00@ Oo If your solar company provides you with the Solar pre-approval (SPA) number for your pre-approval, we can check specifically what was decided on with regards to exporting. 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. 2. They want to do it there way and it seems my request complicates things for them and I dont hear back, bar a couple. But still the solar companies keep trying to sell it to me.. 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. Powercor wrote back with the following response:"Due to the size of t . (2nd one APPROVAL/SITE SPECIFIC CONDITION(s): Total Solar Export must be limited to 5kW). Can you provide comment and evaluation of power tracing please. 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. 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? Under another option to . Origin offers 8 cents per kWh until a daily export limit of 14 kWh is reached. I guess it would be technically possible to have a solar system with a battery but still be connected to the grid as backup. The fact that export limiting is necessary is not a good thing. Thanks Steve 0418 815 193. You could have mentioned that SWER stands for Single Wire Earth Return and why that matters. The fact is that Powercor does not set an upper limit on the size solar panel system you can install, up to 30kW. Normally it makes more sense to buy a second, separate system, than to expand an existing one. Why on earth would I do that if I can help it. This 80% could translate to an estimated 50,000 current or potential solar customers able to export more solar to the grid. 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. Finally, there are profiles for other countries that run 220-240V networks, and its remarkable how many of them use the older AS4777.3:2005 standard in their countries, because for many of these countries, this is the only profile the Envoy offers. 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. Enter your postcode now. 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. An option is to take your pumps off-grid and run them independently off a separate off-grid solar system. Unfortunately, the meter companies and inverter manufacturers cant get their shit together, and the utility meters refuse to talk to the inverters. While there are some energy management measures that could help around the edges, I cant think of any good solutions for the typical business. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Nominal Output Power (W) 5000 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. On the main grid, single-phase properties can have 5 kilowatts of solar inverter capacity, and three-phase properties can have 15 kilowatts. Australian Rooftop Solar Powers Rise Astounding, But.. Australias Emissions: Electricity Down, Transport Up, Compare Feed-In Tariffs And Electricity Plans, Solar Export Limiting What It Is & Why Its Useful. Your dedicated meter will inform the inverter, and it will immediately reduce the power, so it doesnt exceed 5 kilowatts1. If you are using Enphase microinverters which is extremely likely the whole system can be export limited using the Enphase Envoy gateway. 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. 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. 20% As batteries currently operate they charge from power in the morning that could otherwise be sold rather than from power that may not be able to be sold in the middle of the day. According to NT Power and Water they will normally allow up to a 5 kilowatt inverter with single phase power and up to a 7 kilowatt inverter with 3 phase power. So the size of the system becomes irrelevant if you can only export 3kwh (we are Regional NSW Essential Energy). A 5 kilowatt inverter will never supply more than 5 kilowatts of power no matter how many kilowatts of panels it has. I am on my second Tesla EV and the new one has a rage of 700km if youre not a lead foot. 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. Very true AL0126. Please make sure you engage early with our team through eConnect to check on network capacity for your customers. 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. 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. 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? The distributor deals with that by putting the voltage slightly up at the sending end. How do I get around this with SAPN , am I allowed to export limit on a swer line in Sth Aust. 0000037419 00000 n About 50%. The infrastructure is not sufficiently flexible to deal with this. Will this mean any additional system would be limited to 0kW output?? Hi i want to install solar with no power 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. 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. Do you know the situation here? (Image from Finns Tesla App). The solar installer or customer must have sought and received pre-approval from us for the requested capacity of the generator. The solar installer or customer must have sought and received pre-approval from us for the requested capacity of the generator. Any ideas of how I can get a system that is actually going to generate enough power to charge a battery? Do the inverters prevent the production of energy by the solar panels when an export limit would otherwise be exceeded? See image at http://www.johnrogers.com.au/battery_charging_noon.jpg. 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: So what goes throgh the meter, in either direction, is the difference between what you generate and what you use. Normally single phase properties can have up to 5 kilowatts of solar inverter capacity and 3 phase properties can have 15 kilowatts. 