September 1, 2021

Roof Maintenance

Solar exceeds coal for first time, as renewables set new records on Australia’s main grid

Cleo Bolton September 1, 2021

Australia’s National Electricity Market achieved a new milestone on the road to renewables this week, when the combined output of small and large-scale solar exceeded that of brown and...

Roof Maintenance

Kokam battery to act as “virtual synchronous generator” in Tahiti, edge out diesel

Cleo Bolton September 1, 2021

Cutting edge battery technology will be deployed on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, to perform the same task as spinning reserve diesel generators, without the use of the...

Best Practices to get Maximum Power Generation from your home solar plant

Understanding the way solar panels work is crucial to getting the most out of your domestic solar system. Most people assume that because they have purchased a 100-watt solar panel, it will deliver 100 watts of electrical power continuously, which is not always the case. The actual output from the solar panels will depend on factors like shading, orientation, and sun hours. With a 30-panel system, you will be producing more than enough electricity per year to match all your electricity usage, and maybe more! With solar panels from top solar rooftop companies, your rooftop can generate enough power to run your entire household. Your residential rooftop solar power plants also offer you peace of mind with today’s extreme weather conditions and outdated electrical grids. Wattage Rating: The broad selection from various solar energy companies available for domestic solar are not created equal, and not all generate the same amount of power. Solar panels are rated based on the watts they generate. The higher the wattage rating, the greater amount of power your solar installation will produce. Most residential solar panels have power output ratings from 250 to 400 watts, depending on panel size and how well they convert sunlight into energy. While higher power ratings are considered preferable, power output is not the sole factor in judging a solar panel’s performance. Panel efficiency is a better indicator of solar panel performance than just power output for meeting your energy needs. Factors influencing power generation: The electricity generated by a solar panel system is ruled by its rated power output. Yet, it is dependent on other factors as well to best serve your energy usage. These include panel efficiency, temperature sensitivity, shading, and the angle of your roof. A roof’s angle, though, has less impact on panel performance than the direction it faces. Top production occurs when solar panels face south with a tilt angle of 30° to 45°.5. Additionally, available sunlight varies by location which further affects the amount of energy you produce. Factors to consider while trying to maximise your solar power for home:Amount of shaded area on the solar panelsAngle of panel installationCleaning your solar panels to ensure dust or debris does not block the incident sunlight.Checking your inverter and all other componentsRegular check-ups and maintenance of your home solar power system.
How to install net metering in off-grid solar system?

Net metering is the foundational and most effective solar policy on which the entire residential solar industry is built. It allows to feed the surplus electricity generated from solar system back to the electricity grid for a later use. Net metering uses the electric grid to store the energy produced by the solar panel system. It can be used at a later time. It helps one to reduce their electricity bills and save more. When the solar panels produce more electricity than consumption, electric meter runs in reverse. It sends the electricity back to the grid. When the consumption is more than production, electric meter runs forward and electricity is pulled back from the grid. For an on-grid solar system, a bi-directional meter is installed. It records the inflow of electricity from the grid to the house and outflow of electricity from the house to the grid. This digital meter runs in both directions to accommodate electricity generated. The electricity bill will be a net of inflow and outflow electricity. Solar panel production varies according to season. Panels produce more in summer. In winter season energy produced by the system is much lesser. Net metering accounts for it by crediting for the excess electricity that is being sent to the grid. It also allows to use it later during the times of adversity. Net-metering functions like a virtual battery. The consumers can avail power without a storage system even at times when the panels are not producing. As batteries are not deployed for storage, maintenance cost of the system is much lesser. Off grid solar system is the one where system is not connected to the power grid. Solar panels produce power and it is used by the clients. The connection with the utility company is severed. The solar system produces electricity only when the sun is shining. There is no access to extra electricity even at times of need. What is produced and what is stored is all that’s there to power the equipment. This makes solar batteries mandatory to stay powered at night. An off-grid solar system can go for virtual net metering. It is more less similar to net metering from a customer’s point of view. Community solar farm produces energy. It allows people to receive clean energy and make electricity bill savings. It is similar to the ones produced from their own roofs. Virtual net metering makes customer savings happen. It pays back the investors too. Net metering is an agreement between a consumer who installs a solar system and the Electricity Distribution Company. It allows the solar PV system owner to sell excess solar energy to the utility company. It also allows them to buy deficit energy from the utility company using a meter to track this energy exchange. Off-grid solar power system is not connected to the power grid. It has no access to net metering in the normal course. Any surplus energy generated by the Off-grid solar system has to be either used, stored or it goes a waste. An option to do so is to replace the off-grid inverter with an on-grid inverter. For both off grid and on grid functions, a hybrid solar inverter would be the best choice. On grid inverters are those that can be connected directly to the grid. The micro-controller inside synchronizes the generated power to the utility grid. An off-grid inverter is not designed to sync the generated power to the grid. It will get damaged when connected to the grid lines. On grid inverters can be used for off grid applications. It is possible by developing a microgrid, with generator as a primary back up and solar inverter as a renewable source. Hooking on grid inverters directly with generators can damage it due to reverse power. Net metering makes renewable energy more economical and accessible to all. Its main advantage is that the surplus energy earns revenue while the shortage of energy is covered by the grid. The post How to install net metering in off-grid solar system? appeared first on Regen Power.
Australian researchers unlock key to lower cost and longer lasting solar cells

