March 2012 was the best month ever for energy production and utilisation on my solar system.
Solar AC energy used (measured through the inverter output OFGEM approved meter) was 183kWh for the month, beating even last year's record of 177kWh in May! That just goes to show how phenomenally sunny it was this March.
And this total, compared to the grid energy consumed for the whole month of March of just 46kWh, means that 79.9% of all my electricity use was provided by solar power.
The weather wasn't the only factor though in this surge of utilisation. The lithium battery bank is making a big contribution. I don't have to worry about running the pack down on dull days and leaving it partially charged for any length of time, so I'm more likely to use it.
We've had free hot water on several days when the battery finished fast charging by about 11.30am and then the rest of the day was spent diverting between three and four kWh of energy to the water heater.
With the good weather, the pack has generally only been discharged by 20% per day and has only hit the "bottom" once since installing it in February.
