Solar pv and other domestic micro-generation technologies
2 lurkers |
27 watchers
Jan 2023
2:48pm, 13 Jan 2023
19,993 posts
|
larkim
No, no FIT for us. We did a "rent a roof" scheme where a company (EDF in this case) bought and paid for the kit and installation, "rent" our roof from us (at nil cost) and they get all of the FIT benefit. All we get out of it is the right to use the energy generated from the roof before it heads back out into the grid, or supplements the mains input. It still benefits us, and overall we wanted it in place because we felt that if there could be solar on our house then it would be a small input that we could support in reducing demand on the grid. |
Jan 2023
6:12pm, 13 Jan 2023
97,902 posts
|
Hanneke
Whereas here, we have at least weekly.power cuts, most of them intermittent as in they fry whatever you are doing and just as you lit the oil lamps from the porch, it comes back on. We have regular long power cuts too, as in hours, 12 hours up to 48 hours. We have been linked to emergency generators before! Between that and a 4 day water outage before Xmas and a 2 day one over Christmas, are you surprised I am wanting to go off grid? It isn't going to improve anytime soon! I will not link into the grid with my future system! I may have to keep paying a standing charge though, in case I need to flick the switch to the grid. We have just had 6 weeks of darkness! Today was the first proper sunny day and my Passiv building has warmed up to 15. It is just above freezing outside... |
|
Jan 2023
6:18pm, 13 Jan 2023
97,903 posts
|
Hanneke
Right: Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) I am actively looking into a wind & solar system with backup generator. I am fortunate in that my Passiv building is an agricultural workshop on agricultural land. This makes obtaining planning easier! However: I am overlooked by Offa's Dyke path and on the boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park and within the curtilage, i.e. on the edge, of a village. Idea is to run a fully off grid power generation system that also operates the pump for the borehole once I have drilled for water. At my old farm, we were stuck at those frequent power cuts, because the water pump would not work, so we had a generator system installed that would kick in. We then also.installed solar panels, with a lucrative grant and feed in tarriff. The ex still has all this. When drilling for water, I may just slam a ground source heat system into the ground too... If not too much bedrock encountered. |
Jan 2023
7:22pm, 13 Jan 2023
828 posts
|
Jenelopy
Thanks for starting this thread, I'll be following with interest! We currently have an old (~20yr) solar hot water system that came with the old house. A new solar PV system is on our list for our PassivHaus - but still working out specs and location. It will work better not sited on the house roof, but on the remains of our old house, once we've turned it into sheds. Things are slightly different in NZ I think, we don't have the feed-in tarrifs and ~80% of the countries electricity is from renewables. The biggest thing we need to work out how best to deal with is that solar PV systems by default do NOT work when there is a power cut. We get power cuts moderately often (caused by storms). Only had one last year, but some years can have several which last from a few hours to overnight. |
Jan 2023
10:33am, 14 Jan 2023
166 posts
|
dobbers
ThorntonRunner had solar panels since 2011 and never done any maintenance at all so never had a care package. Only change made since install is last year we fitted netting around the base of the panels as some pigeons started to roost under them. |
Jan 2023
10:40am, 14 Jan 2023
9,428 posts
|
Eynsham Red
Only change made since install is last year we fitted netting around the base of the panels as some pigeons started to roost under them. We had a big problem with pigeons and had a steel mesh fitted around our panels. |
Jan 2023
12:54pm, 14 Jan 2023
45,244 posts
|
HappyG(rrr)
We didn't get offered it by solar panel seller, but their contract installer (basically roofing guys) offered it for cash in hand, cheaper than the solar guys, so we took it. So much wind here - not much sun!  G
|
|
Jan 2023
1:08pm, 14 Jan 2023
97,948 posts
|
Hanneke
Same here Happy, hence looking into the combo...
|
|
Jan 2023
1:36pm, 14 Jan 2023
45,246 posts
|
HappyG(rrr)
Keep me posted on what technology you go for Hann. And also how you get on with planning permission. We have a business running here (wife's horse training and also we are officially a "farm"). But I'm hoping to just site it 100 metres from our boundaries (we've got quite a lot of land) which will hopefully be within "permitted development". I just resent paying council £500 just to tell me it is "permitted". The Tesup vertical turbine that I posted link to is 4kW peak output. Because wind blows for longer, I'm thinking that peak power isn't so important. Even if it's only 2 or 3kW, if wind is blowing for 12 hours a day (or more, up here!) that's 20-30kWh a day. That's way more than the solar will do. And in winter too! G
|
Jan 2023
1:42pm, 14 Jan 2023
19,170 posts
|
rf_fozzy
Issue with miniturbines is (a) getting them high enough (hence planning a pain) and (b) there is some evidence (albeit now dated and possibly no longer true) that small turbines don't even make the embodied co2 back. I'm sceptical about their use unless you have significant land or a farm. Most properties it's a non starter. Go solar. Cheaper and easier. |
Related Threads
-
Electric car anyone?
Dec 2024
-
The Environment Thread :-)
Dec 2024
-
Reusable/collapsible water cups
Oct 2024
-
Reducing single-use/disposable plastic
Sep 2024
-
The Green Runners
Apr 2024
-
Today I will consume mindfully...
Apr 2024
-
Journey to Zero Waste
Jan 2024
-
Greta Thunberg - JFK for the Climate Generation?
Oct 2022
-
Preventing Food Waste Ideas
Dec 2021
-
Dear Fetch litter picking xtraining category for Wombles please
Nov 2021