So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

celerity · 18 May 2011 at 12:11PM

zeupater wrote: »

Utilising, and integrating with, existing technologies opens up possibilities which a dedicated device would preclude, switching in battery chargers, low power immersion heaters, fan heaters, freezers or numerous other appliances...

One of the critical appliances for (hopefully) millions of people in the next twenty years or so will be electric cars. Charging these efficiently will be key, and knowing that I could charge one "smartly" via my solar panels would be a big incentive to buy such a vehicle.

/\dam

zeupater · 18 May 2011 at 12:31PM

ChrisJD wrote: »

Eventually appliance manufacturers are expected to include facilities for working in conjunction with smart meters and new pricing schemes, which will reward those who can reduce non-vital loads on demand. There doesn't seem to be much known about these right now, but there are a host of possibilities which might be explored.

Hi

I believe that Cardew already knows quite a lot more about these meters than most as they are already used in some countries ......

Cardew ??

Z

zeupater · 18 May 2011 at 12:52PM

celerity wrote: »

One of the critical appliances for (hopefully) millions of people in the next twenty years or so will be electric cars. Charging these efficiently will be key, and knowing that I could charge one "smartly" via my solar panels would be a big incentive to buy such a vehicle.

/\dam

Hi

The problem with this is that the majority of vehicles are usually away from home during daytime hours and that an almost depleted battery on something like a Nissan Leaf would need a 20kWh+ charge, so well above the average capacity of most pv installations.

There would need to be some form of intelligent link to the generating plant and a related controllable charge rate so to prevent the charger simply drawing what the batteries need from the mains supply .....

I can actually see some larger organisations having vast arrays on office roofs in order to charge the senior management team's enviro-vehicles as a visible reinforcement of their corporate environmental policy and 'green' credentials, but the real issue would be to commoditise the approach as a realistic low carbon transport solution for the mass market.

HTH
Z

beachlife · 18 May 2011 at 1:04PM

Cardew wrote: »

So my hunch was correct, you were depending on a meter running backwards in your calculations.

Firstly there are some old meters that do run backward. However the majority don't.

It is because the majority of meters don't run backwards that you don't have to routinely get a new meter.

However you aren't selling electricity back to the grid by having your meter running backwards.

You get an assumed 3p per kWh for selling 50% of your generated energy back to the grid.

You don't seriously think that the idea is you should also get a further 10p/kWh(or however much you pay for electricity) for all generated electricty on top of that 3p and FIT.

Indeed if you have a meter that runs backward, and you go away on holiday you reading would be LOWER, but if discovered do you think the Utility company will be happy?

I have had my 3.98kWp system from late January. My import meter runs backwards . I spend the winter in the sun got back early April. My normal electricity meter was 19011 when I left and was 18500 when I returned. April was a fantastic generating month and I am still around 18500 on my import meter. When the system was installed I filled a form informing my electricity supplier (Npower) that my meter runs backwards. I also emailed Npower reminding them that my meter runs backwards. Their billing system is to read the meter details every 6 months. Therefore I foresee that my electricity import meter will always be below my Jan 2011 reading as I am away again to the sun at the end of September till Spring 2012.

My question is because I`m in effect banking electricity in the winter months until smart meters are fitted will Npower just accept this situation? The only other way they could check the amount of electricity I import is by fitting a new meter which doesn`t go backwards (at their cost I hope ).

As I have assumed I am banking my electricity generation, I have been using 3 oil filled electric radiators to provide heat using electric immersion to heat water. Despite doing this even at night I still have a large surplus of credit over my last import meter. As a result my usual method of heating (gas) will be vastly reduced.

keith_r59 · 18 May 2011 at 1:25PM

bjohnson wrote: »

SMA market a device called the Sunny Backup system S which has a rechargeable battery and is mainly designed to cope with power cuts but their literature seems to say that it can be used manually to provide power at night, say. It integrates with their inverters but I've no idea what the price is.

They aren't cheap.

http://www.criticalpowersupplies.co.uk/SMA-Sunny-Backup-S
http://www.criticalpowersupplies.co.uk/SMA-Sunny-Backup-2200W
http://www.criticalpowersupplies.co.uk/SMA-Sunny-Backup-5kW

celerity · 18 May 2011 at 2:13PM

zeupater wrote: »

The problem with this is that the majority of vehicles are usually away from home during daytime hours and that an almost depleted battery on something like a Nissan Leaf would need a 20kWh+ charge, so well above the average capacity of most pv installations.

Agreed, but speaking selfishly - I am based from home and virtually all of my journeys are within a 15 mile radius. In fact I haven't owned a car for my exclusive use in six years.

So, an electric car for me could well mean I'm not stranded at home during the day (we are a bit rural, so I can't cycle to anywhere useful) and the "fuel" could be virtually free during spring and summer.

I've never actually seen the internals of an electric car up close. I'm assuming the battery packs are too heavy to be easily removable? If that isn't the case, there is possibly an argument in the future that some owners with solar PV would choose to buy two battery packs and swap them every few days.

/\dam

thenudeone · 18 May 2011 at 2:19PM

ChrisJD wrote: »

But wouldn't the market vanish once smart meters are rolled out, since you would then get paid only for what you export?

It would be much smaller but still there; mainly those people off mains gas, who have three options:

1)export all excess electricity at 3p/kwh; and heat water using bottled gas or heating oil (probably much more than 3p/kwh heat output)

2)export all excess electricity at 3p/kwh; and heat water using E7 electricity (at least 7p/kwh; plus allowances for losses in storage)

3) use excess energy to power low-power immersion heater - cost nil

So 3) is the best option and would be worth a limited amount of investment to achieve; depending on how much "excess" is avalaible

zeupater · 18 May 2011 at 3:49PM

celerity wrote: »

Agreed, but speaking selfishly - I am based from home and virtually all of my journeys are within a 15 mile radius. In fact I haven't owned a car for my exclusive use in six years.

So, an electric car for me could well mean I'm not stranded at home during the day (we are a bit rural, so I can't cycle to anywhere useful) and the "fuel" could be virtually free during spring and summer.

I've never actually seen the internals of an electric car up close. I'm assuming the battery packs are too heavy to be easily removable? If that isn't the case, there is possibly an argument in the future that some owners with solar PV would choose to buy two battery packs and swap them every few days.

/\dam

Hi

Or better still .... http://www.vauxhall-ampera.co.uk/index.php/eng/ampera/how_it_works/erev_voltec ..... probably the best solution to the problem of getting stranded in EVs that I've seen yet ..... close to market availability too ... :cool:

HTH
Z

themaverick1953 · 18 May 2011 at 5:37PM

ANyone know a leccy company that will accept a zero generation meter reading from 3 weeks ago?

themaverick1953 · 18 May 2011 at 5:43PM

celerity wrote: »

One of the critical appliances for (hopefully) millions of people in the next twenty years or so will be electric cars. Charging these efficiently will be key, and knowing that I could charge one "smartly" via my solar panels would be a big incentive to buy such a vehicle.

/\dam

THis occured to me before I had the panels installed 3 weeks ago. Whats the cost of the cheapest elctric car and how many kWh do they need to charge? We have one person at home most days to allow charging.

So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

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