Solar Power Plant - Way to future!

Hello TF Community,

Completed 1 yr for my Solar power plant this week and generated 3800 units of electricity.



A bit about my setup -
It's an On Grid setup.
540W x 6 Jinko half cut mono perc panels and 3kW Growatt inverter.
My typical household usage was 150 units a month. With addition of EV, expected it to go around 250 units.

Total generation of 3800kWh for past yr, with avg of 310kWh/month.
Highest - 372kWh in April 23
Lowest - 222kWh in July 22

This is after not so much maintenance of solar panels.
Have cleaned my panels myself only twice in this yr as it has been raining at least once a month.

Paid only ₹100x12months as fixed charges for last yr.
Now i have got a credit of ₹3300 in this bill from MSEDCL, so nothing to pay from now on.

By this rate i would get back my ₹2L investment in ~7yrs as per my calculations. Faster if i drive my Tata TigorEV more. 😜
And panels have warranty of 20yrs. So it's basically free electricity for next 13yrs.

I would certainly recommend everyone to go for it (if its possible).
This is an investment which will not only help you personally, but it'll help our community and environment as well.


Cheers!

(@TechnoFino - Couldn't find matching category, so have put this under finance guide.)

Edit (28.05.2024) -

Completed 2yrs since installation.
Total generation - 7383kWh since installation.

 

[sheru]

We installed solar panels 2 months ago. Since then every day it is generating 23-25 units. And daily consumption is 20-22 units since my AC is on for like 20 hours a day.

You seems to be having 5kW plant.

 

[sheru]

I was considering getting a 5KW solar rooftop plant for my home. I recently discovered that the central government has newly launched a website for claiming subsidy for your solar rooftop installations. If anybody has any experience with claiming the subsidy through the portal, it would be great if you could share your thoughts and experience here.
Link for the subsidy: https://solarrooftop.gov.in/

In MH, for claiming subsidy, you have to get solar installation done by discom listed providers. And sadly, to get listed, they cut costs. They use lower quality panels or subpar inverters.
So ultimately you don't get the desired results.
Hence i dropped that idea and went for a third party.

 

[sheru]

You are right, 15% drop easily with dust accumulation. My solar installer cleans the panels once in 3 months and this helps.
See snapshots on 2 consecutive days with very similar sky conditions - 4th March is before cleaning and 5th March is after cleaning - about 2.5 units of extra power generated.

Discom has given you smart meter?
I don't get data of import and export in my app, i check it on my meter itself.

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

In MH, for claiming subsidy, you have to get solar installation done by discom listed providers. And sadly, to get listed, they cut costs. They use lower quality panels or subpar inverters.
So ultimately you don't get the desired results.
Hence i dropped that idea and went for a third party.

This was my main concern earlier. To avoid all this, the government launched a new portal now, wherein a consumer can get a solar plant installed from any desired agency and still enjoy subsidy. Please go through the link I have sent earlier in this thread.

 

[bigbrain]

Discom has given you smart meter?
I don't get data of import and export in my app, i check it on my meter itself.

No. This is from the app provided by the inverter company. It updates once in 15 mins and provides information on both production and consumption.
I also get panel level production breakup as I am using micro inverter instead of traditional string inverter.

 

[hks789]

The story of my 3.56 kw ongrid system in Kerala
I used to have an average bimonthly consumption of 768 units before solar installation.
And an average yearly bill of 48000 rupees.
My Ongrid plant was commissioned in September 2021; to date, it has produced around 8254 units.


Detailed Stats below

Year 2021 - 3.56kw



Year 2022 - 3.56kw



Year 2023 - 4kw
I connected my offgrid panel(445 w) to the ongrid system to make it 4kw




w.r.t 3.56kw system in 2022
Total production = 4648 units
Total panel wattage = 3.56kw
Per kw Per day average production = (4648/365)/3.56 = 3.577 units per kw per day

System Information
Waaree Monoperc Halfcut 8 panels of 445w
Solis 4k4g 3-phase Inverter
Polycab Wiring
Eaton - SPD and other circuit breakers
Now I pay around 150 rupees fixed every month, and in summer I have to pay a little extra due to additional AC usage - rupees for 2-3 months).
Since we have a telescopic rate, I designed the system just enough to consume whatever I produce; anything extra will go into the lowest slab.
An additional 1 kw for another 40k would make the net bill zero, but I thought it was not a good investment for now.

As for maintenance, we only clean them once a year. Since panels are facing away from roads and due to intermittent rain throughout the year, there is very little dirt accumulation.

 

[NikTravelEnthusiast]

Nice info by this thread.

Please highlight some major issues. Why people are hesitant about solar power. India is blessed with almost 10 months of sun exposure. Otherwise investing 2-3 lacs in Solar power and enjoying free electicity for 20 years looks great.

