Solar Panel Energy

[TigerTedd]

4 hours ago, Gritstone Ram said:

I heard they were only around 25% efficient 10 years ago. Technology has come on and they are lot more efficient now days. I was just thinking with the cost of energy going up it might be more cost effective in the future, however, I took out a 30 month fixed rate with EDF last month before all these price rises came in. I have looked at the cheapest fixed rate now and it £50 a month more now. So I have a couple of years to think about it but the costs of the panels might go up too.

I was worried that tech would get better later, so maybe I should wait. In 25 years I don’t want to be the one with really outdated solar panels. But then I thought I could wait forever and still have the same thought. I actually like that I’ll need to upgrade the batteries every now and then, because they will get better within the 25 years. Definitely agree with don’t scrimp though, then you know you’re getting the top of the range now, that will still be good in years to come. 

we got ours from Solax (there’s a recommend a friend scheme if you’re interested).

we’ve got a south facing back garden, so the back of our roof lends itself really well to solar panels. 

[Carl Sagan]

1 hour ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

It's the future. Folk will resist it, but some form of renewable energy will ultimately have to supersede coal, oil and gas, there's no getting away from it. 

A couple of observations would be that 415 watt panels cost what 180 watt boards did just a few years back. Likewise, inverters and battery storage costs are plummeting as they become more ubiquitous. As some have pointed out, FITs (feed in tariffs) are a thing of the past, but I'd say if you look at TCO, we back in a place where solar makes sense, especially in countries where sunlight is abundant and in instances where the panels can be positioned for maximum efficiency. Bear in mind too that battery systems can also be set to draw and store electricity from the grid during off-peak hours for deployment during the higher cost hours; it's not all about the panels! 

A few words to the wise though... Do not scrimp! If you do go down the renewables route, buy the best panels you can (and the highest capacity) and don't scrimp on the other key components. And don't buy from an installer... Go straight to the distributors who will not dry-hump you on the hardware costs and will install more cheaply than third parties too. 

All sounds good advice. It's wrong and very short-sighted that feed-in tariffs are a thing of the past. And ultimately it's because of the privatization of our energy. The future is going to be communities taking over their own power generation through local smart grids.

[TigerTedd]

6 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

All sounds good advice. It's wrong and very short-sighted that feed-in tariffs are a thing of the past. And ultimately it's because of the privatization of our energy. The future is going to be communities taking over their own power generation through local smart grids.

You’ll like the new addition to my smart home. It uses so muscular science. It’s a smart toilet cleaner. 

It basically has a simple salt water insert, and then you fill the rest with water. Then it uses electrolysis to separate the sodium chloride in the salt into sodium and chlorine, which then creates bleach. So it’s like you’re own little bleach factory. Then it has a high power spray and sprays it after every flush. And it uses ai and a little motion sensor attached to the pipes, to work out when you’re toilet flushes and how often it needs to spray.

[Comrade 86]

9 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

All sounds good advice. It's wrong and very short-sighted that feed-in tariffs are a thing of the past. And ultimately it's because of the privatization of our energy. The future is going to be communities taking over their own power generation through local smart grids.

True and true. Always struck me as the height of stupidity that the big oil companies preferred to spend billions squashing new tech, lobbying and issuing spurious lawsuits than actually using some of their petrodollars to develop the what comes next' tech.

I spent some yeas in Africa deploying micro-grids to try and stimulate local economies and also to deliver education. As you've pointed out, it won't be long before those technologies become appropriate back in Blighty. 

[Boycie]

Those who get the high tariffs still, or any tariff  are getting that money from us on our non solar leckie bills!

Throw us a freakin’ bone @angieram?

[Gritstone Ram]

2 hours ago, Boycie said:

Those who get the high tariffs still, or any tariff  are getting that money from us on our non solar leckie bills!

Throw us a freakin’ bone @angieram?

Why didn’t you get some when you installed your brothers?

[Grumpy Git]

Will all you lot ditch the gas boilers as soon as possible please, so the gas price plummets and I can stay warm without robbing a bank?

[Boycie]

4 hours ago, Gritstone Ram said:

Why didn’t you get some when you installed your brothers?

What am I? an 1/2 mile extension lead electric stealing brother?

Volt drop would be significant even though I’m down hill.

Edited October 9, 2021 by Boycie
My roof is hipped and I couldn’t get enough on to make it worth while. Not that the rent a roof lot would have said that to anyone.

[TigerTedd]

So, the saga of my battery continues. The story so far:

I had my solar panels installed along with a battery. Eventually my boiler needed replacing, so I thought, rather than paying for a new boiler, I’ll use that money to offset the cost of ripping all the gas out, replacing the radiators with Infra red panels, and the hot water with thermal hot water. 

I used a guy that the solar panel guy recommended, and for various covid related reasons it was a bit of a lengthy nightmare, where we had no heating at all last winter, but eventually got done. 

however, as it was being completed the guy came to me sheepishly saying, ‘you know your current battery won’t be enough to run all these heaters. You’re going to need a bigger battery. That’s going to cost another £2k.’

to be honest, if been thinking the same, so, fine, here’s £2k. 

