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Solar Power - Definitely Green but is it affordable
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[Deleted User] said:The DNO will take at least a couple of months to review the submission and technical documents and it may - depending on your local electrical infrastructure - impose a max export limit. I was lucky and my export is not limited but there are reports of some people not being so fortunate. It just means that even if your array is capable of producing say 7 kWs max, your export may be limited to 5kWs.Just as a counter-point, my DNO approval took 3 weeks roughly from sending the letter to the DNO to receiving their approval.A lot depends on which DNO I suspect, mine was UK Power Networks.
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Thanks for all the responses. My guess is that at some point in the next 5 years we will end up with an EV. At present a 4x4 diesel estate can be bought for sub 35k. A similar EV is 46k+ but as EVs become the norm, prices will merge. The point on electric showers is well made. The battery max to house is 5kw and i guess the solar gen runs in parallel but i will quiz the surveyor during their visit. As I said earlier, even if all i did was to save 1 tonne of c02 in a year we have a winner, which seems to be the only 'guarantee...'0
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On another thread the OP wrote:007apm said:I am concerned by the relative increase in the standing charge. I await an installation of solar panels/battery which might cut our electricity usage from 4000kwh to 500kwh pa from the grid but the increase in standing charge has a disproportionate impact on low usage customers costs. To encourage the green agenda, usage charges are more appropriate than fixed charges. The need for help for fuel poverty however is independent of how bill is calculated.007apm said:Our Solar plan
In our case we have opted for a First 4 Solar system with a 6KW solar with a 7.6KWh battery. We hope to generate 5,200 KWh per year and USE 80% of the energy produced which we hope will generate a £900 saving at current rates and take 12 years to pay for itself. Clearly if the price of electric rises a further 50% then whilst costs actually rise, savings are greater and may pay for itself in 8 years.
Looking at your consumption of 4000kWh/yr, that's a flat average of 11kWh/day. Most people in the UK use more electricity in the winter than in the summer but let's imagine you don't.- Over the 31 days of July you'll use 322kWh; if you generate 855kWh you will export 533kWh.
- Over the 31 days of December you'll use 322kWh; if you generate 46kWh you will import 187kWh.
In practice your average generation will be less than 11kWh/day during October, November, December, January and February.PVGIS also has an off-grid modelling tool. Using your panel and battery sizes, plus a daily demand of 11kWh, the model suggests shortfalls in March and September too. As a rough estimate I think you'll be self-consuming 2800kWh, exporting around 2400kWh and importing around 1200kWh/yr.That's 54% self-consumption and 70% grid-independence. Not too shabby but quite a lot less than the 80% / 87.5% you seem to be expecting.N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Ripple Kirk Hill member.
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 34 MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.Not exactly back from my break, but dipping in and out of the forum.Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!3 -
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Generation estimate 200 300 440 580 700 680 680 620 500 340 200 160 5400 Use / month flat 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 330 3960 Surplus -130 -30 110 250 370 350 350 290 170 10 -130 -170 From grid 130 30 130 170 460
From the provider's generation estimate we expect to generate 5400KWh on the profile above. we do actually have a relatively flat profile for usage because all the heating & water are gas at present. It seems likely that we can use all the energy generated in the winter via the battery (in theory) however the real world often disappoints!0 -
The solar panel and battery industry are in a difficult place, delays in obtaining panels and batteries mean that after much encouragement and a minor change to spec (410 W panels replaced 400W panels due to availability) we are now cooking on 'gas'. The panels look great and the little app on the phone showing real time generation / consumption is addictive!
The weather unfortunately has yet to read the script and has been overcast since the system went live, so far we've peaked at 4KW generation and usually been nearer 2KW. I've been pleasantly surprised that generation goes on well in to the evening and even at that has covered our daily usage. 10-11 KWh / day. What has surprised me is that the battery has never dropped below 40% and yet we have imported ~2.5KWh per day from the grid. The explanation given was that the response time of the grid is instant whereas the response time (deliberately) of the batteries is somewhat slower. The explanation continued to say that this offers some protection to the batteries and extends their lives. Based on the data from 2 days, it looks like 75% self consumption might be achieved in brighter months, but that will be as good as it gets.
The next challenge will be to get Scottish Power to connect us up for SEG. Looks like we have exported 3KWh/day to the grid but SP suggest a 3-4 week wait for a response to our application. If the sun comes out... it could be a fair bit more :-)
Is a blog for this over then first couple of months useful to MSE readers?1 -
007apm said:What has surprised me is that the battery has never dropped below 40% and yet we have imported ~2.5KWh per day from the grid. The explanation given was that the response time of the grid is instant whereas the response time (deliberately) of the batteries is somewhat slower.Usually that level of import has more to do with peak demand exceeding the ability of the battery + solar (if in the daytime), so take a look at the data, if you have it, to review peak demand periods when perhaps someone turned on an electric oven while using a vacuum cleaner etc.Do you know what the limits are on the battery in regard to the peak power demand it can support?Edit: I see earlier you said 5kW was the limit on the battery supply, is that continuous or peak?
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007apm said:
The next challenge will be to get Scottish Power to connect us up for SEG. Looks like we have exported 3KWh/day to the grid but SP suggest a 3-4 week wait for a response to our application. If the sun comes out... it could be a fair bit more :-)
Is a blog for this over then first couple of months useful to MSE readers?It would be useful to know the full details of what equipment was installed and how it is configured if you have access to the parameters that control the charge/discharge of the battery.I had to wait several weeks for SEG with Octopus to be set up during Feb/March when I exported 50kWh. I suspect you will export more than this over the next 3-4 weeks, but at least you know that a bit less gas/coal is being burnt somewhere.
6.4kWp (16 * 400Wp REC Alpha) facing ESE + 5kW Huawei inverter + 10kWh Huawei battery. Buckinghamshire.1 -
Magnitio said:I had to wait several weeks for SEG with Octopus to be set up during Feb/March when I exported 50kWh. I suspect you will export more than this over the next 3-4 weeks, but at least you know that a bit less gas/coal is being burnt somewhere.
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Thankyou...
The inverter is a Fox ESS H1-5.0-E with 3x HV2600 Fox batteries.
The grid energy usage is in frequent almost random spikes to 0.03KWh overnight which add up to 1 KWh when we are sleeping. Oddly there is battery power available. Other spikes have been using the washing machine at 10am when the system charged the battery in preference and used grid energy for the washing machine.
Week to 4th May we:- Used 10.46KWh / Day
- Downloaded 2.73KWh / Day from the grid
- Generated 121KWh (min 10.8, max 38.8, average 17.34)
- SEG donation 66.8KWh (min 2.1, max 28, average 9.54)
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007apm said:
...What has surprised me is that the battery has never dropped below 40% and yet we have imported ~2.5KWh per day from the grid. The explanation given was that the response time of the grid is instant whereas the response time (deliberately) of the batteries is somewhat slower.Reed2
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