Home Generator Query

brannie_2

Can anyone Advise on whether this is possible?

I have 14 Solar panels fitted to my Roof and basically understand how they work.

What I would like advice on is?

Whether it would be possible to also have a generator fitted in my house or garden that could work when day light ends and I go back to using energy from my supplier.

:j Is this possible?? Would love to be self sufficent :j

Any Advice Most Appreciated

sk240

Hi,
all well and good in theory, but you couldnt produce energy anywhere near as cheaply as buying it from the grid, then theres a large cost for a generator big enough to power your home.
then there is the hastle of keeping it fueled, and servicing costs.
also think abou the noise this thing would be making!

apparently there is 9.7kwh of energy in 1l of diesel
40% max conversion efficiency from diesel generator
£1.40 per l of diesel
I make it about 19p per KWH, compared to about 12p per KWH from the grid

Cknocker

I reckon you'd soon get bored of it and most generators on the market are no good for this kind of cycle - they'll wear themselves out in a few weeks. With regards to cost of diesel, you would be able to use red diesel, costing about 80p a litre.

rogerblack

sk240 wrote: »

40% max conversion efficiency from diesel generator
£1.40 per l of diesel
I make it about 19p per KWH, compared to about 12p per KWH from the grid

40% is about right for a large turbodiesel run at peak efficiency.
(Large = a few hundred kW)

For small domestic generators, especially if not fully loaded - 10-15% is more likely.

undaunted

Have you ever seen someone try using a generator for (limited) power generation? (I wouldn't recommend it - as others have said it isn't cheap, quiet or an easy answer).

Presumably you're already making money from your panels?

Cknocker

Its an interesting one with the solar panels, as it is quite feasible that you could get paid the FiT for solar generation while generating by diesel at night, is this what you're thinking?

penrhyn

You'd be better looking into a big bank of batteries. Charge them up during the day and convert the DC output to AC via your inverter at night. You'd have to disconnect yourself from the grid though.

ValHaller

Your solar panels depend on having a connection to the grid to export energy as it is generated If you add your own generator to the mix, you need to consider how to get it to synchronise to the grid. Not only must it run at 50Hz, it must produce 230V AC with the positive and negative peaks in synchronism with the local grid supply.This is not straightforward.

rogerblack

penrhyn wrote: »

You'd be better looking into a big bank of batteries. Charge them up during the day and convert the DC output to AC via your inverter at night. You'd have to disconnect yourself from the grid though.

Batteries at the moment cost >15p/kWh - that is - you can't really source batteries that can store 1kWh, without over 15p of wear per cycle.

Even if power was free - off-grid is not an inexpensive solution.

macman

My PV system is set up so that if the grid supply should go down, the inverter no longer feeds power to either the home or back to the grid.