Solar Battery - Yes/No?

Screwdriva

Solarchaser said:

So you use less than 7kwh a day in the middle of winter?
13.5kwh (easily the most horrendously expensive battery) power wall 13.5/2days = less than 7kwh/ day.
And so taking that 7kwh x 365 = under 2500kwh. For the year

So getting solar must have been a total waste of money for you too.
What roi are you looking at on your panels?

I post my consumption/ export/ ROi numbers  here annually. Note that 2022 involved heavy use of immersion based hot water heating, without which we expect to be at around 2600 kWh, like in 2021.  

I don't view Solar as a waste - I didn't when rates were less favourable either. I know that I'll recover the cost around 1/3rd of the way into the warranty for every component I paid for.

What was your point, again?

Solarchaser

Lol passive aggressive on an Internet forum 😂😂😂

My point was simple, and I made it.
If you didn't understand,  try reading it again 😉

markin

ispookie666 said:

One thing we all need to consider is, how our electricity consumption will change over then next 5 years. 

Ever since we added 3 A2A heat pumps, our electricity consumption has gone up significantly. The oil heating comes on very very occasionally.  

Weekends we use 25-35kw, weekdays it's around 20-25. The winter months is when my solar underperforms due to shading and split array, hence we rely on E7 to charge up. 

My only regret is Givenergy! 

With all the wind and HVDC in the pipeline in the next 5 years what is the projected whole grid MWH price? If Night becomes so cheap everyone joins a E7 or Tou tariff and day times price half's, At least on windy days, will it be worth using a home battery at all?

'To Cheap to meter' 

Exiled_Tyke

Exiled_Tyke said:

On the other hand, for a more RE world we need more storage (preferably on a huge scale, grid side).  But my tiny green conribution from my battery reduces the grid load at peak times (when a higher proportion of FF is burnt for electricity). 

And the money saving bit?  Like others I thought it might just pay for itself when I bought it.  At current prices it should save me around £600 this year.  It cost me £3k.

The first point is  illustrated by the news that the grid has asked two coal-fired power stations to get ready for coming on line this evening to cope with peak demand.   

I won't be taking part in the power saving deal which my energy provider is offering becuase I rarely need to take any power from the grid between 5 and 6pm so there is no saving to be had for me.  But equally as I said before I don't contribute as much as others to the FF use in electricity generation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64367504

Exiled_Tyke

markin said:

ispookie666 said:

One thing we all need to consider is, how our electricity consumption will change over then next 5 years. 

Ever since we added 3 A2A heat pumps, our electricity consumption has gone up significantly. The oil heating comes on very very occasionally.  

Weekends we use 25-35kw, weekdays it's around 20-25. The winter months is when my solar underperforms due to shading and split array, hence we rely on E7 to charge up. 

My only regret is Givenergy! 

With all the wind and HVDC in the pipeline in the next 5 years what is the projected whole grid MWH price? If Night becomes so cheap everyone joins a E7 or Tou tariff and day times price half's, At least on windy days, will it be worth using a home battery at all?

'To Cheap to meter' 

The short answer must be 'Who knows'. 

Another view is that getting a battery is a form of hedging against future electiricy prices:  not guaranteed to pay for itself but rather give peace of mind against futue prices. 

A third view would be that as we move towards greater RE then prices will become increasingly variable and TOU tariffs will increasingly punish peak time use.  The grid is frustratingly (but understandably) slow in developing storage capacity which would negate this so the answer would to have it in your own home. 

ABrass

Batteries allow you to save more money than without.

If the battery lasts long enough it will save even more money than just having panels.

How long that takes is dependent on the difference between your purchase price and export price for power and the price of the battery.

My system will take an extra year to pay off the battery cost, but after that it will be saving me hundreds extra each year. If it lasts 7-8 years (with current prices) I'll be better off. If it lasts 10 years I'll be significantly better off.

With careful use of saving sessions I can be hundreds more better off, and helping the grid.

Petriix

The thing people often ignore is that much of what a battery can do could can be done manually. It's not so much about total consumption but how much of it is base load and how much is high power appliances which could be run off-peak.

My total consumption is around 5,500kWh of which 1,500kWh comes from solar, 3,000kWh is off-peak and 1,000kWh is peak. A 10kWh battery could cut the peak usage to maybe 250kWh and probably knock the off-peak in half.

Even in these expensive times, that's just £500 saved. But I'd be able to use the energy in peak times which would make it appear as though I'm saving far more. Current prices seem to be around £6k for 10kWh which makes the ROI around 12 years. However, with rates potentially falling significantly from their current high, the likelihood is a worse scenario. At best it's a massive gamble. On the other hand, paying £6k off my mortgage would be an immediate return of the capital plus a compound interest saving for the remaining term. 

Shortsy

Well the 5.8kWh battery I was quoted for turns out to be too big and heavy for our house anyway (72kg). Perhaps there is a good option available for starting small (say c.30 kg/ 3kWh) for users with low electricity use?

Screwdriva

markin said:

With all the wind and HVDC in the pipeline in the next 5 years what is the projected whole grid MWH price? If Night becomes so cheap everyone joins a E7 or Tou tariff and day times price half's, At least on windy days, will it be worth using a home battery at all?

'To Cheap to meter' 

I agree that this linkage to wind energy will only increase. You could just join the Agile Incoming tariff and benefit from "plunge pricing" during windier days. All our appliances/ immersion heater etc. ran during the windows where we were paid to consume energy.

Whatever little PV was generated was sold to the grid during the day. Wind can = a financial benefit without a battery.

If you wanted to help the grid further than just rooftop PV, consider investing in Ripple Energy instead of a battery. Many of the pros, none of the cons. 

Officer_Dibble

Shortsy said:

Well the 5.8kWh battery I was quoted for turns out to be too big and heavy for our house anyway (72kg). Perhaps there is a good option available for starting small (say c.30 kg/ 3kWh) for users with low electricity use?

I'm surprised that weight's a problem - it's only an average bloke standing wherever the battery was going to be and not leaving. I can't think of anywhere in most houses where an average bloke can't go and stand, should he so wish. This is where having installers who care little for such things pays off.