A research team based at the University of Queensland has found a way to improve the stability and durability of next generation perovskite solar cells that will help bring them up to par with conventional, silicon-based solar cells. The team, led by the UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology found that “doping” nanomaterials used in perovskite solar cell production with cesium resulted in significant improvements in their overall performance. The findings from the research, published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, show a solar conversion efficiency of 21.57 per cent could be achieved from the cells made using doped nanomaterials, alongside improvements in thermal stability. The discovery is significant for the advancement of perovskite solar cells, which have the potential to be manufactured with less complexity – and thus less cost – than silicon solar cells, but fall short on measures of durability. “Among the next-generation technologies, perovskite solar cells have attracted enormous attention because of their high efficiency and ease of fabrication,” said UQ’s Professor Joe Shapter. “Our research contributes to intensive efforts to develop various types of solar cells with the aim of realising efficient, stable and low-cost replacements for present silicon-based technology.” The post Australian researchers unlock key to lower cost and longer lasting solar cells appeared first on Solar Choice.
Solar Analytics Plan Optimiser Demo and Review

Looking for our review of Solar Analytics Solar Monitoring? – click here. There are many comparison sites out there but electricity retailers are experts in making their plans difficult to compare. Is it better to look for a higher feed in tariff with higher power rates or a lower feed in tariff with lower rates. What about the daily supply charge? Flat rate or a time of use rate? The answer is it depends on how you consume energy on a day to day basis. Currently only electricity retailers have that data and they don’t make it publicly available. However if you have solar analytics installed with consumption monitoring – then you can take the power back into your own hands. Solar Analytics Plan Optimiser – How it works If you have Solar Analytics installed with consumption monitoring then their software captures all the information you need to make an exact comparison of all of the available electricity offers. The developers at Solar Analytics have built the software so that all you need to do is enter you current energy bill information and they will assess the market for you and find out who has the best offer to suit your needs taking into account all of the following factors:Solar feed in tariffsFlat rate or time of use (peak, shoulder, off peak) ratesDaily supply charges The software extracts all the electricity plan offers from Government websites like energymadeeasy.gov.au which is designed as a whole of market comparison – rather than some of the other sites out there who only work with a smaller list of ‘partners’. Simple 2 Step Process Step 1: Enter Current Plan The first step is to enter your current energy bill information. This helps the system determine if there are any better offers out there than your current electricity plan and enables the calculation of how much you can save by switching. Solar Analytics have advised they will be launching an automatic bill scraper tool where they can extract all the required information from an uploaded PDF of your energy bill. Step 2: Review Results Click on compare plans and you will see the best options – it is as simple as that. You can see the top offers that are available based on your own energy data ranked by the savings you can make. You can easily compare the important characteristics of the bill including the buy tariff, solar feed in tariff and the supply charge. It comes as no surprise that the best offer doesn’t always have the highest feed in tariff for customers with solar systems on their roof. All that’s left is the simple step of heading to the relevant electricity retailers’ website and signing up for their relevant plan – or you can do this via energymadeeasy.gov.au Through their initial trials in NSW, Solar Analytics have advised that 70% of users had savings potential that could be realised and that the average saving was ~$400 per year. How Can I Access the Solar Analytics Plan Optimiser Tool? If you have a current subscription to Solar Analytics and have consumption monitoring installed then this tool is available to you at no extra cost. Simply head to the dashboard on your monitoring system and click on compare plans. If you are interested in getting Solar Analytics added to your existing solar system then you have a couple of options.If you have a Sungrow or Fronius inverter with consumption monitoring then no additional hardware is required – you can simply contact your solar installer to get it set up.If you don’t have a compatible inverter or consumption monitor (more are being added to the list soon), then there will be an upfront cost to have the additional hardware installed. Contact your solar installer to get more information. The post Solar Analytics Plan Optimiser Demo and Review appeared first on Solar Choice. Did you miss our previous article… https://www.narecsolar.com/?p=230
Research breakthrough boosts hydrogen production from waste water

