Solar export limiting, or 'export limiting', occurs most often when there is more power being pushed into the grid than it can handle. 207 Website link shows system producing well over 10 kW. 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. In future, will powercor allow export limit if they upgrade transformer? I did get on the FiT in the early days for the 66cpkWh, but installed a separate system (which I have since incorporated into my stand-alone system. 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. I still dont know if they have programmed the inverter to reduce the overall output by a percentage or not. driving range of 200km depending on ambient temperature. Weve seen a rapid growth in rooftop solar systems.With each installation, were facilitating rapid growth in the amount of solar capacity on our network. I have divided Australias regions into three categories: The information below assumes the property is on the main grid. Ready for some quotes? If your pumping needs are large enough this can pay for itself, but it will be expensive to set up. March 2022 6 Powercor means Powercor Australia Limited, ABN 89 064 651 109. portal means the eConnect portal for CitiPower and . The majority of customers are approved for the export level they request. and only supply me with power from the grid If so, it would make replacing the whole system more viable which is exactly what I wanted to avoid (and such a waste!). Perhaps it is worth mentioning that the stricter export limitation becomes, it will make a stronger argument for batteries. Larger inverters that are export limited are allowed on a case by case basis. 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. Or, if you want a lower cost method of dealing with blackouts, you can get yourself a small generator. 00@ Oo So an Enphase setup, without a continuously operating Envoy with not be providing this functionality and likely to raise some concerns in the AS4777.2015 certification process if they did not take steps to make sure these functions are always guaranteed to be implemented. We might still be willing to do this all the same, from an environmental viewpoint. Is this perhaps one of the well-kept secrets about the reality of residential solar production in Western Australia, one that neither the solar installers or inverter manufacturers, let alone Synergy or Western Power want to be publicly known? 0000009573 00000 n 0000029011 00000 n 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. 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. Is there anything that can be done about it? Nominal Output Power (W) 5000 0000039096 00000 n Allows installation but has a zero export limit. Were continually investing in our networks and aim to keep customers informed if additional export capacity becomes available in their area. so if I was correctly explained to, then I am limited to export less than 5kW (because my existing system will never produce 3.5kW), No installer (or their salepeople) is able to explain to me how the limiter is connected/set up in the scenario where I have 2 inverters. When a home is exported limited, all the power the solar inverter can produce is available for the home to use. This is done for three main reasons: In this article, Ill give a broad outline of how export limiting works and why it can be a good idea. Is this correct? About 50%. 5kW export limiter imposed on one inverter. 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. Single-phase properties can install inverter capacity up to 5 kilowatts while 3 phase properties can install up to 30 kilowatts. As discussion of the topic of export limiting, is continuing, what,if any, is/are the direct effect differences to electricity grid load (as in the load on the wires, not the load as the term used for meaning demand), between a 5kW inverter, and a 10kW inverter with 5kW export limiting? The new home didnt have solar. Powercor is telling increasing numbers of households looking to install new systems in this area they will have a zero export limit. 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. The loss figures above are for Sydney and are affected by the climate. 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. 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. First read the section How Export Limiting Works at the top of this thread. Export limiting does limit the inverter output, but only as needed to keep the export power below the limit. 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. Despite the low feed-in tariff you will receive it can still be worthwhile, especially if you can shift some electricity consumption to the middle of the day. I think it is illegal in WA to rewire your inverter or modify any parameters, as it may result in more than 5kW being sent to the grid, so I will just bite the bullet and see that I use as much solar as possible. Theres more good news, with further improvements to come. Even then, the losses from the limit are minor. So in effect I have two safety guards in place, 1. the 5kw limiter to the grit and 2. the extra Gateway . Why my Power Limit is set to ON with the % whereas her Power Limit is set to OFF and she has been exporting. If that doesnt worry you then you can get a battery and just hope it mostly pays for itself. The Good: In these locations, properties can usually install up to 10 kilowatts of solar inverter capacity if they have single-phase power and up to 30 kilowatts with 3 phase power. Rooftop solar works by turning sunlight into electric power. I was really keen for this system with a battery as most of my power is used at night and I like the idea of power during blackouts, which do happen quite a lot here. Western Australia Horizon Power area: Regional Western Australia. Queenslands Energex area: South East Queensland. Victorias Powercor area: Western Victoria, including a large portion of West Melbourne. I was told to set Power Limit to ON. The uptake of solar has surprised the powers that be so they are basically wasting free energy and penalizing the producers in the process. If thats not a good option, you can consider getting a demand tariff and doing pumping outside the peak period when the cost of grid electricity will be relatively low. The good news is, even in a worst-case situation, the amount will be fairly minor. In contrast, most other network distributors set a strict upper limit on the size solar panel system you can install, typically 10kW for single-phase properties. 