Solar ... In the news

Solarchaser

This has perhaps been mentioned before and I've missed it, but something I've long thought/ said is that local councils should be putting solar panels on council houses for 2 reasons,  1 council houses tend to be occupied by those on lower income and so would more keenly feel the benefit of a reduction on bills, and 2 its a good way to boost the councils green credentials and make more green energy on property it owns.
So I was delighted to see a couple of rows of council houses with scaffolding up driving around my local area.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/in-your-area/lanarkshire/lanarkshire-councils-housing-improvement-programme-25424340

Thankfully the ones I seen have at least 10 panels per house not the couple shown in the article picture.

Exiled_Tyke

Alnat1 said:

Everyone seems to have different ideas to work out what "payback" is with a (non FIT) solar system.

If I use 1kWh cooking dinner at 6pm when the sun is shining, is that simply free electricity? or did I save 35p (Agile rate) because I didn't import it from the grid? or did I lose because Agile Outgoing was paying 50p/kWh at that time?

The correct approach is to compare the costs incurred with and without the PV system. So in this case the saving would be whatever tariff you would be on if you hadn't invested in PV. In my case (as my last supplier went under) would be the price cap (import) rate.  The export rate is not relevant.   

You could change behaviour to maximise your savings. Say at lunch time Agile Outgoing was paying 20p. You decide to cook then instead. So now you have foregone selling at 20p in order to sell at 50p later in the day.  So now you can add an extra 30p to your savings.  In the same way many PVers will run washing machines and dishwashers during the sunniest part of the day to maximise savings.   

Alnat1

@Exiled_Tyke that's one way of looking at it but if I hadn't had the solar installed I might have gone for a 2 year fix last March, so always comparing to SVT might not be "correct".

I could simply say that in the year prior to install I used an average of 290kWh/month and work out (at SVT?) what that would have cost and compare it to what I paid/made this year. Seems an easy way but we've ditched a guzzling American FF and replaced it with something much more efficient a couple of months ago and also been switching things off at the plug etc. that we didn't used to do.

I guess most people will consider whatever way makes calculating ROI the quickest as the "correct" way?

Exiled_Tyke

Alnat1 said:

@Exiled_Tyke that's one way of looking at it but if I hadn't had the solar installed I might have gone for a 2 year fix last March, so always comparing to SVT might not be "correct".

I could simply say that in the year prior to install I used an average of 290kWh/month and work out (at SVT?) what that would have cost and compare it to what I paid/made this year. Seems an easy way but we've ditched a guzzling American FF and replaced it with something much more efficient a couple of months ago and also been switching things off at the plug etc. that we didn't used to do.

I guess most people will consider whatever way makes calculating ROI the quickest as the "correct" way?

I think you'll find you've agreed with me.  I said for me it would be SVT but for you whatever tariff you would have been on. In most cases I'd guess the tariff you would have chosen without PV is the same as you will have chosen with PV.  The existence of Octopus Agile tariffs could lead to a different decision.  

As an aside, I've never considered a two year fix previously. I always figured the prices were too high compared with the one year fixes.   So I know, for me, I could rule that out.  

For you payback calculation, again you would need to take into account the changes you've made. You would have done these under either scenario.  So the savings should use the cost of the more efficient FF and the lower usage from the time these were implemented. 

However, as I've said many times before, we shouldn't be using payback periods for investment appraisal. It's an easy and understandable method but inherently flawed.  That said ascertaining what are are what are not relevant costs is the same whatever appraisal method you choose. 

Martyn1981

QrizB said:

Martyn1981 said:

Pretty fair and detailed article on residential PV, with lots of info.

I was thinking about this earlier. Specifically the quote:

The soaring price of electricity means a domestic solar panel system can now pay for itself in as little as seven years, and the way things are going, that could go down to five years.

Over on the Energy forum, we've been contemplating the latest predictions for the Ofgem caps over the coming five quarters:

Those prices are horrid, but they have an effect on the payback period for solar PV.

