GETTING BETTER PERFORMANCE FROM MY SOLAR SYSTEM IN WINTER??

Well we have been getting a lot of queries from people who are experiencing poor performance from their solar system (designed and installed elsewhere) with the advent of winter… though the system used to perform well in summer. We have decided to do a follow-up post to the previous one “Do Solar Panels Work In Cold Weather, In Winter?? Do I Get Less Power In Winter??” (Please see previous post) to try and address some of the common solutions to problems people are facing in winter. We will start with the 5 least expensive problems and solutions:

1. Check orientation of your solar panels- this part of the world (Southern Hemisphere), we get maximum solar energy yield when panels are facing North (the further away you face from Northern orientation, the less sun energy you can catch).. Wrong orientation can lead to losses of about 20 to 30% of energy yield

2. Check for shading, droppings, or dirt- Movement of shade/shadow of structures from summer to winter season around your panels can result in shading portions of your panels (though normally this has to be considered at design stage). Other coverings like bird droppings, dust and dirt can also accumulate on your solar panels over time. The effect of all this is to create a part of your panel that produces less electrical energy (from the sun’s solar energy) than the rest of the panel, and this in turn creates spots that are overheated and reduces the total power output of the panel… and depending on how the panel string is wired, it can even affect the whole string of panels.

3. Having panels in different orientations on an inverter that does not allow that- There are some inverters that allow you to connect panels in different orientations (e.g North-East and North-West), but some do not allow that at all. If there is a mismatch some inverters simply suppress power output from your panels

4. Panels’ connection not optimum- If panels’ wiring results in a mismatch between the Inverter’s Maximum power point voltages and currents, it will result in a suppressed performance of the solar panels. The effect might not be seen in summer, but will be felt in winter.

5. Programming settings on inverter- sometimes low power from your panels is simply a wrong inverter setting/programing (for those with programmable inverters like Mercer, Axpert, Kodak, Must etc). The maximum solar charge current setting should match the array within allowable limits to ensure you get maximum charge into your batteries.

Please get in touch with us for FREE expert troubleshooting, assessment, solar system design and sizing and energy audits.

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About Author:

Lovewell Chitiyo is a Mechanical Engineer with 15 years experience in the building services Engineering consultancy, renewable energy systems and sustainable design fields. He is currently studying Masters in Renewable Energy at Stellenbosch University in South Africa

Lovewell is an Accredited Professional with the Green Building Council of South Africa for Existing Buildings Performance and New Buildings; Interiors, holding several qualifications and certification in Renewable Energy and Sustainability.

Lovewell also has vast experience in design, supervision, installation and commissioning of several projects locally and regionally in the last 15 years.