Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

tunnel

Oscargrouch wrote: »

I say nothing at this juncture.........





"WHY DO WE HAVE TO USE IT"? Very good question:- 'use it or lose it' springs to mind.

You bought 660 kW @ say 10p. per kW = £66.
Generation 200kW @ old rate inc. of Export rate = £94. So you have made £28. (nice)
Nice Calculation: unfortunately, does not stack.
Suppose you used 660kW and only bought 330kW @ £33.00. Now you have made £61. So you have made more than double than before. So, the more generated power you can actually use, the greater the return.

I used to try and judge by volume of generation Gizmo's only; akin to 'sticking your finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing' Now, I know exactly to within + or - 4% or less what my system is using from the GRID or Actual and with 1 OptiPlug I know that a small heater will use any surplus that the house is not currently consuming unbeknown to me; in the summer the heater can be re-placed by something to keep the house cool. "Job is a good one".

Currently for Feb, I know that I have used 59.9% of my generation within the house. I also know that 22.7 of all Power used has come from PV; without sticking a single finger in the air. I bet a lot of people here wish they had something that could work that out to at least + or - 4%. :rotfl:

Ohh 7.4kWh today .

Edit:
As of the 15/02/13 I also know that I have used 122.4 kWh of power compared to 95 kWh recorded on my EDF meter which equates to a saving of 22.39% of Bill for this month; on previous figure of 10p per kW = £2.74p on a low gen month. This, as generation amounts increase, will only get better.. at the moment looks like £33 extra per year and due to get better... :T

Oscar, You've obviously got TOO much time on your hands:rotfl: Its not me you need to "sell" it to,its her indoors:eek:

Tunnel

Oscargrouch

tunnel wrote: »

Oscar, You've obviously got TOO much time on your hands:rotfl: Its not me you need to "sell" it to,its her indoors:eek:

Tunnel

As the saying goes: "You can only lead a horse to water, but you can't make em drink". No insults intended, I have the same problems, takes time to sink in.

tunnel

Oscargrouch wrote: »

As the saying goes: "You can only lead a horse to water, but you can't make em drink". No insults intended, I have the same problems, takes time to sink in.

You even got the missus smiling with that,....thats more than i get:T

John_Pierpoint

I have my doubts about kitchen gadgets. "Fishing tackle catches fishermen?"
We have a George Foreman Grille that has not seen the light of day recently.
Here is a "Remoska"



Inspired by the links in the recent postings today, I stumbled upon this list of changes made to best practice in the latest issue of MCS guidance:
http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/editors_blog/at_a_glance_what_the_updated_mcs_pv_guide_means_for_installers

I don't think I understand the new RCD protection advice. My house is on a RCD with a simple sine wave motif and my inverter is on a "garage unit" with no motif on its RCD.

The potential problems seems to be the possibility that direct current just might leak into the grid.

John_Pierpoint

Oscargrouch wrote: »

"WHY DO WE HAVE TO USE IT"? Very good question

You bought 660 kW @ say 10p. per kW = £66.
Generation 200kW @ old rate inc. of Export rate = £94. So you have made £28. (nice)
Nice Calculation: unfortunately, does not stack.
Suppose you used 660kW and only bought 330kW @ £33.00. Now you have made £61. So you have made more than double than before. So, the more generated power you can actually use, the greater the return.

I used to try and judge by volume of generation Gizmo's only; akin to 'sticking your finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing' Now, I know exactly to within + or - 4% or less what my system is using from the GRID or Actual and with 1 OptiPlug I know that a small heater will use any surplus that the house is not currently consuming unbeknown to me; in the summer the heater can be re-placed by something to keep the house cool. "Job is a good one".

As of the 15/02/13 I also know that I have used 122.4 kWh of power compared to 95 kWh recorded on my EDF meter which equates to a saving of 22.39% of Bill for this month; on previous figure of 10p per kW = £2.74p on a low gen month. This, as generation amounts increase, will only get better.. at the moment looks like £33 extra per year and due to get better... :T

I have a slightly more accurate method of measuring home production against imported:
Open door to meter cupboard count one flash on importing meter, then count number of flashes on the generation meter and get (say) 4 generated to 1 imported = effective day time electricity price 12/5 = 2.5 pence per kWh self evidently cheaper than the 6p overnight rate.

Mind your without automatic logging there is a danger of falling into the "left the heater on all day" trap.

