Hiccups...

Solar panels are a very simple technology. No moving parts, no batteries, nothing like that. You simply shine sun on them and they generate electricity.

Not so with inverters however.  Inverters are jam packed with very clever electronics to convert the DC power from the panels into a stable AC signal that can be fed directly into the mains grid.

The inverter is smart - when the panels aren't generating enough electricity to be able to provide a stable feed into the grid, it shuts itself down, with a helpful little message on the screen "waiting for sun".

Yesterday afternoon, in bright sunshine, the inverter switched itself off.  It decided there was no electricity coming from the panels, and shut itself down.  Because I like to go and peek at it at regular intervals, I became aware of this quite promptly.  I've rung the installation company and they've asked me to check a few things (have you turned it off and on again?), all to no avail.

So now, 24 hours later, it is still switched off. Waiting for the sun. And the sun is beating down from a clear blue sky this afternoon and ALL THAT BEAUTIFUL SUNLIGHT IS BEING WASTED. *sob*

They can't get out to me before the weekend, so now I'm powerless (groan) over the weekend.

That's going to knacker my averages :/

Here's the last week's generation results:

Weds 11th Sept 0.8kWh
Thurs 12th Sept 4.2kWh
Frid    13th Sept 2.5kWh
Sat     14th Sept 10.8kWh
Sun     15th Sept 1.3kWh
Mon   16th Sept 4.3kWh
Tues   17th Sept 1.3kWh

Total for the week of 25.2 kWh
average 3.6 kWh per day