0000038218 00000 n In looking to the future, regardless of whether we like it, in spite of, and, despite, the great efforts of the WA state government, and its parent, the Australian feral LNP/ALP government, battery powered road vehicles will come to Australia, and, displace ICE vehicles. I have a 5kw solar system plus a Tesla powerwall 2 on my house . given that we are working from home all the time these days. Good question Tony. But you probably would not recover the cost of the battery within its lifetime. Fronius Wattpilot: A Smart EV Charger With A Short Warranty, You Wont Believe How Dumb The NSW Governments New Battery Calculator Is. 0000039284 00000 n Most systems have mostly N facing panels, so really only generate peak power for a few hours a day (often 10am>2pm approx) going back into the grid with no batteries. We want to add a battery and it seems logical to add more cells also to another inverter/battery setup. Some battery powered cars can not be programmed to only recharge at particular times of the day, and, so, if someone drives one to work (that is, if and when battery powered cars become affordable to the working class) and home after work, then puts the car on the charger, the drain to the grid, that would consequently occur, during peak demand hours, needs to be covered. I believe it must have been set up during installation, but the installer company claims that this is handled by Growatt themselves. But your situation is complicated by already having a 3 kilowatt system. This seems to be becoming a big problem at least locally. 100% 0000038484 00000 n As has been explained (and COSTED) on previous occasions batteries are VERY cost-effective.IF you stay away from the hi-tech/overpriced/dependence-creating/unproven battery-systems advocated by commercially self-interested parties. 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. It would definitely be better if we didnt need to limit the amount of power solar systems sent into the grid. 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. Any ideas of how I can get a system that is actually going to generate enough power to charge a battery? Is it the 6.66 kW, as the 1.3 overload factor of a 5kW inverter, or, is it the maximum allowed (by the manufacturer) panels generating capacity, for an inverter that is allowed by a state/territory government? Im trying to get some unbiased advice on whether or not we should add more solar. Phone, email, give us feedback or make a claim. 0000037380 00000 n In addition, all modern solar inverters must comply with AS4777.2015 at least. 3. &K?BK:T$A1Cn While this is fine during the week when we are open, it seems a huge waste of electricity on the weekends when we are closed. Many NSW rural situations are limited to 3Kw export, due to the length of the transmission lines. It seems so strange that it is clear government policy to get more solar going and yet the network operators are effectively blocking it now. On the main grid, single-phase properties can have 5 kilowatts of solar inverter capacity, and three-phase properties can have 15 kilowatts. is there a inverter that stops power going back Of course the manufacturers dont want this to be public knowledge and pretend that once you paid for a system you are set for life (yours, not that of the system). I wouldnt drive anything else. I have not been able to get an answer from Growatt Australia yet, it seems there is a bit of a cover-up going on. All I can really suggest is to try to shift power use to the middle of the day and hope mainly solar energy is consumed. But still the solar companies keep trying to sell it to me.. And yes 5kW export limit applies May I suggest an extra fact check to polish the valuable story above? Where do I find information on reapplying for export with Powercor? He's been reporting on Australian and international solar energy news ever since. But I will warn you, even with the high cost of grid electricity and the low solar feed-in tariff in Western Australia, batteries normally wont pay for themselves. 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). Export limiting generally isnt permitted. Select the AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 Australia A setting. Tasmania: Under 1% of Tasmanians are on SWER lines, so the generous export limit should often be available. trailer But you will probably find that there is another setting that it will shutdown when 10 minute average voltage is a measly 255v. The naming of zones may differ between manufacturers but may appear as: Australia A - applies to the configuration of inverter settings in Victoria and all Eastern . Its the same with kW and hours of solar electricity production. But it took him about another ten years to focus on it in a way that wasnt really stupid, Good Article. 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. If you are interested you can read about this here: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/inverters/mppt/. Im in the same situation, except I have an existing 5kW system. 0000004622 00000 n Hi All. At the moment a battery system is unlikely to pay for itself, but you could install a system that is larger than what makes financial sense for your current situation and hope home batteries will fall in price over the next few years. I am not even sure the inverter would support that, but I fear that sadly up to 25% of the PV energy might be going to waste! Instead the home can benefit from a small system, as I explain here: Ah yes I see. Your dedicated meter will inform the inverter, and it will immediately reduce the power, so it doesnt exceed 5 kilowatts1. Definitely, thats an inverter that is export limited to zero. See image at http://www.johnrogers.com.au/battery_charging_noon.jpg, CORRECTION: My 13.25 kW system will not go above the 10 kW inverter limit unless my house battery is charging and then it can go to 13.25 kW. Thanks Ronald! I cant justify the cost of adding additional solar if the max I can export with Essential energy is 3kwh. 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. 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. Would the gateway signal the micro inverters to shut down one at a time, or to all reduce output equally? They want to do it there way and it seems my request complicates things for them and I dont hear back, bar a couple. 