Grant for personal individual project to help lower energy cost

GingerTim

I can't help but think that £1,000 would be better spent on improving insulation, window sealing/upgrades etc.

MeteredOut

dfburger121 said:

A £1000 would give me enough equipment and batteries to treacle charge so allow me to take the strain of my main electric energy usage on the grid every day or every other day I can divert battery power to use household Utilities this will allow my electric energy costs to gradually come down

Sounds like a sticky solution, and even if you could syrupticiously connect it to your household, funding for things like this is not generally available to the molasses.

As others have said, details of the solution, if viable, may be enough for a gofundme type raise to take off, but it will have to show a true ROI.

QrizB

MattMattMattUK said:

I would be surprised by this, the cost of solar panels, inverters and batteries able to supply 230v 50hz to your household is not cheap, certainly above that cost by several multiples.

In defence of the OP, £1000 would buy you 1500-2000 watts of PV panels, an inverter and enough connecting gubbins to hook it up. And for all we know they're a qualified electrician (or have a friend who is and who had agreed to do the necessary work for beer money).

But until they give us some details, were just guessing.

MultiFuelBurner said:

Ayne a gofund me type thing to raise the money but perhaps you can specify what the £1000 buys and then it could become a design for others once up and running?

I agree that setting up a GoFundMe might be an option. The OP would need to share details of their plan in order to encourage support.

TheElectricCow

Small scale(<£1000) DIY solar setups are something I’ve done a fair amount of research on, and while they may be useful in some scenarios, after doing the cost calculations the answer has always come out that the money is probably better spent buying an equivalent value of regular old mains electricity. 

The savings generally worked out as pennies per day based on a full cycle each day under ideal conditions, with no guarantee the cheap equipment would last long enough to ever make back what was invested.

I’m happy to be proven wrong though! What sort of generation and storage capacity are we looking at within this budget? What’s the payback period and how many cycles will the battery manage over its lifetime? Have you factored in potential future reductions in energy costs over that period (tricky in the current climate)?

And unfortunately, no, they don’t typically hand out free grant money for creative individuals (such as myself) to self construct dodgy DIY micro generation home power systems for the purpose of reducing energy bills. 

If you’re struggling to pay, however, it may be more productive to seek direct financial assistance for those bills instead. Suppliers may have various discretionary payments/discounts available to those who need them and there are plenty of very knowledgeable people on this forum who can give advice on reducing energy costs generally. 

Have you made sure you’re on the best available tariff for example? If not, that would likely produce more tangible and immediate results with no upfront costs than attempting to produce enough of your own energy to support your household.

dfburger121

Please I'm not here to judge anyone or find different solutions. I have a practical project and when I find someone who can really help I will go through my equipment needed with them.
Thanks for all your advice on ideas but already know what is needed.

MeteredOut

dfburger121 said:

Please I'm not here to judge anyone or find different solutions. I have a practical project and when I find someone who can really help I will go through my equipment needed with them.
Thanks for all your advice on ideas but already know what is needed.

Seriously, if you're willing to share your designs and thinking, there are some hugely knowledgable people on this board who can provide input.

But, it will be honest and frank, so if you're simply looking for validation, its probably best you don't.

MultiFuelBurner

As they say on Dragons Den "I'm out"

Xbigman

I know someone who put two solar panels on his caravan roof, bought a 210amh battery and a 2.3 kw pure sine wave inverter. Total cost (DIY) came in at £850 (4 years ago). He later said it would never pay for itself but did give him the freedom to park up anywhere for a few days rather than just stop on official sites. 210amh might sound a lot but it would be gone in next to no time in a family home and is a non starter.

If you are short of money and want to cut energy costs you first find the cheapest tariff you can, then you insulate. 



Darren

FreeBear

GingerTim said:

I can't help but think that £1,000 would be better spent on improving insulation, window sealing/upgrades etc.

Ditto. When I started with *this place, I didn't qualify for any funding. Replacing doors & windows have eaten up a good chunk of my savings, and I had to borrow in order to pay for the new boiler.

In the grand scheme of things, £1000 isn't a huge sum of money - A personal loan from a bank or credit union would be my suggestion. If the idea turns out to be viable and can be monetized, paying of the loan quickly shouldn't be a problem.

MeteredOut

FreeBear said:

GingerTim said:

I can't help but think that £1,000 would be better spent on improving insulation, window sealing/upgrades etc.

Ditto. When I started with *this place, I didn't qualify for any funding. Replacing doors & windows have eaten up a good chunk of my savings, and I had to borrow in order to pay for the new boiler.

In the grand scheme of things, £1000 isn't a huge sum of money - A personal loan from a bank or credit union would be my suggestion. If the idea turns out to be viable and can be monetized, paying of the loan quickly shouldn't be a problem.

I suspect the challenge is that there is no real ROI on the solution, hence the OP wanting a grant rather than a loan.