So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

jackieblack

themaverick1953 wrote: »

2 months today in operation and passed 1000 kWh this morning.
Trevor
East Yorkshire

Sounds reasonable.
My 2.22 kWp system has generated 638kWh in the last two months :j, but we are further south.
(Essex/Suffolk border)

jackieblack

digitaltoast wrote: »

All that effort, all that hoping the sun stays out while your dishwasher runs (saving a whole 3p! whoo!), renting your roof out for 25 years, all those contracts, all those dodgy salesmen (You and Yours/Which report), and all for £70 a year, if you're lucky. ?

As most posters on this thread have already installed pv (as the name of the thread states) this is a moot point.

digitaltoast wrote: »

We're saving £40 a month just by having switched our electricity tariff to a twinheat off-peak package, we know exactly when and for how long it's cheap, and it's far, far greener (yes, really) than PV. I really can't see what all the fuss is about.

OMG :eek:
How much electricity are you using if you are able to save £40 per month?!
We've never used anything remotely approaching £40 worth of electric in a month.

digitaltoast

jackieblack wrote: »

How much electricity are you using if you are able to save £40 per month?!
We've never used anything remotely approaching £40 worth of electric in a month.

For annoying and tedious reasons to do with:
Current state of gas system, Neighbour and access, future plans, and current finances, for the time-being we are an all-electric household.
However, when you consider that our TOTAL electricity and heating bill is a shade under £1k/pa for all our cooking, heating, washing etc, that's actually LESS than the average for the dwelling and usage.

Doubtless others would save less, however the fact is I would say probably most people are on the wrong tariff and would save more just by switching than messing about with panels. Just IMHO!

themaverick1953

themaverick1953 wrote: »

2 months today in operation and passed 1000 kWh this morning.
Trevor
East Yorkshire

3.96 kWp output

RobinH_2

If you have paid to have a panel fitted which gains you this marvelous tariff when you push current back into the grid, is it possible and advantageous to charge up a battery on your normal power and then discharge it through the system to gain the higher rate of return.
Im sure that would be at fraud so I would certainly not condone such an action, but I just wondered if the idea would work?

celerity

RobinH wrote: »

If you have paid to have a panel fitted which gains you this marvelous tariff when you push current back into the grid, is it possible and advantageous to charge up a battery on your normal power and then discharge it through the system to gain the higher rate of return.
Im sure that would be at fraud so I would certainly not condone such an action, but I just wondered if the idea would work?

Yes it would work, and yes it would be fraud.
You could also rewire mains electric to simulate "overperforming panels" or simply tamper with the meter directly.
Anyone that did this would be stupid as well as being immoral though - as soon as you were found out you'd lose all your remaining FiT benefits.
As more people get panels it would be trivial for them to spot the fraud as well. - "hmmm... average output for that sized array in the region was 3000kWh - but RobinH managed 5000kWh, interesting..."



/\dam

ChrisJD

celerity wrote: »

Yes it would work, and yes it would be fraud.
You could also rewire mains electric to simulate "overperforming panels" or simply tamper with the meter directly.
Anyone that did this would be stupid as well as being immoral though - as soon as you were found out you'd lose all your remaining FiT benefits.
As more people get panels it would be trivial for them to spot the fraud as well. - "hmmm... average output for that sized array in the region was 3000kWh - but RobinH managed 5000kWh, interesting..."

Wasn't it in Spain where they looked at the data for some large scale commercial installations, and found that they were still producing significant output during the hours of darkness? Investigations revealed diesel generators linked up to the system.:rotfl:

Cardew

ChrisJD wrote: »

Wasn't it in Spain where they looked at the data for some large scale commercial installations, and found that they were still producing significant output during the hours of darkness? Investigations revealed diesel generators linked up to the system.:rotfl:

Sounds more like Southern Italy - Sicily perhaps;)

ChrisJD

Cardew wrote: »

Sounds more like Southern Italy - Sicily perhaps;)

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/465409/spanish_nighttime_solar_energy_fraud_unlikely_in_uk.html

"Spanish newspaper El Mundo found that between November and January, 4500 megawatt hours (MWh) of solar energy were sold to the electricity grid between midnight and seven in the morning.

It has been suggested that some plants in the regions of Castilla-La-Mancha, Canarias and Andaluc!a have been using diesel generators connected to their solar panel arrays to illegally benefit from government subsidies."

kennyward

Any of you guys had a fitting done by TESCO? i have just had my survey for a 4KWh system and the guy who came was bang-on with the benefits of PV as a "NO_Brainer". I have to say i am rather excited by all the posotives that seem to have been posted. Any advice on wittleing down or haggeling the quote would be appreciated. Cant wait to start exporting for real!!!!!!!!

Kenny Ward "Newbee electricity producer"