• If you can put solar on the roof for £1.20 a watt (and we're seeing some quotes close to that), and
  
• If each watt generates 0.9 kWh per year (achievable in quite a bit of the UK), and
• If you use a third of that to displace electricity ay 70p/kWh, and export two-thirds for 30p/kWh on Outgoing Agile, then
  
• Each year, each watt earns 39p, and
• Payback time is just over three years.

Are prices going to remain this crazy for three years? I really hope not, but the first year alone will cover 1/3rd of the cost of the system.

They say "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." A similar situation seems to apply with domestic solar PV.

I think your choice of word for describing the current and coming prices is perfect - "horrid".

I find it a bit depressing that PV costs are so much higher at the moment, and the lost 5yrs+ if the Gov had just kept up some minimal support, but I think you raise a really important point about the higher returns currently, due to higher savings against higher prices. Looks like the premium being paid for PV today, will be covered quickly so it all comes out in the wash.

I really hope prices don't stay this high for 3yrs, but it's a perfectly reasonable guess, I've given up hope that it's going to be a quick correction (less than 1yr). Worst case, I assume Europe could reduce gas consumption by 30% in 5yrs, if it tries really hard, which should bring prices back down ..... but 5yrs, ouch!

Good news for RE, supply and demand side, plus insulation, efficiency etc etc etc .... but a painful lesson all the same.

Martyn1981

Yorkshire Water rolling out a lot of PV (21MW) to help reduce its carbon footprint.

Downing wins contract for 28 UK solar sites

Investment and asset manager Downing LLP has been selected by utility Yorkshire Water to develop, design, build and operate a portfolio of 28 solar sites across Yorkshire.  

The solar project, an investment worth around £25m (€29.4m), will generate a total capacity of approximately 21MW, Downing said.

Yorkshire Water commercial programme manager Daniel Oxley added: "This project is a significant step in reaching our aims of carbon net zero by 2030.

"Due to changes in the treatment process at our sites over recent years, many have been left with surplus operational land which can be used for the generation of renewable energy. 

"These have been identified and will become home to new solar panel arrays.

"Once completed, the first deployment of solar panels will generate 4% of our annual power needs, increasing our renewable energy use, reducing our exposure to energy price volatility and reducing the operational costs of our sites, which will provide better value for money for our customers."

Coastalwatch

While solar gets a mention, storage perhaps gets the larger share of the funds announced. But whatever the ratio might be the need for both cannot be under estimated!

Octopus Energy launches £185 million renewable fund and invests in developer Exagen

Octopus Energy has launched its Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), a £185 million (€220 million) renewable fund aiming to spearhead the green energy revolution in the UK, whilst making its first investment in Exagen.

“The more new green power we can build, the faster we can reduce our dependence on gas imports and drive down energy bills for people in the UK and the rest of Europe.”

As a first major investment, Octopus Energy has allocated up to £35 million in renewable energy developer Exagen aiming to develop, own and operate over 5GW of generation and energy storage capacity over the next 10 years in addition to one of the UK’s “largest” battery storage sites.

The funding will enhance Exagen’s proprietary technology platform and development team whilst also funding new community-focused development opportunities, including three solar and battery storage projects across the Midlands and North East with an aggregate capacity of c.400MW.

Alongside this, what Exagen claims is one of the UK’s “largest” battery storage sites will be developed in the Midlands with a capacity of 500MW/1GWh once operational in 2027. Octopus’ funding will directly support its development.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/octopus_energy_launches_185_million_renewable_fund_and_invests_in_one_of_th

Martyn1981

I'm a sucker for a pretty picture, and this article has a supermarket, in S. Africa that looks the way I think they all should, with a coating of PV.

I think there may be issues in the UK for supermarkets and other 'big box' stores, as many are leased, but I'll keep my fingers crossed regardless.

