We have had solar for 6 years and just recently moved homes. 0000004823 00000 n
My guess is that when the Envoy-S sees it needs to throttle due to export limits, it does this by sending the same instruction to all micros to throttle the same amount (but dont know for sure). I am looking at adding a second system (6.2kW) with GoodWe inverter. I had applications rejected, and when I asked there was NO course for negotiation or discussion its the RULES is s synopsis of the responses. Finally! is there a inverter that stops power going back So if an inverter that is export limited to 5 kilowatts is providing 8 kilowatts of power, none of it will go to waste provided the home is consuming at least 3 kilowatts at the time. 0000008571 00000 n
Its located in Ausnet Services' Distribution Area but Ausnet is not part of the CitiPower, Powercor and UnitedEnergy . You could approach SAPN and ask for special permission to install more solar capacity on an SWER but I would not be optimistic about that. Australian network service providers (including CitiPower) use solar export limits to keep voltage levels in transmission lines operating within safe . driving range of 200km depending on ambient temperature. Powercor is telling increasing numbers of households looking to install new systems in this area they will have a zero export limit. Unfortunately, SAPN wont allow more than 5 kilowatts of inverter capacity on an SWER line. ), converting to up to 10kW of AC power, and, the GW5048D-ES provides for up to 6.65kW of panels generating capacity, converting to up to 4.95 kW of AC power, and, acting as a battery management system and UPS, when a battery system (of up to two approved, low voltage, batteries) is connected. 5 kilowatt inverter + 6.6 kilowatts of solar panels (no export limiting): 0%, 6 kilowatt inverter + 8 kilowatts of solar panels: 4% loss, 7 kilowatt inverter + 9 kilowatts of solar panels: 8% loss, 8 kilowatt inverter + 10 kilowatts of solar panels: 13% loss, So, on the one hand, the Victorian Government is. Exporting surplus solar power is good because it reduces fossil fuel generation and pays you a feed-in tariff that reduces electricity bills. I am on my second Tesla EV and the new one has a rage of 700km if youre not a lead foot. But you may as well just get a standard inverter and send your excess electricity into the grid. And doing so potentially puts you running in a non compliant state. 11kW panels with 10kW 3-phase inverter (Fronius Symo + Fronius 3-phase meter). He first became interested in environmental matters when he was four years old after the environment tried to kill him by smashing fist sized hailstones through the roof of his parents Toowoomba home. This profile also doesnt impose any export limits, because Endeavour Energy didnt require them of my installation (maximum is 30kW for a 3-phase installation, which my one is well under). Technically, what will happen is the inverter will reduce the solar systems output so the generation will be forgone, but I dont want to go into too much detail in this article. I have an existing 3.5kW PV system with Solis inverter. you request 5kW and Powercor says you can only export 2.5kW) Set a 'zero export' limit - i.e. It is just the placement of the meter and the current sensor that controls the limiting. Were seeing a real lift in the number of customers able to export excess solar back into the grid in these areas, which were among the most constrained in our network only a few months ago, said Powercor General Manager Electricity Networks, Mark Clarke. So, I am pretty much left in the dark about whether all the energy my panels are theoretically producing is being utilised, or (which is my fearful assumption) up to 1.6kW are wasted whenever the panels produce more than 5kW AC. 0000037686 00000 n
Will this mean any additional system would be limited to 0kW output?? Fronius Wattpilot: A Smart EV Charger With A Short Warranty, You Wont Believe How Dumb The NSW Governments New Battery Calculator Is. I believe it must have been set up during installation, but the installer company claims that this is handled by Growatt themselves. Can you provide comment and evaluation of power tracing please. It appears the wire from the inverter is directly connected to my main fuse for the house circuits. 258 0000018244 00000 n
They hid the problem pretty well, because they do tend to reduce the amount of shutdowns. I havent made any applications yet, but Ill certainly be asking this question when I get quotes!. Select your country/region. All these profiles need to dance carefully around the problem. Some manufacturers may have this pre-selected. Actually I made a chart showing the percentage of electricity lines in each state that were SWER but I left it out for the sake of brevity. Weve got a system that can be left alone in my opinion, so adding say 6.6kw and a 10kw battery makes good sense but what a task. In most cases, if you had your envoy shut off, the micros would start and work on their own and independently of the envoy, and in fact of each other. As your sister can presumably export as much power as her solar inverter can produce it wouldnt need this device. There are lots of variations to this theme, however. Powercor will respond in one of three ways: Approve the size system you've requested Limit the amount of power you can export to the grid (e.g. Sometimes Powercor can reduce that to a lower figure, or even set a zero-export limit. I think that the limiter can connect only to one inverter and not two at the same time. Our Solar & Battery Calculator can give an idea of if its likely to pay: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/solar-calculator/. So what goes throgh the meter, in either direction, is the difference between what you generate and what you use. Of more concern is occasional spikes in consumption which go past the 5kw limit. Does anyone know how the limiter works in this scenario with 2 inverters? Information on whether export limiting is allowed can be found here, but I am going to present the information differently for both ease of use and to make my boss think Ive done something useful. How to correctly configure inverter settings. hour of charging is enough to drive 35km.. 0000039284 00000 n
