Ripple Energy wind farm?

QrizB

LundsLuddite said:

Just been informed Kirk Hill delayed again ...

Not only are you a self-proclaimed Luddite, you've failed to read the thread before posting. This is already being discussed.

LundsLuddite said:

Very poor project management

The turbines are going up and will be ready. The off-site connection from SPEN is missing. How do you believe Ripple could have managed this better, exactly? What specific project management skills do you think they should have deployed to get SPEN and SPENs subcontractors to complete the work sooner?

MickO57

I just had an invite to buy Derril Water - solar - so pondering whether to buy a top up (for winter) as some have mentioned on here given I already have 4.8kw on my roof. It has generated just over 3MWh since install on 15 May this year - very little of that in December of course:-). I reckon I am using around 4.5MWh per year but that would/may increase if I go down the EV route at some point. 

Posting to hear what other more experienced forum members think, including Ripple investors. Is a top up strategy a good idea? I was thinking of maybe purchasing half of my current usage, or a little less?  Thoughts welcome.  

Netexporter

I had reserved a place for the 4th project, so I'm happy to be able to bring things forward a bit by taking a share in Derril Water, instead. I've already got a share in Kirk Hill so some solar to even out the income over the year would work well for me.

I already have an EV but I will also be installing my own solar and a heat pump in the next year.

Netexporter

Having read the offer document, I hadn't appreciated the solar projects are 40 years, rather than the 25 years for wind. Will I live to be 110? I'm reasonably confident of getting my investment back, on Kirk Hill, before I croak but would I reach the break-even for Derril Water? Not that I'd be doing either for solely financial reasons.

QrizB

I happened across the latest BEIS electricity price forecast and decided to update my chart from last year. It now looks like this:

The line which spikes to 17p/kWh is the 2023 forecast, obviously

It's interesting that the forecast shows wholesale electricity prices falling below 6p/kWh (Ripple's base assumption for Kirk Hill) in 2022 money from 2028 and staying there until 2036.

Whether this forecast is any more accurate than previous ones remains to be seen.

Aside, 2020 was an unusually cheap year, cheaper than any other year since 2004 and cheaper than BEIS think we'll see at any time before 2040.

Coastalwatch

MickO57 said:

I just had an invite to buy Derril Water - solar - so pondering whether to buy a top up (for winter) as some have mentioned on here given I already have 4.8kw on my roof. It has generated just over 3MWh since install on 15 May this year - very little of that in December of course:-). I reckon I am using around 4.5MWh per year but that would/may increase if I go down the EV route at some point. 

Posting to hear what other more experienced forum members think, including Ripple investors. Is a top up strategy a good idea? I was thinking of maybe purchasing half of my current usage, or a little less?  Thoughts welcome.  

Hi @MickO57, Just re read your post and noticing this is your first one, welcome aboard and well done with PV already installed. I found that quite a step in itself some six years ago but have no regrets, in fact we've since gone totally electric, as we all must do eventually, and now consume circa 11 MWh's electrical energy each year just to give a clue of what the future may hold for you. We've since invested further with Ripple going to almost the suggested max 7kW's of expected annual generation. In our case, both wind farms, this amounted to a Capacity owned of 2.437 kWs.

It's very much a personal thing you are asking, so for you only to decide. From our point of view when investing with Ripple in the first place then the main attraction was fixing the wholesale price of our energy at a figure lower than achieveable otherwise and for the next 25 years. At the time, with low energy prices, it wasn't a huge saving but as has proven to be the case subsequently it is certainly a hedge against inflation, this year alone there has been approaching £1k added to our Octopus account from doing so. 

QrizB

A recent Ripple update included this re. Graig Fatha:

Everything continues to run smoothly at Graig Fatha. December delivered the highest generation in a single month since it was switched on back on March 2022, with almost 1,000MWh generated.

Average member savings in December reached an impressive £146 in the month. This meant many Graig Fatha members have now received an impressive 50% of their initial costs back in the form of bill savings. And there’s a further 23 years of bill reductions to come.

I don't think anyone could have predicted this, but Graig Fatha owners have definitely benefitted from the recent electricity price peaks!

Looking forward to energisation of Kirk Hill in (checks notes) April ...

QrizB

Email received from Ripple today asking for my energy supplier details and account number.

April is getting closer

Exiled_Tyke

QrizB said:

Email received from Ripple today asking for my energy supplier details and account number.

April is getting closer

Let's hope so but I also noticed the timeline going backwards.  It previously looked like grid connection communication works were completed in Feb. But when I checked yeserday this is no longer the case.  And then today it's leaped forwards again.  I currently don't have any expetations but look forward to when it finally happens!

Netexporter

I'm expecting April energisation, going by the latest progress video.