Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looks good.
We went with a 4kw inverter with our 3.3kw system and the same as you we have room to up the system to 4kw later by adding 4 panels

Panels are rated using 1000w/m² of sunlight on a 25º.
You dont get that very often.
That is why panels never put out what they say they can do.
General rule is you can add panels rated 25% higher than the inverter without supplying excess power and wasting power generated.
You can add more if you want, but the inverter will only supply power up to its maximum.
I have the Aurora 3.6 and currently have 2.3kw of panels, I'll be increasing to 4.5kw in September.
Mine has 2 3kw MPPTs in it, so in theory I could have 6kw of panels on my roof, as long as you dont exceed the voltage rating, they will work.
The guy who installed my panels had the 5kw inverter and 8kw of panels.

My salesman told me that I would only just fit 3kw on the roof.
This is how much space I have after 2.3kw of panels went up

I jumped up there with the installer and worked out I could fit 6kw up there if I wanted.
Salesmen are just that, sales only, He told me a few other things as well that was complete BS, when I questioned him about it his face went kinda blank. I figured any questions, ask the installer.

Your installer seems to like using conduit! Here is my inverter


Andrew

Thats great info werdna, My installer used conduit all the way through the roof.

Great, meter is running backwards, have taken note of readings because the "Climate Smart Meter" is not so smart. even with the meter running backwards it is still recording usage. Only answer I can think of is the induction loop for pickup is on the supply wire to the house and not the meter. Just means it will over estimate the bill.

So have recorded meter reading and will compare each day, until the novelty wears off.

werdna, any reason why the panels are on the lowest part of the roof? Great for the installers, but you are more likely to get shading on the lowest part of the roof.

I built my passive-solar house in 2001 with potential for future PV panels. I have about 80 sq m of north-facing roof at 25 degree pitch. Solar panels have improved in 10 years, so I have 11 panels (2kW) in one row, and enough room for about 15kW. Shame I can't rent out my roof to investors with PV panels.

Chainsaw - If you are on 3 phase power your panels will only be connected to 1 phase, whereas your house will be using all 3, so you may find that your house is drawing more power on 2 phases than you are generating on the 3rd.
Sometimes installers disconnect the phase your panels are connected to from your house entirely, that way everything you generate goes straight out to the grid, reason being that power you send out is normally worth more for you than the power you are using.

Bythebrook - that photo was taken at 2pm in July, and you can see no shadow on the panels. The only time I get shadow is in the late afternoon when the garage roof blocks the sun, but by then the generation is so low it isnt really an issue.
I had the choice, but figured they dont stand out as much down lower
I told them to put it wherever he wanted it really, I bombarded him with questions about maximising efficiency for the inverter. Trying to work out where to put the inverter using power loss rule (P=I² x R), basically, I wanted the inverter closest to the lower voltage side because that part had the highest current, therefore the most loss.
Probably anything saved by inverter placement is lost by the afternoon shadow, but oh well!
Poor guy just wanted to start drilling holes
And then when his helper yelled out asking whether to use 1 or 2 strings, I yelled out to use 2, saves me getting another cable run when I add more panels!

werdna, No only have single phase coming into the house.

Well that blows that theory out the water!

Not to worry

werdna, I commented on the siting of the PV panels because it could be a problem if your neighbours decide to place some small trees on the South side of their property, which would then shade your panels. If they were higher up on the roof the trees would need to be a lot higher to shade them. I understand that neighbour disputes over shading are increasing, especially when people have paid good money for PV panels. It's probably something for new buyers of PV panels to consider.

When I sited my passive-solar house on my 1 acre block I positioned it for the best solar access to the north side, and removed young trees that would be a problem in future years. I grow citrus on the north side so I get good solar depth (about 2m) in the house in winter. This happens to give me good solar access to PV panels as well. Unfortunately not all people can own the land to their north, and rely on the goodwill of neighbours.

Ahhh, well luckily they cant do that, they have concreted that side of the house.
I had thought of that, and we had a looksy while standing on the roof.

And right now it is being rented, and it is very uncommon for a neighbour to let something actually grow in the garden!

Werdna, good to see that you are spreading your love for solar panels here as well... Definitely looking to upgrade mine coming Summer as well... with the reduction of the solar credits from 5 to 4, and the reduction of the government rebate to 20cents, it should seriously drop the sales volume for the solar companies in 3rd and 4th quarter... I think they will be dropping prices more to make more sales... good time for us...

I'll let you know when I am doing mine Ivan, we can see if we can get bulk buy discount if you want. Cant hurt to try!

Oh, and credits are being reduced from 5 to 3x now, all about trying to get the budget into surplus.
Which seems quite ironic to me that they want to introduce a carbon tax to help the environment, but also reduce green power rebates???

Is it just me, or does it sound like a different excuse for another tax when you look at it that way?

I thought about getting more PV panels later, but I already cover my power bills, even in winter. The inverter can go another 1kW, but it could be a problem with Centrelink re getting more money for the excess power. I was going to put the next spare money towards AP, as I only have 1kL FT and one GB. I'm going to add another GB first, then finally expand with a bigger FT and 2 more GB and go CHIFT PIST. I'm already reserving the ground for it. Fortunately I've got 1 acre!

HA. I wish mine covered my bills.
My bills are now only ~$220 each.
But still a $300 saving on what they were.

I suppose thats the price you pay for 10-15 fish tanks.