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I realise that Australian legislatures do not care about the future, but, the future is coming, whether the legislatures like it or not. An Update: I just had system installed 4 days ago in the Energex DNSP and suggest the above is perhaps not quite correct. 260 Normally single phase properties can have up to 5 kilowatts of solar inverter capacity and 3 phase properties can have 15 kilowatts. As a general rule, 5kW tends to be the upper system size limit for single-phase connections, but some networks allow up to 10kW. There may well be a tipping point in battery prices where a drought of mid day solar will be followed by very little evening use and possibly large numbers of households abandoning the grid altogether. Thanks Ron. NSWs Endeavour Energy area: Western Sydney. . at night or not enough at day time ? If you use a pre AS4777.3:2005 the limits are probably even higher, but you loose some other features (like frequency ramping which is probably very sensible to have if you want to be a good grid citizen), and you probably are not supposed to run those unless it is a pre 2016 install. SAPN has told me I cant have more than a 5 kw inverter , but thats just not enough. I realise that all the political parties in the the WA state parliament and especially, the Synergy/Western Power conglomerate, that controls approvals of domestic rooftop photovoltaic systems connected to the SWIS grid, are opposed to domestic rooftop photovoltaic systems (even though we stabilise and sustain the grid), but, I am wondering whether any reason has ever been given by the oppressive authorities, for banning export limited inverters in WA. Many NSW rural situations are limited to 3Kw export, due to the length of the transmission lines. 0% I guess it would be technically possible to have a solar system with a battery but still be connected to the grid as backup. Max. Or is there a build up of voltage in the system? But if you had a larger solar system with a larger inverter that was export limited to 5 kilowatts it could potentially supply 2 kilowatts to your home while exporting 5 kilowatts to the grid. Powercor wrote back with the following response:"Due to the size of t . I think is is utter madness that the VIC government is handing out generous rebates of $1850.00 and 4 year interest free loans of up to $1850.00 and Powercor has zero feed in capacity for excess solar power. After (almost) three months with no reply, has any reason been given, as to why export limited inverters are not allowed for single phase grid connections to the SWIS grid in WA? 10kW of inverters with 11.325kW of panels. 0000008043 00000 n
That can raise the voltage to a level dangerous to appliances. So if an inverter that is export limited to 5 kilowatts is providing 8 kilowatts of power, none of it will go to waste provided the home is consuming at least 3 kilowatts at the time. Below is the email response I received from Powercor. Recent work by Victorian DNSP Powercor on some problematic parts of its network is enabling more solar power from rooftop panels to be exported to the grid. 0000010080 00000 n
Real names are preferred - you should be happy to put your name to your comments.2. South Australia Power Networks (SAPN) area: SAPN is the only distributor in South Australia. A man named Canute, proved that, centuries ago. When it comes to the limiting imposed by the electricity companies feed-in regulations, it means that, at any one time, not more than 5kW (100L) maybe be output to the grid (hose), it has nothing to do with the total over a certain period of time. It owns and operates the states largest electricity distribution network, and is responsible for more than half a million poles and over 88,000 kilometres of powerlines. Contracts and resources for connection agreement, Vegetation clearing requirements for new powerlines, Registered Electrical Contractor resources, Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiters (REFCL), Endorsement for wholesale demand response. Does anyone have similar experience with powercor? Up until quite recently, Powercor had been informing a large proportion of households looking to install new solar systems they will have to cop a zero export limit due to high congestion created by exports from existing systems. So the size of the system becomes irrelevant if you can only export 3kwh (we are Regional NSW Essential Energy). Efficiency has and will improve further over time, but never to the point of perpetuity. Makes sense but begs my next question (sorry). So-called wasting of the extra electricity produced is irrelevant: sunlight is FREE, and whether I use it or not has no bearing on the environment. 0000007057 00000 n