Scientists from the University of Adelaide have led an international team of researchers in a bid to boost the conversion of wastewater to renewable hydrogen – and made a significant breakthrough. Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable electricity to “split” water into hydrogen and oxygen. To make the electrolysis process more sustainable, urea in wastewater can be used to power fuel cells as an alternative to clean water. The downside of this approach, however, is that the technologies that use urea tend to perform poorly in terms of efficiency. The University of Adelaide-led study, however, has found a new catalyst made from nickel ferrocyanide that requires less energy input to produce the hydrogen, while also reducing the urea content in the waste water – a win on both fronts. “We have developed a new kind of catalyst that more efficiently generates clean energy from waste water that contains urea,” said Associate Professor Yao Zheng, a joint first-author of the study published in the Nature journal. “We have shown for the first time that we can make the process in the electrolyser work more efficiently so it can reduce the energy input and produce more hydrogen, than those that use existing catalysts.” The post Research breakthrough boosts hydrogen production from waste water appeared first on Solar Choice. Did you miss our previous article… https://www.narecsolar.com/?p=227
Final turbine installed at Australia’s biggest wind and solar hybrid project

Australia’s biggest wind and solar hybrid facility, the 317MW Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park (PAREP), has installed the last of its 50 wind turbines, completing construction of the massive project. The $500 million facility, which is being built by Spanish giant Iberdrola in conjunction with the project developer DP Energy, combines 210MW of wind energy capacity and 107MW of solar, from 250,000 PV modules. “Energisation” of the project is expected as soon as the connection approval is finalised, and once fully commissioned the PAREP is expected to significantly increase the amount of renewables installed on the state’s already world-leading grid. South Australia energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said the project had created more than 200 full-time jobs during the construction phase and would create a further 20 on-going jobs after completion. “This innovative regional renewable energy project is an example of the way our state government is delivering on its vision for South Australia to achieve 100% net renewable energy by 2030,” he said. The post Final turbine installed at Australia’s biggest wind and solar hybrid project appeared first on Solar Choice.
Tesla calls for a 20 gigawatt storage target for Australia

US electric vehicle and battery giant, Tesla, has called on Australia’s federal government to set a 20 gigawatt energy storage target, as a mechanism to ensure the country meets its “dispatchable” power needs in the transition to a grid dominated by renewable energy generation. In a submission to a federal parliament inquiry into dispatchable energy generation and storage capability in Australia, Tesla said battery storage offered fast, modular and scalable alternatives to new coal and gas peaking plants which Tesla said were “no longer economically rational.” Further advantages of grid-scale battery storage, the submission argued, were that it could be deployed in any location on the network and, compared to gas or pumped hydro projects, had a minimal land footprint and a reduced carbon footprint. “As yet there are no overarching plans or direct mechanisms to ensure the scale of storage required is delivered to meet both reliability and system security outcomes in the short term, and drive affordability and efficiency outcomes for consumers over the longer term,” the company wrote. “Extending the life of ageing assets drives up prices for consumers relative to new assets that bring additional generation capacity and increase competition. Extensions and retrofits distort investment signals and inhibit jobs growth and energy affordability. “Tesla recommends a clear storage target (e.g. 20GW by 2040) to enable progress tracking and guide reforms to unlock new value streams.” The post Tesla calls for a 20 gigawatt storage target for Australia appeared first on Solar Choice.
Professor Chem Nayar, Helped make clean energy use practical

The post Professor Chem Nayar, Helped make clean energy use practical appeared first on Regen Power. Did you miss our previous article… https://www.narecsolar.com/?p=218
Clean Energy Pioneer

The post Clean Energy Pioneer appeared first on Regen Power. Did you miss our previous article… https://www.narecsolar.com/?p=215
Do solar panels need direct sunlight?

