Sizing solar & battery requirements and selecting a supplier

Verdigris

Good point. Although shouldn't they be encouraging micro-generation?

Hexane

Verdigris said:

Good point. Although shouldn't they be encouraging micro-generation?

That would be nice. Doesn't seem to happen, though.

Hexane

PGammage said:

QrizB said:

PGammage said:

NoobSolar said:

"During winter it would get most of its charge from an off peak energy tariff, during summer it would fully charge in 4-5 hours of full sun from the 1.5kw solar panels."

No it wouldn't. It would be providing energy for your house, immersion and I assume EV.  You would be aiming to get your dishwasher, washing machine and cooking into this time too. I would say

Why wouldn’t it?
During summer solar generation would be up to 1.5kw per hour for say 10 hours in summer ...

Check out the typical reports over in the "my generation" thread. The best anyone has ever reported is, I think, 7 O's (7kWk/kWp) and 4-5 O's is far more common.

1.5kW x 4 = 6kWh.

Or look at the "how low can you go" thread. In July last year my 2.72kWp array generated 319kWh; an average of just over 10kWh/day.

Thanks, I’ll have a read of that thread. As I said above I did actually go for a bigger array (5.2kwp) - the blog was about calculating the minimum I could get away with to be able to understand affordability. 

Sorry but I haven't looked at the blog. "What I can get away with" tends only to be relevant if you are planning to go off-grid and have really thought about it...

ccbrowning

Hexane said:

Verdigris said:

Good point. Although shouldn't they be encouraging micro-generation?

That would be nice. Doesn't seem to happen, though.

Are there any limits to consider regarding the DNO? I have 3.4kW at the moment but was looking into adding more, this time on top of the garage. However, the end result would probably be similar to your setup I guess.

Verdigris

3.68kW is the G98 limit. A G99 connection allows up to 17kW per phase.

QrizB

ccbrowning said:

Hexane said:

Verdigris said:

Good point. Although shouldn't they be encouraging micro-generation?

That would be nice. Doesn't seem to happen, though.

Are there any limits to consider regarding the DNO? I have 3.4kW at the moment but was looking into adding more, this time on top of the garage. However, the end result would probably be similar to your setup I guess.

You need permission from the DNO for any system that's capable of exporting more than 3.68kW.

Sometimes they grant it, somethimes they don't; sometimes they say "yes you can have it but it will cost £xxx to upgrade the local network".

There are ways to work with the limit but it's easier if they agree

ccbrowning

I see. Explains why my system is 3.4kW then I imagine. You'd hope in these newer developments they'd be ensuring the local network was good enough for this...thinking of the future and all. (hah!)

jimjames

QrizB said:

PGammage said:

NoobSolar said:

"During winter it would get most of its charge from an off peak energy tariff, during summer it would fully charge in 4-5 hours of full sun from the 1.5kw solar panels."

No it wouldn't. It would be providing energy for your house, immersion and I assume EV.  You would be aiming to get your dishwasher, washing machine and cooking into this time too. I would say

Why wouldn’t it?
During summer solar generation would be up to 1.5kw per hour for say 10 hours in summer ...

Check out the typical reports over in the "my generation" thread. The best anyone has ever reported is, I think, 7 O's (7kW generated / kWp) and 4-5 O's is far more common.

1.5kW x 4 = 6kWh.

Or look at the "how low can you go" thread. In July last year my 2.72kWp array generated 319kWh; an average of just over 10kWh/day.

I'm one of the ones that has achieved the magical 7Os. We have a 3kWp system and have hit 21kWh on a number of days over summer months. Our panels are about as optimum as you can get, high roof with minimal shading except in winter at the end of the day. June last year we got 352kWh but 2018 was 462kWh.

http://solar-panels-review.321web.co.uk/index.php/yearly-comparison-of-solar-pv

But it's interesting to see how the generation comes - the bell curve means that the peak over midday will be nearer the maximum and the tails either end of the day will be lower. So depending on your base load the only time there may be surplus for the battery would be the time around lunch so you might be limited on the amount you can get.

Is there any limit on the rate they can charge or can they take whatever the panels are generating?