Talk to me about solar panels.

[Cue]

I'm trying to find a use for my excess solar, but it'll all be in the summer so no use for heating. Seriously considering A2A heat pumps to complement the gas heating, with the bonus they can be used to cool in summer.

Highly recommend, especially if you don’t sleep well in the summer heat

They’re stupidly efficient too, ours has a 3.5x efficiency ratio, so for 1kw of energy you get 3.5kw of heat (because it pulls the heat out of the outside air, it’s not breaking the law of thermodynamics or anything)

 

[The Hawk]

I'm trying to find a use for my excess solar, but it'll all be in the summer so no use for heating. Seriously considering A2A heat pumps to complement the gas heating, with the bonus they can be used to cool in summer.

Highly recommend, especially if you don’t sleep well in the summer heat

They’re stupidly efficient too, ours has a 3.5x efficiency ratio, so for 1kw of energy you get 3.5kw of heat (because it pulls the heat out of the outside air, it’s not breaking the law of thermodynamics or anything)

I second that recommendation. I've had air conditioning / heat pumps (for summer cooling purposes) for over 30 years and wouldn't be without them. I started with portable units, before progressing to my first 'self-installed' built-in unit almost 20 years ago.

I upgraded my built-in units 7 years ago, with a professionally installed system. The units are installed in two rooms (one downstairs, one upstairs), but were spec'd up to allow the whole house to be cooled / heated (if the doors are left open). It's only in the last year or two that I've started to use them much for winter heating. The smaller unit has a heat efficiency rating of 4.78x and the larger unit 4.85x which, for me, has shifted the heating cost balance towards electricity.

 

[tek-monkey]

They're here, and already run into issues!

Can only fit 3 panels on the main roof, inverter minimum input spec will work with 3 on a string but it's a narrow margin, basically will only work in full sun. Instead hoping to get all 14 on the flat roof, just debating shading at the moment. Back row may get a little shade in winter, but 5 on there better than 3 up top that don't work unless in direct sunlight?

Also the third battery I added later may not fit

 

[tek-monkey]

So, roofers done in 4 hours, sparks here for 12, and after all that the inverter was dead

Felt rather bad for them, they literally just left as wanted to get it all done, but every task hit a new snag (usually down to my house) and everything ran on. Then nothing, without a spare inverter nothing they could try, so they're back tomorrow anyway.

 

[tek-monkey]

Can't get a replacement today, will be Monday

 

[tek-monkey]

Sunny today isn't it

 

[tek-monkey]

I'm up and running!

Not til 2pm though, and the brief sun had gone, meaning I was getting a paltry 120w but better than nothing I guess? Main thing is the batteries already had charge, so since 2pm we've not used anything despite cooking. We should get to run entirely from them now, meaning I pay 7.5p per kWh until the sun starts appearing again.

When I've had a proper days usage I'll have a better idea of their capabilities.

 

[The Hawk]

Good news for those that have invested in Ripple's first wind farm. Apparently they will be paid 27p per kWh next year. Hopefully, wind farm two, which I have invested in, will get a similar return, which would give an overall return on investment of well under 3 years.

I'm also looking to invest in project 3, to cover my increased usage as a result of purchasing my EV.

My target remains to get my electricity bill down to zero or less and it's starting to look achievable much more quickly than originally anticipated.

Longer term I'm hoping to get my heating across to all electric and get that down to a zero energy cost as well.

 

[tek-monkey]

Ticking over despite the clouds

 

[Manorboy]

Ticking over despite the clouds

View attachment 13339

Good Luck everything looks perfect, just need some sunlight. My panels have virtually ran my fish tank today which has 2 external pumps, heater, lights and powerhead since daylight plus the fridge freezer and slow cooker.

 

[tek-monkey]

At this time of year this graph is more important, shows I charged the batteries while off peak and used nothing else all day. You lose a little bit in the conversion but it cost me under a quid to fill them, instead of the £4+ I usually use each day.

 

[tek-monkey]

Considering the weather conditions we were doing OK for not quite 11am

 

[tek-monkey]

Interesting point I'd not considered, the inverter uses power. About 120w in fact, all day every day.

 

[c0tt0nt0p]

Just had a quote in from Neal Energy Solutions...

3.64kWh (9 x 405 watt) Total Solar Power panels
Growatt Inverter
6.5 kWh Growatt battery
Total just over £11k

Thoughts ?

 

[Lucy]

Similar to what they've said to us, but not quoted officially yet...

 

[tek-monkey]

A lot more than I paid, but things have moved since then and in the wrong direction! I ended up paying 13k for 5.6kW of panels and 15kWh of batteries, mine are Solis inverter and Fox batteries.

Be aware if a gen 1 growatt inverter you're limited to 3kW from the batteries, but I'm assuming you're only being offered a 3.6kW inverter anyway it's more an issue with bigger kit.

 

[tek-monkey]

Also, do either of you have hot water tanks or do you use combi boilers? If a hot tank ask them to add an eddi, basically siphons spare solar to the hot water rather than the pittance that is SEG (unless you're on a good octopus tariff anyway).

Any questions please feel free to ask, I feel I know way more than I need to on this subject!

 

[Lucy]

We've got a combi. Octopus are coming to install the EV charger next week as OH was fed up of chasing Neal, but once that's done we'll look into solar again. We're on Economy 7 but think moving to the EV tariff will be better...

 

[The Hawk]

Having been let down by my battery installer (a company which has gone from excellent to poor reviews in 6 months), after cancelling that contract I am now having a rethink. One of the issues, I had, was that my plans, in totality, were taking me very close to exceeding a 100A load at times. Taking the separate home battery out of the equation, will keep me below that.

My current thinking is, in 2023, to expand my Ripple holding, especially as the pay back period is not much over 2 years at present.

I am also exploring, upgrading my EV, probably next year, to one with bidirectional charging.

I am also still looking at installing an electric night storage combi boiler, when they come onto the market later this year / early next year.

 

[tek-monkey]

Having been let down by my battery installer (a company which has gone from excellent to poor reviews in 6 months), after cancelling that contract I am now having a rethink. One of the issues, I had, was that my plans, in totality, were taking me very close to exceeding a 100A load at times. Taking the separate home battery out of the equation, will keep me below that.

My current thinking is, in 2023, to expand my Ripple holding, especially as the pay back period is not much over 2 years at present.

I am also exploring, upgrading my EV, probably next year, to one with bidirectional charging.

I am also still looking at installing an electric night storage combi boiler, when they come onto the market later this year / early next year.

Are you thinking of removing the battery completely, as I'd say a battery was essential nowadays? I'm guessing you also have an EV, and you're talking about night charging? If so there are longer tariffs you could spread the charging out on?

I looked at Ripple, and was interested, but decided on solar as it removed the need at source rather than a payback method plus the repayment window was rather delayed. As prices have changed though I may regret that decision.