Powercor says it has contacted all solar customers within the previously impacted areas to let them know about the companys progress and to encourage them to consider reapplying for exports. Please stay on topic. 0000037497 00000 n I live in Warrnambool, Victoria. It can also only provide this when it is running. As such, unless the investment pays for itself within at most 5-6 years, IMHO it is not a good investment/waste of money and natural resources. just wondering if anybody can shed some light on the following, 0000037686 00000 n Im glad to hear its flexible enough to do that. A Decent Battery From sonnen. How to correctly configure inverter settings. xref Just last week, Powercor (Western Victoria) advised that they now have more room in the grid for export. It is possible to max out the 10 kW inverter capacity with my Tesla, house load and Heat Pump hot water. I was always of the belief that a 5kW inverter limited the total output/ production from my 6.5kW solar system to 5 kW, irrespective of what is being used in the house. 100% But there is also the DNSP rules which need to be followed. What I find is installers dont seem to like it when I tell them my plan. But given average voltages are probably well above what they should be in lots of places, and once you factor in your local voltage rise, and pretty low values under AS4777 etc, there is not much room to play with until the distributors get the act together and deliver us power that better matches the 230v standard they are required to deliver us. In reality, the losses will be considerably less. Most systems have mostly N facing panels, so really only generate peak power for a few hours a day (often 10am>2pm approx) Please keep the SolarQuotes blog constructive and useful with these 5 rules: 1. Select your country/region. I guess it would be technically possible to have a solar system with a battery but still be connected to the grid as backup. 0000029011 00000 n In exchange, the customer receives a small rebate on their bill for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) they export. 220 <]/Prev 115522/XRefStm 1575>> In future, will powercor allow export limit if they upgrade transformer? After all, Im a big picture kind of guy. If you are export limited, the only way to implement that is with some sort of meter as Ronald says. The inverter reduces the amount of electrical energy supplied by the solar panels. Im afraid thats a tough situation. Any ideas of how I can get a system that is actually going to generate enough power to charge a battery? About CitiPower and Powercor FACT SHEET: SOLAR EXPORT APPROVAL Set appliances to use your solar power Maintenance and safety checks are important But a sub optimally configured grid sometimes forces installers into implementing setting that are probably less than ideal if the high voltage events in the grid were just occasions where there is too much generation and they do want have all generators throttle back to allow some time for rebalancing supply and demand. Our Solar & Battery Calculator can give an idea of if its likely to pay: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/solar-calculator/. hour of charging is enough to drive 35km.. Though endless quibbling over unnecessary details might keep the presses churning, a FACT remains that Ive been using ever-more-cost-effective batteries since 1980. We installed 4.5kw with a 5kw inverter in 2014. reliable export limit control function as per AS4777.2 to limit the export output where the . This is because even if there is only a refrigerator running during the day it will reduce the losses from export limiting and if an effort is made to shift electricity consumption to the middle of the day then losses can be mostly or entirely eliminated. Unfortunately, SAPN wont allow more than 5 kilowatts of inverter capacity on an SWER line. Still, few people will want more than the 13.33 kilowatts of panel capacity single phase homes can generally install: The Bad: Homes with single-phase power on the main grid can have up to 5 kilowatts of inverter capacity but can usually get around this limit by installing an export limited solar inverter of up to 10 kilowatts. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Is there anything that can be done about it? March 2022 6 Powercor means Powercor Australia Limited, ABN 89 064 651 109. portal means the eConnect portal for CitiPower and . 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. It is critical that you install an approved smart inverter and set it correctly. Powercor's technical assessment aims for these works to enable at least 80% of new solar applications to export 5 kW. The current Envoy they will be selling is the Envoy-S. Before that was the straight Envoy which did not have the consumption monitoring / metering needed to do export limiting. My assumption is (and I may be wrong after all) that the idea of using my own energy first before buying from the grid is an illusion, and in fact it only appears like that because all the energy from the inverter (up to 5kW) is measured as exported, all energy required by the house is actually imported from the grid (as if there was no solar system at all), and it is just because the exports are offset against the imports for billing, why it appears that my PV system is reducing the imports. The solar installer or customer must have sought and received pre-approval from us for the requested capacity of the generator. the system is set to export the maximum amount of power approved in our Solar Export Pre-Approval to you your obligations as the owner and operator of an 'embedded generator' exporting . So what goes throgh the meter, in either direction, is the difference between what you generate and what you use. 