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. Energex doesnt automatically allow inverters over 5 kilowatts to be installed with export limiting, but currently regularly grants permission for single-phase homes on the main grid to install up to 10 kilowatts of inverter capacity with export limiting. I dont quite understand how the DC energy from the inverter can go to my home circuits first, before any excess current is fed into the grid. Please stay on topic. IE if Im producing 8KW, the house is using 2KW it will still export 5kw? The data has 5KW flat lining confirming more is being generated. They hid the problem pretty well, because they do tend to reduce the amount of shutdowns. Ill upgrade the Endeavour Energy area from Ugly to Bad, since things are clearly not all bad there. Sometimes Powercor can reduce that to a lower figure, or even set a zero-export limit. MPPT2 always shows better performance than MPPT, usually quite significantly better. Certainly this dumb meter is not capable of sending current from the inverter selectively to my home circuits and any excess to the grid? The Solar installer is telling me that they just started getting 0kW approvals back for about 9 out of 10 requests and so they dont believe they will be able to do many installs at all going forward. Generally however, I can advise that Powercor intends to upgrade the network over the next 5 years, starting in January, however, the specifics of where upgrades are happening and the order has not been decided. If you are in the solar industry - try to get to the truth, not the sale.5. 0000038830 00000 n Reminder: In Australia, you are allowed to install 33% more panel capacity than the inverter capacity for example, a 10 kW inverter can have up to 13.33 kW of panels attached. 0000000016 00000 n A 5 kilowatt inverter will never supply more than 5 kilowatts of power no matter how many kilowatts of panels it has. The solar PV system is connected to the network via an inverter. Even if you have the Envoy-S, I believe at least on paper there was a Enphase Envoy-S Do the inverters prevent the production of energy by the solar panels when an export limit would otherwise be exceeded? I know in the movie the Bad was worse than the Ugly, but thats not the way Im doing it. Allows installation but has an export limit. Heres the Fronius Smart Meter that you need if you want to export limit a Fronius inverter it will add about $500 to the cost of the system: An example of how export limiting works You have an inverter thats exported limited to 5 kilowatts. I suspect that it is likely, that that they are all signaled equally, not in truth I dont know for sure. I do NOT have a device in my meter box that could tell the inverter anything about consumption and feed in energy. Have a good christmas. 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. But I suspect for a lot of people, the vast majority of these over voltage events are simply because the networks are running out of spec voltages. How do I get around this with SAPN , am I allowed to export limit on a swer line in Sth Aust. Still a very long payback period, but not as long. you aren't allowed to export any power from your solar system to the grid. 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. Youre using a total of four kilowatts to cook your lunch, so your home is exporting 4 kilowatts, which is below the limit. (Image from Finns Tesla App). It is just the placement of the meter and the current sensor that controls the limiting. 0000001260 00000 n 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. These consumption spikes go past the Solar energy being limited suggesting were drawing from the grid! Residential properties are unlikely to be allowed to use export limiting to install even larger inverters. Now, there are quite a few profiles on offer that can be programmed into the microinverters. For any amount above the daily export, you will receive our standard retailer feed-in tariff of 5 . 258 306 0 obj <> endobj It is possible to max out the 10 kW inverter capacity with my Tesla, house load and Heat Pump hot water. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Download the first chapter of The Good Solar Guide, authored by SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock, FREE! Im glad to hear its flexible enough to do that. 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. Im in regional WA with a rural 2 phase supply. (We are conected to a 25Kw transformer, with 5 consumers connected.). Also, if you are on the main grid the amount of power you are allowed to export can still be below the limits given or even zero, depending on how much additional solar capacity the local grid can handle at your location. Thanks. Exporting surplus solar power is good because it reduces fossil fuel generation and pays you a feed-in tariff that reduces electricity bills. Victorias Jemena network area: A small but crowded chunk of North and Western Melbourne. 352 0 obj <>stream Of more concern is occasional spikes in consumption which go past the 5kw limit. 207 Can you provide comment and evaluation of power tracing please. This extra meter adds to the cost of a solar system. And doing so potentially puts you running in a non compliant state. 0000037497 00000 n 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. If you are export limited, the only way to implement that is with some sort of meter as Ronald says. Theyd be higher for a sunnier location such as Perth and lower for cloudier places such as Melbourne or Hobart. Worried the impact this will have currently when we charge an EV in the near term. 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 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. If you are in the solar industry - try to get to the truth, not the sale.5. I prefer a profile that just has the voltages set to a high voltage threshold, and if I have to sacrifice V-W mode, so be it. Upgrading the local electricity network so more businesses and households can export excess solar to share. The fact that export limiting is necessary is not a good thing. 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. When a home is exported limited, all the power the solar inverter can produce is available for the home to use. VAr (var % rated VA) 0000007057 00000 n 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. So if your home isnt currently drawing power you wont know from looking at the display if its capable of producing the maximum 5 kilowatts or if it cant provide more than 3 kilowatts. What inverter do you have? Note that connections off the main grid are usually far more restricted. 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. I have solar on my house and having it installed at an investment property, but not sure what to do now as there will be no benefit of feed in tariff.

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