Home solar output throttling

[edddo]

Anyone here also getting stung by this?
The idea is that if the grid voltage exceed your inverter voltage then the inverter shuts down and your production stops.
My sisters system has just about been rendered useless - certainly any break even period has been multiplied by X.
Our system with 6.5kw of panels and a battery is now worth significantly less to us as on good sunny days I estimate we get throttled to the tune of a 20 to 30% reduction in daily output/feed-in.
I have asked my installer to request our distributer (Ausnet) to adjust the local network point as apparently that is possible. But I don't think that resulted in anything. I will be going back to my seller/installer to see if there is any adjustment for throttling in the inverter ( Solax brand) as some of the smarter inverters can adapt to high grid voltages somehow.

In any case I feel like I have been sold an idea that has not materialised - the best production days/times are often throttled and I expect this is a problem that will only get worse. Incentive for more independence from the grid really - more battery and maybe a generator?

[Slunnie]

Anyone here also getting stung by this?
The idea is that if the grid voltage exceed your inverter voltage then the inverter shuts down and your production stops.
My sisters system has just about been rendered useless - certainly any break even period has been multiplied by X.
Our system with 6.5kw of panels and a battery is now worth significantly less to us as on good sunny days I estimate we get throttled to the tune of a 20 to 30% reduction in daily output/feed-in.
I have asked my installer to request our distributer (Ausnet) to adjust the local network point as apparently that is possible. But I don't think that resulted in anything. I will be going back to my seller/installer to see if there is any adjustment for throttling in the inverter ( Solax brand) as some of the smarter inverters can adapt to high grid voltages somehow.

In any case I feel like I have been sold an idea that has not materialised - the best production days/times are often throttled and I expect this is a problem that will only get worse. Incentive for more independence from the grid really - more battery and maybe a generator?

You're on the money there, the grid voltage is higher than what the inverter will put out and so the inverter shuts down until the grid voltage drops again. It probably shuts down during the peak of the day because every other solar system is returning power to the grid.As you know, your network supplier will have to tap down the transformer voltage at the street. My solar was useless until they did this. If I recall correctly, I potentially may have delt directly with Essential Energy who maintain the network here rather than Origin who are my retailer.

[edddo]

You're on the money there, the grid voltage is higher than what the inverter will put out and so the inverter shuts down until the grid voltage drops again. It probably shuts down during the peak of the day because every other solar system is returning power to the grid.As you know, your network supplier will have to tap down the transformer voltage at the street. My solar was useless until they did this. If I recall correctly, I potentially may have delt directly with Essential Energy who maintain the network here rather than Origin who are my retailer.

Yes its my understanding that as the number of solar installations increase that this happens on high output days - that is the grid voltage is bumped up by more and more solar systems and once it is above about 255V - most inverters shut shop. I wonder if new buyers are informed - I was not 2 years ago but it didnt seem to be an issue here until last summer.

[Tombie]

My system puts out the most power on sub-optimal days when the lesser installations are producing less.

Once we great bright, clear, supper sunny conditions it throttles back.

Our entire grid here is on solar. So we regularly see line voltages climb above 255v

[350RRC]

If the grid and the connection to Tas was improved more of your 'excess' power could go there during the day and more could come back at night or when the wind ain't blowing.

The cable looks to be limited to about 490 Mw at the moment.

You can watch these energy transfers updating every 5 mins live here:

ELJM: NEM Regional Generation Summary

DL

[dero]

An excellent business plan , if you have few morals [ ie the govt & their corp mates ]
Suck everybody in , get your power for virtually nothing , sell it for the same old price or better & reap in the profits .
Great for the economy , not so good for the average bloke .
And they even get to claim credit for being eco friendly .

[Homestar]

Very common problem now and something most people don't understand when installing solar. The only real way to do anything about it is to load shift or put batteries in. Start using all the heavy electricity using appliances during the day - dishwasher, washing machine, etc - this will then use what solar is being made effectively costing you nothing to use them. Most more modern inverters have a connection for batteries now so that's another option, but not a cheap one - well worth doing if you're in the market for an EV so you can effectively charge it for nothing overnight off the batteries. Also, if you have a storage style hot water system, you can put an extra heating element in and sink the solar into the HWS to reheat it during the day if you have nothing else to do with it.

But just using the power as it's made is the best way of saving a bundle on your electric bill and it will pay for itself in no time. If no one's home during the day, timers are great for certain things but some appliances may need updating - like some dishwashers for example - to units with inbuilt timers.

[windsock]

Yep, people need to be more aware of the market they are effectively entering into when installing grid connected systems.

A combination of sales zeal and the prospective prosumer being blinded by possible $$. Self consumption is a critical step required to remedy the situation. Maximise your return by reducing your energy expenditure. This is a key driver to uptake in industry - self-consumption at peak cost time of use.

[roverrescue]

I’ve noticed some potential loss on our 9.8kW system
AGL have an upper daily limit on the 17c FIT
Once that limit is reached no more nice FIT

We now have an invertet pool heater which will happily eat as much power as it is fed (19kW unit from memory) but that’s heating effective NOT 19kW usuage

Anyways

A question - does anyone know a way to control a load on a specific circuit via the output of an array?

The heater doesn’t really care about turning on and off

It would be nice to have the heater ONLY running if day the array output is 5kW or greater ???

S

[edddo]

Very common problem now and something most people don't understand when installing solar. The only real way to do anything about it is to load shift or put batteries in. Start using all the heavy electricity using appliances during the day - dishwasher, washing machine, etc - this will then use what solar is being made effectively costing you nothing to use them. Most more modern inverters have a connection for batteries now so that's another option, but not a cheap one - well worth doing if you're in the market for an EV so you can effectively charge it for nothing overnight off the batteries. Also, if you have a storage style hot water system, you can put an extra heating element in and sink the solar into the HWS to reheat it during the day if you have nothing else to do with it.

But just using the power as it's made is the best way of saving a bundle on your electric bill and it will pay for itself in no time. If no one's home during the day, timers are great for certain things but some appliances may need updating - like some dishwashers for example - to units with inbuilt timers.

Are you sure that when throttled, that solar power is available to the household, or to a battery? I thought it just put you on the grid.