Energy Matters:Home Solar

[Gibbo2286]

Had a look at the invoice, the panels are 330 watts and guaranteed to perform to 80% for 30 years.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Had a look at the invoice, the panels are 330 watts and guaranteed to perform to 80% for 30 years.

Thanks for digging that out Gibbo so your total array is not much short of 4kW peak power, and a more than useful actual output in kWh.

Even on a pessimistic assumption of of recouping initial investment over a 1/3 of the useful life of panels, the remaining 2/3rds is just win win. Of course battery storage can add the piece of the jigsaw which allows you to store and directly use your own generation exclusively for your own home needs, whereas without it you get some recompense for exporting it, but the reality of that is the SEG companies (yes the usual suspects) buy it off you, and sell it on to other customers at 10 times the price they pay you (eg the figs from Scottish Power as of July were 5.5p/kWh for their Smart Export Guarantee price paid to home solar generators round about the same time they were offering over 50p/kWh on a fixed price deals)

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Had a look at the invoice, the panels are 330 watts and guaranteed to perform to 80% for 30 years.

Even on a pessimistic assumption of of recouping initial investment over a 1/3 of the useful life of panels, the remaining 2/3rds is just win win. Of course battery storage can add the piece of the jigsaw which allows you to store and directly use your own generation exclusively for your own home needs, whereas without it you get some recompense for exporting it, but the reality of that is the SEG companies (yes the usual suspects) buy it off you, and sell it on to other customers at 10 times the price they pay you (eg the figs from Scottish Power as of July were 5.5p/kWh for their Smart Export Guarantee price paid to home solar generators round about the same time they were offering over 50p/kWh on a fixed price deals)

REgards Neil

Given that huge profit margin available makes me think of following my favoured route in all things - cut out the middle man - ! Would it be feasible to supply a neighbour with the surplus rather than back to the grid and then gain a price of two or three times the SEG company's prices but allowing the neighbour access to cheaper power for them. Obviously that would involve complex technological issues not to mention neighbour relation issues with payment etc but in principle surely a win win?

[Peter.N.]

That's interesting. We have a solar system on the 'rent a roof' scheme which they don't do anymore as there is no 'feed in 'tariff, we have had ours for about 10 years, its coming into its own now with the power at 30p+ per Kwh. Its supposed to be 4 Kw but I rarely get more than 2.5 but even that is useful, especially in the last couple of months. I am not allowed to charge batteries with it so am thinking of installing another system on the garage roof to give me a back up but this will be completely 'off grid' installed by me.

Peter

[NewcastleFalcon]

That is the theory behind distributed local energy generation and storage systems and local networks, and "many a mickle makes a muckle" virtual power plants. Not everyone's roof will be suitable for solar panels, but those whose roofs are, may have overcapacity to distribute locally, effectively doing what the suppliers do, maybe as a community energy company. If you are exporting your generated electricity as covered in Jordan's first video, regulations require an export meter to enable Smart Export Guarantee.

There will be stuff to dig up about it, and a welcome addition to the thread discussion if a bit of research into it is added.

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

That's interesting. We have a solar system on the 'rent a roof' scheme which they don't do anymore as there is no 'feed in 'tariff, we have had ours for about 10 years, its coming into its own now with the power at 30p+ per Kwh. Its supposed to be 4 Kw but I rarely get more than 2.5 but even that is useful, especially in the last couple of months. I am not allowed to charge batteries with it so am thinking of installing another system on the garage roof to give me a back up but this will be completely 'off grid' installed by me.

