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  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,766 Forumite
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    Fantastic news:

    Nissan connects 4.75MW of solar to existing wind site

    Mart.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    Fantastic news:

    Nissan connects 4.75MW of solar to existing wind site

    Mart.
    Hi

    News, but too local to supply a source .... :cool:

    On a similar line to Nissan's decision, towards the end of last year I mentioned that there were two 5MWp installations within a few miles from here and that they were building a third one which would be 2MWp ... well, talking to the guy who owns the fields the new one is on I was wrong ... sorry !! ... :D ...it turns out that with DECC playing around with the support for solar so as to make nuclear look more affordable it was actually built as a 5MWp facility (:j) after a decision was taken (/forced) to pull some future expansion plans forward to make some economic sense of the hugely expensive link to the substation which was costed as part of Phase I.

    Decisions, decisions .... install an extra 3MWp now, or go bust ? .... so much for the economic competence of the bright sparks at DECC - with the predictions being made regarding post Brexit economic doom it just makes you wonder whether public sector career progression has moved a number of them along to the treasury!

    For those who don't like productive land being used as power stations, just think about all those happy sheep with dual purpose canopies (shade & rain) - they seem to have adapted to change quite well .... ;)

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,766 Forumite
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    zeupater wrote: »
    For those who don't like productive land being used as power stations, just think about all those happy sheep with dual purpose canopies (shade & rain) - they seem to have adapted to change quite well .... ;)

    HTH
    Z

    Funny you should mention this. I was squabbling (elsewhere) with a PV critic who said about fertile land being wasted on PV, and when others mentioned sheep grazing he said grass doesn't grow in the shade.

    I mentioned that the 2ft strip of my E/W lawn grows fine in the shade of a southerly fence.

    He reposted, that ok, grass grows in the shade, but not as well.

    I pointed out that the 2ft strip (more like 5ft to 6ft in the winter when the sun is lower) grows faster, richer and taller in the summer than the rest of the lawn.

    He didn't believe me.

    But it's true .... honest ..... I assume the 2ft strip gets enough water from the dew, and enough sun from the NE in the morning and NW in the evening, but isn't cooked all day.

    Not sure how this translates to grass under panels (with sunlight from the NE & NW), but I'm sure it's fine for the grass that sits between rows of panels, but mostly in the shade.


    Of course I'm sure Trolly McTrollface will be along soon to claim I hate PV farms (despite my (and your) corrections), but until we have lots of storage, I'll stick with liking PV farms very, very, very much, but loving demand side PV a little more.

    Mind you, with the current government policies, my worrying about PV farms taking up too much of the ~30GWp or so of PV we can easily install, seems pointless. At this stage they can stick it anywhere, and I have a few suggestions!

    Mart.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • EricMears
    EricMears Posts: 3,235 Forumite
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    There are hundreds (thousands ?) of species of 'grass' with an incredible variation of what conditions they like/tolerate but in general most of the common UK species are quite happy with partial shade.

    Grass certainly doesn't need rain falling directly on it - indeed many species hate that. As long as the soil is damp (and ideally damp at some depth rather than on surface) the grass roots will find plenty of water. And of course the rain falling on solar panels doesn't evaporate - it drips off onto the ground below and spreads itself about.

    And 'grass' has another interesting property : if the conditions change, the previously dominant species eases off a bit and another one more suited to the new conditions will have a growth spurt.
    NE Derbyshire.4kWp S Facing 17.5deg slope (dormer roof).24kWh of Pylontech batteries with Lux controller BEV : Hyundai Ioniq5
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,766 Forumite
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    I think this is good news especially given some of the posts we've seen on here with ridiculous claims of high returns covering high monthly loan repayments:

    Solar firm fined for mis-selling finance package
    The couple were convinced to agree to pay back a ten year loan of over £18,000 at a cost of £152 per month after the salesperson claimed they would only have to pay the first three months of instalments. They were told that the system would pay for itself from that point on.

    Mart.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,766 Forumite
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    2018/19 has come earlier than expected in Australia!

    2016 Will Be Inflection Point For Australian Battery Storage Market
    Simon Hackett, the executive chairman of Australian battery storage maker Redflow, says it is now clear that 2016 will be an inflection point for the battery storage market in Australia, given huge interest from consumers and the rush of new products to the market.

    $18,00Aus is still a lot of money, but I understand these flow batteries have almost no degradation/life expectancy issues.

    Mart.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,766 Forumite
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    Further to postings from long ago, here's an update on UK trials of domestic storage, and an item on the rollout of a large (1.68MW) flow battery.

    Scottish Power and UK ‘smart battery’ maker deploy 50 systems in non-government funded trial
    A field trial to deploy 50 grid-connected energy storage systems is going ahead in Scotland between UK energy storage firm Moixa Technology, vertically integrated energy company Scottish Power and an energy efficiency advisory group BillSaveUK.

    Moixa, produces lithium-ion based storage systems and was behind the UK’s biggest trial of aggregated behind-the-meter storage to date, a 0.5MWh project involving some 250 residential and small commercial systems.

    Mart.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,037 Forumite
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    A 1.68MW battery? really?
  • Exiled_Tyke
    Exiled_Tyke Posts: 1,191 Forumite
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    Cardew wrote: »
    A 1.68MW battery? really?

    'Seven 15kW - 240kW flow battery systems will combine to offer 1.68MW of storage. It is hoped the installation will help remove constraints on the wind farm’s output in times of overcapacity on the local network.'

    Only took about 15s to skim the article to find what had been written.
    Install 28th Nov 15, 3.3kW, (11x300LG), SolarEdge, SW. W Yorks.
    Install 2: Sept 19, 600W SSE
    Solax 6.3kWh battery
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,766 Forumite
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    Exiled_Tyke wrote: »
    'Seven 15kW - 240kW flow battery systems will combine to offer 1.68MW of storage. It is hoped the installation will help remove constraints on the wind farm’s output in times of overcapacity on the local network.'

    Only took about 15s to skim the article to find what had been written.

    It could be that Cardew is referring to the sloppy journalism that quotes MW not MWh. This is a bug bear of mine too actually. However I decided to quote the article, rather than confuse anyone. I think this comes under the heading of 'Don't shoot the messenger', and it's always fun to leave the occasional 'Easter Egg' in some posts just to see if comments are made! ;)

    Sometimes the big batts (in particular) mention W's not Wh's as they may be able to deliver all energy in less than one hour, so their Wh rating may actually be lower than their W rating, though normally it would be the other way round.

    On this occasion the article mentions (as you spotted) the sum calculation of the batts being deployed, and those ratings relate to Wh's, as you concluded.

    Mart.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
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