Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

[Deleted User]

Hello everyone.

I have the solar panals as most of you know and now I have bought an energy monitor to find out what i am using and to try and keep everything within the free electricity.

So I have got the one that came with npower from ebay. I was wondering if someone more electrically minded could tell me what it is actually showing me?

The instructions are here http://www.greenenergyoptions.co.uk/assets/media/npower-user-guide.pdf and if you look at page 8 you can see where the transmitter is attached.

My question is - am I measuring 1 - the draw my house is making (ie before any free electricity has been taken off) or 2 - my draw off the grid (ie the free electricity is off and this is what i am using in real time). Makes a big difference to how I use the energy meter!!

Anyone have any clue??

noncom_2

OK, without seeing exactly what setup you have or where you have attached it, here is what I think the situation is.

You have a simple energy monitor which can measure the current in a single live wire, which should be the one feeding from your meter to your fusebox/Consumer Unit.

Under normal circumstances (ie no Solar Panels) this will estimate your power consumption in the house, because the current will only ever flow one way (ie from the Grid into your house).

With Solar Panels, the situation is more complex as the current can flow both ways, and unfortunately for you I think this energy meter is not going to be much help in its current setup.

If your panels are producing electricity and you are using ALL of it in the house, then there is no problem: any excess power required for the house will come in from the Grid as usual and the energy monitor will show how much that is. In other words, it shows how much you are actually buying (which is your total consumption minus the free electricity from the panels).

The problem is this: the energy monitor almost certainly cannot distinguish between current flowing INTO your house, and current flowing OUT of your house. So if you are generating more power from your panels than you are consuming, although you will be exporting energy to the Grid, your energy monitor will show it exactly as if you were importing it instead. So your readings will not make sense.

There is a device called the Wattson (described as the iPod of energy meters, because it has been "designed" to be artistic as well as functional) which may help. It has two sensor inputs, so it can measure both the amount coming from the Grid AND the amount generated by the panels.

In its Installation instructions on the website, it describes a simple re-wiring of the way the Inverter and the Grid are connected which solves the "Import or Export" problem - you can then attach the sensor to a live wire which will ONLY measure the amount coming into the property from the Grid.

From the top of my head, I can't think of a reason why this re-wiring should not be applicable to any other energy monitor (even one with a single sensor), so if you are really keen to get proper readings from it, you might want to look at the Wattson website.

Caveat: although I describe it as a "simple re-wiring" it is not a job for someone who is not wholly comfortable with domestic electrical wiring. It may even be something that technically requires Part P certification. If in any doubt, ask an electrician to do it.

HTH
Andy

Cardew

shelvis wrote: »

I have the solar panals as most of you know and now I have bought an energy monitor to find out what i am using and to try and keep everything within the free electricity.

?

I suspect that even if you get a monitor that measures output, it won't help you a great deal to "keep everything within the free electricity"

The problem will be that the output will vary a great deal with clouds passing over etc.

The output will generally be greatest either side of midday and of course it will be much higher in summer than winter.

So you should plan to use an electrical appliance arround midday if you can. This is a quote from earlier in this thread for someone with the ASG system(3.3kWp).

I have noticed that the panels don't produce very much early morning or late afternoon-on (about 140 - 300W) but around mid-day they are approaching the 3kW mark.

So you can see that the output at midday(in June) can be 20 times as high as early morning.

moonrakerz

1. The State Pension scheme in the UK is really a huge "Ponzi" scheme, which is illegal if anyone else does it !

2. I feel that many of the "green" schemes, especially FITs, are similarly of doubtful providence; little more than glorified Pyramid selling/chain letter schemes. When enough people get on them - they collapse !

noncom_2

I fail to see either the logic or the relevance of that post....

:huh:

moonrakerz

noncom wrote: »

I fail to see either the logic or the relevance of that post....

:huh:

I'll try and explain it for you.

Governments carry out all sorts of crackpot schemes, which no commercial organisations would touch with a bargepole, mainly because they have absolutely NO sensible financial rationale. The previous UK Government was throwing money at things like FITs like there was no tomorrow - well, tomorrow has arrived !

noncom_2

Ok, thanks for that "explanation".

The Feed In Tariff scheme is not paid for by the Government. The tariffs are paid by a levy on the Energy Companies; in other words the money to pay FITs comes from the energy bills of Domestic and Commercial users. The Government has NO involvement in this scheme, except the legislation to require it, and the rate at which it has set the payments.

It is based on a model adopted previously in many other countries in the world, so not exactly a "crackpot scheme".

If you believe I am incorrect in these assertions, please enlighten me with some rational debate. Otherwise, please refrain from being patronising.

joolsleeds

ASG got some lovely publicity on BBC Look North yesterday. Not sure if anyone saw it?

I nice piece on what ASG do, and some very pleased (as we are) ASG customers.

Nice one Sarah & team, nice to see a company that is employing people, helping its customers, providing good customer service - and going to be profitable to boot!

Jools

p.s, since having my panels installed (~5 weeks ago), 60% of the electricity we use has come off the roof!

Cardew

joolsleeds wrote: »

p.s, since having my panels installed (~5 weeks ago), 60% of the electricity we use has come off the roof!

That is good - especially for May/June.

Can you give some details of figures please.

sharica

I Put a request in the other week for the panels and have been declined today