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. Fronius Wattpilot: A Smart EV Charger With A Short Warranty, You Wont Believe How Dumb The NSW Governments New Battery Calculator Is. Youll also start receiving the SolarQuotes weekly newsletter, keeping you up to date on all the latest developments on Australias solar scene. Since in WA you cant have more than a 5kW inverter on a private residence, I believe there isnt actually export limiting in play, and the inverter itself clips the output AC regardless how much the panels are generating, sadly. I am looking at adding a second system (6.2kW) with GoodWe inverter. 207 About 50%. What made the situation all the more frustrating is periods of high congestion which can threaten the stability of a local network can be quite brief. 5kW times the number of hours is the total production over that time. Nominal Output Power (W) 5000 So having a powerwall is way less useful for helping with an export limit than you would think. Have a good christmas. 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. In addition, all modern solar inverters must comply with AS4777.2015 at least. Does anyone have similar experience with powercor? Okay, so that heading may be a bit of an exaggeration, but improvements the company has carried out appear to have made quite a difference. Three-phase homes can install up to 15 kilowatts of inverter capacity or 30 kilowatts with export limiting, except in South East Queensland where special permission is required from Energex to install an export limited inverter over 15 kilowatts. Very true AL0126. Nobody wants to see solar energy . I think the installers like the Volt-watt modes, because if you dont know where to look they hid the problem at your expense anyway. 3. The good news is, if you had a total of 6.6 kilowatts of solar youd probably loose very little due to export limiting if you consume half the output of a 3 kilowatt system and can export 3 kilowatts. So basically the whole local industry is going to be cactus until this is resolved. These consumption spikes go past the Solar energy being limited suggesting were drawing from the grid! Because people have been refused any STCs for being just a few watts over, no installer will go over the limit for a normal installation. Solar customers who currently have a limit on the amount they can export are invited to contact Powercor to reapply for an export agreement based on the greater capacity now available on the network. Also note that for new installations in WA, only residences with inverters of 5 kilowatts or less can receive the states, Western Australias Western Power area: Perth and South West WA. If you are in the solar industry - try to get to the truth, not the sale.5. A Decent Battery From sonnen. 4. JackD 1 year ago. People have done it at fairly low cost with second hand panels and a DC pump.) Allows installation but has a zero export limit. 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. We just had a 30kW inverter solar install for our business and it has been limited to 1.8kW export. The reason for this query, is that, in the past, my understanding has been that, in WA, where export limiting is apparently, banned by the gratuitously oppressive state parliament, and, where a limit of a 5kW output inverter, is allowed, for a single phase grid connection on the SWIS grid, a limit of 6.66 kW of panels generating capacity, is imposed for single phase connections to the SWIS grid, and, thence, the limit of panels generating capacity, to which the federal solar panels rebate applies, for such a connection, has been the 6.66kW. The new home didnt have solar. Hi Everyone, Are Tesla Powerwall smart enough to let majority of power export to grid and only start charging battery as inverter approaches its export limit? Can one have micro-inverter panels without a gateway, and how would that be limited? If you can go outside and scream at the top of your lungs with no chance your neighbours will hear you, then theres a good chance you are off the main grid and face much stricter limits on exports. The daily export limit is averaged across your billing period (calculated by multiplying the number of days in your billing period by your daily export limit of 14 kWh). When a home is exported limited, all the power the solar inverter can produce is available for the home to use. I wouldnt drive anything else. Why my Power Limit is set to ON with the % whereas her Power Limit is set to OFF and she has been exporting. The following is a list of the areas in case youve been missed. I have an existing 3.5kW PV system with Solis inverter. A rooftop solar system's grid export limit is determined by the local electricity network operator - sometimes on a case-by-case basis, sometimes according to an across-the-board standard, and . (2nd one APPROVAL/SITE SPECIFIC CONDITION(s): Total Solar Export must be limited to 5kW). The loss figures above are for Sydney and are affected by the climate. The percentage var/VA level leading is the inverter sourcing vars to the grid, whereas the percentage var/VA level lagging is the inverter sinking vars from the grid. The fact that export limiting is necessary is not a good thing. Metered and a non metered version. I installed 6.6kw solar panels and have Goodwe 5kw inverter and applied for export limit of 5kw. Once voltage thresholds etc are configure in the profile by the Envoy at install, each micro operates largely independently. Im surprised this hasnt hit the mainstream media yet. My sister has the same type of inverter (Goodwe) but she lives in the Estern suburbs of Victoria and she has been exporting but her Power Limit was set OFF. That would provide both export limiting, and, the incorporation of a battery system (for my household, if we would have a 6.6 kW panels generating capacity system, rather than the 5kW one that we have, something like the BYD LVS 20 or 24kWh battery tower, would, I believe be appropriate), which would provide for energy arbitrage, smoothing both power exported to the grid, and, power imported from the grid, especially during peak demand periods. Allows installation but has an export limit. Queenslands Ergon network area: All of Queensland on the main grid outside of South East Queensland. The MSO helps us manage and keep our network safe for solar customers. On a related note, we mentioned yesterday that over the border in South Australia, SA Power Networks is readying to ramp up flexible solar exports in an effort to support more solar installations and its pretty clever stuff. 