Watch your state’s solar potential in real time with new PV website tool  

Have you ever wondered, “What hours of the day does a solar power system work?” A new website has you covered with all the data you could ever ask for, and then some.

The Australian PV Institute has launched a new, snazzy website with plenty of “bells and whistles” for solar enthusiasts. Funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (and presumably rushing their website through before the massive funding drop-off takes effect), the website offers plenty of information about Photovoltaic (PV) tracking.

Most useful of the data tools is a live solar map with a state by state breakdown of estimated photovoltaic output as a percentage of its maximum capacity in each state, illustrating the hours of the day that your solar power systems collect the most sunlight. You can even animate the data, and watch as the day rolls past with each state glowing red when maximum solar power potential is reached.

Not only does the information give you an up-to-date indication of how the sun is saving you money on an hourly basis, but you can go back and see the data for any day going back to the start of May this year.

Data is also delivered in a bar graph giving you an indication of the spread of daylight hours, which allows for comparisons across the seasons. In overcast, Wintery conditions it takes until later in the day for enough sunlight to hit your solar power system before it comes to life – by contrast the clear, Summer sunshine starts up you system earlier and works until later in the evening.

As you can see from the graphs above your solar power system has the potential of collecting more sunlight, thus generating more energy and for a longer period.

APVI is comprised of companies, agencies, individuals and academics with an interest in solar energy research, technology, manufacturing, systems, policies, programs and projects. A number of sources including PVOutput.org, the Australian Energy Market Operator, the Independant Market Operator and the Clean Energy Regulator all combine to bring us these insights. Other graphics include the percentage of total energy being met by PV throughout the day, and a suburb level breakdown of solar power installations as a percentage of households.

You can visit the APVI website here.