Victoria's "Hotest" Solar Postcode is 3977 at last look. Powercor's network solutions manager Claire Cass said of 32,580 customers connected to solar with Powercor in the last 18 months, only 2023 could not export power. I could not convince him that I knew what I was talking about! If we consider a home in Sydney where no electricity is used during the day, and all the solar panels face directly north, then the percentage of output that will be lost due to a 5 kilowatt export limit would be: So even in a worst-case situation for Sydney, an 8 kilowatt solar system that is exported limited to 5 kilowatts will only lose 4% of generation. Then the information that was left was cut to make the piece more introductory, but perhaps all these reductions made the article like my favorite World War II movie Abridged Too Far. Queenslands Energex area: South East Queensland. I got a question about export limiter that I hope to get some answers from the community. Because you dont see the rather obvious shutdowns (or see them less), you might not notice your solar might be throttled back on a regular basis. Definition A low voltage embedded generation connection in CitiPower and Powercor is defined as "an LV EG system with a total system capacity greater than 30kVA for a three-phase IES or non-IES (excluding ESS) network connection that is: My AS4777.2:2015 profile allows voltages up to 265v (for short periods, and shuts down on 10 minute averages above 258v). 0000000016 00000 n
Powercor is the Distributed Network Service Provider for central and western Victoria, as well as Melbournes western suburbs. The new inverter standard AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 has new inclusions to address grid stability issues - a new feature that is necessary to further enhance the hosting capacity to accommodate more solar and renewable energy systems. But it seems the situation has been changing for the better in the last couple of months in a number of affected areas. Hi Everyone, In reality, the losses will be considerably less. &K?BK:T$A1Cn Hi All. I am surprised to hear that Powercor has allowed you to increase your exports, but that is good to hear. Thats a huge jump and even a smidge higher than the Powercor network wide average of 89%. Its becoming common for solar inverters to be export limited, so the maximum amount of power they send into the grid is less than theyre capable of providing. ) But if you dont use much electricity it may need to be very small, as I explain here: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/zero-kw-export-solar/. I am trying to get a system installed (6.5k smart hybrid inverter with a battery) and have been told by Western Power that I am limited to a 3.0 kva system. Although my testing shows that the micros technically operate quite independently, it is important to understand, only the Envoy can provide some critical components to a properly working Enphase System. I am a bit confused about export. If that is the case it seems counter intuitive to me as I dont know if demand will outstrip production until I actually turn the appliance (eg A/C) on and check the display. Once voltage thresholds etc are configure in the profile by the Envoy at install, each micro operates largely independently. The good news is, even in a worst-case situation, the amount will be fairly minor. 100% 2. So while the article suggests 10kW inverter ( 13.33kW DC) in fact the limit seemed to be 10kW DC ( hmmm what does 10kW generation mean exactly ?.) (We are conected to a 25Kw transformer, with 5 consumers connected.). We have a 3kwh system and are really using as much during the day as we can. To add to this, in the installer section of the Envoys web server control panel, you can set the profile by which all microinverters operate. We do not prevent customers from installing solar for their own self-consumption. If you are in the solar industry - try to get to the truth, not the sale.5. ), converting to a maximum of 5kW of AC power, whilst the GW10K-MS provides for up to 13.5kW of panels generating capacity, across three MPPTs (strings? and only supply me with power from the grid While the Envoy is an important part of the system, the micros largely operate independently of the Envoy, and in a lot of cases can work without the Envoy at all. DC Input Power (Wp) 10000, from its published datasheet. 4. Can anyone shed any light for me? It would definitely be better if we didnt need to limit the amount of power solar systems sent into the grid. Quotes vary and the deal has to be value/advantage logical or whats the point. But, if you are really keen, I suppose you could use a site such as PV Institutes Live PV Map to see how other solar systems in your general area are performing: Note that patchy cloud can produce a lot of variation in output. Hi To get your quotes, please enter your postcode: Flexible Solar Exports To Ramp Up In South Australia, Australian Solar Systems Interest Index: September 2021, Why Australian Solar Installers Love Austrian Fronius Inverters, Tesla Powerwall Price Takes A Tumble In Australia, "Snail Mail" Home Battery Offers: Be Wary, New Minimum VIC Solar Feed-In Tariffs Locked In, Glenrowan Solar Farm Construction Gets Cranking. Can one have micro-inverter panels without a gateway, and how would that be limited? A Decent Battery From sonnen. . Please stay on topic.