6 bloody months later, after some Suez Canal related issues, and the battery finally arrives. The installers get it up in the attic, only to find that the battery I have was not the battery they thought I had, so this new battery wouldn’t attach to it. 

so, back to the drawing board. The guy comes round today to discuss more options. 

again rather sheepishly, he suggests the only way out of this is to spend my way out. I need a whole new battery system. 

he could either give me my £2k refund and we call it quits. Or I go all in and pay £5k for a new super dipper battery system, that should reduce my bills to pretty much zero. 

while all this has been going on, I’ve been paying the bare minimum on my leccy bills, assuming my new battery is only a few days away, and will bring my bills down to zero. 

now my bill has been reassessed and I’m using about £180 worth a month, and have built up about £1,600 of debt on the account. So I’ve got to pay about £300 a month to chip away at that. 

If I take the refund, I’ve just enough back to cover that debt, but I’m stuck with £180 a month bills forever, because electric heaters are not cheap to run (IR is about as efficient as they get, but a gas powered boiler will always be cheaper overall). 

or I can pay, effectively net £7k, and never have to worry about bills again. 

the other selling point is that I always knew, and factors into my calculations, that I’d need to get the battery replaced every 5 years or so, because they degrade, at a cost of about £4.5-5k. This is a bit earlier than expected, but this new super dipper system has a warranty of 2 years before it would need replacing. So for £7k I can save £15k if future replacements. I can also take this system with me when I move home, so I can definitely get the full value. 

So, in the end, I’ve decided to go for it. In for a penny, in for a pound. 

I have no idea how much it will save me in the long run, as my electricity consumption will undoubtably go up knowing I have this safety net, but prices are only going to go one way too. But I should be saving a minimum of £1,500 a year against doing nothing. So the system will definitely pay for itself eventually. 

now I just wait to see if he makes good on his promise to install within a week this time (I have not paid up front this time). 

to be continued…

[Boycie]

18 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

So, the saga of my battery continues. The story so far:

I had my solar panels installed along with a battery. Eventually my boiler needed replacing, so I thought, rather than paying for a new boiler, I’ll use that money to offset the cost of ripping all the gas out, replacing the radiators with Infra red panels, and the hot water with thermal hot water. 

I used a guy that the solar panel guy recommended, and for various covid related reasons it was a bit of a lengthy nightmare, where we had no heating at all last winter, but eventually got done. 

however, as it was being completed the guy came to me sheepishly saying, ‘you know your current battery won’t be enough to run all these heaters. You’re going to need a bigger battery. That’s going to cost another £2k.’

to be honest, if been thinking the same, so, fine, here’s £2k. 

6 bloody months later, after some Suez Canal related issues, and the battery finally arrives. The installers get it up in the attic, only to find that the battery I have was not the battery they thought I had, so this new battery wouldn’t attach to it. 

so, back to the drawing board. The guy comes round today to discuss more options. 

again rather sheepishly, he suggests the only way out of this is to spend my way out. I need a whole new battery system. 

he could either give me my £2k refund and we call it quits. Or I go all in and pay £5k for a new super dipper battery system, that should reduce my bills to pretty much zero. 

while all this has been going on, I’ve been paying the bare minimum on my leccy bills, assuming my new battery is only a few days away, and will bring my bills down to zero. 

now my bill has been reassessed and I’m using about £180 worth a month, and have built up about £1,600 of debt on the account. So I’ve got to pay about £300 a month to chip away at that. 

If I take the refund, I’ve just enough back to cover that debt, but I’m stuck with £180 a month bills forever, because electric heaters are not cheap to run (IR is about as efficient as they get, but a gas powered boiler will always be cheaper overall). 

or I can pay, effectively net £7k, and never have to worry about bills again. 

the other selling point is that I always knew, and factors into my calculations, that I’d need to get the battery replaced every 5 years or so, because they degrade, at a cost of about £4.5-5k. This is a bit earlier than expected, but this new super dipper system has a warranty of 2 years before it would need replacing. So for £7k I can save £15k if future replacements. I can also take this system with me when I move home, so I can definitely get the full value. 

So, in the end, I’ve decided to go for it. In for a penny, in for a pound. 

I have no idea how much it will save me in the long run, as my electricity consumption will undoubtably go up knowing I have this safety net, but prices are only going to go one way too. But I should be saving a minimum of £1,500 a year against doing nothing. So the system will definitely pay for itself eventually. 

now I just wait to see if he makes good on his promise to install within a week this time (I have not paid up front this time). 

to be continued…

Ever felt like a guinea pig mate?

[TigerTedd]

1 hour ago, Boycie said:

Ever felt like a guinea pig mate?

Yes. I fear this is the fate of anyone who steps up to be an early adopter. It’s all a bit of a risk and a gamble. But I’ll have super smug face if it pays off. 

although what’ll probably happen is, if my system ends up being the bees knees, the government will eventually jump on it and subsidise the poo out of it, and everyone else will end up getting it for half the price I did. 

And test bunnies (we don’t use Guinea pigs in our house, they tend to get eaten) like me will get no credit or thanks for going through tribulations for proving the concept.