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  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,754 Forumite
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    NigeWick wrote: »
    How much do they pay you for your old battery that they'll use in their home storage units?

    $1,000 but that's already included.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • michaels
    michaels Posts: 27,993 Forumite
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    I think it is £5k in the UK (with the old battery pack taken as 'trade in'). Interesting is that when Renault upped the battery on the Zoe to 40kwh the old packs could be swapped for a new larger one, I think it is about 10k but the story is confused by the Renault battery rental model.
    I think....
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,754 Forumite
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    UK’s new Faraday Institution to invest £65m in energy storage research
    As part of the country’s £246 million ($321 million) battery investment strategy, the U.K. government’s business and energy secretary Greg Clark has this week announced the launch of the Faraday Institution, which will oversee £65 million in investment into energy storage research over the next four years.

    The Faraday Institution will be based in Oxfordshire at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus – the home of a handful of national research facilities including ISIS Neutron and Muon Facility, Diamond Light Source and the Central Laser Facility.
    Recently, British renewable energy developer Anesco has commissioned the country’s first large-scale, subsidy-free solar farm by collocating a 10 MW PV plant with a 6 MW battery. Such installations – combining solar+storage either from the get-go or as a refit program – would appear to hold the key to expanding the country’s storage network and also supporting the ongoing development of the large-scale solar sector.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • NigeWick
    NigeWick Posts: 2,714 Forumite
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    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    UK’s new Faraday Institution to invest £65m in energy storage research
    Individual companies are spending £Billions and HMGov Plc thinks a few hundred million will make us "market leaders"?
    The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    NigeWick wrote: »
    Individual companies are spending £Billions and HMGov Plc thinks a few hundred million will make us "market leaders"?
    Hi

    Normal government thinking ... If you haven't got a clue, there'll always be a group of academics sniffing around & willing to spend plenty of public money on their coffee & doughnuts for a decade or two .. a case of being seen to be doing something, even if you don't know what that something is! ... ;)

    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • NigeWick
    NigeWick Posts: 2,714 Forumite
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    zeupater wrote: »
    Normal government thinking ... If you haven't got a clue, there'll always be a group of academics sniffing around & willing to spend plenty of public money on their coffee & doughnuts for a decade or two .. a case of being seen to be doing something, even if you don't know what that something is! ... ;)
    I hate it when you're right.....
    The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,754 Forumite
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    The UK Energy Research Centre (ERC) has urged Dieter Helm’s cost of energy review to consider the potential for technology-neutral auctions for the UK market.

    It's only a recommendation, which our government will probably ignore, but perhaps a step towards opening up the CfD market to PV and on-shore wind again:-

    Technology neutral auctions must be considered in cost of energy review, urges ERC
    It stressed there was now “significant evidence” that government interventions through feed-in tariffs, auctions and other mandates had been a key driver for reductions in the cost of renewables, particularly in solar PV, wind and battery storage, which can then benefit consumers through cheaper, cleaner electricity.

    It also drew from recent auctions in Mexico, Germany and the Netherlands which have demonstrably driven down the cost of renewables.

    This, the centre said, had led to the conclusion that there was a strong case for including as many low carbon technologies as possible into a single competitive auction over time. Such a policy would see a CFD-styled auction with no specific ‘pots’, allowing all technologies to compete against each other for contracts.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,754 Forumite
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    Might not interest anyone, but recently wasting my time, as I do, arguing with some folk on the Guardian.

    They were merrily pointing out that the CO2 emissions from a nuclear powerstation are lower (per MWh) than those from wind or PV.

    Fair enough, though the posters didn't want to answer questions raised by another about the CO2 comparison when all mining, disposal etc was also taken into account.


    Regardless, I thought it would be fun to point out that we shouldn't really be comparing the relative CO2 emissions of what are all, low carbon technologies, at the end of the day, but the amount of FF CO2 displaced by them, and for that we needed to compare costs too, and perhaps more importantly subsidies as these are the amounts needed (on top) to encourage the building / rollout of RE generation.

    So I crunched the numbers, and totally shocked myself at the result, which was way beyond 'better' which is what I expected.

    So, here's the calculation -

    1. We need to compare the amount of subsidy for Hinkley Point C, v's the latest off-shore wind contracts. So that means taking the CfD strike prices and subtracting the NAO's estimate of average wholesale price in 2025-30 (around £50/MWh). Prices based on 2017 costs.

    HPC is £97/MWh - £50/MWh = £47/MWh
    Off-shore wind is £60/MWh - £50/MWh = £10/MWh

    2. We have to account for the length of the subsidy periods, which are 15yrs for off-shore wind and 35yrs for nuclear.

    I've assumed that after 20-25yrs, when the off-shore wind farms close, that their replacements will not need further subsidies.

    3. We have to account for capacity factor, since the payments are made on MWhs of generation, not the capacity deployed.

    So HPC has a capacity of 3.2GW and a capacity factor of 92%.
    Off-shore wind should reach a capacity factor of 50% with the 'monster' turbines that are to be deployed.

    If you've stuck with all this so far, here comes the calaculation

    3.2GW x (0.92cf / 0.50cf) x (35yrs / 15yrs) x (£47/£10) = 64.57GW

    That's a hell of a lot of wind capacity.

    And whilst this is only a thought exercise, we can go further and compare annual generation, with

    HPC (at 92%) generating 25.79TWh's pa
    64.57GW of off-shore wind generating 282.81TWh's

    The UK currently uses about 350TWh's pa.

    :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • silverwhistle
    silverwhistle Posts: 3,791 Forumite
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    You could also include in your calculation the amount of RE that could (will) come onstream and be producing in the [indeterminate] time it will take to get HPC up and running.

    I presume you were argueing with Raykalon again: he never lets slip even the slightest concession that RE might be a good thing,.
  • NigeWick
    NigeWick Posts: 2,714 Forumite
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    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    Might not interest anyone, but recently wasting my time, as I do, arguing with some folk on the Guardian.
    I got a Nectar points voucher from Sainsbugs regarding the Guardian. Bought it this morning to get the points which more than paid for the paper. First and last time I'll be reading that particular news organ. Blimey, I could even do their quick crossword and sudoku!

    In future I'll stick with the ladies and gentlemen from The Times on Saturdays.
    The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes
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