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Solar energy

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By *andm288 OP   Couple
over a year ago

oxford

Hi guys

After some advice / feedback

We are looking @ putting in a 4kw solar panel system

We have been surveyed and all is good south facing roof no shading etc

The company is offering a battery back up system so that we can use free power in the evenings when the panels are not generating any power

So in essence let's say we generate 4kw per hour in good conditions average day light in summer approx 10 equates to 40kwh

Some will be exported back to the grid after the 5kw batteries have been topped up then in the evening we use the electric stored in the battery any guys know anything ref solar & lion batteries ?

Appreciate any help / advice

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By *riskynriskyCouple
over a year ago

Essex.

Don't know if it will help but there is a website called build it solar.

It about diy solar projects but it has loads of technical info...

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

http://www.bimblesolar.com/solar

This company gives great advice... have a look and do your research before buying..

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By *elvet RopeMan
over a year ago

by the big field

Certainly not a solar expert, but I know batteries have a fairly short life cycle for their relatively high unit cost, which is why some people have looked at using an air compressor for energy storage. Solar power runs a special compressor through the day and then it's released to drive a genny after dark. You'll have to dig round for how well this system works though.

If you're looking for efficient heating/cooling as your main saving, look at the air source heat pump systems. Rather pricey to install so you need to be in a house that you'll stay in long term or that will support the higher sale cost to recoup the investment at sale time but the efficiency is in the 90% window last time I looked into them (assuming you have a well insulated house) and the running cost for the average 3 bed was less than £100 pa

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

We looked into the battery bank and it's a great big waste of time unless they've come down in price or become better at power output.

Basically although it stores the power it could not supply it back in a great enough wattage to power any of the major appliances like washer or kettle in the evening. Due to that the fancy switching gear would still draw all that power needed from the grid, it cant do half and half and the batteries aren't powerful enough for much more than a trickle feed. Added to that the lifespan was only 5 years it was too big an outlay for benefit... by quite some way. Essentially then all it was doing was covering your lights and telly which are really low pull and also really low energy users too. It would cost far more to pay for the battery bank then it ever would have saved.

Before you go ahead please check what power it can supply and compare that to your appliances as unless it's changed its a total waste of money. You would never save enough electric to cover the cost... perhaps different if you have storage heaters... We are gas central heating so wouldn't know.

We instead spent money converting all our lighting to led and since we are on gu10 throughout the house it cost a bit but has truly made a difference.

With regard to the panels. We installed when the feed in tariff was still high (43p) so we get a great return on the panels. I'm not sure what the feed in tariff or cost of an installation is any more but I thought the big benefits had been lost.

Also the feed in is all linked to the installation remaining unchanged and at the same property for 25 years. Ours were self funded within 5 years due to our high feed in tariff. You need to be sure you won't be moving soon or you're paying for something you leave behind or will cost you to move and will prob cost more than any benefit.

I adore my panels and they do provide a great reduction in electric bills but if it wasn't for my feed in tariff they would not have been worth it financially as that reduction wouldn't have paid for the system quickly enough and I'd have been as well putting the money into a savings account.

Solar is great but pls make sure you aren't paying out with no chance of return.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Certainly not a solar expert, but I know batteries have a fairly short life cycle for their relatively high unit cost, which is why some people have looked at using an air compressor for energy storage. Solar power runs a special compressor through the day and then it's released to drive a genny after dark. You'll have to dig round for how well this system works though.

If you're looking for efficient heating/cooling as your main saving, look at the air source heat pump systems. Rather pricey to install so you need to be in a house that you'll stay in long term or that will support the higher sale cost to recoup the investment at sale time but the efficiency is in the 90% window last time I looked into them (assuming you have a well insulated house) and the running cost for the average 3 bed was less than £100 pa"

We looked into this however at the time if you were on gas mains then you didn't get the right grants to make it worth while. Not sure if those grants still exist.

The main problem we found was not only would we be buying the system it was the difficulties fitting into a house with no water tank as on gas central heating etc.

However we are looking at changing the boiler in a couple of years anyway... so at that point we would revisit this and see if it was worth it for our heating system. I'm going to guess not as we mainly heat through the multi fuel stove so our gas usage is low anyway.

I really want this to be worth while though. Much prefer the idea of almost off grid... almost

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Hi guys

After some advice / feedback

We are looking @ putting in a 4kw solar panel system

We have been surveyed and all is good south facing roof no shading etc

The company is offering a battery back up system so that we can use free power in the evenings when the panels are not generating any power

So in essence let's say we generate 4kw per hour in good conditions average day light in summer approx 10 equates to 40kwh

Some will be exported back to the grid after the 5kw batteries have been topped up then in the evening we use the electric stored in the battery any guys know anything ref solar & lion batteries ?

Appreciate any help / advice "
.

I've got a 12 kW system that I installed myself about 6 years ago, works great, never had any problems,i think I've only paid for electric twice in those 6 years.

Didn't bother with the battery system for various reasons from cost, cycle life, storage capacity... Never felt it worth it! But they've come on a bit since I did mine.

I've also got grey water system, source pumps, solar water... initial cost was quite high but we were completely rebuilding the house at the time and we've never had a utility bill in six years.

And that's a great selling point to if we ever decide to sell

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By *elvet RopeMan
over a year ago

by the big field

The air source pump lives outside and is usually about the size of an aircon unit or small fridge and works in a similar way to a fridge using heat exchange- with the added bonus of being able to reverse the flow so you can swap hot for cold in the 2 days of British summer

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"The air source pump lives outside and is usually about the size of an aircon unit or small fridge and works in a similar way to a fridge using heat exchange- with the added bonus of being able to reverse the flow so you can swap hot for cold in the 2 days of British summer "
.

I've got mine in the loft, well insulated to the house and lots of air vents, works brilliant

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By *andm288 OP   Couple
over a year ago

oxford

Thanks guys keep please ideas coming

It's a new build so well insulated will check output of batteries & see what they can run

Thanks again

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By *ootballFlowerCouple
over a year ago

Ollerton


"Hi guys

After some advice / feedback

We are looking @ putting in a 4kw solar panel system

We have been surveyed and all is good south facing roof no shading etc

The company is offering a battery back up system so that we can use free power in the evenings when the panels are not generating any power

So in essence let's say we generate 4kw per hour in good conditions average day light in summer approx 10 equates to 40kwh

Some will be exported back to the grid after the 5kw batteries have been topped up then in the evening we use the electric stored in the battery any guys know anything ref solar & lion batteries ?

Appreciate any help / advice "

Search for some books by a guy called Mike Boxwell. He has written plenty of information about solar power. I used to work with this bloke and he is mad but a bloody genius when it comes to this stuff.

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