Plug in solar

lohr500

An interesting article here regarding solar panel fires :

https://qbeeurope.com/news-and-events/press-releases/uk-fire-services-tackle-a-solar-panel-fire-every-two-days/

There is no breakdown of the inverter related fires into micro inverters vs larger inverters.
Nor any analysis of the panel or DC wiring fires to understand the root causes.

I do wonder if the fire risk is greater on larger installations due to higher power generation and the use of multiple panels on a single inverter string. But I'm no expert on this.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82096733#Comment_82096733

There's a bit of a local row going on at the moment where someone has attached a panel to the 3rd floor balcony of an up-market block of flats (they prefer 'apartments'). Very prominent position.

The management company (collective of the owners) have said take it down, they argue that since they are responsible for the maintenance of the balconies they might be liable if the thing falls off and brains someone.

There are also aesthetic arguments against, it's a modern block with coloured cladding and the panel clashes.

Seems the panelee is a bit of a libertarian (and not poor) and has decided to get legalled up.

Presumably there will be the same arguments when someone hauls a panel to the 17th floor of a block of flats run by a Housing Association - but with less lawyers? Or are HAs all rewriting their lease agreements as we speak?

TroubledTarts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82096886#Comment_82096886

That all makes sense, as Landlords ourselves we will consider the request on a case by case basis.

Tenants will generally have to get landlord consent or leaseholders, leasehold consent. Which as you have pointed out might be an issue.

For us, we won't allow any installs that require bolts into walls, a number of our flats and properties have a back garden for a free standing option, we do have one flat with a very large balcony but we would need to make sure that was sturdy enough to take 40-60kg of solar panels plus be lent on and will discuss this with the tenant if they ask permission. Some flats have neither a garden or a balcony so they can't really take advantage of this.

Newbie_John

Nice surprise this morning on the first cloudy day for me.

On all sunny days I had 8am 30W, 10am 60W. Today 100W at 8am, 200W at 10am - clouds do well to reflect the sun.

Newbie_John

I've been trying to figure out my self consumption without battery but it's well difficult.

My first approach was to compare July and August as my usage is very similar - so I can see that in July I used 200kWh and 150kWh in August then I have saved 50kWh - but this only works over longer period.

Sure there are ways of getting the accurate results by buying extra tools but I'd like to avoid it, having Ocotpus Mini I've noticed that it shows how much electricity is being exported at the time - so I came up with better daily "estimated" solution :)

Octopus API can tell us how much we imported, we can also estimate how much we exported by adding up all negative demand values (if at 10am demand was -200W, at 10:30 was 400W - then we exported about 300Wh - thanks to Ocotpus Mini we have this value every 1 minute). Manually take a value for the current generation from EcoFlow app and we can deduct self consumption.

If you're with Ocotpus, have Mini, have plug in only - then this can tell you a decent value:

https://oct-mini-plug-in.netlify.app/

API only stores data for last 24h - so this page is useful at the end of day for that day only.

Saved money.. easy if you're on standard rate, but with ToU it needs and average rate..

tfhnota

Looks like Octopus and Fuse are planning to pay export for plug-in solar but will be dependant on proving that the kit is compliant and on the approved list(I think bought as one package - panels, inverters, cables) and has been properly registered with whatever new simplified system that the government comes up with. Octopus paying 12p (but presumably without the £250 sign up fee for non-MCS) and Fuse unknown as of yet. Also be aware that you can't mount it on flammable materials. Not much on the approved list, the kits may end up being two to three times more expensive than originally thought. And Ofgem have said only one 800W kit per household, over-panelling is still allowed but not in parallel because of the extra connectors ( and presumably only if you buy as a full kit). Seven days to go until it is legal.

debitcardmayhem

@Netexporter posted this in GEM board for plug-in Worth watching 👍

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHJ8oMl40Kg

tfhnota

Yes, residual dc current being discharged from the inverter when the plug is pulled out, although neither inverter tested is on the approved list yet which has specs for dc leakage and our EU friends don't seem to have killed themselves off.

Newbie_John

Ive received G98 confrimation/approval as well as export MPAN, is this a normal thing?

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82112869#Comment_82112869

If this is for a plug-in system, you're very much treading new ground and I'm not sure exactly what "normal" is meant to look like!

For a conventional system, yes you'd expect a G98 confirmation from your DNO. The export MPAN is often applied for by your first SEG supplier, but maybe your DNO is trying to get things better integrated and do it all at once?