Solar cost per kWh

Priapus said:
Yeah.. good luck with that. I spent more time than I care to admit, tweaking and looking at my system each day. Maybe it's due to all the various automations that I have in place or whatever.

Even today, I still look at the system each day to see what it's doing; but I spend significantly less time looking at it. Like you, I wanted to get it to a place where I can just forget it is there and carry on with life.

But I learnt that with solar it is never that easy. It is just the nature of the beast to see how it is preforming and to always try optimise. Wait until summer hits, your setup will behave differently and you'll probably try more optimisations lol

Anyway, point is, don't care about ROI - just try get the most out of the system and you'll only need to look at one figure to see if it is working - your utility bill, each month.

Congrats btw on the install, welcome!
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I've only had it 2 weeks so still fiddling :)
 
sjm said:
After July 2022 my average cost per kWh is R119.56 .

8kW SunSynk Inverter
2 x PylonTech UP5000
7.56 kW JA Solar panels.
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After August 2022 my average cost per kWh is now down to R76.74. Target is to get it below R55 by the end of September and below R33 per kWh by the end of the year
 
sjm said:
After August 2022 my average cost per kWh is now down to R76.74. Target is to get it below R55 by the end of September and below R33 per kWh by the end of the year
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Nice! I'm down to R60 after 2 months. Should be close to R10 by end of the year.
 
Mine Flat: 3 months and a bit
Cost R135000/665.5 E-Year(kWh)
=202.85

House: 1Month

Cost R180000/85.7 E-Year(kWh)
=2100.35
 
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Mine still works out to R164,72 but we've only installed it on the 17th of July.
 
Installed on 16 August so I'm still sitting at R553/kwh :crying::eek:

Of course it will improve pretty quickly from here
 
Nov install with an upgrade in Feb

R27.6 is my current number. Should be around R18 at the 1yr install date
 
R141.7 for a July 22 Install - nearly at 1mWh generated already for a relatively small array
 
Looking at the figures it seems like those who installed/paid before the June/July stage 6 load shedding are better off in terms of cost/kWh. Current solar costs are crazy.
 
We are sitting at R36.75/kWh but this is for everything that we have spent, including the LA batteries that were replaced with LFP's.
 
I think a more meaningful measure to compare to Eskom would be:

A = Yearly cost for depreciation. Consider 10 years lifetime of battery and say 20 years for solar I think.
B = Average Maintenance cost over a year

Price per kWhr = (A+B)/(kWh used in year)
*Can also used "kWhr generated" instead of "kWhr used" to compare your potential savings instead of your actual savings.

Depreciation cost can also be seen as the amount of hardware "used up" per year. When it reaches zero at end of life it technically has zero value.

The way the calculation is currently made (Total cost/Total kWhr) is not a direct comparison. It is only meaningful at the end of the system's life.

Just my 2c..

For shorter time periods you can interpolate, but ofcourse there are errors because it is different in different seasons.
 
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sahopeful said:
I think a more meaningful measure to compare to Eskom would be:

A = Yearly cost for depreciation. Consider 10 years lifetime of battery and say 20 years for solar I think.
B = Average Maintenance cost over a year

Price per kWhr = (A+B)/(kWh used in year)
*Can also used "kWhr generated" instead of "kWhr used" to compare your potential savings instead of your actual savings.

Depreciation cost can also be seen as the amount of hardware "used up" per year. When it reaches zero at end of life it technically has zero value.

The way the calculation is currently made (Total cost/Total kWhr) is not a direct comparison. It is only meaningful at the end of the system's life.

Just my 2c..

For shorter time periods you can interpolate, but ofcourse there are errors because it is different in different seasons.
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Except batteries don't just go kaput after 10 years. It'll just be reduced capacity at something like 80%...
 
Another month and down to under R8/kWh at R7.79.

I know it's not the only way to look at what it costs me but I'll be adding any cost for upgrades or maintenance and include it in my total cost to get a running cost per kWh irrespective if I replace inverters or panels so this could run indefinitely.

If I didn't have any solar I would still have to spend money every month on electricity.
 
AchmatK said:
Another month and down to under R8/kWh at R7.79.

I know it's not the only way to look at what it costs me but I'll be adding any cost for upgrades or maintenance and include it in my total cost to get a running cost per kWh irrespective if I replace inverters or panels so this could run indefinitely.

If I didn't have any solar I would still have to spend money every month on electricity.
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Maybe it would be on R7 already if you had found the PV issue. :p
 
AchmatK said:
Another month and down to under R8/kWh at R7.79.

I know it's not the only way to look at what it costs me but I'll be adding any cost for upgrades or maintenance and include it in my total cost to get a running cost per kWh irrespective if I replace inverters or panels so this could run indefinitely.

If I didn't have any solar I would still have to spend money every month on electricity.
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You started nice and early. I'm only down to R40/kWh at present
 
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