The man installed a solar power plant, but for several years he has been accompanied by problems: headaches and specialists
Optimum production expected
“Delfi” reader Rom (name changed) says that such an atypical 15.84 kilowatt power plant cost him about 16 thousand. euros. He had state support.
“They did 10 kilowatts everywhere, I asked for 15-16 kW. I could do 1 kW, because my connection allows it’, -9 man.
According to him, one kilowatt of installed power was supposed to ensure a stronger kilowatt-hour of electricity per year, he calculated with 1100 kWh generation, so he expected to produce about 17435 kWh.
“My neighbor gets a thousand (kWh – ed.) and a little bit, but his is the other corner. Those who work on the roof, whatever the angle of the roof, they do so. And for me, since it is built on such a hill, it is ideal for these matters,” he says.
Thus, the location for the solar power plant was chosen with the representatives of Elektrum Lietuva. According to Romo, engineers are determining the optimal angle, and the power plant itself will be installed in August 2020. Its owner did not expect much that year and did not delve into the amount of electricity produced, as he says, “writing it off for debugging, testing, etc.
“All the interesting things were revealed the following year, when the power plant was supposed to operate at full capacity from spring. Instead of the generated electricity, I only started receiving more frequent messages on my mobile phone from the power about “alarms” (warnings) – voltage spikes, errors that indicate that the power plant is not working properly and is constantly disconnected from the electricity grid, explains Roma.
Rebooted the replacement and replaced the cable
According to him, addressing “Elektrum Lithuaniareceived instructions that the voltage changer (inverter) needs to be overloaded. However, nothing changed for long weeks and months.
“There were up to 40 disconnections per day. you understand that inverter heats up – turns off, cools down – turns on again. How many cycles has that inverter already completed? They say he is good. It might work even worse in a year’s time, – thinks Romas.
According to him, when it became obvious that the problems were only increasing, the representatives of “Elektrum Lietuva” tried to assign the cause of the failures to the distribution network operator ESO.
“The ESO is approached twice, because after the first time the representatives of “Elektrum Lietuva” did not believe the information provided to them”, continues Romas.
“I explain to them: my neighbor who is connected to the ESO (electrical input) cabinet (…), works well with him. If the ESO voltage jumps, then he would have the same complaints as mine,’ he adds.
He says that he received a reply from ESO in which the operator refuted the position of Elektrum Lietuva. The latter company eventually admitted that the power plant was not working properly and offered to replace the cable connected to the inverter. According to Romo, the cable was changed twice.
“After the ‘repairs’, I still get ‘alarms’ about the power plant not working properly,” he said.
Unsatisfactory compensation
Finally, we moved on to the question, but here compensation notes also have their own. “Elektrum Lietuva” has calculated that the compensated amount of unproduced energy is about 5153 kWh at about 5.7 cents per 1 kWh. The customer, in turn, calculates that he lost 9589 kWh of electricity.
“I asked the company’s representatives that this amount is not needed in money, but in kilowatt-hours deducted from future bills, because this amount is compensated. I would have used it directly without the help of the electricity supplier,” says Romas, who has chosen “Elektrum Lietuva” as the electricity supply.
“And this whole story has been going on for the third year. I claim that the installation of the solar power plant was not carried out according to the project, which, by the way, has not yet been presented to me. (…) I used up my time, health, and energy of other people who advised me, which I would have gladly devoted to other things,” says Romas.
He is convinced that the inverter in the power plant must be replaced. The man is clarifying with the services and communicating with lawyers.
“First you need to go through the service, and then go to court, because otherwise, they say, you will be rejected and not accepted”, – Romas does not hide his serious intentions.
“Elektrum Lietuva”: unpleasant
The representatives of “Elektrum Lietuva” say that there were mistakes on its part, but the problem was not solved, because until now from “Energy distribution operator’ (ESO) does not have detailed measurement data of network parameters that confirm the causes of the failure determined by Elektrum Lietuva.
