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Interesting article which says the National Grid has predicted peak demand this summer will be 900 MW lower than last year because of solar PV: http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_contributes_to_lowest_ever_peak_national_grid_demand_6193
Ed
Hiya. That article made me look up Gridwatch to see how daytime demand now looks. Going back to 2011/12 I remember that demand jumps up around 7am(ish) then had a slight rise, perhaps 2GW to about noon, before sliding back down about 2GW to 4pm, before the late afternoon/early evening peak.
Looking at demand now, (ignoring weekends when daytime demand tends to drop a little anyway in the middle) there seems to be a small dip. Perhaps (as an example) from 37GW to 34GW. Not sure if this is due to PV or not, but possibly enough in the UK to do this now.
Germany has been seeing a large 'dent' in midday demand for many years, and a drop in spot prices at those times too.
My doubts that it is down to PV (or all down to PV) is that only demand side PV causes a reduction in demand. Supply side (PV farms) supply leccy, so demand remains, whilst demand side PV actually reduces grid demand. I think there's about 3GWp of demand side PV, so could possibly reduce demand by 2 to 2.5GW around mid day on a nice day.
'Daytime dents' may be something to watch out for as the years go by.
[STRIKE]Summer[/STRIKE] spring peak coincidence - yesterday, sitting eating tea, so all cooking finished. It was 6.30pm, I glanced at the PV monitors and we were still generating ~1kW (900W WNW + 150W ESE).
Regarding the USA and 'astro-turfing', I'm still surprised how many programmes (news, satire, or fictional) still mention the rich fossil fuel Koch brothers. They seem to not only be behind most of the anti-renewables media campaigns, but also behind many of the 'astro-turfing' campaigns (fake grass root campaigns to block the rollout of renewables due to 'community' concerns) in the US.
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.0 -
I knew solar was extremely popular in the UK, but was a little surprised at the 60% figure (even if only a wish list 'consideration' figure) in this article:
Mintel: 60% of Brits would consider solar panels in the next five yearsUp to 60% of Brits who don’t already have solar panels installed on their roof would consider going solar in the next five years, according to research published by Mintel.
The research company quizzed 1,219 UK homeowners to discover consumers’ attitudes towards solar PV. Mintel discovered that, of the 60% willing to install solar in the next five years, 39% of them listed a free solar installation through a ‘rent-a-roof’ scheme as the most attractive option.
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.0 -
Like any other survey, the results achieved would have been heavily biased by the way the question was asked. For the definitive answer to the question, we'll have to wait five yearsMartyn1981 wrote: »I knew solar was extremely popular in the UK, but was a little surprised at the 60% figure (even if only a wish list 'consideration' figure) in this article:
Mintel: 60% of Brits would consider solar panels in the next five years
Mart. NE Derbyshire.4kWp S Facing 17.5deg slope (dormer roof).24kWh of Pylontech batteries with Lux controller BEV : Hyundai Ioniq50 -
Like any other survey, the results achieved would have been heavily biased by the way the question was asked. For the definitive answer to the question, we'll have to wait five years
Another major issue (other than it being a consideration to install, not an actual plan) is that if only 20% of properties are actually PV suitable* then only another 17% are still available. Bit of a downer for most of those 60%.
Can you diarize this for further debate in 2020 please?
* I've seen and used this figure a lot, but looking back can't find an actual calculation on which it's based. Some sites often say installs should be between SE and SW, and then there's issues of shading. But E/W split can be ok, and there are ways now to mitigate shading, even if it can't be removed.
