Solar Project Update #3

Last Jan 3 I went back to Raon to find some needed items for the project as well as have my watt meter repaired. I found cheaper sources of circuit breakers and MC4 connectors there and found the terminal bus bar I was looking for.

terminal ratchet crimping tool

The terminal bus bar is used to connect multiple wires without twisting them together or soldering them. I will use this to both positive and negative of the solar array until the circuit breakers arrive.

terminal bus bar

I have the yields for Jan 3-4 and here they are:
Jan 3 = 1.8327kwh
Jan 4 = 1.8458kwh
They were much better than on the first day which is only 1.454kwh.
Unfortunately, I still have not seen the array produce more than 300W during mid-day even tho the solar panels have the capacity of 600W, that's a loss of a little more than 50%. This is something I'm disappointed and until the rest of the tools I ordered arrived, I won't be able to do a through check to find where the losses are coming from.

TO DOs:
I also still need to work out the ventilation for the power room, it is unbearably hot there during the day.
To summarize the things to do:
1. Panel board permanent fixtures
2. Power room ventilation
3. Improve efficiency of the solar array

ROI:
Here are the assumptions:
yield = 1.8kwh/day
grid cost = 13 php/kwh
cost of solar system = about 50k php.

1.8 kwh/day x 30day/mo = 54 kwh/mo
54 kwh/mo x 13 php/kwh = 702 php

702 php/mo is how much the array is producing per month assuming all days are sunny days.

50,000php / 702php/mo =  71.225 mo
71.225 mo / 12mo/yr = 5.9 yrs

ROI (return of investment) will take more than 6 yrs for the system to pay for itself but this is assuming all days are sunny days so it will take longer. However, if the utility company increases the cost to 17 php/kwh, the ROI will drop to only 4.5 years.

Since this is a grid tied system, the ROI is computed based on the assumption that all the energy produced by the solar array is consumed and no excess is sent back (exported) to the grid. Just to give you an idea how net metering is implemented in Philippines, the value you export to the grid is worth only about half of what you consume from the grid. So if say you consume 10kwh during the night, you'll need to export 20kwh during the day just to break even on the bill.

For more information about net metering here in Philippines, please read this free PDF guidebook:
Download from this mirror link in case the primary link is down.