It's now quite common for solar plans to include stepped rates or capacity limits that impact the feeds-in tariff revenue that can be achieved for that plan.
For example, a retailer might offer a solar plan available only to households with solar systems rated 10kW or less.
Bill Hero will include or exclude these kinds of solar-capped plans from your results when it knows the kW rating for your solar system. This information is not visible in your bills, so you need to tell Bill Hero system directly.
You can do this via the Subscriber Portal.
System size refers to the inverter rating
There are two main components in a solar system - the panels on your roof and the inverter that transforms the direct current (DC) electricity they generate into alternating current (AC) power that can be used in your home.
It's common that the aggregate capacity of the panels on your roof will exceed the inverter rating.
🛈 Solar Panel Capacity
The rated capacity of a solar panel is the power it will generate under standard test conditions, measured in watts (W). There are 1000 watts in 1 kilowatt (kW).
Under ‘standard test conditions’, a new solar panel rated at 350 W will generate 350 W of power. But in practice, the actual power generated will be less than this, and depends on:
climate zone
weather conditions
time of day and the season
location
slope of the panel
the direction the panel faces
dirt, debris or shading on the panel
wiring and other system factors.
A typical home solar system might include 19 x 350 Watt panels, so the system size would be 6,650 Watts or 6.65 kW.
However, the inverter is typically smaller than the panel output. For example, a 6.6 kW solar system is often paired with a 5 kW inverter.
The panel rating is a 'best case' power output benchmark, and in real life, they will rarely, if ever, actually output power at the full rated capacity, so an 'under-specced' inverter makes sense.