“It is very unpleasant that such a situation has arisen, due to which the customer faces inconvenience. We have to apologize for the fact that mistakes were made on our side, the detection of which we eliminated, and for the compensation for the calculation of losses’, says Milda Basijokienė, the press representative of “Elektrum Lietuva”.
She explains that in most cases problems can be caused by overloading the inverter. However, in this case, it was found that the cable connecting the solar farm and the customer’s internal grid was of inadequate specification to handle the maximum power of the inverter.
“This was our installation mistake, which was made due to inaccurate calculations when selecting the cable during installation. For the loss suffered, when the power plant could work at full capacity for the time suffered, after calculating the compensation based on the actual financial damage at that time. We haven’t found any more errors in our installation and installation,” says M. Basijokienė.
After replacing the cable, the inverter was found to have disconnected up to 10 times in 20 days, she says.
Due to these recurring electrical malfunctions, the company consulted equipment manufacturers, who helped determine that “the problem due to asymmetry of unknown origin may not only be in the ESO, but also in the customer’s internal network itself.”
“This happens extremely rarely, but certain electrical devices can distort network parameters. After the first inspection, we did not notice any problems in the internal network, but a deeper inspection requires detailed measurements of the network,” says the representative of the company.
According to her, “Elektrum Lietuva” helped prepare the customer’s request, with which he must apply to ESO for repeated measurement of the detailed network itself.
ESO invites applications for measurements
ESO representative Paulius Kalmantas says that the company has examined the customer’s complaint regarding the quality of the supplied electricity. To make sure that the voltage level of the supplied electricity meets the requirements, ESO engineers make instantaneous measurements.
“We also analyzed the data collected by the electricity meter for the year 2021 and the results for both cases show that the level of the supplied voltage under normal conditions meets the requirements for the quality of the supplied electricity,” says P. Kalmantas.
“We invite you to apply to ESO for opportunities to make additional measurements,” he adds.
Elektrum Lietuva says it does not yet have detailed network information as to why problems continue to occur.
“Only with ESO network parameter data can we further identify the source of the problems and the problems of the customer’s situation, or at least recommend how to do it, if only with the customer internal networks need to be optimized and reconstruction work done,” comments M. Basijokienė.
She insists that the company does not want to leave problems to the customer alone to solve, but has “a clear assumption where the problems are coming from, which is already outside of our responsibilities.”
“Every year we receive more and more requests for off-grid solar power plants that are not supported by the voltage of the distribution network. currently 95-98 percent. after we refer customers to ESO, the problems are solved, because they originate from the distribution network,” Elektrum Lietuva finishes the answer.
How much can be produced with 1 kW of installed power?
According to the representative of ESO, it should be possible that if it is equipped with, for example, 15 kW of power solar power stationit does not necessarily mean that it supplies electricity and games.
“The manufacturer indicates the maximum parameters, but it is very important that the solar power plant will produce maximum electricity all the time”, – explains P. Kalmantas.
The Ministry of Energy announces that a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 1 kW produces on average about 1026 kWh of electricity per year. Then 5 kW solar power plants would produce about 5130 kWh of electricity per year.
True, on the Internet there are also doubts of power plant owners that 1 kilowatt of installed power will allow the production of a megawatt hour of electricity per year.
Energy expert Martynas Nagevičius says that the size specified by the user of 1100 kWh would be very optimistic, but 1000 kWh can be produced from 1 kW.
“1100 kWh is what is needed here for everything to be perfect. This is usually not the case. And it is snowing, shadows (…). It may not be exactly to the south that solar plant – to the southeast, southwest: decreases immediately. It may not be the optimal angle (35 degrees), for example, it is smaller on the roof of my house by about 12 degrees and does not immediately reach 1000 kWh, even though it is facing south”, says M. Nagevičius, president of the Lithuanian Renewable Energy Association.
According to him, in this situation there may be a combination of both subjective (optimistic expectations) and objective (network problems). However, the expert agrees that a two-year search for a solution is not a normal situation.
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