0000038562 00000 n Youll also start receiving the SolarQuotes weekly newsletter, keeping you up to date on all the latest developments on Australias solar scene. 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. Finally! As a side issue for you, if you (like lots of people) have high voltages issue causing shutdown / throttling, I am not a big fan of the Volt-watt modes, as often these modes will also lower the voltages at which the throttling kicks in. The ideal way to measure the power flow in and out of your house would be to ask your existing electricity meter. Anyway you are probably not supposed to be messing around with the profiles without agreement of your DNSP. This seems to be becoming a big problem at least locally. 1. Now, there are quite a few profiles on offer that can be programmed into the microinverters. Its also unusual for a large solar system to have all the panels facing the same direction. The whole system of domestic rooftop photovoltaic systems, needs to be reviewed; by both the legislatures and regulators, and, by the components (especially the inverters) manufacturers. Installers must also follow the recommendations of the inverter manufacturer and they may say the limit for panel capacity is less than one-third more than the panels capacity. Still a very long payback period, but not as long. For example, I can see several Energex profiles that do things like limit export to differing amounts, turns on Volt-var without Volt-watt, or sets the power factor to 0.9. Whilst this may not be technically defined as export limiting, as the inverter specifications, specify that the inverter, whilst allowing up to an overload factor of 2, will only generate up to 5kW of A/C power Queenslands Energex area: South East Queensland. If you are using Enphase microinverters which is extremely likely the whole system can be export limited using the Enphase Envoy gateway. hbbf`b``3 I j While installing solar panels can still be worth it under these conditions, its a disincentive, increases payback time and is generally a pretty crappy state of affairs. Yes I do have Enphase micro-inverters and an Envoy gateway, though not enough sunny roof to exceed 5kW, so my interest is rather academic but real. . 0000009573 00000 n AS4777.2:2015 has some rather low default recommendations, which can be tweaked up as no doubt my profile has allowed. Also, given that export limited inverters (supposedly) work the same, regardless of the grid to which they are connected, why is it so, that states have different rules whereby some allow export limited inverters, and, some do not? 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. Ill upgrade the Endeavour Energy area from Ugly to Bad, since things are clearly not all bad there. 0000093063 00000 n Its also worth taking a look in case you shied away from installing solar panels in the past because of the situation now might be the time to revisit the idea. 0000010603 00000 n If the transformer capacity is limited, you could install solar initially with a low export limit (eg 1 kW) and then have your export limit increased when the transformer was . No matter how badly you may want to export limit your solar system, it can only be done in locations where its permitted. The majority of customers are approved for the export level they request. Activities part of Powercors Solar Hotspots program carried out over three months included upgrading infrastructure, adjusting tap settings on street-level transformers, balancing voltage levels on powerlines and various tweakery at zone substations. I do NOT have a device in my meter box that could tell the inverter anything about consumption and feed in energy. There are lots of variations to this theme, however. I realise that Australian legislatures do not care about the future, but, the future is coming, whether the legislatures like it or not. I still dont know if they have programmed the inverter to reduce the overall output by a percentage or not. is there a inverter that stops power going back Rooftop solar works by turning sunlight into electric power. More information about the program and how customers can get the most out of their rooftop solar is available at www.powercor.com.au/solar-energy Store it and use it later (this requires solar battery storage), or it disappears into thin air via a heat sink. The fact is that Powercor does not set an upper limit on the size solar panel system you can install, up to 30kW. Limited export means more power for home If your system has a limit on how much it can export then it means more power will get used in your home instead. Have I been conned into believing I could produce up to 6.6kW myself, but in fact the maximum my inverter will ever allow through to the meter (and to my house) is only 5kW? embedded generation system to the CitiPower and Powercor low voltage networks. Residential properties are unlikely to be allowed to use export limiting to install even larger inverters. Providing the export limiting is done on the meter current as described above ( not on the inverter output current), you can generate more than the export limit