PV system
A PV system represents a solar array / inverter. Power Insight tracks how much it produces, how much of that you self-consume vs. export, and the financial impact. If you have multiple PV systems, add one device each — the sensor selection applies to all of them, but each system gets its own set of sensors.
Add it with Add device → PV system.
Settings
Name
For example "Rooftop" or "Heat pump". Used in the device and sensor names.
Power sensor
Sensor with this device's power in W, kW or MW. Positive = producing, negative = drawing (standby).
Invert power sign
Turn on if your sensor uses the opposite sign.
Exports to the grid
Turn on if this device can export power to the grid.
Default: on for PV systems. When off, the Production to grid (+ ratio), Share of grid export and export-compensation sensors are not created.
Export compensation per kWh
What you are paid per kWh exported to the grid. Required for savings, financial return and export compensation sensors.
It is a rate in your currency per kWh. There is no default — a rate that
fits one country is wrong in the next — so it is asked for whenever the device
exports to the grid; enter 0 if you are not paid for it.
Both this and Exports to the grid can be changed later under Reconfigure. A new rate applies from then on: an export rate is a price that changes over time, so the totals already accumulated keep the rate that held when they were earned.
Lifetime production
Energy in kWh you expect this device to deliver over its lifetime: generated (PV) or discharged (battery). Used for levelized sensors.
Lifetime cost
Total cost over the device's lifetime (purchase, installation, maintenance). Used for levelized sensors.
Together, lifetime cost ÷ lifetime production gives this system's LCOE.
CO₂ footprint
CO₂ emitted to make and install this device, in kg. Optional; reserved for CO₂ sensors.
CO₂ sensors are not implemented yet; this field currently has no effect.
Already accumulated
Optional, in two sections, one per route. Energy (kWh): Produced, and optionally its own export to the grid; Power Insight calculates the money, with its own average grid tariff or the grid's. Amounts: the savings and export compensation your app shows, taken as they are. Your totals then start where your system really is. See Carried-over history.
Changing lifetime values later
If you reconfigure the lifetime cost or production, Power Insight applies a correction factor that retroactively rescales this device's already-recorded levelized values so history stays consistent. The rescaling reaches the whole history and shows in the long-term statistics as one step at the time of the edit.
If you replace the hardware itself, add it as a new device and remove the old one instead: the new hardware has a lifetime of its own.
Sensors
Turn these on in the integration's Options → PV system sensors. The choice applies to every PV system, and each one gets its own set of sensors.
Power flow
Where the production goes
Splits this PV system's production by where it goes: your appliances, charging a battery, the idle draw of other energy equipment, or the grid. The ratio sensors give the same split as a percentage of this PV system's own production — Production to grid ratio at 40 % means 40 % of it is exported.
- The grid sensors need Exports to the grid on.
- The batteries sensors only exist when a battery is allowed to charge from this system.
| Sensor | Unit | Turn on with |
|---|---|---|
| Production to home consumption | W | Power split (W) |
| Production to batteries | W | Power split (W) |
| Production to system standby | W | Power split (W) |
| Production to grid | W | Power split (W) |
| Production to home consumption ratio | % | Power split (%) |
| Production to batteries ratio | % | Power split (%) |
| Production to system standby ratio | % | Power split (%) |
| Production to grid ratio | % | Power split (%) |
This PV system's share of the home
How much of the whole home's consumption, battery charging, standby and export this PV system covers right now. Compare with the ratio sensors above: a ratio divides by this PV system's production, a share by the home's total.
| Sensor | Unit | Turn on with |
|---|---|---|
| Share of home consumption | % | Share of home totals (%) |
| Share of battery charging | % | Share of home totals (%) |
| Share of system standby | % | Share of home totals (%) |
| Share of grid export | % | Share of home totals (%) |
Cost, savings and earnings
Every money sensor comes in two flavours, chosen per section in the options:
- Standard values electricity at your live grid price; your own solar power counts as free.
- Levelized also counts what your hardware cost, spread over every kWh it delivers (LCOE, see How it works). Needs Lifetime production and Lifetime cost.
Each sensor ending in rate is money per hour right now; the matching Total adds it up and keeps counting across restarts.
Operating cost
What this PV system's own draw costs — mostly the inverter's standby at night.
| Sensor | Unit | Turn on with |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cost rate | EUR/h | Cost method: Standard |
| Levelized operating cost rate | EUR/h | Cost method: Levelized |
| Total operating cost | EUR | Total costs |
| Total levelized operating cost | EUR | Total costs + Levelized |
Avoided cost
What this PV system's power kept off your grid bill: the power it put into your home, valued at the grid price. This is the saving before its own operating cost is taken off.
| Sensor | Unit | Turn on with |
|---|---|---|
| Avoided cost rate | EUR/h | Savings method: Standard |
| Total avoided cost | EUR | Total savings |
Cost savings
The net saving: avoided cost minus operating cost. The levelized variant also subtracts this system's LCOE, so it shows whether the hardware pays off. Export earnings are not included — see Financial return.
| Sensor | Unit | Turn on with |
|---|---|---|
| Cost savings rate | EUR/h | Savings method: Standard |
| Levelized cost savings rate | EUR/h | Savings method: Levelized |
| Total cost savings | EUR | Total savings |
| Total levelized cost savings | EUR | Total savings + Levelized |
Export compensation
What this PV system earns by exporting, at its Export compensation per kWh.
| Sensor | Unit | Turn on with |
|---|---|---|
| Export compensation rate | EUR/h | Export compensation rate |
| Total export compensation | EUR | Total export compensation |
Only when Exports to the grid is on.
Financial return
Everything this PV system brings in: cost savings plus export compensation. The levelized variant also counts what producing the exported energy cost, so it can be lower than the levelized savings while you export for less than the LCOE. See Why is my levelized financial return lower…
| Sensor | Unit | Turn on with |
|---|---|---|
| Financial return rate | EUR/h | Financial return method: Standard |
| Levelized financial return rate | EUR/h | Financial return method: Levelized |
| Total financial return | EUR | Total financial return |
| Total levelized financial return | EUR | Total financial return + Levelized |
Only when Exports to the grid is on.
Levelized sensors are only created once Lifetime production and Lifetime cost are filled in on this device's Reconfigure page.