Free solar panel discussion

Nang

PeterZ wrote: »

Very interesting insight into how other countries work, thanks for this.

As oil prices rise I think the Danes will be pleased of the investment they have made, I wish we could see similiar investment here in the UK. In the 5-10 years that surplus electricity could well be soaked up by electric cars.

I guess electric cars could be a good use of the surplus energy, I also read that as they have storage capacity they could provide a storage medium to get through a peak i.e the grid borrow the energy back. The issue I can see with this is that people just want the convenience of jumping in their car when ever they want and being able to drive X hundred miles. I cant imagine folk being too happy to get in their car after its been on charge for 24 hours and find its only 1/2 full because the energy was borrowed back for the grid, or that no peak elect was available to charge it.

[Deleted User]

am I missing something or is the thread way of topic?

Cardew

kittie wrote: »

am I missing something or is the thread way of topic?

You are correct - as with so many threads!

By the way, how do we think Spurs will fare against Real Madrid;)

Ken68

Good read, learnt a lot.
Was just about to mention the Saharan P.V SuperGrid. Coming to Europe via Libya or Egypt or Tunisia.
But I won't, way off topic.

Equaliser123

Ken68 wrote: »

Was just about to mention the Saharan P.V SuperGrid. Coming to Europe via Libya or Egypt or Tunisia.
But I won't, way off topic.

Fair point. But the countries of source of much of the oil supply isn't exactly peachy either.

John_Pierpoint

kittie wrote: »

am I missing something or is the thread way of topic?

Every decision we make these days is very interconnected.
The collapse of "communism" as a religion twenty years ago, produced a "tectonic" shift in the economic structure of the world as money went global.

Then 10 years ago the internet came of age and information went global.

Are we now on the cusp of climate change forcing us to make changes in the way we live our lives and pollute our fellow citizens globe?

Every decision we make in an interconnected world cannot be judged just on short term financial criteria, there are physical, political and moral issues involved in every purchasing decision; not to mention the opportunity cost, of making a decision that automatically means you have made a decision not to be able to do something else (install dorma windows being the most obvious in the case of solar PV.)

The real decision is "will I/we be better off in 10 - 15 years time if I have solar PV on my roof?".
The answer for the individual with a south facing unshaded roof is "yes", though the "we" bit is much more debatable. A yes/no decision could generate resentment leading to tax changes and vandalism that would redress the balance somewhat.

Similarly a decision to buy a "Chelsea Tractor", unless you live in a moorland area, is almost certainly an irrational "no/no" decision.

For the entrepreneurs out there, there must be a market for low cost gizmos that can:

1. Recognise when the panels are generating excess power and switch on something to utilise it.

2. Safely allow the panels to remain turned on in the event of a power cut.

I would much prefer a tank of hot water to having to reset a dozen time clocks every time there is a power cut.

Cardew

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

For the entrepreneurs out there, there must be a market for low cost gizmos that can:

1. Recognise when the panels are generating excess power and switch on something to utilise it.

2. Safely allow the panels to remain turned on in the event of a power cut.

It is of course the 'low cost' factor that is the problem.

With a PV array you are still dealing with high power, - potentially up to 4kW - and that isn't to be 'messed about' with lightly.

The difficulty is the fluctuating nature of the PV generated output. One minute blasting out 4kW and a big cloud drops the output dramatically.

So you will need circuitry that will selectively switch off high consumption items and then switch them on again when the output has risen.

That would be OK for your 3kW immersion heater as loss of power there is not important. However what other items would you be happy to have switch off automatically?

What do you do if there is no output from the panels all day?

Also how often do we have power cuts during the day(when the sun is shining), and given that even if we had some way of using the inverter at this time, how do we decide what appliances the panels would feed. e.g. power goes off when you are cooking and using 8kW. Not a good idea to feed that demand to an inverter without safeguards.

It would be cheaper to buy a simple petrol generator for standby.

BrummyGit

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

For the entrepreneurs out there, there must be a market for low cost gizmos that can:

1. Recognise when the panels are generating excess power and switch on something to utilise it.

2. Safely allow the panels to remain turned on in the event of a power cut.

I would much prefer a tank of hot water to having to reset a dozen time clocks every time there is a power cut.

I totally agree with the first point. I very much like the look of the CoolPower EMMA unit for diverting surplus power to the immersion heater, but at the current pricing levels putting it at more than the cost of my inverter it's a no go for me. If a low-cost solution becomes available I will snatch somebody's hand off.

zeupater

BrummyGit wrote: »

I totally agree with the first point. I very much like the look of the CoolPower EMMA unit for diverting surplus power to the immersion heater, but at the current pricing levels putting it at more than the cost of my inverter it's a no go for me. If a low-cost solution becomes available I will snatch somebody's hand off.

Hi

In theory, it's quite possible to build an intelligent control system using a netbook, a couple of current sensors and some configurable software controlling a number of X10 home automation products to do exactly what you want and still bring the project in well under the price of the EMMA unit .... it'd be far more flexible & much more fun too !!

HTH
Z

energysavingexp

can anyone tell me about claiming the FIT and how difficult is it.
tesco say that you need to ring round all the energy companys to get the best payment as they pay different amounts for the FIT.?
i thought it was the same amount from them all 41.3p plus 3p export (@50% of total gen)

and if you are with npower on sol 20 tariff, is it true that if you are to claim the FIT, you will have to go onto the standard tariff (more expensive)