The Shoprite Group, South Africa’s Largest Retailer, Accelerates Solar Rollout At Its Sites

The Shoprite Group, South Africa’s largest retailer by market capitalization, sales, profit, and number of employees and customers, is accelerating its solar rollout across its sites in South Africa as well as other markets on the continent. Shoprite operates in 11 African countries. The Group has more than 2,900 stores across Africa. Some of the Shoprite Group’s famous customer-facing brands include Checkers, Shoprite, USave, OK, and House & Home. Having such a large footprint across several markets means that it has a huge electricity bill. Shoprite’s electricity bill is about R3.4 billion per year (about US$201 million per year).

Shoprite installed the first solar system at one of its sites in 2015. This was a store in neighboring Namibia. Since then, Shoprite has installed solar at over 60 of its stores in South Africa and other markets.

The total installed capacity from these on-site solar plants so far now stands at 26.6 MW! This is enough to meet 2.8% of the group’s electricity needs. Shoprite has a target of increasing this to meet 5% of its electricity needs by the end of this financial year. Shoprite plans to meet all its electricity requirements from renewables by 2050 through a combination of on-site solar, off-site solar, off-site wind, and other renewables.

Martyn1981

I think this has been mentioned recently, but its been in the news/media quite a bit the last few days, as the first trials begin.

Putting PV over canals in India isn't new, and that along with a research paper on Cali's 4,000 miles of canals, has led to this project.

It utilising space, not needed for other purposes, improves PV efficiency due to the cooler temps above water v's land, reduces evaporation, and also reduces weed and algae growth. So hopefully a win win solution for all.

California Plans To Add Solar Panels Over Irrigation Canals

California has 4,000 miles of irrigation canals that distribute water to farmers in the Golden State. If all of them were covered with solar panels, they could produce 13 gigawatts of renewable energy — roughly half of what California needs to meet its clean energy goals.

Covering all of them might be far in the future, but the way to start something new is to begin. That’s exactly what the Project Nexus pilot program of Turlock Water & Power intends to do. The $20 million project will install solar panels over canals in two locations. One is a 500-foot span along a curved portion of the canal in the town of Hickman, about 100 miles east of San Francisco. The other is a mile long straightaway in nearby Ceres.

“It’s really exciting to test our hypothesis and the paper we published. We’ll have an opportunity to really understand if those benefits pencil out in the real world,” McKuin tells Reuters.  It would also help California meet its renewable energy goal of achieving 50% clean energy generation by 2025 and 60% by 2030. Her research also calculates water savings of 63 billion gallons, enough to supply 2 million people and irrigate 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of cropland.

Coastalwatch

I caught an item on local radio this morning that due to the energy crisis Wood Burning Stove (WBS) sales are rocketting, at least with one local supplier, so hardly a move in the right direction climate change wise, but not surprising I guess.

What with the costs involved, emmisions/particulates and additional work required to keep these running then surely putting the money toward a PV array would be a cleaner and less intrusive way forward to reducing energy bills.

The announcement below, posted yesterday, is very timely not that it's effect will be immediate or reduce sales of WBS but surely a step in the right direction.

Solar sector backs plans to reduce bills using fixed price contracts for RO renewable generators

It closed in 2017, but over 2020/21 around a quarter of the UK’s entire electricity consumption was still generated by RO companies.

According to Solar Energy UK, the RO helped lead to costs falling so significantly that solar is one of the cheapest sources of power available in the UK, with many new installations in recent years being subsidy-free.

RO power is largely sold in advance, so the income generators receive currently does not reflect the greatly increased price on the wholesale spot market. But with high prices looking set to stay for the foreseeable future, there is a risk consumer costs will rise further if the RO regime is not reformed, continued the trade association.

As such, potential replacement schemes are being eyed that would ensure costs are met while stopping consumers from being hit by further high market prices on the back of gas setting the marginal price.

“There is much to be worked through on the detail, but senior industry players are very supportive of the principle. Continuing to let natural gas set the price of power is not in the interests of the country. Clearly expansion of renewables such as solar is the solution to low-cost generation, energy security and reaching net zero. We are ready to discuss with new ministers as soon as they take office.”

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_sector_backs_plans_to_reduce_bills_using_fixed_price_contracts_for_ro