Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Storage news.

UK.

Solar central to Sainsbury’s sustainability plan as supermarket trials battery storage

The company is however pushing ahead with commercial battery storage and is currently trialling a system at an unnamed store in order to better understand its potential applications.

While Sainsbury’s did not reveal any project specifics, Crewe said it would be monitoring the results to see whether or not it was something that could be “rolled out more widely” in the future.

I'm guessing this is to test the water, as I wouldn't have thought it was economical yet, but hopefully I'm wrong. Either way, nice to see someone is having a play.


Australia.

Enphase begins AC battery shipments to Australia and New Zealand

Not exactly news that domestic storage is starting to roll out in Aus, but I was a bit shocked at the numbers:-

U.S. firm projects demand volume of 70,000 units of its AC battery in first year as demand for residential storage Down Under expected to continue steep growth trajectory.

Of course that might mean 70,000 of their 1.2kWh systems, as they are modular, so the number of properties may be less as folk install several units to meet their requirements.

Fingers crossed we get to see some nice price curves in a few years time, showing the cost of these systems going down, down, deeper and down.

Mart.

warrenb

Have to say that I like the look of that system. Quick simple AC side battery storage is the way to go for retro fit. Cost will be the only issue.

Martyn1981

warrenb wrote: »

Have to say that I like the look of that system. Quick simple AC side battery storage is the way to go for retro fit. Cost will be the only issue.

It's one of my favourites so far. Output is quite low at 275W, but I believe this increases with each unit you add, as they each have an enphase microinverter in them.

Obviously need prices to come down (whatever they are today?) but if they are truly modular, then you add one and get full use most days, then a second as costs come down, and so on.

A 1.2kWh, 275W buffer on a sun/cloud or sun/shower day would be excellent.

Can't find it in any specs at the moment, but I'm sure they claimed a 96% cycle efficiency, which seems too good (perhaps I'm misremembering). Tesla Powerwall is 92% efficient, so this is twice as efficient - nah that doesn't sound right - perhaps it's half as inefficient!

Mart.

Martyn1981

This article surprised me, nothing to do with India (technically) just the fact that PV prices had fallen far further than I'd realised. They not only reached the $0.50/Wp point, but have shot past to $0.39/Wp.

How did I miss that!

No wonder the MIP of €0.56 ($0.63)/Wp is looking ever more ridiculous, as a means of protecting European PV manufacturers from 'unfair dumping'.

Falling Chinese module prices give ‘lifeline’ to Indian PV developers - Mercom

Mart.

Martyn1981

These articles were posted on the Navitron Forum, but I'm reposting them since individually they represent a dramatic move forward for PV, but together, the rate of PV progress is hard to comprehend.

Australia Poised For Big Solar Boom As PV Costs Fall

PV, already expanding fast in Australia, will benefit from further significant increases in production capacity, and decreases in price.


Solar + Storage In Australia Could Be Cheaper Than The Grid By Next Year

Domestic PV is very, very popular in Aus, but storage is on the brink of becoming economical, at that point properties with PV, who have reduced grid import by 45%, may (with storage) reduce import by 97%. The loss of so much market (and higher priced market) from domestic customers will cause a lot of problems for the leccy generators, and suppliers unless they find a way to adapt.


Solar Power Does Work, Even Better Than Expected

PV generation in Aus appears to be slightly better than expected. They also have a very high capacity factor of 25-26% (compared to the UK's 11%). Official forecasts had been 19-22%. With the addition of simple single axis trackers (tilting panels from East to West during the day), the cf could reach 30%.

The graph near the bottom shows monthly output from one PV farm only varying from 11GWh to 23GWh across the year. In the UK, a south facing system has roughly a 4:1 variance across the year (May/June v's Dec).


If Australia (and the US) adopt domestic storage soon, then we may see prices that work for us, sooner than expected as the industry 'pops'.

Mart.

Martyn1981

France to tender 1.35 GW of rooftop Solar

France’s solar aims

France has added a total of 570 MW of solar capacity to its grid in the first half of 2016, bringing its total installed capacity to somewhere around 6.7 GW. The country’s PV targets were revised last year, and the government is currently discussing its new annual energy plan, but for the time being it is hoping to reach 10.2 GW of installed PV by 2018 and 20.2 GW by 2023.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Strange article, that seems rather negative about the costings of PV and storage, which is probably fair today, but costs falling:-

A Gold Coast man bought six Powerwall batteries to create a Tesla 'power station' at home

The article doesn't give the size of the PV system, but based on generation, I'd guess it's around 20 to 25kWp.

[Edit: 24kWp system, household consumption around 433kWh per week. Ouch! M.]

Mart.

Martyn1981

Another example of a PPA install in the UK. These could be the way forward, helping to keep the industry ticking along.

Academy to save millions on electricity from solar PPA

The 430kW system was completed in April and is projected to save the school around £2.1 million over the lifetime of the installation. The school typically uses 414MWh throughout the year, which is expected to be met almost entirely by the installation.

As part of the PPA with Eden, the school receives first call on any electricity generated at the site, allowing it to make the significant financial savings that motivated the project.

Can't quite see how a 430kWp system will meet almost all of the school's needs. But generation and demand should be a nice match.

Mart.

Cardew

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Another example of a PPA install in the UK. These could be the way forward, helping to keep the industry ticking along.

Academy to save millions on electricity from solar PPA

The 430kW system was completed in April and is projected to save the school around £2.1 million over the lifetime of the installation. The school typically uses 414MWh throughout the year, which is expected to be met almost entirely by the installation.

As part of the PPA with Eden, the school receives first call on any electricity generated at the site, allowing it to make the significant financial savings that motivated the project.

Can't quite see how a 430kWp system will meet almost all of the school's needs. But generation and demand should be a nice match.

Mart.

As you imply - the above article, as written, makes no sense.

A 430kWp system in Manchester will produce in the region of 350MWh.

When stating 'generation and demand should be a nice match.' have you forgotten about school holidays and weekends? WellAcre Academy was closed from 20 July to 6 Sep 2106.

Given the above, even meeting the 'average utilization' of 25% of generation might be difficult.

Martyn1981

Calm down Cardew. PV works, no need to get upset at every bit of good news.

Are you really going to start claiming that PV on buildings that are open during the day isn't a good idea. You need to let this go. BTW, how do you know for sure that it'll be shut for the next 90yrs?

Cardew wrote: »

WellAcre Academy was closed from 20 July to 6 Sep 2106.

Mart.