Charging cost with solar panels

demonbane62

I have solar panels fitted and get fit payments
On a sunny day if I charge my car up whilst sun is shining, will this reduce the cost of 27.4p per kWh or is there no saving ? Doe all my solar energy created go to fit payments?

Petriix

It really depends on what you mean by FIT payments...

If your solar panels were installed prior to the end of the FIT scheme and you are genuinely receiving FIT payments then you will almost certainly be getting 'deemed' export payments for 50% of what you generate, regardless of how much you actually use or export.

On deemed exports, yes, you'll save your full unit rate for each kWh diverted to the car. 

However, if you are getting SEG payments based on metered exports from a post FIT system then every kWh of your own generation that you consume will reduce your SEG payments accordingly. It is unusual (but possible) to receive SEG payments for your exports on a FIT system by opting out of the deemed export payments.

If you're on SEG payments then each kWh will only save you your unit rate (27.4p I gather) minus the lost SEG rate (likely around 5p) so more like 22p.

If you have solar panels and an EV you're likely to be far better off on Octopus Go (or Intelligent or Go Faster) than on the price cap. In that case, each kWh of solar sent to the car would only really be saving you 7.5p as that's what it would cost overnight from the grid. 

[Deleted User]

To answer your question. FIT payments are based solely on the amount (kWh/year) that your array generates. The FIT scheme also pays a small export payment based on 50% of your total generation. Charging your EV is treated as a house load. Even if you could use 100% of your solar generation to power your house or charge your EV, your annual payments under the FIT Scheme will not change.

demonbane62

panels fitted in 2010 and yes , FIT payments 
so not really a saving to charge the car on a sunny day then, better wait to see what happens at end of month, apparently se will all be getting a night time rate to help stagger grid usage

demonbane62

problem with this is there is no cheap out of hours rates apart from octopus who jack up the standard rate to compensate

From 30th June, new EV home chargers will be defaulted to charge during off-peak hours, when other demands for energy are at their lowest. The legislation defines peak hours as 8am to 11am on weekdays and 4pm to 10pm on weekdays, so the new home chargers will automatically charge outside of these hours.

QrizB

demonbane62 said:

panels fitted in 2010 and yes , FIT payments 
so not really a saving to charge the car on a sunny day then

That's exactly the opposite of the advice you've been given above.

Charging your car on a sunny day will put some electricity into your battery at no cost. You can't get better than free*.

(* Unless you've got Octopus Agile and you're charging on one of the rare occasions where the price is negative.)

[Deleted User]

demonbane62 said:

panels fitted in 2010 and yes , FIT payments 
so not really a saving to charge the car on a sunny day then, better wait to see what happens at end of month, apparently se will all be getting a night time rate to help stagger grid usage

Sorry you have totally lost me. 

If you put 10kWh into your EV from your solar array on a sunny day, you will SAVE c. 10 x your unit price with absolutely NO loss of FIT or export payments. Why would you charge from the Grid when power from the sun is free and when you use this free electricity it costs you nothing in terms of the solar payments that you get from your FIT Payer.

I am on SEG. When I charge my EV from my roof, I am reducing the amount of energy that my array generates and I incur an export payment loss. Your situation is totally different from mine.

markin

Some will be on metered export rather than 'deemed' export so its best to export it if the price is higher than importing it. But if your on 'deemed' export use it and get paid to use it, Its also best to charge the car slowly at 5 amp so you don't pull the rest from the grid. 

The new home chargers will have an override to charge when you want i believe.

Petriix

demonbane62 said:

problem with this is there is no cheap out of hours rates apart from octopus who jack up the standard rate to compensate

From 30th June, new EV home chargers will be defaulted to charge during off-peak hours, when other demands for energy are at their lowest. The legislation defines peak hours as 8am to 11am on weekdays and 4pm to 10pm on weekdays, so the new home chargers will automatically charge outside of these hours.

If you shift just 25% of your usage to the cheap window then Octopus Go works out cheaper than the standard variable rate. Plus it's fixed for a year so avoids the October price increase.

The new charger legislation has no impact on prices. You'll default to charging off-peak but pay the same. Charging from solar makes perfect sense if you're not on metered exports, but you'll also save money on Octopus Go unless you have really high peak usage. 

QrizB

demonbane62 said:

problem with this is there is no cheap out of hours rates apart from octopus who jack up the standard rate to compensate

All the major, and (almost?) all the minor, energy suppliers have a "cheap out of hours" tariff. It's called Economy 7.

Octopus and EDF both have specific EV tariffs (there may also be others). Octopus's tariffs are better for most people than EDF's are (and also much cheaper than any comparable E7 fix currently on offer).

BarbaraG2000

I have solar panels and do not get FIT. I get SEG from Octopus at 4.1p because I am on Go, with 16.26p peak and 5p cheap (May 2021 version, I have it until November).

Every kWh which goes into the car from solar “costs” me 4.1p as I can no longer export it and get paid for it.  Someone on FIT does not have that cost, it literally is free.

A kWh into the car during the hours of 00:30-04:30 costs me 5p. And one put in at other times in excess of what the solar panels are producing costs me 16.26p.

So obviously my preference is to charge from solar (when convenient and possible), then 5p, and 16.26p only in emergencies.  Although if it really was an emergency, e.g. needed to get to my mother 100+ miles away and not enough charge in the car, I wouldn’t be waiting 3 hours or whatever, I would stop at a rapid for 20 minutes and pay a lot more.

I also quite like free public chargers when available somewhere I am going anyway.