Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

sly_dog_jonah

We're currently at 61% of PVGIS with 65% of the month elapsed. Keeping our fingers crossed that the weather forecast for the coming week is accurate, we need some more 20+kWh days (3 so far this month).

Martyn1981

Pretty much identical here Sly DJ.

A few 20's will put us back on course, I think we're beyond the point of great or terrible month, it's just going to be a 'whatever' month. Am I bothered?

Mart.

sly_dog_jonah

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Am I bothered?

Mart.

Inside I bet you are :rotfl:

For the rest of the month now I'm just viewing anything beyond the 13.7kWh/day we need to hit PVGIS as a Brucie bonus.

The dull start to the day has turned into clear blue skys and we've got to 13kWh now, so I'm happy. Hopefully there will be some brighter mornings in the days ahead.

KevinG

sly_dog_jonah wrote: »

We're currently at 61% of PVGIS with 65% of the month elapsed

Only 49% here.

WestonDave

That's better 20.32 and still dribbling on at 154W at 20:20. Wasn't looking good until about noon at which point the sky cleared (albeit still a bit hazy).

Can't really "play" PVGIS this month - technically we are on about 109% pro rata but as that is down to missing all the bad weather at the start of the month and getting 2 and a bit good days in 7 its an unfair comparison to the systems in all month.

Kernel_Sanders

I expect tomorrow will be a complete contrast and that some of us will be reporting record figures.

WestonDave wrote: »

Jim/Kernel - yes its going backwards which I would imagine is in their interests to change because its deducting units at 9p as well as me getting 3p for genuine export units!

Is your installation over the 4kW limit? For us more modest residential generators (shouldn't that be generaters when referring to humans?), there's no difference in payments for the electricity we export over that which we use. In fact, the concept of a 3p or even a 1.5p tariff is a completely unnecessary red herring when learning about the project.

EricMears

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

(shouldn't that be generaters when referring to humans

Only if you're sat on a stationary bike pedalling like mad to generate electricity :T

Oscargrouch

EricMears wrote: »

Only if you're sat on a stationary bike pedalling like mad to generate electricity :T

Where can you buy the bike and how do you rig it to your meter?:D

Martyn1981

Oscargrouch wrote: »

Where can you buy the bike and how do you rig it to your meter?:D

Back when I was fit and healthy, I bought a Tacx trainer many years ago, which your bike sits on, and works like an exercise bike - advantage is that seating position, crank lengths etc etc are normal.

Got it because I was getting fed up with rainy April and May days that always left me with grit covered chains and cogs, which had to be cleaned every 30 miles approx.

Mine was purely restrictive, no generation, but apparently a good cyclist can maintain 100W+ for a few hours. The down-side, which I discovered immediately - no wind effect cooling, so you simply melt! Had to place a desk fan in front of me, which was probably using more leccy than I could ever have generated.

Anyone remember the TV special (possibly Bang Goes the Theory) where they powered a house for a weekend using a huge team of cyclists. The aim was to show just how much energy we use without any appreciation of the sheer scale involved.

Edit: Here's a link:

http://road.cc/content/news/11779-cyclists-power-family-home-bbc-show-highlight-energy-wastage

Mart.

sly_dog_jonah

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

I expect tomorrow will be a complete contrast and that some of us will be reporting record figures.

It's looking that way, not a cloud in the sky in cider country. 10kWh in the bag at 11am. Kicking out about 3kW currently, which is probably a reflection (no pun intended) of the panels' surface temperature, due to lack of cloud and only a light breeze.

By the end of today we should be 'ahead' of PVGIS again. Forecast is looking really good the coming 5 days, with only a few showers on Thursday to break up the sunshine. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but hopefully we should be able to exceed PVGIS by 15% for the month.