Solar ... In the news

silverwhistle

Some of us have both, but you're not wrong about the priority that solar should have over a wbs.  That was the way I played it.

In my defence for having one at all I would say that I never buy in wood but scrounge tree surgeon's waste and process it myself; stuff that would otherwise be chipped or dumped in some way. With an annual gas consumption of 1200-1400 kWh it works for me. I have an internal air monitor and it's only gone off three times for the stove in the season and many more times for cooking! Also I'm not having a sweep this year as he told me not to call him: he was fed up coming for a no charge visit to inspect and not needing a sweep.Always best and cleanest to burn hot.

So as a general development it's not particularly welcome but there is best practice if you are going to do it, and you can hardly blame people at the moment.

I was up in the loft today installing more insulation, but I've just given myself another job to get rid of some of the rubbish up there! Another job to arrive after the first autumn gales is listening out for the sound of chain saws: I've probably got almost 3 years worth of wood stacked or to process but you can always do with more. There's some very nice oak in my piles, which was a shame for the unharmed owner of the BMW the tree crushed but a bonus being 150 yards from my front door!

Coastalwatch

Just shows what can be achieved with Solar given the necessary incentives. These days such installations are subsidy free and at the lowest cost of energy generation we really ought to be pressing on urgently with it. We achieved a mere 6.8% last month so a way to go before matching the Dutch.

Solar covered 25% of August power demand in Netherlands

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/09/07/solar-covered-25-of-august-power-demand-in-netherlands/

70sbudgie

I also have both solar and wbs. We bought one load of wood 10 years ago when the stove went in, but haven't bought any since. We use wood we cut from the garden - a few trees have come down, but it is mainly maintenance pruning. 

This year I have got involved with a community tree nursery and am very proud of the 93 trees I have grown from seed so far. (They're still very little, so aren't absorbing much CO2 just yet!)

Coastalwatch

We often hear how many are only too ready to criticise China for all sorts of reasons but here they are forging ahead with a massive Solar Farm connected to a 1500 km long HVDC power line taking it across four provinces with a total capacity of 8GW.

Quite some project, but with such a vast landscape to work with and even a desert upon which to place it one can't imagine anyone raising much of an objection, even they were allowed to. Of course we could never envisage a project of this scale taking shape in the UK, firstly we don't have a desert or an excess of spare brown field capacity available upon which to place it.

But wait a minute! Had the moratorium on the prevention of Solar panels on every new build property not been introduced in the UK in 2016 then every one since would have had it's own PV array.

Checking the Office of National Stat's then figures for four years up to and including 2019 total 823,270. With figures for '20 & '21 not yet being available then simply dividing by four and multiplying by six returns an estimated figure of 1,168,125 new build properties in the six years since. If the average array of each property was say 2.5 kW then the combined output would amount to 2.92 GW's.

As another bonus is we shouldn't even need a monstrous 1,500 km HVDC power line to transport the resulting output along as the majority would be consumed where it is generated so reducing transmission losses into the bargain.

While it would by no means solve our energy crisis it would at least have reduced/replaced the import/burning of FF's not to mention reducing the energy bills for its 1.1million owners.

Construction begins on world’s second-largest PV project

A 3 GW solar installation will be built in the Tengger Desert, in China’s Ningxia Hui region. It will require an investment of around CNY 15.25 billion ($2.2 billion).

Edit. I perhaps should have added that the 2.92 GW figure represents less than five percent of the existing property market which by multiplying the figure by a factor of twenty brings us to an impressive 58GW's. Add to this the appropriate roofs of all commercial properties in the land then we have an enormous source of potential desert upon which solar can be mounted and without the need for additional power lines and the associated paraphenalia that accompanies them. Talk about a win, win!

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/09/12/construction-begins-on-worlds-second-largest-pv-project/

michaels

I think a lot of the new properties are probably flats to limited scope for PV but even if we have to reduce the number by 2/3rds to account for this it is still a useful contribution.  It is so short-sighted, the cost per house would be some small fraction of the selling price in most areas and it would result in a reduction of bills much larger than the addition to the mortgage costs - and if combined with batteries would also have provided useful distributed support to the grid.  (The SE is particularly imbalanced in terms of generation and demand and is where a lot of new building has taken place, I bet a decent slug of local storage for time of day arbitrage would currently be proving extremely useful and valuable - remember that day we paid £x hundred per kwh! to get electricity from Holland to avoid powercuts)

Coastalwatch

From another source I came across the article below this evening which lays out precisely what can be achieved and what needs to change or remain in order for it to happen. Well worth reading in it's entirety!

Unused warehouse roofs could generate ‘15GW a year’ in solar energy, says UKWA

The United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) has emphasised the need to scale solar generation capacity on warehouse roofs in order to tackle the ongoing energy crisis.

