Here is another annual update on my solar production and electricity consumption. In late January, 2017, I turned on my new solar panels. I have 30 panels, 320 W each, for a total capacity of 9.6 kW (LG320 NeON2 MonoX Plus panels with microedge converters). In the first year I generated 96% of the electricity I consumed (a magical year, with near perfect weather – sunny, but not too hot). The second year was not as good since my consumption went up 6% and my generation was down 10%. The result was that my panels generated 81% of my usage for the second year. The third year is off a little more. My consumption when up 1.5%, and my generation was down 5% compared to the second year. The final result is that the panels generated 76% of my usage in the third year. The weather is the biggest variable, and I need to find an authority that measures the amount of sunshine in Austin so that I can try and determine if there are any other factors than that at play.
I’d wait for nuclear fusion (man-made) – natural nuclear fusion is so unreliable – like the weather. KInda like windmills – not enough power for EUV.
You can compare peak output to see if your panels are deteriorating, assuming each year at least 1 day it’s sunny enough that your panels reach their max capacity.
I was curious too for historical sources. Found multiple local sources from UT, etc, but each one I found stopped monitoring several years or more ago.
One possibility:
https://nsrdb.nrel.gov/
Latest data I found there for your area was 2016.
Maybe local solar installer companies have better ideas.
-Dave
What does the math look like? What did you pay for the solar system, what has been the average savings per annum?
My first post on my panels detailed the costs and first year performance: http://life.lithoguru.com/?p=549
My net cost was $14,400. With my annual savings so far, it looks like the payback time for that cost is 10-12 years. (Note that the panels have a 30 year warranty).
However, since the full cost of burning fossil fuels is not reflected in their price, there is a bigger benefit to me and to the world in my use of solar power generation.