 

[VijayflyRaven]

Nice info by this thread.

Please highlight some major issues. Why people are hesitant about solar power. India is blessed with almost 10 months of sun exposure. Otherwise investing 2-3 lacs in Solar power and enjoying free electicity for 20 years looks great.

I consume around 3 to 4 lakhs of power every year and would gladly move to solar if net metering is allowed. Unfortunately government decided against it. I will shift to solar off grid when price of a unit crosses 15 rupees.

 

[bigbrain]

Nice info by this thread.

Please highlight some major issues. Why people are hesitant about solar power. India is blessed with almost 10 months of sun exposure. Otherwise investing 2-3 lacs in Solar power and enjoying free electicity for 20 years looks great.

Based on my interaction many people dont know about on-grid system and they think batteries are needed. And batteries needs to be replaced.
Other concern people would have is the area needed. But with newer tech like Mono-Perc cells the area required has drastically reduced.

 

[hks789]

Nice info by this thread.

Please highlight some major issues. Why people are hesitant about solar power. India is blessed with almost 10 months of sun exposure. Otherwise investing 2-3 lacs in Solar power and enjoying free electicity for 20 years looks great.

Unless you have high monthly consumption, solar plant wont make much sense.
For someone who only uses less than 150-200 units per month, Discom rates makes more sense compared to 2-3 lakhs initial investment.

Majority of the consumption happens during night time. If your respective DISCOM uses gross metering instead net metering again it won't be free electricity.
Better cost effective storage technologies need to evolve to solve this.

 

[bigbrain]

Based on my interaction many people dont know about on-grid system and they think batteries are needed. And batteries needs to be replaced.
Other concern people would have is the area needed. But with newer tech like Mono-Perc cells the area required has drastically reduced.

Also the Discoms make it difficult to get the approvals and policies are not very friendly

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

Nice info by this thread.

Please highlight some major issues. Why people are hesitant about solar power. India is blessed with almost 10 months of sun exposure. Otherwise investing 2-3 lacs in Solar power and enjoying free electicity for 20 years looks great.

1. ROI would be 7-8 years. But if you consider the inflation of energy, it would be much lesser than that.
2. Requirement of a more straightforward way to claim subsidy. The government has launched a website to that effect, but the effectiveness of the same is questionable.
3. Though companies claim that the panels last up to 25 years and a warranty is provided for the same. But there's not much data about how the efficiency figures would be after 10+ years of usage.
4. Most Discoms are now shying away from Net metering, this means that any excess electricity produced will remain as credits with the DISCOM instead of you receiving compensation if any excess units were to be produced.
5. Having a complete shadow-free area over the solar panel is a must! One of my friends installed a solar plant, and a few years later a nearby development cast a shadow over most of the panels, rendering them useless.
6. And now the worst part, you need to fill the pockets of certain officials to even get approval for the solar unit installation. Atleast that's how it was a year ago, and that was a main deterrent for me.

 

[maverick]

Hello TF Community,

Completed 1 yr for my Solar power plant this week and generated 3800 units of electricity.

View attachment 17474

A bit about my setup -
It's an On Grid setup.
540W x 6 Jinko half cut mono perc panels and 3kW Growatt inverter.
My typical household usage was 150 units a month. With addition of EV, expected it to go around 250 units.

Total generation of 3800kWh for past yr, with avg of 310kWh/month.
Highest - 372kWh in April 23
Lowest - 222kWh in July 22

This is after not so much maintenance of solar panels.
Have cleaned my panels myself only twice in this yr as it has been raining at least once a month.

Paid only ₹100x12months as fixed charges for last yr.
Now i have got a credit of ₹3300 in this bill from MSEDCL, so nothing to pay from now on.

By this rate i would get back my ₹2L investment in ~7yrs as per my calculations. Faster if i drive my Tata TigorEV more. 😜
And panels have warranty of 20yrs. So it's basically free electricity for next 13yrs.

I would certainly recommend everyone to go for it (if its possible).
This is an investment which will not only help you personally, but it'll help our community and environment as well.


Cheers!

(@TechnoFino - Couldn't find matching category, so have put this under finance guide.)

What was your carry forward units for physical year 22-23?
what is the avg unit rate by which discom credited 3300/- rupee for the same?

 

[sheru]

1. ROI would be 7-8 years. But if you consider the inflation of energy, it would be much lesser than that.
2. Requirement of a more straightforward way to claim subsidy. The government has launched a website to that effect, but the effectiveness of the same is questionable.
3. Though companies claim that the panels last up to 25 years and a warranty is provided for the same. But there's not much data about how the efficiency figures would be after 10+ years of usage.
4. Most Discoms are now shying away from Net metering, this means that any excess electricity produced will remain as credits with the DISCOM instead of you receiving compensation if any excess units were to be produced.
5. Having a complete shadow-free area over the solar panel is a must! One of my friends installed a solar plant, and a few years later a nearby development cast a shadow over most of the panels, rendering them useless.
6. And now the worst part, you need to fill the pockets of certain officials to even get approval for the solar unit installation. Atleast that's how it was a year ago, and that was a main deterrent for me.