The organisation argues that unused roofs on warehouses total 18,500 acres of land, which is currently unused for solar. This means the UK is missing out on 15GW of solar energy, according to the UKWA.

For solar, should a third of all warehouses in the UK utilise solar generation at their warehouses, they could double the UK’s solar PV capacity and also deliver the entire requirement for the UK’’s 2030 target.

UKWA's report highlighted that this could cut warehousing electricity costs from between 40-80% and save the warehousing sector £3 billion a year.

Restricting the rollout of this however is District Network Operators (DNO), states the UKWA. The organisation claims the “extortionate and highly ineffective monopolist gatekeepers” are preventing businesses investing in energy generation and connecting to the energy grid.

“We need a fundamental rethink of the way in which DNOs hold power over access to the grid, how they get renewable schemes connected to the grid and the prices they charge,” argued Bottle.

Several recommendations have also been made by the UKWA in order to promote solar’s use within the warehousing sector. This is categorised across planning, funding and tax.

In planning, the UKWA highlights the barriers presented by grid permits and recommends wholesale reform of the way DNOs operate and their regulation by Ofgem.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/unused_warehouse_roofs_could_generate_15gw_a_year_in_solar_energy_says_ukwa

70sbudgie

Coastalwatch said:

Restricting the rollout of this however is District Network Operators (DNO), states the UKWA. The organisation claims the “extortionate and highly ineffective monopolist gatekeepers” are preventing businesses investing in energy generation and connecting to the energy grid.

“We need a fundamental rethink of the way in which DNOs hold power over access to the grid, how they get renewable schemes connected to the grid and the prices they charge,” argued Bottle.

I don't entirely disagree with Bottle, but that is some strong wording. It also shows a significant lack of understanding. DNOs are regulated by OFGEM and the licenses under which they operate restricts how much they can charge and for what. 

I don't disagree that reform is required - perhaps a commercial category that differentiates between generation where it is offsetting load rather than pure generation? In the same way that domestic generation has a special "status". 

I would also question how many warehouse roofs are structurally suitable for solar panels. I don't necessarily mean that panels are heavy, I mean in terms of wind loading.

But there are loads of categories of building that would benefit from solar panels. Most times I do the school run in the sunshine, I think how suitable the load profile is for PV offsetting.

Coastalwatch

70sbudgie said:

Coastalwatch said:

But there are loads of categories of building that would benefit from solar panels. Most times I do the school run in the sunshine, I think how suitable the load profile is for PV offsetting.

Absolutely agree regarding schools and also community centres, in fact if you check out the link below you'll find this non profit making coop set up entirely for that purpose. It relies on interested parties coming together to organise and is funded by individuals who are happy to invest in the schemes for a moderate return over the twenty odd year lifespan of the panels. There is no cost to the school or community they benefit from reduced energy bills for it's entirety. I've subscribed to two projects, not even local to us simply to help them on their way while receiving interest greater than any bank or building society could match. So a win win allround!

https://schools-energy-coop.co.uk/

Coastalwatch

Good to see approval for the project below given the go ahead together with the announcement of BayWa r.e launching a consultation for one of 160 MW in combination with a Battery storage facility. So more parapheranlia then.

49.9MW BayWa r.e. solar project in South Gloucestershire given green light for development

A 49.9MW solar project being developed by BayWa r.e. and Grüne Energien Solar in South Gloucestershire has received planning permission.

The project, which will incorporate a green corridor, will provide renewable energy for the local community and develop biodiversity across the project situated on Perrinpit Road.

For the development, BayWa r.e. has committed to maximising benefits for local communities and the environment with constriction set to begin in early 2024.

The firm will develop 30 acres of new wildflower meadow and grassland that will be planted to create a continuous green corridor running through the site to enhance biodiversity and create habitats for wildlife.

Also in August, the company launched a consultation for 160MW Oaklands Farm Solar Park situated in South Derbyshire.

Given the scale of the project – in the region of 160MW and incorporating a 37.5MW battery energy storage system (BESS) on the site – an application for its development will need to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/49.9mw_baywa_r.e._solar_project_in_south_gloucestershire_given_green_light

Martyn1981

Short article, but it reads to me as being the PV equivalent of Ripple's windfarm idea.

It's in Australia and targeted at those who rent or live in apartments not PV friendly. Given the staggering take up of domestic rooftop PV in Australia (20% of households and growing), this was, I guess, an inevitability.

You Can Now Buy Haystacks Solar Garden Plots!

Australia has a global reputation of having the highest rate of domestic rooftop solar installation. However, more than 30% of Australians cannot install solar on their roofs! The Solar Garden is a solution for those who find themselves locked out of solar.

Kristy, previously a team member of Solar Citizens, now leads the Community Power Agency (CPA). CPA campaigned for support for Solar Gardens. These allow access to distributed clean energy for those who rent or live in an apartment.