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. 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. It appears the wire from the inverter is directly connected to my main fuse for the house circuits. The MSO helps us manage and keep our network safe for solar customers. After a major works program involving more than 500 different network alterations and other activities across nine key regions among the most constrained parts of the network, Powercors new solar connections export approval rate of just over 60% at the start of the year has increased to above 90%. STCs can be received for panel capacity up to one-third greater than the inverter capacity. 0000010080 00000 n Hello. Thats a huge jump and even a smidge higher than the Powercor network wide average of 89%. Western Australia Horizon Power area: Regional Western Australia. Our Solar & Battery Calculator can give an idea of if its likely to pay: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/solar-calculator/. I have divided Australias regions into three categories: The information below assumes the property is on the main grid. Hi All. But if you suddenly switch off everything, there is more surplus solar power than youre allowed to export. I do NOT have a device in my meter box that could tell the inverter anything about consumption and feed in energy. Solar export limiting, or 'export limiting', occurs most often when there is more power being pushed into the grid than it can handle. 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. We might still be willing to do this all the same, from an environmental viewpoint. Or is the energy produced by the panels but dissipated somehow? There are lots of variations to this theme, however. 0 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? 0000027818 00000 n So you may decide adding a second system is worthwhile, or you may want to put it off until your current system develops problems and replace it with one large new system. 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. 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, if a contractor or tradesman, using one of these during the day, or, another type of worker, gets home after work, and, plugs one of these in to charge, an immediate drain of 7 kW (I believe that it is actually 7.4 kW), and immediate significant drain is imposed on the grid, for several hours, during peak demand. As the LG Chem battery charges using DC current from the panels it is possible to go over the 10 kW inverter limit by charging the LG Chem battery in the middle of the day. P/Prated (%) Im in the Endeavour Energy area. 0000004059 00000 n So in effect I have two safety guards in place, 1. the 5kw limiter to the grit and 2. the extra Gateway . For example, our Solar Enablement program is intended to allow more customers to connect a 5kVa solar PV system with export capacity. Talking of which, the fact often gets dropped under the table that neither batteries nor panels and inverters (being mechano-electronic devices) have a limited life span, and their efficiency deteriorates gradually after only a few years. 0000029403 00000 n Once voltage thresholds etc are configure in the profile by the Envoy at install, each micro operates largely independently. Victorias AusNet network area: The eastern third of Victoria, not including Melbourne or French Island. given that we are working from home all the time these days. No unfortunately. The loss figures above are for Sydney and are affected by the climate. In writing I was advised: 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. Victoria's "Hotest" Solar Postcode is 3977 at last look. you aren't allowed to export any power from your solar system to the grid. This seems to be becoming a big problem at least locally. I have seen my panels producing over 13 kW of power when the battery is drawing 3 kW DC power and the battery, house and car 10 kW of AC power. NSWs Endeavour Energy area: Western Sydney. Swearing revenge, he began his lifelong quest to reduce the harm the environment could cause. A Decent Battery From sonnen. We just applied for pre-approval from Powercor and were given a 0kW export approval which is going to make almost anything we choose uneconomical. 0000022631 00000 n 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). 207 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). All is explained here: http://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/kw-and-kwh-what-is-the-difference/, ( 5kW per hour is a non-sensical unit unless you want to describe an acceleration of energy! But there will often be times when the solar system will produce more power than can be exported, so some energy will be lost3. Youll also start receiving the SolarQuotes weekly newsletter, keeping you up to date on all the latest developments on Australias solar scene. 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! Hi reliable export limit control function as per AS4777.2 to limit the export output where the . Now, such a hybrid inverter, as I previously submitted as a post, as being needed, would have the capability of providing for up to 10kW of panels generating capacity, and, of power conversion of up to 10kW, to provide for up to 5kW to provide for charging a battery system, and, the other 5kW to provide for the household load and with surplus (to the household load, out of the 5kW provision) being exported to the grid. 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).