Export Limited Sites Adjustment
Solar Analytics updated its algorithms and dashboard to include an adjustment for Australian Export Limited sites in November 2021.
What is Export Limiting?
Around Australia, network operators apply limits to how much solar energy can be exported from a solar site. Solar Retailers are formally notified of what, if any, limits apply to sites and are required to apply these limits as a condition of connection.
The location, export limits and methods of achieving them vary significantly and change from time to time. To date, the majority of these limits are specified as “ongoing hard limits”, ie “maximum export limit is 5kW peak”.
In South Australia, although hard limits apply, they also apply “event triggered export limits” where AEMO can centrally call on specific export restrictions to be triggered remotely via Relevant Agents. In the near future Dynamic Export Limits are expected to apply in South Australia and beyond which will allow centralised calls of dynamic limits to exports.
How does Solar Analytics Export Limit Adjustment work?
Section titled “How does Solar Analytics Export Limit Adjustment work?”Solar Retailers and Solar Owners can input a hard export limit in our dashboard.
By inputting a hard export limit, our True Performance forecasts will be adjusted to reduce system expectations and compensate for predicted energy loss as a consequence of export limiting.
Our True Performance service will continue to operate and detect abnormal performance as normal, after compensation for expected export limits.
At the current time, only hard export limits can be applied to the whole site.
How can I add an export limit to a Solar Analytics site?
You can add the export limit during the commissioning process or in the My Site settings. Find more details here
I have more than one inverter on the site. What export limit do I enter?
Enter the maximum combined limit that applies to any and all inverters.
Only one of the inverters has an export limit, the others are unlimited. Will the adjustment still work?
Yes. After extensive trials and by using machine learning, our algorithms will compensate and work even on sites where only one inverter is limited.
Will Export Limit Adjustments apply to existing data, if I update an existing site?
No, the export limit adjustment will only affect future data and is not retrospective. This allows users to see the site before and after the change and to visualise the impact of export limiting.
Can I see how much energy is lost to Export Limiting?
Once you apply an export limit our forecast production will be reduced accordingly so you will not see lost potential at this stage if the site is new. However, in future updates, energy lost to export limiting and other features may be introduced.