Solar ... In the news

michaels · 8 January 2019 at 8:51PM

The text of the announcement makes it sound like any export will be 'saleable' so presumably including from battery storage including v2g.

Re prices offered, why should it be the electricity supply company that buys it? Surely it would make mores sense to in some way just let the power flow onto the spot market and be sold for the prevailing spot price - perhaps all handled by an 'aggregator'. Why would a domestic supplier want to purchase an unknown amount of generation at an unknown time, they need power to match their demand. Having a tariff that follows spot would incentivise power being made available when it is most valuable and so give a correct price signal for batteries and also perhaps give e/w solar arrays output more value than due S etc.

Martyn1981 · 9 January 2019 at 8:18AM

Coastalwatch wrote: »

As a small supplier what negotiating power would any of us have if being offered a mere fraction of a penny per kWh. Probably even less than the UK has of negotiating a "better" deal than currently on offer from the combined strength of the 27 other European countries over Brexit!:eek:

That was the reason for my concerns about suppliers not wanting to negotiate with individual households.

I recall advice many years ago on the Navitron forum that suppliers only required export meters on PV systems of 30kWp+, and similarly weren't interested in negotiating for smaller supplies. I also think there was annual fee for administering this (about £30?).

Good news that a positive rate is now mandatory, but that does of course allow for 0.1p/kWh!

I'm gonna guess that the fallback here will be the green tariff providers who don't generate all their supply, but have to buy in an equivalent RE contribution. Hopefully they will offer a decent rate, since they are, dare I say, only having to offset demand against supply ...... does that make any sense at all, I'm know what I mean, but can't really explain it.

Coastalwatch · 9 January 2019 at 11:41AM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I'm gonna guess that the fallback here will be the green tariff providers who don't generate all their supply, but have to buy in an equivalent RE contribution. Hopefully they will offer a decent rate, since they are, dare I say, only having to offset demand against supply ...... does that make any sense at all, I'm know what I mean, but can't really explain it.

If the green tariff providers have only to match the total of green energy purchased against the total supplied without balancing the two at any given time then I'm following you!

Of course it may mean that we are all generating at a time of day when energy is the cheapest and possibly even at a negative rate, if Germany is anything to go by, then Michaels suggestion that battery storage be it V2G or home storage could/should be included giving us the opportunity of selling what we generate for the best return.

Martyn1981 · 11 January 2019 at 10:03AM

In Hawaii, a number of tenders for solar with storage have come in at a much lower price than current FF generation, 8-12c/kWh v's 15c/kWh.

Big solar-plus-storage project will be one of Hawaii utility’s lowest-cost power sources

Martyn1981 · 12 January 2019 at 9:23AM

Impressive headline, but it gets better when comparisons are drawn in the text.

Saudi Arabia Increases Solar Targets To 20 Gigawatts By 2023 & 40 Gigawatts By 2030

Looking out over the long term, Saudi Arabia has increased its solar targets, raising its 2023 target from 5.9 GW to 20 GW and its renewable energy target from 9.5 GW to 27.3. REPDO set a new 2030 target with 40 GW of solar and 58.7 GW of renewables.

So they've taken a 6GW target, and increased it by 14GW, or 3GW pa. Big jump.

Martyn1981 · 13 January 2019 at 6:06PM

Solar news, but perhaps applies to wind in the UK.

Note this is PV and storage v's gas peaker plants, not 'normal' gas generation leccy. Patience grasshopper.

Solar + Storage Half The Cost Of Gas Peaker Plants — 8MinuteEnergy

Such tumbling prices have led Wood Mackenzie to forecast that as the market for solar plus storage matures, it could put more than 6,400 MW of new natural gas-fired peaking capacity in the US at risk by 2027. “I can beat a gas peaker anywhere in the country today with a solar-plus-storage power plant,” says Tom Buttgenbach, CEO of developer 8minutenergy Renewables. “Who in their right mind today would build a new gas peaker? We are a factor of two cheaper.”

Martyn1981 · 15 February 2019 at 9:27AM

Time for an irony overload, but also good news on deploying cheap PV in odd/tricky areas.

Sprague Energy Installs Flexible Thin Film Solar Panels On Its Oil Storage Tanks

What do you do if you want solar panels to help power your business but all your assets are round with curved tops? If you are Sprague Energy, you allow Picktricity, a Massachusetts-based installer of flexible thin film solar panels to glue them to the top of your storage tanks. The first panels were installed in 2017 and the results have been so positive that Sprague Energy has signed up for more.

“We put the panels on a typical storage tank to see if we could use our existing assets to generate energy savings while enhancing our sustainability efforts,” Jay Leduc, director of sustainability at Sprague, tells Renewable Energy magazine. “With the pilot project generating annual savings, we are excited to roll this out on many more of our tanks, and take advantage of greater savings and possible revenue generation.”

The thin film panels weigh significantly less than conventional solar panels and do not require the complexity of a traditional racking system to install. “Sprague’s proven ability to anticipate and stay ahead of market changes aligns exactly with our vision,” says Kevin Maloney, founder and chief executive officer at Picktricity.

ICE + PV v's BEV + PV ......... still, a win's a win.

Coastalwatch · 19 February 2019 at 9:56PM

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/ashford_borough_council_eyes_9mw_solar_farm_as_significant_income_boost

Martyn1981 · 26 February 2019 at 9:18AM

Very, very big PV farm and very, very big battery too for Australia:

Queensland Breaks Ground On 1.5 Gigawatt Solar Farm With 500 MWh Battery Storage

ajbell · 26 February 2019 at 9:57AM

Imagine putting your tongue across the terminals.

Solar ... In the news

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