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.0 -
I suspect this is a 'summary' of the Mintel report from Nov 2014 ( http://reports.mintel.com/display/691821/?__cc=1 ). Not being a subscriber I can't check that. But if it is, then no need to wait till 2020 - we should have a fair idea of the situation by end of 2019Martyn1981 wrote: »Can you diarize this for further debate in 2020 please? NE Derbyshire.4kWp S Facing 17.5deg slope (dormer roof).24kWh of Pylontech batteries with Lux controller BEV : Hyundai Ioniq50 -
Why is solar consideration not compulsory for new build domestic and commercial property and majorly refurbished property?I have osteoarthritis in my hands so I speak my messages into a microphone using Dragon. Some people make "typos" but I often make "speakos".0
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Sterlingtimes wrote: »Why is solar consideration not compulsory for new build domestic and commercial property and majorly refurbished property?
This could be way off the mark but my gas man told me that a local housing development he is putting equipment into is split into two phases. First phase standard mains gas. Second phase which is due to be built sometime in 2016 completing 2017 will be air source heat pump driven by solar.
How true this is i don't know but he has already started training (quite some time ago actually) for air source heat pump installations.
I thought that all new houses may end up with this option, although i suspect the installation and equipment prices isn't that attractive to developers at the moment.0 -
Second phase which is due to be built sometime in 2016 completing 2017 will be air source heat pump driven by solar.
.
How?
You only have peruse the 'talking bout my generation thread' to see how little solar electricity is generated on many days in winter or when heating is required.
Not to mention the inescapable fact that PV is not produced after dark.0 -
How?
You only have peruse the 'talking bout my generation thread' to see how little solar electricity is generated on many days in winter or when heating is required.
Not to mention the inescapable fact that PV is not produced after dark.
Suspect this is just someone being a bit loose with their descriptions. If a house has PV plus a heat pump driven heating system then it will mainly be exporting electricity that it generates and importing from the grid for heating. But it is now possible to have a home that is well enough insulated that its heating demand is minimal, so such a home could still be a net exporter of electricity.
EdSolar install June 2022, Bath
4.8 kW array, Growatt SPH5000 inverter, 2x Growatt ML33RTA batteries.
SSW roof. ~22° pitch, BISF house. 12 x 400W Hyundai panels0 -
Hi EdSuspect this is just someone being a bit loose with their descriptions. If a house has PV plus a heat pump driven heating system then it will mainly be exporting electricity that it generates and importing from the grid for heating. But it is now possible to have a home that is well enough insulated that its heating demand is minimal, so such a home could still be a net exporter of electricity.
Ed
At the top of the efficiency tree, one of the requirements for Passivhaus is to provide the majority of heat from occupation and internal appliances/devices with a dedicated space heating limit of 15kWh/sqm/year, so for a 200sqm house that's 3000kWh direct heating allowance ..... however, and there's always one of them!!, the standard allows a primary energy demand total of 120kWh/sqm/year, so for a 200sqm property that's a pretty massive 24000kWh in total (pv contribution is ignored to prevent cheating !) !! ... that's probably double our total energy requirements even without pv !! ---- You can't provide much heat from a dedicated source, but can run a bank of hot plasma TVs 24x7 and utilise the waste heat ... say's loads for Passivhaus really - forget modern technologies based on LED - just have a plasma TV in every room and a shedload of halogen bulbs (now that's what I'd call cheating, disallowing pv contribution is peanuts compared to this elephant in the room !!)
To be able to make use of a pv/heatpump combination you'd really need to have a high thermal mass property (ie, solid internal walls as opposed to stud walling etc ...) so that heat provision from solar gain and the heatpump during the day maintains the internal temperature overnight .... however, and I said that there's always one of them !!, both the heat-pump and pv array would need to be well oversized ... it's Okay to size the heat-pump to run 24x7, but it's not light 24x7 -- and -- a 'normal' (say 4kWp) size array does little more than cover baseline demand for much of the real heating season (Nov-Feb), so there's a little bit of an issue ...
My take on it is that the developers are simply adding some eco bells & whistles to a pretty standard property, not to raise efficiency or benefit the home-owner, but simply as a 'tick box' exercise to meet the EPC requirements of their planning consent at the cheapest cost without redesigning their existing offerings to employ more efficient materials and processes ...
HTH
Z"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
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