Failing solarpanels due to grid overvoltage

11 comments

1. Er zijn 3 oplossingen:

   * Wachten tot fluvius zijn net aanpast
   * Met heel de straat (iederaan achter de huidige load balancer) meer verbruiken = airco of chauffage opzetten.
   * Eilandwerking (+ waarschijnlijk batterij nodig), niet simpel.

   Misschien nog de optie om een dynamisch tarief te nemen, dan krijg je (misschien) meer geld voor je zonne-energie en als het uitvalt wegens te veel opwekking, is je opgewekte elektriciteit toch niets waard, want overaanbod.

2. You can try to maximize your own-usage, for example by buying a home battery or charging an EV.

   Also if you have an old inverter, the limits for how much voltage is allowed on the net have been increased a few years ago. So you can either buy a new inverter or if you still have support on the existing one ask your installer if he can update the grid code mapping.

3. Lol. You get:

   * a subsidy to place solar panels
   * free infrastructure at the expense of the district
   * “compensation” for not getting the maximum profit out of your subsidized investment which nobody forced you to make

   And you’re complaining that it takes longer than a year, when handicapped people are waiting up to 20 years for a budget that would allow them a slightly more humane existence.

   edit: sorry for speaking the truth guys.

4. But our electricity grid is in really good shape and we barely need to invest in it. /s

   There’s not much you can do. Complain and document when the inverter goes out, possibly include a voltage measurement. Get your neighbors to complain as well.

   Try to use most of your energy on sunny moments, get your neighbors to do the same. If you’re able to show you’ve consumed energy at a moment your solar was switched off for overvoltage you might be able to demand a reimbursement for that energy as well, though it still doesn’t get you injection rates you would have gotten if everything worked perfectly.

   Very expensive options might be: A home battery, this will not solve your problem but it might extend the time your panels can keep producing. A new inverter might help but is pretty much gambling the new one will be less strict with its overvoltage protections. Buy an extra EV to charge or a heat pump to cool or heat the house.

5. Thuisbatterij is enorm nuttig als je overdag niet vaak thuis bent.

   Ikzelf heb de panelen van het net gehaald en alles lokaal aangesloten.
   Factuur is omlaag gegaan met 40%

6. I second the investment into an home battery (especially because I’m what you would call a “prepper”, hence the name). Also, I read about people using an EV as a battery as well (if you have one), though it might require specific devices to support this.

   For the rest, it’s to be expected and it will only get worse before it gets better. Our electric network was made with the idea of current going from producers to consumers and, at the time, it made perfect sense because you needed a whole plant to generate enough power. Now, you would need to put in place an electric network that should support any kind of situation and in any kind of direction (we’ll see in the future how realist it is).

   Another option for the long-term future, though, would be to vote for different politicians, and not the ones that are pushing for this system without telling you in advance the obvious limitations.

7. >Which means our converter disables itself for 15min and tries again later

   I wonder if this is part of the requirements or not. The smart meter measure voltage in real time, so there is no need to wait for 15min. I would contact the installer to verify the config of the inverter.

8. There’s also the option to sell the panels, and inverter, since there are too many in your street.

9. There is one “solution” you may want to look into, but you do fuck over the system even more with it, (edit: plus it might be illegal, not sure about the rules). Most countries have different rules about the cutoff voltage, and some countries have a higher voltage at which they shut off than us. On most inverters you can change either the cutoff voltage or the country setting, basically allowing you to increase the grid voltage even more than is currently the case. Not really a good solution, but it might solve your individual problem (and introduce more problems for the area – which is still Fluvius’ problem)

10. European power is different than US power due to voltage differences, but your problems has solutions and would save your equipment. I used surge and sage transformer to get clean power from the utilities and batteries to filter and store the power from your solar panels. Which means you now have a UPS, two power sources, and transfer switches to provide uninterrupted power. In Rotterdam I included a generator system on the roof to ensure power for extended power outages. The best solution would be your power company build a smart power grid. Enjoy your MacGyver solution since you are lacking good support from your Green Activists.

11. I had solar panels and a battery installed last November, just recently had to have a digitale meter installed. The last few days, a few smart stekkerdozen went into safety because the voltage on my outlets had risen above 250V. This was on sunny days in the afternoon, when the battery was already full. Inverter keeps going though. I’m guessing either my connection to the grid is too weak and/or the grid can’t take on extra juice. Moving electricity around the grid is easy, storing it for later is hard …