In a world that craves sustainability, solar panels are seen as a source of alternative energy that helps humans to lead better life. It is a sound investment that offers clean energy at a lower cost. Solar panels produce the best when there is direct sunlight. It does not mean that they don’t produce when there is no direct sunlight. It functions by converting photons to electric current. As direct and indirect sunlight carry photons, solar panels can work in both conditions. Solar panels need 1000 W/m2 of sunlight to reach their peak output. It is available only when there is direct sunlight. It works with maximum efficiency when the sun is shining. It produces more free electricity during the day when direct sunlight is maximum. In its absence, there will be only a reduced output from the panels. There is electricity generation even during winter and cloudy days. A peak sun hour is the amount of energy in sunlight that a solar PV panel receives over a day. A solar system needs an average of four peak sun hours per day to make the system worthwhile. It is equivalent to 4000 watt-hours of cumulative solar radiation over a day. A solar panel is made up of many smaller photovoltaic cells that are linked together. These cells are held together by durable silicone. Each side will have both positive and negative charge, which allows the proper electrical currents to bounce off each other. These cells inside the panel convert photons into usable energy. To maximize sunlight exposure, solar panels are designed with mirrors and reflectors. This increases the number of photons absorbed and converted to usable electricity. Irrespective of weather, solar panels produce clean energy most of the time, with an exception to shade and after sunset. There is no electricity generation at night. A good battery storage system can solve this problem. A battery storage system store excess energy produced during daytime and use it later when there is comparatively lesser or no production at all. A solar system with storage makes one fully energy independent. Solar panels do work in shade. Shaded solar panels produce less power than those in direct sunlight. Overgrown trees, foliage, neighboring solar panels, parts of the roof like a chimney or dormer can all be sources that block direct sunlight from reaching certain panels of the solar system. Solar panels do not work well if it is shaded for most of the time. It will work well only when the shading objects are removed. If there is only partial shading, excessive efficiency loss can be prevented with solar inverter solutions. Solar inverters convert direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), which is the electricity that use at homes. A right solar inverter helps to minimize efficiency losses from shaded panels. Shade causes variations in electricity generation. These variations and dips in efficiency of solar PVs can be minimized through panel layout and inverter selection. The three types of inverters currently available are string inverters, micro-inverters, and power optimizers. All the three differ in the way it deals with shade. String inverters are the most basic inverter technology. In a string inverter system, many panels are connected to the same inverter. If one panel is shaded, the entire system operates only at the power of the weakest panel. Micro-inverters have an inverter installed for each individual solar panel. If one panel is shaded, the rest of the panels w ill operate at peak efficiency. As each panel has its own designated inverter, it works at its efficiency irrespective of other panels. Power optimizers are a combination of string inverters and micro-inverters. It can negate the effect of a single panel being shaded on an entire system. It sends the DC electricity generated from the panels to a single string inverter. One can solve the problem of partial shading by installing a system with power optimizers or micro-inverters. Both are more expensive than a standard string inverter as it has higher electricity production. Weather conditions that reduce direct sunlight are clouds, rain and snow. These are detrimental to solar power production. In such conditions, solar panels will produce only about half the energy that they would produce with direct sunlight. Even during bad weather conditions, electricity generation happens. solar panels will still be absorbing, converting, and providing energy. Clouds do let some sunlight through them, but with low efficiency. Powerproduction depends on the thickness of cloud cover. Rain doesn’t directly affect the power production. But the heavy cloud that accompanies rain will have an impact on electricity generation. With the darkening of sky, clouds block sunlight. It lowers system output by 40-90%. The positive aspect of rain and snow is that both cleans the panels. Snow prevents the panels from getting too hot and losing efficiency. Light snow doesn’t affect power production as the sunlight can pass through light dusting of snow. During cold weather, there is more electron activity, which allows the solar panels to absorb more sunlight. Solar panels are installed in an angle that it can easily shed off snow. A heavy accumulation of snow would block sunlight and greatly reduce power production. Indirect sunlight happens when sunlight is reflected off a surface like clouds or snow. Even in indirect sunlight photons from sun will reach the solar panels. The amount of heat and sunlight that reaches the panel will be lesser. The amount of sunlight that solar panels need to perform optimally will be determined by the angle of roof, energy consumption needs, climate of the region, number of solar panels and shade during a specific time of day. The amount of energy generated by a panel is directly proportional to the amount of energy it receives from sunlight. It is important to install panels in such a way that they receive good exposure to direct sunlight. Based on peak sun hours of a region, a solar system designer can help in choosing the size of a solar system that […]

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Solar exceeds coal for first time, as renewables set new records on Australia’s main grid

Kokam battery to act as “virtual synchronous generator” in Tahiti, edge out diesel

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