Solar pointless without batteries

michaels

Screwdriva said:

The fact that he is on tiktok should say it all. 

Batteries don't make sense but vehicle to home charging does (if you need an EV). With Outgoing Agile, ROI on a non-Chinese PV system with a £5K cost is <6 years now (and that's before the upcoming price cap hike)!

Except you can't have outgoing agile with go

shibli

Newbie as well, found the battery indispensable, for me it helps balances the system where now I do not draw any energy from the grid, day and night and will probably help on the winter months ahead on a octopus go tarrif or something similar, hearing roumours there are going to offer free electricity for avoiding peak use ?

In addition I am using any excess generation on heating water cyclinder instead of gas, which acts like another energy storage but some will always argue the cost/saving over this, for me it's utilising excess solar above my daily consumption. 

I would rather use all the energy I generate and typically I don't have any to sell to the grid.

QrizB

Screwdriva said:

Batteries don't make sense but vehicle to home charging does (if you need an EV). With Outgoing Agile, ROI on a non-Chinese PV system with a £5K cost is <6 years now (and that's before the upcoming price cap hike)!

There are a couple of threads (this is one) where I'm going to make myself unpopular by pointing out that "current prices" aren't likely to last.

You can build a renewable-energy power plant*, generate electricity and sell it at 7p/kWh for a profit (just look at either Ripple project, or the last round of CfDs). The only reason electricity is as expensive today as it is, with wholesale prices averaging 17p/kWh over the last 12 months. is because it takes time to build generating capacity.

You cannot use current Agile rates to justify a multi-year ROI calculation as they're unlikely to remain high for that long.

* Wind or solar definitely; tidal stream probably.

ispookie666

When we had the solar installed in 2015 (old home) the electricity prices were high, then they went downhill and was paying 12 -15 p/KW and on E7 was 6 p.  Battery would have been pretty pointless add to this the FiT (for generation and deemed export).

Fast forward to today (new house) with current prices - it makes economic sense to have energy independence (within reasonable expectations) and provide backup power when grid failure happens. 
If the electricity price collapses, the solar-battery market will cool down and batteries will fall out.  

For me having a battery was essential (when it works!) - I have oil heating (new boiler).  With price of oil sitting at £1/l i'd rather use electric to heat the house using the Air 2 AirSHP utilising either solar or Time of use tariffs(E7 for me).  

silverwhistle

Mikeyboy01443 said:

Well i would say its common sense to NOT want to use any grid electricity?

On paper i'm very 'green' with my solar, battery, BEV and air con

Air con green and appropriate for someone who is tight? Nah, pull the other one.:-)

It depends where you live, of course, but decent design should avoid the need for aircon in most of the UK. I couldn't comment about heat islands like London though. Do you find you need it a lot, as living in two different places in Italy I never had aircon nor do I recall any friends having it, as far south as Puglia?

But here on the South coast my North facing lounge and bedroom are always cool, helped by blinds on the south side.

Mikeyboy01443

silverwhistle said:

Mikeyboy01443 said:

Well i would say its common sense to NOT want to use any grid electricity?

On paper i'm very 'green' with my solar, battery, BEV and air con

Air con green and appropriate for someone who is tight? Nah, pull the other one.:-)

It depends where you live, of course, but decent design should avoid the need for aircon in most of the UK. I couldn't comment about heat islands like London though. Do you find you need it a lot, as living in two different places in Italy I never had aircon nor do I recall any friends having it, as far south as Puglia?

But here on the South coast my North facing lounge and bedroom are always cool, helped by blinds on the south side.

Lol... i just dont like the heat, my house does get warm so i just wanted to stay cool... the fact i can use it for heating in the winter is a big plus, cheaper than having the gas heating on the go...

Screwdriva

QrizB said:

You cannot use current Agile rates to justify a multi-year ROI calculation as they're unlikely to remain high for that long.

Let's touch base in a couple years. If you're right, batteries will be cheaper and better for me to consider if/ when Agile rates fall.