Last week, the PV system has been inspected and put into service by LADWP. The PV’s have their own meter, indicating the amount of energy in kWh generated, while the city meter next to it shows the net-energy- i.e. the amount of energy used minus the amount of energy generated by the system. This net metering concept does not encourage users to maximize their solar potential and to produce more power than they need and in the end effectively still requires some power to be drawn from the grid- in contrast to other regions of the US and some countries in Europe, where the utilities want people to maximize their solar power generation in order reduce the need to build new power plants.
The good thing about the two meters is that we always see how much we are generating and how much we are actually using, so we are able to adjust our demand to maximize the effect of the PV array- Currently we are producing more than we need, thus the weird number on the net-meter. However, once the heat of the summer starts and we will be forced to use A/C. this might change.
The photo shows a 98 kWh generated and a net reading of 99992 kWh- so we have 8 kWh in reserve already- and counting…
As of 2016 LADWP don't required anymore a solar meter for system smaller than 10 KW. All the new inverters are able to report online and you check the production on your phone or any device connected at the internet.
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