Peter

Mine's the same. They forgot to include it in the house price when I bought the house a few years ago. It seems that Peterborough council now own it. Used to be Gentoo (housing association spinoff of Sunderland council).
I have no idea how much it generates but guess around 4kW. The inverters and instruments are in an ridiculously awkward place.
I try and do any washing, showering, hoovering and the like during the day to take advantage of them and have idle musings of adding batteries that will never come to anything.
Had a bit of a surprise at my consumption last month, highest this year.
When I was doing the slide copying I had the stereo on, that consumes ridiculous amounts of power and cleverly left it on for a few days, hidden behind the projector screen. Also had #1 son here and watched a few DVDs. TV consumes vast amounts of power too (plasma) and the sound is piped through the stereo too.
Naturally this was night time so no solar boost.
Have grandson here taking half-hour showers and running the washing machine at uneconomic hours.
He did start at a suitable time but discovered that he had left a packet of snus in his pocket so had to wash it all again.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I am not allowed to charge batteries with it so am thinking of installing another system on the garage roof to give me a back up but this will be completely 'off grid' installed by me.
Peter

and if you do Peter...this thread would be a great place to tell us the nitty gritty

regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

This is a decent enough simple read through about Home Solar

https://www.hiesscheme.org.uk/renewable ... ar-panels/

Performance during the cold winter
A common misconception is that winter weather will mean lower efficiency. The opposite is often true. Though solar panels are designed to withstand average temperatures, they’re more inclined to function better when they’re cooler... since solar panels need light (not heat) from the sun, bright winter days can be highly productive. However, as the days are shorter in the winter months, production would be less than in the summer.

1. Grid-tied
Grid-tied solar PV systems are linked with the National Grid so unused electricity can be exported from the home into the grid. With the FITs coming to an end on 1st April 2019 the export tariff is being replaced by the Smart Export Guarantee. Consumers who are currently receiving export payments will not be affected.

2. Off-grid
Off-grid solar system are not attached to the grid and any electricity not used to power appliances can be stored either by heating water in a tank for domestic use or in batteries.

3. Hybrid
A hybrid solar PV system combines grid-tied and off-grid systems. Excess electricity generated can either be exported to the National Grid or stored locally.

As flexible energy develops, hybrid solar systems will enable homeowners to take advantage of emerging smart electricity tariffs. For example, storing renewable solar power in solar storage batteries and selling back to the grid when they will be paid the most for each kWh.

REgards Neil

[Peter.N.]

Thanks for the replies. My system should be 4kw as I said never seen that but I do think they need cleaning, my son is a window cleaner with the pole system, he says he will do it when it gets a bit cooler.

Myglaren

We have cut down on our energy consumption by only using appliances with heaters when the sun is shining, I have also reset the timer on our well pump for daytime rather the off peak which is also a ridiculous price. Fortunately there are only two of us here so its a bit easier to control. Our hot water and some heating comes from an oiled fired boiler which we are using very sparingly at the moment while we wait for the oil price to come down, but even at £1.00 per litre its still cheaper than electricity.

Neil

I appreciate the the panels are more efficient when cold, we are fairly high up here and there is nearly always a breeze so that should help although not with temperatures as they are at the moment! We also have a small diesel generator which is pretty efficient, if we had red diesel that could well be cheaper than the mains. Unfortunately the solar system will not operate when the generator is running, don't know how it knows the difference between the generator and the mains but it obviously does.

I know the feed in tariffs have reduced or dissapeared, I was going to enquire if I could buy my existing system but decided it would probably be cheaper to go it alone.

Peter

[Gibbo2286]

The rent a roof system becomes a bind when, if you want to sell up and move on, potential home buyers aren't keen on taking it on.

[Peter.N.]

I don't think I shall be moving from here voluntarily, we have been here for 52 years and I shall only be 98 when the contract expires.

Peter

[mickthemaverick]

I am throwing ideas around with regard to a potential solar panel installation, which in time may be combined with a wind generator or two, with a home storage system. The initial problem I am considering is the simple geographical layout of our house. If we go for relatively accepted mountings which side of the roof should they go on? Or is the idea I have sketched below feasible to give maximum exposure although the angle of incidence issues may not be ideal? Or is a tilting frame which can rock from east to west as the sun goes round a possibility? Comments from all you existing users are invited!!

Own creation

[myglaren]

This may help you decide:

[NewcastleFalcon]

One of the tips for finding the direction of your roof, without going to find that readily accessible compass is to use what 3 words.

Number 10 Downing Street does have a decent South facing roof, and the quirkily named what three words of...

Regards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

With the current weather sorting the directions is very simple. Due south is the direction of the sun at 13.00 hours (noon GMT) which is the method I've always used!!