If you have installed solar panels, then The Spy can provide some information on how they are performing and what you need to have installed to approach self sufficiency. This service is free.
2.
What do I need to do to get started?
a
Register,
b
Provide some basic information on the number and size of your solar panels
c
Provide the cost in cents for power use, off peak and exported energy.
THE SPYwill provide some estimates of how much you are saving.
3.
What information does The SPY use to produce your free reports. Basically THE SPY needs 4 data points (see below) - all presumed in kWhs.
a
the life time Solar output
b
the imported energy,
c
the exported energy
d
the off peak energy
4.
How often do I need to record this information? Basically, you can add data at any frequency you want. The more the better but if you are away for a while, THE SPY just calculates information from what is available. An analysis between 2 dates just uses the data from the start and finish so it does not really matter.
a
If you are really keen, you can record these measurements twice daily to give you an idea of the amount of daytime (when solar can reduce your costs and nighttime (solar independent)
b
the best frequency is every day
You can also record
a
the type of weather (since this effects the amount of solar irradiation)
b
the actual amount of irradtion obtained from the BOM web site (Australian users)
c
whether the solar ot water is turned on or off
d
whether you have used the Air conditioner (since this is the biggest user of energy)
4.
From this basic information, THE SPY can calculate and graph all sorts of bits of information
