On-grid domestic battery storage

tunnel

Just had another annoying cold call firstly offering battery storage and then PV plus(the 25% increase b$ll$cks thingy)
The cold caller mentioned(whether true or not) that in 2018 there are rumours of a tariff for energy storage, I queried it but he wouldn't expand on it so I took a look around the net but could only find this
http://www.cleanenergynews.co.uk/news/storage/tonik-energy-partners-powervault-for-storage-tariff-trial


Anyone heard if there's any truth in it? The tariff for storage that is!

Martyn1981

Some domestic storage news, which might mean momentum is building. Just need that to translate into falling prices.

Moixa readies 50,000 installs by 2020 with millions in new funding

Moixa secured £2.5 million of funding in the first quarter of 2017 which it will use to pursue a goal of installing 50,000 home battery systems by the end of the decade.

A £1 million funding facility from Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) will see Moixa open a regional sales and delivery centre in the city, with around 20 local staff expected to be employed within a year.

The office will drive the company’s growth in the north west by offering solar and storage products to private customers and pursuing multi-thousand unit deployments with social housing clients.

And a freebie on large scale Tesla deployment, just for fun.

Tesla install to bring Europe’s largest community battery to Nottingham

What is expected to be Europe’s largest community battery is set to be installed at an innovative regeneration scheme in Nottingham, with a 2MWh Tesla battery to be deployed in September as part of a housing scheme alongside community solar.

The £100 million Trent Basin project is a new housing development built at the site of an inland dock previously derelict for around two decades. It is expected to deliver 500 homes over five phases with 375kW of rooftop and ground mounted solar and the Tesla battery to be installed by EvoEnergy.

Martyn1981

Lots of detail and some analysis:

May and June numbers!

May:

Electricity imported - 113kWh (142kWh in May 2016)
Generated - 314kWh (348kWh in May 2016)
Battery discharge - 97.14kWh
ImmerSUN diversion - 53.8kWh (88kWh in May 2016)

June:

Electricity imported - 84kWh! (Lowest ever monthly import, cf. 163kWh in June 2016)
Generated - 366kWh (best June ever, was only 277kWh in June 2016)
Battery discharge - 103.94kWh
ImmerSUN diversion - 79kWh (84kWh in June 2016)

Up to 469kWh from the battery now since December, which is roughly £85 of avoided import so far.

So basically we're seeing that with my 3kWp solarPV system, and a 4kWh PowerVault, I'm significantly reducing my electricity import with a combination of self-consumption during the day whilst the panels are generating, plus getting a good charge into the battery to discharge in the evenings. Plus there's enough surplus (as the PowerVault "only" charges at 700-800W max) to fully heat the hot water tank via the ImmerSUN. The gas boiler has barely needed to run in May and June, maybe for a couple of evenings across the two months when there was a couple of gloomy days in a row...

Looking back at my bills from before I got the solar panels and I'd be expecting to import at least 200kWh in May or June, and those were in years before I had two children and had both myself and my partner working from home, so to be able to say we've cut our import by 75% whilst actually most likely consuming more energy overall is pretty cool. Let's see how it pans out over the rest of the year...

Martyn1981

This sounds interesting!

GridShare

They offer £50 a year, or 50% of profits from selling stored leccy to the grid.

Presumably schemes like this will grow in number.

Martyn1981

Here's another player:

SolaX Power to offer new dual-branded, high-performance battery solution

SolaX Power has partnered with leading battery manufacturer LG Chem to produce the new SolaX Battery, a high-performance storage solution encompassing the latest lithium-ion battery technology.

Designed and manufactured in partnership with LG Chem, SolaX will be offering 3.3kWh and 6.5kWh options, boasting a 6000-cycle lifespan with a ten-year (3000 cycle) warranty and 95% depth of discharge.

NigeWick

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Here's another player

But, is the 6.5kWh one less than half the price of Tesla's Powerwall2?

Waiting for the Fully Charged video of @bobbyllew 's Powerwall 2 install.

Martyn1981

Not very exciting, but probably important, and nice to know it exists (as and when it does):

Sonnen UK: IET Code of Practice could solve problem of ‘real lack of guidance’ for installers

A code of practice for installing and selling electrical energy storage systems for the UK consumer market could help fill a “vacuum” of clear guidance for installers and their customers, Sonnen’s UK chief has said.

In a video interview with Energy-Storage.News filmed at Intersolar Europe / ees Europe last month, Martin Allman, who heads up management of the German battery storage and energy services company in Britain, said that the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Code of Practice for Electrical Energy Storage Systems could fill a real knowledge gap in the market.

“What’s really important for the UK market as it grows, there’s a real lack of guidance for installers to follow – and which consumers could use as well,” Allman said.

Alan_Brown

I'm looking at adding a further 2kw of solar panels to my existing 4kw array. The DNO will allow and additional 1.6kw but suggested they may have to charge me £1500 for the privilege or it may be free (we will only know for definite when we submit a formal request).

I was wondering if they do decide they need to 'strengthen' the grid to the tune of £1500 quid, what my options are? Would adding a battery convince them that I won't be overloading the grid with my excess export?

If so, should I pay more for a Power Vault type that us attached to the whole solar array, or just add to the additional solar with something like a growatt SP1000 (which would be £1500 and is charged at 5% VAT if fitted with the solar).

Martyn1981

Alan_Brown wrote: »

I was wondering if they do decide they need to 'strengthen' the grid to the tune of £1500 quid, what my options are? Would adding a battery convince them that I won't be overloading the grid with my excess export?

I don't know much detail, so you'll need to do some googling, but there are inverter / DC side battery systems where for instance if the batt can absorb 2kW DC, the inverter will still be able to output 3.68kW AC.

I don't think these need DNO approval as they are still 3.68kW limited, it's just redirecting some additional DC (not 'processing it') into the batts for later use.

I suspect such a system will not be cheap, but if you want batts anyway, and are going to have to spend £1,500 anyway ..... then maybe?

Martyn1981

One of the DNO's is launching a storage fast track application process, so it looks like the DNO's may be getting on board with the whole idea so more good news ... though I admit to not knowing there was/is an application process?

UKPN unveils fast track process for small-scale storage