Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Cardew · 30 September 2016 at 12:49PM

michaels wrote: »

I guess the invertor may be under the manufacturers warranty so your daughter would need to tal k to them re replacement but then find a local fitter who can actually do the swap out for her at her expense.

My assumption was that the manufacturer had replaced the inverter under the 3 year warranty, and the £350 was for replacing and checking.

If the following article for prices in 2016 is accurate, an inverter replacement still costs around £1,000.

http://new-boiler-cost.co.uk/solar-pv-panel-payback-and-costs-in-2016/

Installation And Maintenance Costs

A typical 4kW system costs home-owners around £6,500 today for a retrofit on an existing roof; new build prices should be cheaper. With the pressure of falling Feed-In Tariff payments we would expect this to fall to around £5,750 in the first half of 2016. The start of 2016 is going to be a very tough time for solar installation companies so it will take time for a clear pattern of prices to emerge and some will have more aggressive prices than others.

There is little maintenance required on solar panels; the rain should keep them clean in most cases. The power inverter the system uses is generally only guaranteed for 10 years so a cautious customer will allow for the cost of replacing it during the 20 year Feed-In Tariff period. Replacing it today would cost around £1,000 but we have assumed the cost will be nearer £600 in 10 to 12 years time as costs reduce with increased global volumes. If you are lucky enough not to have to replace your inverter during the 20 years then you save a further £600 and your payback drops by between one and two years.

Martyn1981 · 8 October 2016 at 9:27AM

Couple of fun .... oddball ...... stories that don't sound right at first, but have apparently been thought through, so best of luck to them.

1. Sunamp eyes project to ship waste heat by barge to Bristol

In total Sunamp is planning to use 32 shipping containers - each capable of carrying 2MWh of heat - for the project. If approved, it will supply the first phase of Bristol's district heating network, which aims to supply low-carbon heat to buildings throughout Bristol via a network of underground pipes connected to a number of energy centres, including biomass boilers and gas combined heat and power plants. Over time the city plans to phase out the use of natural gas in favour of renewable alternatives.

2. Brighton gears up for new fleet of solar-powered buses

A fleet of 10 electric buses operating around town will be charged overnight at a bus depot which has solar panels on its roof

Every little bit counts!

Mart.

EricMears · 8 October 2016 at 9:38AM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

A fleet of 10 electric buses operating around town will be charged overnight at a bus depot which has solar panels on its roof
Mart.

It might make more sense to use them as night buses and charge them up in the daytime ?

lstar337 · 12 October 2016 at 11:14AM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-37618592

Syrians have found an alternative use for barrels to help generate much-needed electricity.

Martyn1981 · 15 October 2016 at 8:01AM

Energy storage vital to keep UK lights on, say MPs

Committee urges investment in batteries and smart demand technologies to ensure energy supply as old coal and nuclear power stations close

Large-scale batteries to store energy and devices that switch themselves off are likely to be key technologies for keeping the UK’s lights on while shutting down old coal and nuclear plants, an influential committee of MPs has said.

Mart.

Martyn1981 · 18 October 2016 at 8:44AM

Green subsidies to push UK energy bills higher than planned

Not quite as bad as it sounds, the article mentions that some of the reasons for the revision are that more RE was deployed than expected, wind farms are generating more leccy than expected, and the average wholesale price of leccy is less than expected, making the subsidy element of the CfD's (CfD's top up the sale price to the contracted strike price) slightly more.

Mart.

lstar337 · 18 October 2016 at 11:21AM

Energy subsidies should focus on storage and cutting demand

Subsidies to reduce the risk of blackouts must focus on energy storage schemes and cutting demand instead of "dirty diesel", MPs have urged.

The committee said the government should redesign the capacity market to encourage energy storage, which ranges from lithium batteries to pumping water uphill and releasing it through turbines when power is needed.

This technology could save billions of pounds for consumers, it said.

Ministers should also consider a subsidy system to speed up the deployment of storage, given its importance for storing and using power from renewable energy to make the most of the clean technology.

They should commit to making the UK a world leader in storage and set a procurement target for 2020, the committee said.

michaels · 18 October 2016 at 11:51AM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Green subsidies to push UK energy bills higher than planned

Not quite as bad as it sounds, the article mentions that some of the reasons for the revision are that more RE was deployed than expected, wind farms are generating more leccy than expected, and the average wholesale price of leccy is less than expected, making the subsidy element of the CfD's (CfD's top up the sale price to the contracted strike price) slightly more.

Mart.

This is quite amusing if you think about it:
1) More RE than anticiapted has been successful in pushing down prices
2) Therefore RE CfD payments are higher than expected
3) Therefore RE is adding more to bills than expected :eek:

Except of course these bills are still lower than they would have been without RE resulting in lower prices in the first place....

Exiled_Tyke · 18 October 2016 at 12:42PM

michaels wrote: »

This is quite amusing if you think about it:
1) More RE than anticiapted has been successful in pushing down prices
2) Therefore RE CfD payments are higher than expected
3) Therefore RE is adding more to bills than expected :eek:

Except of course these bills are still lower than they would have been without RE resulting in lower prices in the first place....

Which got me thinking - what has happened to electricity prices - as I haven't really thought about it much other than always looking out for the best deal. I found a bill from Jan 2013 when I was paying 11.65 p/Kwh. I'm now paying 9.5p and the standing charge is down 5p per day too. Perhaps others here may have been more aware than me? Hopefully interesting enough though.

Martyn1981 · 18 October 2016 at 3:32PM

michaels wrote: »

This is quite amusing if you think about it:
1) More RE than anticiapted has been successful in pushing down prices
2) Therefore RE CfD payments are higher than expected
3) Therefore RE is adding more to bills than expected :eek:

Except of course these bills are still lower than they would have been without RE resulting in lower prices in the first place....

Yep, glad you see the humour in the CfD element. We pay the same amount (price + subsidy) regardless of the breakdown of the two elements.

Another 'funny' thing is the government going on about us exceeding the levy control framework ..... well increase it then! Plus, as you mention, bills are lower than they expected them to be, helped by RE reducing peak prices, which should really be deducted from the 'subsidy' total if we want to be fair about it.

Germany is an interesting example, they have enough RE now to seriously reduce their average market price, but their bills are high due to the large amount of RE subsidies, catch 22.

Now they have, and are continuing to expand, a large RE sector they can look forward to low prices and low subsidies when the early high investments expire. Should they have waited? What is economically correct and what is morally correct?

For all the concerns in the UK, we've actually taken a more middle road.

Mart.

Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

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