Solar power systems for the home

[Street Pharmacist]

The clouds really roll in here in the winter and the smoke was particularly bad this summer, but you can really see the seasonal variability here and it makes obvious why Alberta is so much better for solar than here.

[Calgary14]

my EMA app is working as well

[ericschand]

I have a question about switching rates to summer rates. And then back again in the fall.

When do you do it? Everyone I asked said, "In March," but I never got clarification. Do I switch on the 1st of March? Mid-March?

So when do you switch your rates in spring and fall?

ers

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by ericschand

I have a question about switching rates to summer rates. And then back again in the fall.

When do you do it? Everyone I asked said, "In March," but I never got clarification. Do I switch on the 1st of March? Mid-March?

So when do you switch your rates in spring and fall?

ers

I think it really depends on your production and consumption and when you can reach a balancing point. This spring will be my first time switching back to the high rate and I'm waiting until I can reliably produce 20kwh per day as our average monthly consumption is around 450kwh.

[Bigtime]

My micro-gen provider monitors all their clients and switches when it makes sense. I'm with Alberta Cooperative Energy (ACE). With all my increased electrical usage they didn't even switch me over last summer.

Speaking of that, with the heat pump fully up and running I got my first full month electrical bill for January. Prior to these renos we'd use a little over 400kWh per month. January 2024 came in at a whopping 2254kWh. We are definitely going to be getting a lot more solar panels this year.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

My micro-gen provider monitors all their clients and switches when it makes sense. I'm with Alberta Cooperative Energy (ACE). With all my increased electrical usage they didn't even switch me over last summer.

Speaking of that, with the heat pump fully up and running I got my first full month electrical bill for January. Prior to these renos we'd use a little over 400kWh per month. January 2024 came in at a whopping 2254kWh. We are definitely going to be getting a lot more solar panels this year.

Thanks Bigtime. So basically 2254-400 = ~1850kWh was what it took to heat your home with a heat pump, correct? Compare that to your typical natural gas consumption last year would allow you to see if it takes the 'same' amount of energy to heat with a heat pump compared to a furnace. Or is that too much of simplification to be valid?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Thanks Bigtime. So basically 2254-400 = ~1850kWh was what it took to hear your home with a heat pump, correct? Compare that to your typical natural gas consumption last year would allow you to see if it takes the 'same' amount of energy to heat with a hart pump compared to a furnace. Or is that too much of simplification to be valid?

I think that is pretty much what I'm figuring too. Will wait to see what the February bill is to get a better idea of monthly usage. Right now this is coming in a little more than when I was gas + electrical on my bills. However once we upgrade the solar array I should be covering the annual electrical usage via my panels, and taking advantage of things like the solar club rate to accelerate the ROI.

[Fuzz]

Did you have a gas water heater beforehand as well? Or were you already electric on that?

[Bigtime]

Was gas prior to switching to an electric tank around January 2023. That and an ERV added to an electrical load that exceeded our installed solar for all of last year.

[Suave]

Panels are installed and ready to go, thank you SolarYYC. Just wondering about Solar Clubs, is the credit you accumulate during the summer months only allowed to offset electricity charges. Or can it be used to payoff your admin and distribution charges?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Suave

Panels are installed and ready to go, thank you SolarYYC. Just wondering about Solar Clubs, is the credit you accumulate during the summer months only allowed to offset electricity charges. Or can it be used to payoff your admin and distribution charges?

It eats into everything on your bill, so in the peak production months you will end up with a credit on the bill overall.

[Torture]

Solar YYC originally expected April for installation and now they're saying May. Booo.

[Calgary14]

I just got my enmax bill and there is a big difference between what the microgen credit is on my bill vs the EMA app in terms of kw production. I've checked the meter reading dates on the enmax bill and compared that to the daily production on the app and Enmax credit is about 80% short of the production on the app. Has anyone ever experienced this?

