Solar Power System Installed

[Dave Hounddriver]

Just wait a while and miniature thermoelectric generators will become a reality.  The idea is to use the difference in temperature between the earth and the night sky to generate electricity when the sun goes down.  This should greatly reduce the need for huge banks of batteries.  One can hope it will happen in our lifetime.

[carbpow]

I've been living in my house with a solar PV system for about 2 months. The problem is I don't have net metering approved yet due to the CV-19. Application is being processed. Meanwhile I have to pay full Meralco rate for any excess I generate which is a LOT. Even with only one string on I feed back about 6-8 KWH/day. Anyone know what the typical time is to get net metering approved and meter installed?

[hk blues]

53 minutes ago, carbpow said:

I've been living in my house with a solar PV system for about 2 months. The problem is I don't have net metering approved yet due to the CV-19. Application is being processed. Meanwhile I have to pay full Meralco rate for any excess I generate which is a LOT. Even with only one string on I feed back about 6-8 KWH/day. Anyone know what the typical time is to get net metering approved and meter installed?

Maybe a stupid question, but is there no way to disable the system once you have enough for your needs?  That assumes you have a battery storage system though.  

[carbpow]

Tes I can turn it off and just use the power supplied by the electric company [no battery back-up] but that gets annoying. Most of the power I feed back is between 11AM and 2PM so I would have to turn it off at 11 and back on at 2, IF I remembered.

[Tommy T.]

11 hours ago, carbpow said:

Tes I can turn it off and just use the power supplied by the electric company [no battery back-up] but that gets annoying. Most of the power I feed back is between 11AM and 2PM so I would have to turn it off at 11 and back on at 2, IF I remembered.

Welcome to the forum...

How many panels do you have and what is the wattage and manufacture of those panels?

[carbpow]

3 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

How many panels do you have and what is the wattage and manufacture of those panels?

I have 16 panels total.  Two strings of 340W LG panels.

[hk blues]

18 hours ago, carbpow said:

Tes I can turn it off and just use the power supplied by the electric company [no battery back-up] but that gets annoying. Most of the power I feed back is between 11AM and 2PM so I would have to turn it off at 11 and back on at 2, IF I remembered.

That was my follow up question if you said you had no battery back up - why not just disable the whole system and pay for power if it's cheaper than paying the additional fee?

We shied away from solar when we discovered the quoted prices were without battery storage units - we really wanted something to keep us going in a brownout. Given our low electricity bills - 2k a month - the solar system just didn't turn us on enough - pun intended!

Hopefully the electricity company are switched on (there i go again) and get you sorted soon.

[jimeve]

2 hours ago, hk blues said:

We shied away from solar when we discovered the quoted prices were without battery storage units - we really wanted something to keep us going in a brownout. Given our low electricity bills - 2k a month - the solar system just didn't turn us on enough - pun intended!

You need a off grid solar system, batteries are expensive and don't last long.

[Mike J]

11 hours ago, jimeve said:

You need a off grid solar system, batteries are expensive and don't last long.

My thoughts exactly.  The batteries are expensive but they are getting better and lasting longer 5-15 years depending on quality, price, and maintenance care.  Meralco pays the grid owner about 1/2 the rate for your excess power as what Meralco charge you for current.  I sort of understand that as you are using the Meralco grid to get the power back to them, 1/2 seems rather low but better than letting it go to waste because you have no batteries.  And if you have an outage at night you will still have power with an off grid system.  I have never heard of anyone having to pay the utility for excess power going back into the grid under any circumstances.   Why would you pay them to take excess power?    I expect the OP meant that he was getting no remuneration for the excess power going back, and still paying full rate for what was coming in?   I was under the impression they did not do the return hookup until final approval which includes the outbound meter.  But I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time or the last. 

[jimeve]

2 hours ago, Mike J said:

I have never heard of anyone having to pay the utility for excess power going back into the grid under any circumstances.   Why would you pay them to take excess power?   

Exactly, our utility pay half of the solar electric going back to them. At the moment it's about 10 p KWH  then the solar power  owner gets 5p KWH fed back into the grid.

Not the other way round. If it was me I would keep a record of all the meter readings . Then when all the Application has been processed show them the meter readings.