Solar Power Expectations

Bungee123

Member
Can anyone please tell me what percentage efficiency you get from new solar panels in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I understand it's not an exact answer! If you had 100kw of panels how many kw would you expect to make per hour on average each month/season. TIA
 

Fogg

Member
Livestock Farmer
These are my average daily generation rates for three 50kw arrays.

There have been instances where inverters have tripped off and I've been slow to notice, and the like, but it should give you some idea.

Even in the thick of winter we're getting 1kw per day per 1kw of panel. A 100kw system should give you ~£800's worth of electricty per week during the sunnier months based on current market rates.
 

Attachments

  • solar.jpg
    solar.jpg
    109.3 KB · Views: 0

Bungee123

Member
Thanks Fogg. Quick question please ....... have I misunderstood what a '100kw system' means, is it 100 kw per hour or per day? I have noticed that obviously your summer generation is approx 4 x 50kw per day but your winter is only roughly 50kw. Also what is the current market rate just now as it seems to go up and down depending on who you are speaking to? Thanks
 

Fogg

Member
Livestock Farmer
I'm just talking about the value of the electricity the panels produce. We're paying 17p/kw for as long as our fixed term hold out, so on a bright day if the business is using 700kwh of electricity that's £120 I'm not going to have to pay to E.on. If I end up paying 30p/kw the green juice potentially saves me up to £210 per day. We signed up when the feed-in tarriff was still a thing, so only get ~5p/kwh for the proportion that doesn't get used on site and it exported.

7 years in and we're nudging 1gig of electricity. 960,000kwh from 150kw of panels. Arguably the best thing I've ever bought.

A 100kw system theortetically produces 100kwh per hour, but in the real world these things never run close to max. You've got to factor in cloud cover, and there only being a few hrs per day of instense sunshine.
 

Bungee123

Member
Thank god for that, sorry for misunderstanding you but I've got it now! You wouldn't happen to have the total amount of electric produced before you use any by any chance please? We don't use a great deal of electricity on the farm but have a 100kw grid connection so think the maths will add up. I believe you can get around 20p kw just now for export!
 

Fogg

Member
Livestock Farmer
Over the course of a year we export about 35% of the total generated. Obviously the proportion used is going to vary massively from busines to business, but our regular operations get thru quite a lot of electricity, especially when it's hot.

We're exporting ~48,000kwh per year at only about 6p. I never really worried too much about the export rate given FIT payments mattered more in the grand scheme of things, but if the going rate for exports is really 20p in these crazy times then I guess I need to establish whether I'm locked in on my rate as I'm missing out on a few £k per year. Could any resident experts please advise? TIA.
 

Farmer 059

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Staffordshire
Hi Bungee, our 100kw system (400 ground mounted panels) averages 105,000 kWh production a year, of which some 70% is exported. Renewed my FIT recently from 5 to 15p per kWh exported. We use a solar log to monitor the system and get immediate notification if an inverter drops out, or if there are irregularities in production - well worth the cost.
Only real issue are inverter problems, but fortunately we extended warranty to 20 years, money really well spent!
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Over the course of a year we export about 35% of the total generated. Obviously the proportion used is going to vary massively from busines to business, but our regular operations get thru quite a lot of electricity, especially when it's hot.

We're exporting ~48,000kwh per year at only about 6p. I never really worried too much about the export rate given FIT payments mattered more in the grand scheme of things, but if the going rate for exports is really 20p in these crazy times then I guess I need to establish whether I'm locked in on my rate as I'm missing out on a few £k per year. Could any resident experts please advise? TIA.
Just sent you a pm speak to @AlexMcGowan urgently
 

Bungee123

Member
Hi Bungee, our 100kw system (400 ground mounted panels) averages 105,000 kWh production a year, of which some 70% is exported. Renewed my FIT recently from 5 to 15p per kWh exported. We use a solar log to monitor the system and get immediate notification if an inverter drops out, or if there are irregularities in production - well worth the cost.
Only real issue are inverter problems, but fortunately we extended warranty to 20 years, money really well spent!
Thanks for your reply Farmer 059, so an average of just under 300kw per day. I take it you get a LOT less kw production through the winter months? Is the inverter the same as the G59 connection? Does 15p include your FIT payment and the payment from the grid please?
 

Bungee123

Member
Over the course of a year we export about 35% of the total generated. Obviously the proportion used is going to vary massively from busines to business, but our regular operations get thru quite a lot of electricity, especially when it's hot.

We're exporting ~48,000kwh per year at only about 6p. I never really worried too much about the export rate given FIT payments mattered more in the grand scheme of things, but if the going rate for exports is really 20p in these crazy times then I guess I need to establish whether I'm locked in on my rate as I'm missing out on a few £k per year. Could any resident experts please advise? TIA.
Good luck, fingers crossed you'll get more 💰 🤞
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Can anyone please tell me what percentage efficiency you get from new solar panels in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I understand it's not an exact answer! If you had 100kw of panels how many kw would you expect to make per hour on average each month/season. TIA
This is the monthly official prediction for an array in the south East complied by Ofgem
This is output for 1Kw of installed panels at a perfect angle South

1651047321225.png

However this is a very conservative figure and I would happily put a further 10% on these figures as my Mean
 

Bungee123

Member
This is the monthly official prediction for an array in the south East complied by Ofgem
This is output for 1Kw of installed panels at a perfect angle South

View attachment 1031863
However this is a very conservative figure and I would happily put a further 10% on these figures as my Mean
Thanks very much for your reply. Am I right in thinking then that 1kw of installed solar will produce on average 3kw of power per day (obviously a lot more in summer than winter)? TIA
 

Highland Mule

Member
Livestock Farmer
Get your head around units, and you should be able to work a lot of this out for yourself. Power is measured in kW, production is measured in kWh - that's what you get when a 1kW output is sustained for an hour, or 500W for 2 hours etc. The output in post 11 is kWh per year, per 1kW panel capacity.
 

Bungee123

Member
A typical apr day. With a better morning production would be 50kw

Ignore the prices at bottom, thats calibrated to include an extra 100kw with no tarrif
Very interesting, thank you. Maybe the manufacturers should change how they label kw's produced by solar panels as they virtually never produce anywhere near the kw per hour that they advertise them at and more often than not it is a LOT less!! Thanks again
 
Last edited:

texelburger

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Herefordshire
Over the course of a year we export about 35% of the total generated. Obviously the proportion used is going to vary massively from busines to business, but our regular operations get thru quite a lot of electricity, especially when it's hot.

We're exporting ~48,000kwh per year at only about 6p. I never really worried too much about the export rate given FIT payments mattered more in the grand scheme of things, but if the going rate for exports is really 20p in these crazy times then I guess I need to establish whether I'm locked in on my rate as I'm missing out on a few £k per year. Could any resident experts please advise? TIA.
Me too,I don't know if I can change my export purchaser or not.Currently on 5.7p(pre April 1st 22)which is index linked and alters April 1st each year.Im currently with Eon and have been since the start 2013 with an extension built in 2015.Im not really clued up on this at all.
 

Wisconsonian

Member
Trade
Panels, and virtually anything else electrical is rated on maximum watts. That's what all sizing has to be based on.

A round number would be 1,000 KWH/year per KW of panels. East west panels would be less, tracked panels would be more, climate matters too. Exfarmer's post shows the seasonal production well.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,287
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top