Year 4 is “in the can” as they say, let’s have a quick look to see how the solar system performed in 2021. We generated 7,619 kWh last year, 7% more than last year and the most productive year yet.
We used 3,126 kWh of that power on premises and exported the remaining 4,493 kWh surplus to the grid, slightly more than we exported the first year. That saved us $1,075, the largest savings in one year so far, bringing the lifetime savings to $4,362–which recoups 26% of the system cost.
June was the biggest production month last year at 755 kWh, with March and May close behind. As usual, December was the least productive month although this year it produced a respectable 399 kWh. November was surprisingly strong last year at 552 kWh.
The only maintenance issue that arose this year was the computerized control unit, known as the MATE3s, which had to be replaced after it stopped communicating consistently with the internet (which it does to send data to the cloud-based system monitor).