. And they are promising more automation for this in the near future so maybe I will abandon my ideas of using an Arduino and NodeRed to implement my own algorithm.

HTH

[94JDH]

Or you can use a standard string inverter and use TIGOs (voltage optimisers) and buy the optional monitoring kit for per panel reporting.
https://www.tigoenergy.com/markets/residential

Remember, Tigo don't recommend blind deployment of their optimisers, it also reduces their warranty from 25 to 5 years so it really shouldn't be considered optional for the CCA & TAP.

My system, just two panels to add:

https://ibb.co/3YZ8MBh

[Tay]

Given your difficult roof layout and your wish for individual panel monitoring a Solar Edge System may fit the bill. They don't use micro inverters, but they do use voltage optimisation modules (one for each panel), and each panel's power is individually reported.
https://www.solaredge.com/en/home/solaredge-home

If you want microinveters, then enphase also gives you per panel reporting.
https://enphase.com/en-gb/homeowners/home-solar-systems

Or you can use a standard string inverter and use TIGOs (voltage optimisers) and buy the optional monitoring kit for per panel reporting.
https://www.tigoenergy.com/markets/residential

All those look promising from a software point of view, although (and I understand why) most or all seems to be cloud based, the benefits of those are clear but it takes one bankruptcy and you effectively lose the backend.

I'm not spent any time looking at optimisers so that might be a quick avenue for research, I presume as they appear to be DC units that the cost would be lower than the microinverters. Likewise hanging a bunch of enphase units off the back of the panels might reduce the cost of a big fat central inverter it'll drive up the per panel price significantly. I'll have a looksee at the TIGO stuff, not heard of that this far.

My worry about going down the road of hosted reporting or proprietary kit is that you tend to get forced down a single route, expansion down the road if you find brand xyz isnt for you is difficult/expensive.

Some food for thought there, tks

[Tay]

Given your difficult roof layout and your wish for individual panel monitoring a Solar Edge System may fit the bill. They don't use micro inverters, but they do use voltage optimisation modules (one for each panel), and each panel's power is individually reported.
https://www.solaredge.com/en/home/solaredge-home

If you want microinveters, then enphase also gives you per panel reporting.
https://enphase.com/en-gb/homeowners/home-solar-systems

Or you can use a standard string inverter and use TIGOs (voltage optimisers) and buy the optional monitoring kit for per panel reporting.
https://www.tigoenergy.com/markets/residential

Solaredge map looks like this. My E/W system.

tks for that, is there any native desktop apps for this sort of stuff or is it all mobile app/web based?

[Joeboy]

Given your difficult roof layout and your wish for individual panel monitoring a Solar Edge System may fit the bill. They don't use micro inverters, but they do use voltage optimisation modules (one for each panel), and each panel's power is individually reported.
https://www.solaredge.com/en/home/solaredge-home

If you want microinveters, then enphase also gives you per panel reporting.
https://enphase.com/en-gb/homeowners/home-solar-systems

Or you can use a standard string inverter and use TIGOs (voltage optimisers) and buy the optional monitoring kit for per panel reporting.
https://www.tigoenergy.com/markets/residential

Solaredge map looks like this. My E/W system.

tks for that, is there any native desktop apps for this sort of stuff or is it all mobile app/web based?

I have a desktop version for solaredge.

[Tay]

Before you spend £££ on this ask yourself WHY? What will you DO with all the data? Maybe my experiences will help you decide...

I have got very detailed records of my original PV output at 10 min intervals dating from 2011, using the original rather flakey Stecagrid software (which seems actually to have been produced by Philips). From this I can that see one string is consistently better than the other but the total output has not deteriorated in 12+ years. But total output per day is all I have needed for statistical analysis e.g. to plot by month the cumulative probablity of any particular daily power level being exceeded. We also have records of the TGM readings on a weekly basis.

Fortunately all this is adequate to tell me there is nothing needing attention, as getting people in to sort any major problems would probably need scaffolding again. Providing your system is correctly installed in the first place and commissioned properly - which should be verifiable while the people are still on site - then I don't see having detailed per-panel figures will do anything for you.

I have also got a Carlo Gavazzi meter so the AC inverter output can be correctly recorded by the Victron Multiplus, and also an Eastron DIN-rail mounted multifunction meter on the grid connection which allows me to measure total export as I do not have and cannot have a smart meter. Both these meters could be connected to yr iPad etc using their Modbus outputs.

The 2022 panels do not have any specific metering on the DC output because their yield is almost identical (despite being lower nominal capacity). I can download their detailed output history from the MPPT controller but in practice do not bother.

The Victron app shows me the history by selectable time interval from 1 hr to 6 months and also now includes Solcast forecasts for the next 7 days which is enough to enable me to decide how much if at all to charge the batteries overnight on E7. And they are promising more automation for this in the near future so maybe I will abandon my ideas of using an Arduino and NodeRed to implement my own algorithm.

HTH

I spent 25-30 years in IT, I NEED stats (Need is a strong word I WANT stats), the wife might not, but I do, the more the merrier.

My current monitoring 'should' provide all the stats I'd need from a usage/output utility provider POV, I have clamp transformers on various circuits, and any Solar generation feed would be monitored the same way. I have been able to determine a few power vampires that I otherwise wouldn't have found without significantly more effort.

It can provide real time utility power usage at whatever interval rate I want, going forward I see it as an independent solution for monitoring the utility providers and my internal use, it should provide an unbiased historical view of import/export power.

I'm in a similar situation with my battery system now I find that I have to tweak that based on my gut feel for the day ahead, the last few days solar has let me down although today looking better (See screeny). My office/workshop isnt quite fully covered by solar as the 2 panels just arnt quite up to the job in their current position but feel that I'm on the right track, off peak topped up by decent solar and my usage is mostly covered.

Some sort of look ahead as you mentioned with the Victron could be useful. Whilst I'm not going to have a complete system from the outset I will have at least 1 battery and will need to utilise the EV tariff (midnight to 5am) for charging the batteries, digging into the victron stuff seems like they seem to support everything, wifi/bluetooth/modbus and a whole host of other connections, I'll definitely be looking at something like this to complement/manage the PV array.

I just noticed that Victron do have some nice looking native software for OS X and I just ran some stuff in demo mode and the output from that looks like its kinda what I want and the exporting of data seems good too. They seem to have really thought about the bigger picture and how people might want to build a system as complex or small as required.

thanks for that

[Tay]

I'm loving the granularity of the Victron stuff they have in the demo, seems like most if not all of their kit is connected somehow.