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

I just got my enmax bill and there is a big difference between what the microgen credit is on my bill vs the EMA app in terms of kw production. I've checked the meter reading dates on the enmax bill and compared that to the daily production on the app and Enmax credit is about 80% short of the production on the app. Has anyone ever experienced this?

You're using the rest before you send it to the grid. Lol.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

I just got my enmax bill and there is a big difference between what the microgen credit is on my bill vs the EMA app in terms of kw production. I've checked the meter reading dates on the enmax bill and compared that to the daily production on the app and Enmax credit is about 80% short of the production on the app. Has anyone ever experienced this?

As Ahuch said that is most likely the "self consumption" part. Does your app show that?

My example from February:

[Calgary14]

My app doesn't show the self consumption data, but I was away for about 2.5 weeks over that time so usage should be much lower than normal. But possibly it would be self consumed just on appliances plugged in etc

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

My app doesn't show the self consumption data, but I was away for about 2.5 weeks over that time so usage should be much lower than normal. But possibly it would be self consumed just on appliances plugged in etc

You furnace would be sucking up a fair bit of your generation during the period you are looking at especially if it includes the cold snap in January.

[AC]

Have people switched over to the seasonal solar rates already?

I got my system at the end of summer and missed the boat on the seasonal rate but saw the question pop up on Reddit today.

My last 2 Enmax bills (November and December) show we used 409 and 477 kWh, or 12.78 and 15.39 kWh per day on average.

My SolarYYC system shows that the last few days we're bringing in that amount or more:
Mar 7 = 14.34 kWh
Mar 8 = 14.29 kWh
Mar 9 = 15.27 kWh
Mar 10 = 19.36 kWh
Mar 11 = 18.28 kWh
Mar 12 = 19.99 kWh

Obviously weather dependent going forward, but it sounds like comparing your daily averages is a good guideline for when to switch? Of course the 14 day forecast shows snow next week so April is probably a better bet, but curious from those that have experience in this.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by AC

Have people switched over to the seasonal solar rates already?

I got my system at the end of summer and missed the boat on the seasonal rate but saw the question pop up on Reddit today.

My last 2 Enmax bills (November and December) show we used 409 and 477 kWh, or 12.78 and 15.39 kWh per day on average.

My SolarYYC system shows that the last few days we're bringing in that amount or more:
Mar 7 = 14.34 kWh
Mar 8 = 14.29 kWh
Mar 9 = 15.27 kWh
Mar 10 = 19.36 kWh
Mar 11 = 18.28 kWh
Mar 12 = 19.99 kWh

Obviously weather dependent going forward, but it sounds like comparing your daily averages is a good guideline for when to switch? Of course the 14 day forecast shows snow next week so April is probably a better bet, but curious from those that have experience in this.

I switched on Monday. We use around 400-450 per month and this week I'm managing to produce around 32 per day so that is more than enough buffer to warrant going to the high rate.

[blender]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

My micro-gen provider monitors all their clients and switches when it makes sense. I'm with Alberta Cooperative Energy (ACE). With all my increased electrical usage they didn't even switch me over last summer.

Speaking of that, with the heat pump fully up and running I got my first full month electrical bill for January. Prior to these renos we'd use a little over 400kWh per month. January 2024 came in at a whopping 2254kWh. We are definitely going to be getting a lot more solar panels this year.

Are you sure the heat pump is sized correctly?
If it is oversized it will cycle and not run efficiently which can waste a lot of energy.

Also, you want to be sure that you are keeping your thermostat set at one temperature. If your wife (for example) adjust the T-stat based in how she is feeling hour-to-hour it will kill the efficiency.

Oversized heat pumps are the major cause of inefficiency.

The best gas furnace will be 96% efficient under factory testing (probably 90% real world), so you are wasting 10% right out of the gate. Keep that in mind with your calculations.
Electric heat is solid state, so you are getting 100% of the power you put in. A well-sized, properly functioning heat pump can run at 300% efficiency. I doubt you would see that level of efficiency in real world conditions, but they can be significantly more efficient than even regular electric heat.