1. Correct. My calculations says i should get back my investment somewhere between 5-6 yrs.

2. I agree.

3. I researched a bit before taking the decision. Found few YouTube videos where 15yrs have gone and panels are still performing at 85-90% efficiency. I would say current panel will be more efficient bcoz of latest technologies being used.
So even after 25yrs, you should be making around 75% of the generation.

5. There'r panels in market now which perform better even in shadows but yeah all in all expect atleast a 20% drop coz of sharows.

6. Yeah that's still goin on. My 2 lac cost includes under the table money as well. From what my provider told me, 5-10% of total cost goes to the person at discom for file approval.

 

[sheru]

What was your carry forward units for physical year 22-23?
what is the avg unit rate by which discom credited 3300/- rupee for the same?

I guess i had between 1000 and 1100 excess units last I checked. Now they are reset as i got credit.
I'm not sure, but i think discom gives around 3.5₹/unit for the excess units.

 

[sheru]

This was my main concern earlier. To avoid all this, the government launched a new portal now, wherein a consumer can get a solar plant installed from any desired agency and still enjoy subsidy. Please go through the link I have sent earlier in this thread.

Good to hear that. Will check 👍🏼

 

[sheru]

No. This is from the app provided by the inverter company. It updates once in 15 mins and provides information on both production and consumption.
I also get panel level production breakup as I am using micro inverter instead of traditional string inverter.

But import/export calculation happens at net meter, how is your inverter app getting that data?

 

[bhavik886151]

I am from Surat, Gujarat and these is 4 th year using these.
almost whole year electricity is free at our House only April,May and June we have to pay for the electricity bill from 500 to 700 RS as the usage of AC is increased and we have now AC in all 3 rooms before solar plant we have 2 AC only at home.
also every year at the 31 st march we get 2000-2400 RS from last 3 year in our bank as a excess electricity generation
so since solar plant we not required to pay any thing from our pocket for the electricity these plant cost us Net 98k which is for 3.25 kw

I recommend every one for solar plant to all my friends and relatives and all say same thing they must install it earlier as it is very cost effective and may be with in a 6-7 year the investment recover.

 

[sheru]

The story of my 3.56 kw ongrid system in Kerala
I used to have an average bimonthly consumption of 768 units before solar installation.
And an average yearly bill of 48000 rupees.
My Ongrid plant was commissioned in September 2021; to date, it has produced around 8254 units.
View attachment 17804

Detailed Stats below

Year 2021 - 3.56kw

View attachment 17805

Year 2022 - 3.56kw

View attachment 17806View attachment 17807

Year 2023 - 4kw
I connected my offgrid panel(445 w) to the ongrid system to make it 4kw

View attachment 17808


w.r.t 3.56kw system in 2022
Total production = 4648 units
Total panel wattage = 3.56kw
Per kw Per day average production = (4648/365)/3.56 = 3.577 units per kw per day

System Information
Waaree Monoperc Halfcut 8 panels of 445w
Solis 4k4g 3-phase Inverter
Polycab Wiring
Eaton - SPD and other circuit breakers
Now I pay around 150 rupees fixed every month, and in summer I have to pay a little extra due to additional AC usage - rupees for 2-3 months).
Since we have a telescopic rate, I designed the system just enough to consume whatever I produce; anything extra will go into the lowest slab.
An additional 1 kw for another 40k would make the net bill zero, but I thought it was not a good investment for now.

As for maintenance, we only clean them once a year. Since panels are facing away from roads and due to intermittent rain throughout the year, there is very little dirt accumulation.

Nice production there in 2 yrs.

 

[sheru]

I am from Surat, Gujarat and these is 4 th year using these.
almost whole year electricity is free at our House only April,May and June we have to pay for the electricity bill from 500 to 700 RS as the usage of AC is increased and we have now AC in all 3 rooms before solar plant we have 2 AC only at home.
also every year at the 31 st march we get 2000-2400 RS from last 3 year in our bank as a excess electricity generation
so since solar plant we not required to pay any thing from our pocket for the electricity these plant cost us Net 98k which is for 3.25 kw

I recommend every one for solar plant to all my friends and relatives and all say same thing they must install it earlier as it is very cost effective and may be with in a 6-7 year the investment recover.

Gujrat, i heard, is the best state to get solar.
There state govt is giving lots of subsidy. Plus the sunny weather makes your system a lot more efficient.

Whats yearly generation from your plant on avg?