if you are consuming enough power to make up the difference between generation and export limit. We have a 3kwh system and are really using as much during the day as we can. So the solar inverter has to have its own energy meter installed in your switchboard one that talks to the inverter to tell it when power sent into the grid reaches the export limit. To get your quotes, please enter your postcode: AEMC: Electricity Prices To Continue To Fall, http://www.johnrogers.com.au/battery_charging_noon.jpg, http://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/kw-and-kwh-what-is-the-difference/, 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. I am afraid Western Power is very strict. I believe it must have been set up during installation, but the installer company claims that this is handled by Growatt themselves. Powercor wrote back with the following response:"Due to the size of t . 352 0 obj <>stream Instead the home can benefit from a small system, as I explain here: Ah yes I see. ), 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? Does anyone know how the limiter works in this scenario with 2 inverters? Sorry Andrew: NQR. trailer And, depending on the circumstances of each individual household, 10-15 kW of total panels generating capacity, with limiting export to the grid, to 5kW, could provide better for the months with less available solar radiation, to lessen the demand for grid electricity, peaking on a seasonal basis. Seem most solar places, even the ones the go on about how good they are, arent that good when presented with this, what seems to be a conundrum for them. Can anyone shed any light for me? 0000005986 00000 n While there are some energy management measures that could help around the edges, I cant think of any good solutions for the typical business. You can see from the profile name that it ensures the microinverters conform to the AS4777.2:2015 Australian standard that governs inverters, and it enables the advanced Volt-var and Volt-watt controls for adjusting export power when the grid voltage gets too high (as opposed to abruptly shutting off all export power when grid voltage is too high, which happens without Volt-var and Volt-watt). Depending on their location, some may be constrained to a lesser export level or even no exports at all. amended or replaced from time to time. And, when battery powered road vehicles with adequate distance capacity (I have read that VW expects to release a battery powered station wagon, with range between charges, of 700km, in 2023 (although, unless Australia wakes up, such vehicles will be unlikely to come to this neolithic country) ) are available, and, even for the rare ones that apparently, already exist in Australia (having not yet seen a battery powered vehicle in Australia, I wonder whether they are simply an urban myth, as to their presence in this backward country), when would they get charged, if people would only charge them at home? Thus, the question arises; if a single phase domestic rooftop photovoltaic system, involving a Goodwe GW-5000-MS inverter, and, 10kW of solar panels generating capacity, is installed (across up to three MPPTs), would the federal solar panels rebate apply to all of the 10kW of solar panels, or, to only the first 6.66 (or whatever is the exact applicable quantity) of the solar panels generating capacity? endstream endobj 351 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/Index[17 289]/Length 31/Size 306/Type/XRef/W[1 1 1]>>stream 0000027694 00000 n Theres more good news, with further improvements to come. 0000037419 00000 n We want to add a battery and it seems logical to add more cells also to another inverter/battery setup. Furthermore, the sustained overvoltage inverter protection set point shall be set to 258V. No unfortunately. Unfortunately, the inverters parameters such as Export Limitation are all password protected, and so far I have been unable to even determine who knows this password. To give you example, you will probably find the profile you mention is probably throttling from a very low 250v and will ramp down to 20% at 265v. Thats a furphy from go to whoa. Your meter is on the connection between the mains network on one side and the combination of your inverter and your loads on the other side. So far I have not seen much more than 5kW DC anyway, but in summer I would expect to see a curve thats flattened at the top during the high sun phase, as it is cut off by the inverter. If they face in two or more directions, it will further reduce the losses by reducing the peak solar output while stretching it out, so it lasts longer through the day. I have spoken to one installer , but he couldnt really help me . Regarding batteries, as we all know from our mobile phones, constantly being charged and discharged, will deteriorate much quicker than PV panels (and the same that goes for phones, laptops, and your electric toothbrush also goes for solar and electric vehicle batteries, unfortunately). We are in an area where only about 20% of the homes have solar. They hid the problem pretty well, because they do tend to reduce the amount of shutdowns. 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. But whether or not extra solar capacity will pay for itself is another matter. Thanks Steve 0418 815 193. But it took him about another ten years to focus on it in a way that wasnt really stupid, Good Article. We do not prevent customers from installing solar for their own self-consumption. Hi All, They did say that with future upgrades we could reapply, but I cant find a way to do this. Solar export limiting, or 'export limiting', occurs most often when there is more power being pushed into the grid than it can handle. 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.
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