Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921561#Comment_81921561

Yep. The big difference as I see it, is the idea to split the shaft into two, with a counterbalanced 'hook' on each side, then raise or lower 100's of weights, rather than one big one.

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921295#Comment_81921295

I have mentioned a few times that the economics of BSS / home batteries depends on their not being enough storage that the price differential between peak and off peak diminishes. Bit of a risk with a capital investment with a 10 year payback.

Coastalwatch

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922179#Comment_81922179

Me too. Also, I have often wondered what people expect from their capital investment when purchasing a gas boiler.😉

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922179#Comment_81922179

That's one way to view it. The other way to view it is that the reason there is no price differential for you (non-battery owner) is that battery owners are being paid for providing that service to the grid (think VPP's).

Or to put another way, if the price differential vanishes, where is my incentive to use my battery to load shift? I'm back to turning everything on at 5pm when I get home from work and we are back to peakiness.

I grant you that it is near impossible to price the financial case for a battery over a 10 year period with anything approaching a degree of certainty. The other financial benefit of a battery is the ability to store and use solar later, which becomes increasingly beneficial as SEG rates drop. Solar makes far less financial sense as SEG rates approach zero, and without batteries to store for later use, the grid just gets flooded with cheap solar during the middle of the day that no one wants. We have become used to SEG rates of 15p/kWh (significantly more than the import rate for some EV tariff customers) over the last couple years, but that cannot last indefinitely.

Given current uncertainties I'd much rather have a large solar array and sizeable battery than not. I know I have grid independence until autumn so the current instabilities will not affect me until at least next winter, by which time I can only hope things have settled down, and even if they haven't I'm not exposed to peak rate prices and can import at cheap rate periods, whatever cheap rate may look like. History teaches us this will likely not be the last energy crisis in the next 10 years, and I am very relieved we no longer have our oil boiler given kerosene prices have tripled in the last 2 weeks. Partially due to our battery, our heating and hot water costs are currently 5.2 times cheaper than the oil boiler we replaced. I couldn't price that in when deciding whether a battery was financially viable or not.

I will be very surprised if the UK is able to achieve a flat demand curve in the next 10 years, but I could be wrong.

QrizB

We have become used to SEG rates of 15p/kWh (significantly more than the import rate for some EV tariff customers) over the last couple years, but that cannot last indefinitely.

Picking up on this point, when I started this thread comparing export rates back in 2021 (five years ago, so half the period you've suggested) SEG rates were under 6p. Only Agile offered more than that, and only in the evening peak.

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922369#Comment_81922369

Also another benefit of batts, is to increase generation potential above that, that is possible due to DNO restrictions. But needs to be DC side.

My limit is 5.9kW based on inverter ratings of 2.2kW West and 3.7kW East (now East and SSW). But adding a DC side battery, means I now have 6.75kWp on the E/SSW side, going through a 3.68kW capped inverter (capable of 7.36kWp). So long as there is space in the battery, the PV generation can exceed 3.68kW without any clipping, as the battery can 'also' handle up to 5kW DC.

I originally thought that my situation is an extreme edge case. But now that panel efficiency has risen so much, and the panels themselves are dirt cheap, it may be a scenario for more and more new demand side PV installs.

As others have said before me, nobody has ever complained about having too much PV.

I'm also not so sure about this argument that growing battery (or RE) capacity will naturally result in problems. The UK has had more FF generation than needed at average demand levels, and vastly more than needed at low demand times, since the grid grew to significant size. This generation was still profitable, it's all about finding the correct balance. Falling battery prices (and the low cost of over-installing demand side PV) will continue to help with this balancing 'game'.

Screwdriva

Plug in solar is one step closer it would appear. Not much here from a government caught by surprise by the rapid increases in fossil fuel prices!

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923714#Comment_81923714

See also the thread on the main Energy forum.

I look forward to this being legitimised since I have relatives who would be good candidates but who are too law-abiding to fit a system as things currently stand …

**Kingy**

Fuel prices have gone insane, I to a fuelalert.co.uk and it drops an email with the best prices near me for free, it uses the new government API and updates daily

ed110220

The latest press release from Ember gives global solar and wind additions in 2025 as 814 GW, up 17% on the 696 GW in 2024. It's broken down as an extra 647 GW of solar (up 11% from 582 GW in 2024) and 167 GW of wind (up 47% from 113 GW in 2024). They estimate together this extra solar + wind will generate 1046 TWh per year.

It's encouraging to see that wind power grew so strongly even though previously solar seemed to be pulling away from wind.

World adds a record-breaking 814 GW of solar and wind in 2025 | Ember