Questions about potentially going solar

MediaGuy

Hi Everyone,

I am hoping someone can give me some guidance. I use a huge amoun of electricity. My monthly dual fuel bill tops £110 a month.

I do a lot of IT consulting and have a LOT of IT stuff that is powered on 24/7 (I know some of it could be powered down, but to power up and down a virtual infrastructure of 40 odd machines isn't really feasable. Amongst this kit I have storage arrays, Dell R710 servers and HP servers, ie a lot of power.

The most worrysome example was my plasma TV. According to specs it uses 515 Watts alone. I realise the night time solar is going to be useless BUT I see solar as being helpful to offset the daytime cost.

I am not intesterested in feed in tariffs but purely as a means to offset some of the cost. So the big question is, am I barking up the wrong tree ?

theboylard

Lose the plasma, led screens are cheap to run and own now?

But if you have the roof space, and the orientation, then solar will definitely make a dent in your bills. The fit will be useful for actually paying the bills, with the generation reducing your overall bill?
Shouldn't think you use much energy for heating with all that kit?!

pinnks

Seems to me that maxing out your roof space to install as much kW as possible on the available roof, subject to getting approval to go above the 3.628 kWp limit would serve you well.


The feed-in-tariff is slightly lower if you go over the 4kW limit but as you have a high base level demand this would ensure you can reap the benefits of self-generated leccy for more days per year.


You might also consider splitting across different roofs with different orientations. An east-facing roof will generate well until midday; a west-facing roof from midday to sun down. A south-facing roof is of course best.


I am sure others will come in with loads more advice but a combination of FiT and high self-consumption sounds perfect.

oldskoo1

Just a thought but could you put your work on aws?

MediaGuy

Thanks for the info. One of my first things is to buy a new TV (Who doesn't like new TVs )

I know our location is spot on because a friend of mine used to sell solar and told us we were in the ideal location for it.

I will get a meter tomorrow and start monitoring the usage to get an idea of actual totals.

theboylard

Don't worry too much about getting a monitor, just check your bills over the last year or so, and going forwards take regular readings.

I spent a lazy Sunday moring throwing it all into a spreadsheet and it's quite useful to check what I should be paying when bills do arrive - SainsburysEnergy take note!!!!

As you are an IT bod, have a look at OpenEnergyMonitor, as it could be useful both now and if you get solar pv?

Have a read of the PV FAQ and if you can, give a rough idea of location, which direction your roof/roofs face and approximate sq.m of your roofs?

You also need to consider whether you have any shading on your roof/s that may affect any panels?
This is important as rectifying it afterwards can be expensive - think chimneys, aerials, trees, neighbours property?

Best thing is throw up a zoom in pic of your roof from google satellite, everyone can make suggestions then!!

Martyn1981

MediaGuy wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I am hoping someone can give me some guidance. I use a huge amoun of electricity. My monthly dual fuel bill tops £110 a month.

I do a lot of IT consulting and have a LOT of IT stuff that is powered on 24/7 (I know some of it could be powered down, but to power up and down a virtual infrastructure of 40 odd machines isn't really feasable. Amongst this kit I have storage arrays, Dell R710 servers and HP servers, ie a lot of power.

Hiya MediaGuy. If you have a reasonable roof, then PV should work for you (and everyone else with a decent roof). But if you have high daytime leccy consumption then the numbers will improve.

I'm slightly confused by your consumption, as your leccy use device description sounds enormous, but your dual fuel bill doesn't sound that high compared to UK averages. What is the leccy part? As theboylard says, perhaps you save a bit on heating, or sit near the plasma tv in the winter!

Have a look at the PV FAQs for more info on the income streams. Note section 1 (part 3)

3. Savings on your electricity bill. Consuming electricity that is being generated by the PV at that specific time, will save you importing as much electricity from your energy supplier. The amount of savings will depend on the size of the PV system installed, how much electricity you use, and importantly, whether there is much electrical consumption during the working day, when the PV is generating. Savings will vary from household to household, but could be approx. £120 (probably in the £80 to £160 range). Larger savings are possible, but will require higher daytime consumption.

I don't know how to calculate nor guestimate your potential leccy savings, but for a 'normal' house, it'll be exporting generation once baseload has been covered, perhaps 300W or so, if nothing else is switched on, and nobody home. If, in your case you are consuming several additional kW's then your potential savings could be considerably more.

We might be able to give a bit more advice, but will need some general info such as approximate location (nearest city), roof orientation, roof size. Some folk may be able to suggest installers in your area.

Cost wise, you should be aiming for less than £6k (nearer to £5k if possible) for a 4kWp system (capped at 3.68kW). But as pinnks suggests, if you have more available roof space, you should think seriously about going bigger. That raises a few more questions, but we've got lots more answers, so no worries.

Mart.

oldskoo1

MediaGuy i didn't answer your original question initially.

I would advise to take note of the feed in tariff. If you have the available cash that you are willing to have no access to for at least 7 or 8 years then solar gives you a very good return on your "investment" IF you stay at the same house.

I am just about to sign on the dotted line for a 4kW solar install. If i had accepted their initial package it would have cost me £4,500 but i choose to upgrade the inverter as this is what will be doing most of the work. With a decent inverter its £4,800 and with a trusted german inverter its £5k.

Perhaps you could save around half of your electricity bills. So you might save yourself around £30 a month. Its going to take an awful long time to recoup that from a solar install if you count just the savings. Around 13-14 years. Perhaps slightly less with inflation.

If you consider your electricity use which is relatively high, + feed in tariff + export with an average yearly yield of 3450 kW then you are looking at around a £900 saving per year with a pay back after 5.5 years. If you stay at the house for the full 20 years thats a pretty significant gain.

It really is a long game whichever way you look at it. It isn't going to save you money until you get your 5k back.