Solar Panel Guide Discussion

zeupater

ed110220 wrote: »

You joke but I remember a few years ago it was reported that there were widespread power cuts in Zambia and Zimbabwe after someone pulled down an electricity pylon for the scrap metal!

Hi

I agree, there was some jest involved, however the post was based on similar experiences.

A number of years ago I was involved in the commissioning of plant in a newbuild industrial area overseas where the electricity supply was delayed by weeks due to this very problem ... If someone will risk their lives for the scrap value of cables where there are a limited number of potential customers they'd surely not turn their nose up at much better returns for their 'labour' from selling a much more portable and desireable product with a ready-made market if literally millions ...

HTH
Z

Cardew

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Could be true. Probably best then just to pop them up on roofs in smaller numbers where they are a little safer, and no annual running costs like land, insurance and security to worry about.

Mart.

Would this be in North Africa?

An even better idea would be for firms to rent the space above the roof for 25 years and fit the panels for free.

Martyn1981

Cardew wrote: »

Would this be in North Africa?

An even better idea would be for firms to rent the space above the roof for 25 years and fit the panels for free.

Sorry, struggling with your business case there;

So a firm rents the roof space, thus incurring annual running costs on top of the installation cost, then has to make money selling the leccy at wholesale rates?

Wouldn't it be far more profitable (viable) for the roof owners themselves to install the PV, save the annual costs, and make their money against a combination of saved retail rates and exported wholesale rates?

Maybe a re-think is in order before you pitch it to the Dragons!

Maybe it's just that your economics are operating on a level too high for me to fully comprehend? I will try to do better.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Article on German Greens. More to do with renewables in general than solar panels, but it all slots together in the end:-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/20/cem-ozdemir-green-politician-germany?intcmp=122

Some extracts:

"In the past, the energy market in Germany used to be run by four big players. Since the shift to renewables that we helped to bring about, regional authorities and cities council have become empowered to act as players in their own right, buying back the networks that they sold to private companies in the past. In Germany, a large number of windfarms are regionally owned: that helps to decentralise power and encourages competition.

We are looking at a third industrial revolution, and just as there were once those who opposed the invention of the steam engine, there are now those who hark back to nuclear energy. In Germany we now have just over 20% of our energy coming from renewable sources. All predictions from the past have turned out not to be true: when I went to school, my teachers used to say that maybe, just maybe we might have 3% of renewable energy one day. Angela Merkel says we'll have 35% by 2020; we at the Green party say it'll be 45%. My guess is: we'll both be wrong, because it'll be even more than that.

And at any rate, don't listen to what Cem Özdemir has to say on this, don't listen to what the Greens have to say, listen to what Siemens is doing. Siemens are not switching from nuclear to clean energy because they want to lose money: they want to make profit. And I'd warn anyone who questions whether they'll manage: industrial policy, that's one thing the Germans know how to get right. If the Brits would rather hand the first mover advantage down to us, then so be it – as a German, I thank them for it. We already cater for many of the markets for renewable energy around the globe, and our future competitors are more likely to come from China than from the other side of the Channel.

In Germany, industry is now starting to thank us for pestering in the past, because it forced them to go through the kind of innovations that the rest of the world is now catching up with. The Brits are still discussing whether they should insulate their houses better in the future, and we insulate them."

The tides coming in, better swop your wellies for waders if you're still determined to turn it back!

Mart.

zeupater

Hi

Nothing new in using pv in Africa .... came across this report from the 1970s in the NASA archives a while ago ....

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800004300_1980004300.pdf

... surprisingly the 1.8kWp off-grid pv system costing ~$50k had almost reached lifetime cost parity with a diesel generator at that time. This was obviously helped by the relative distribution costs for fuel to remote areas and discounting the cost of financing the capital outlay, but that doesn't distract from the fact that a form of parity existed if the up-front costs could be met ... just imagine what difference pv could make to villages in the referenced area at today's price levels, or even pre-owned units supplied at a substantial discount if 'liberated' from unguarded commercial activities further north .....

As an aside ... I wonder what happened to the system - is it still working ?

HTH
Z

JB87

Hello could anyone advise me if the addition of solar panels to your house affect yr electricity meter reading..my numbers seem to be rising very quickly?
Thanks.

EricMears

JB87 wrote: »

Hello could anyone advise me if the addition of solar panels to your house affect yr electricity meter reading..my numbers seem to be rising very quickly?
Thanks.

Some meters have an 'anti-tamper' device which results in the meter registering your generated units as though you were importing them. See this MSE topic :https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3871161 which also advises on what to do about situation.

But it might just be that you've switched everything on during the daytime now that you have 'free' electricity but are actually using more than you're generating.

ilkley_lad

Hi JB87, I had the siemens meter in question which was adding the generated power to the total on the meter. Rang EDF, they were aware of this problem, they changed the meter and credited me back for the amount generated on my generation meter.
Generally you should be using less electric once they are fitted, if you look at your daily useage on your old bills you can work out roughly what you used a day compared to what you are using now. Really it should be less per day.

John_Pierpoint

JB87 wrote: »

Hello could anyone advise me if the addition of solar panels to your house affect yr electricity meter reading..my numbers seem to be rising very quickly?
Thanks.

There are dozens of different models of electricity meter in use.
In my house both the importing meter and the generation meter have flashing red lights, one flash per watt passing through the meter. When electricity tries to pass through the meter in the reverse direction the flashing red light glows permanently red. So it is obvious at noon, on a sunny day, with everything turned off (or on standby) that the panels are generating and so exporting more electricity than the house is using. Turning on high drain appliances (immersion, cooker, etc.) soon demonstrates that the house is importing once more, because both meters are flashing,.
Assuming you do not have a meter that instantly explains what it is doing by flashing lights or spinning an aluminium disk, then
you you need to log and graph your generation meter and your "importing" meter. It is not so obvious now that the winter is starting but it your apparent import of electricity goes UP on sunny days and DOWN on cloudy ones, it looks like something is wrong.

The forum's initial detective story featuring Siemans meters played out here - profitably .
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/43205962#Comment_43205962

shafeeq

shafeeq wrote: »

Hi Mart.

Well since I had Solar panel installed just over 2 months, my meter is 3kWh less then I started with. I sent a meter reading to Npower on 13th July. They generated a bill. SO I assume so this period of 1 month and week, I had free juice . The next reading when I provide will be interesting because it will be same as previous reading, unless the weather goes so bad that that I will use 10 kwh in few days :0 my average usage before solar panels was 3.92 kWh a day.

I just had a reply to my email

"Thank you for your email.

I apologise for the length of time it has taken for the meter exchange department to contact yourself. I have passed your information through to them; unfortunately due to the high volumes of meter exchanges being requested at the moment, this has caused a 5-6 week backlog. If you don't hear anything from the metering team within this timescale, please give us a call and we will chase them for you."

Shafeeq

Last week I emailed the above person stating that I have not heard anything. This is the reply I got yesterday

"I apologise for the delay in response that you are experiencing for your meter exchange. Unfortunately this is not something that we deal with in our department, however I have escalated the matter for you to ensure a call back is made. I can advise however that it is noted on our systems that you have fulfilled your responsibility and any delay is down to Npower. I would therefore keep this email as written confirmation that we have acknowledged you have done your part in this process.

Kind Regards,
Senior Advisor - FIT Admin Team"

Last time they said to contact them if I don;t hear anything now they are saying it's not their department...... any they state that I have fulfilled my responsibility.. we will see

Shafeeq