Martyn1981

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Mind your without automatic logging there is a danger of falling into the "left the heater on all day" trap.

I recently made that mistake leaving 2 tubular heaters on in the spare bedroom / office overnight.

I switch on a 400W oil rad, and 2 120W tubular heaters when there's enough spare leccy. That gives me 120W to 640W of choice. The rad keeps the chill of the living room when the suns out, and the tubes do the same for the office. This saves putting the heating on throughout the house, which even with TRV's is still more.

Solution was to fit a £1.99 mechanical timer plug to the socket, before the multi gang that the tubes plug into. That is now set for 9.30am to 3.30pm, and gets widened in 30 min intervals as the sun gets longer and stronger. So even if I forget again, use is reduced, and matching sun periods (though of course, there may not be any).

As for kitchen gadgets, can't beat a slow cooker. Around 100W to 200W per hour, a little warmth in winter, and a delicious smell. Mmmm.

Mart.

Oscargrouch

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I have a slightly more accurate method of measuring home production against imported:
Open door to meter cupboard count one flash on importing meter, then count number of flashes on the generation meter and get (say) 4 generated to 1 imported = effective day time electricity price 12/5 = 2.5 pence per kWh self evidently cheaper than the 6p overnight rate.

Mind your without automatic logging there is a danger of falling into the "left the heater on all day" trap.

Not that I wear an 'Anorak' or ever want to be accused of being a 'Nurd' or anything; does it not get lonely standing in the cupboard all day waiting for a fluffy cloud to reduce your PV output, so that you can race into an other room and switch a heater off?

John_Pierpoint

I am just waiting for you to publish a cost benefit analysis of your fancy "detective" kit plus a specification of the technical ability to use it

dreaming

Oscargrouch wrote: »

"WHY DO WE HAVE TO USE IT"? Very good question:- 'use it or lose it' springs to mind.

You bought 660 kW @ say 10p. per kW = £66.
Generation 200kW @ old rate inc. of Export rate = £94. So you have made £28. (nice)
Nice Calculation: unfortunately, does not stack.
Suppose you used 660kW and only bought 330kW @ £33.00. Now you have made £61. So you have made more than double than before. So, the more generated power you can actually use, the greater the return.

I used to try and judge by volume of generation Gizmo's only; akin to 'sticking your finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing' Now, I know exactly to within + or - 4% or less what my system is using from the GRID or Actual and with 1 OptiPlug I know that a small heater will use any surplus that the house is not currently consuming unbeknown to me; in the summer the heater can be re-placed by something to keep the house cool. "Job is a good one".

Question from PV novice -is there such a thing as "too much" generation?

I haven't got my PV system yet - thanks to helpful people in here am currently considering quotes for a 4kw system - 8 SE / 8 SW (see Solar Panel Confusion thread).

Have spent most of the weekend so far looking at how the sun moves round the roof and can see that I will get very good coverage (is there a proper term?) for good deal of the day from about 6.30a.m. (SE) to 6.00p.m. SW (but also hardly any shading on SE until 3.00p.m.) as I live in a bungalow with no trees and hardly any shading. So I can see that running electric heating in winter during daytime (gas ch other times) will use a good deal, but in summer will the generation be too much?

InVestor_2

dreaming wrote: »

Question from PV novice -is there such a thing as "too much" generation?

I haven't got my PV system yet - thanks to helpful people in here am currently considering quotes for a 4kw system - 8 SE / 8 SW (see Solar Panel Confusion thread).

Have spent most of the weekend so far looking at how the sun moves round the roof and can see that I will get very good coverage (is there a proper term?) for good deal of the day from about 6.30a.m. (SE) to 6.00p.m. SW (but also hardly any shading on SE until 3.00p.m.) as I live in a bungalow with no trees and hardly any shading. So I can see that running electric heating in winter during daytime (gas ch other times) will use a good deal, but in summer will the generation be too much?

You can't generate 'too much' (unless your exceeding DNO Distribution Network Operator limits, don't worry about that looking at what your proposing to do)

Whatever you don't use of what you have generated is simply 'exported' to the grid. Financially it's best to use as much of that free electricity as you can, but how you go about that depends on you personally.

No matter what you use, you will be paid for the total that you generate in FiT, and (at the moment) the export element will be deemed to be 50% of the power generated by the system.

Hope that explains it ok for you.