You guys ever play with the feds provided free simulator -
pvwatts?
It allows you to play unlimited version of what if; what if I align the east-west layout of the array at 190 and panel tilt at 40 ... then provides projections of avg # of hours per day for each month of the year. Then what if I tilt at 45 or 50, what if I align more to east at say 170 or 160?
These have been proven to be pretty good estimates - based on my small samples and arrangements for NorCal ( ~41 N and aligned 190 east-west).
Gets you smarter without too much cost of bad experiments (well shit, that didn't work - LOL.)
Also - the count of arrays and panels feeds into the approach of over-paneling.
So for example, if my SCC can only handle a max of 5Kw, and I have an array of 3Kw panels with east bias for morning, and another array of 3Kw panels for west bias for afternoon sun, then I could hope to avoid too much clipping around the noon sun and move more capture into morning and afternoon - smoothing the curve if you will. By playing with the simulator and running estimates for morning layout vs afternoon layout, I would hope to get more gross capture per day -especially during Dec-Jan-Feb when my hours are shortest. No free lunch, but maximum utilization of the SCC and available hours.
For a small array of 2.4Kw (I have 8 of the LG 310w mono panels) - wanted to see what the trade-offs were for winter vs summer months.
