Keep Track Of Your System With Consumption Monitoring
With Enphase microinverters, you can monitor each panels’ individual performance through the Enphase Enlighten app. The app allows you to understand certain trends with your energy consumption and adapt habits that ensure that you are importing from the grid as little as possible. The Enlighten app also allows for you to see if there is a specific issue with one of your microinverters (not that this happens often), and address this issue as soon as possible so that your system is always operating at peak performance all the time.
Use Your Appliances During The Day
If you don’t own a battery storage solution for your home, using appliances such as the washing machine and drier during the night can be extremely costly. Adapting to small habit changes such as using these appliances during the day (when your solar system is generating at its peak) can significantly decrease your grid reliance and thus, decrease your quarterly energy bill. Obviously, it may be difficult to achieve this due to work commitments, however some appliances actually have timers that you can set in the morning for them to operate during the day.
Invest In Battery Storage
Often, you may not be home to use up all of the energy that is being generated by your solar system. And on top of this, you fall into the trap of paying energy providers to import energy from the grid during the night. The Tesla Powerwall and Enphase IQ battery allow you to store your unused excess energy that you have produced during the day, for use during the evening and night. This means that you will not have to pay high energy prices from your retailer, but rather consume the hard-earned energy that your system has produced during the day.
Give Your Panels A Wash
One of the simplest ways to ensure that your solar panels are performing at their peak is by giving them a clean regularly. Often, dust and other microparticles can accumulate on the surface of your panels, which inhibits the ability for light to reach the photovoltaic cells within the panel and thus a reduction in energy generation. You can wash your panels with a simple hose-down, however it is best if you are able to physically wipe or sweep off any debris directly from the panel, this can be achieved through a sponge or rag attached to a pole. Penrith Solar Centre offer a panel cleaning service, for further information contact us via (02) 4711 4312.
Know Your Tariffs
A feed-in tariff is the amount of money that the energy provider will pay you for 1kWh of exported energy. Most often, this is a much lower price than what you pay to import energy. Negotiating a better feed-in tariff with your energy provider will allow you to maximise your savings with your solar system and reduce your quarterly energy bill.
