Sure, when you get solar installed you can just “set and forget” but that is definitely not the right way to go about it if you want to maximise your ROI (Return on Investment)., the best way to maximise your ROI is to monitor your all-important solar numbers:
Production: How much power your system produces
Consumption: How much power your house has used (Total including grid power + Solar)
Solar Exported: How much solar you have sent back to the grid.
Power Imported: How much power you have imported from the grid.
I’m not saying you need to be an expert on these numbers and know them off the top of your head because who has time for that? What you do need to do is when your solar is first installed, monitor how much power is produced over a day and gauge at what time it turns on and what time it turns off… As I explained in my last post “Old Tariff VS New Tariff” if you are not getting the good 45c Feed in tariff you will want to be using your power as it is produced, that is why knowing what hours of the day your solar is producing power is crucial.
It is important to keep in mind that as the season change so will the operating times of your solar, so remember to check up on it periodically. (Use your power bill as a reminder)
Now there are a range of different options when it comes to monitoring solar usage so here are a couple that we use daily:
Solar Analytics – Not Inverter Brand Specific
Fronius Smart Meter – Only Compatible with Fronius Inverters
Sungrow Wifi – Only Compatible with Sungrow Inverters
Old Fashioned – Walk out and read the inverter screen.
Our Choice: Solar Analytics (Please note we are not affiliated with Solar Analytics or any other brand mentioned in our post)
It is the functionality options that are offered with Solar Analytics that makes it our number 1 choice when recommending solar monitoring. As stated above it is universal so it will work with even the oldest solar systems. It easily monitors all the above listed numbers, Production, Consumption, Solar Export, Power Import and because it allows you to enter in your own specific power prices it gives you all the information in the most universal language of them all MONEY.
You don’t need to worry about converting KW produced to a $ figure, it does it all for you so you can see exactly how much money your solar system saved you today, this week, this month, this year or in total since it was installed…. Pretty cool right? Check out the video below to learn more about solar analytics.
If you want to learn more about solar monitoring let us know by clicking the contact us page and getting in touch.
