End of domestioc solar power in UK?

[bert]

In article [e-mail]>, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> writes

Only to someone who doesn't understand the grid.

[alan_m]

The ones the greenies are suggesting that we adopt so we can close down all nuclear gas and coal generation.

[Tim Streater]

D'ye think that, at this time of year, *anyone* is going to have "excess solar power"?

I'm also minded to wonder what a battery pack, large enough to run the house and its heating for a few days, is going to weigh and how big it will be. I can't see many people being willing to sacrifice a room to house this stuff, or pay for the floor to be strengthened if upstairs, or being willing to go to sleep in a house containing such kit. Seems like a major fire hazard to me.

[T i m]

<snip>

A lot bigger than the half a 6' x 19" rackmount cabinet my cousin has in the IoW.

And (all) why they generally put them in a garage or outbuilding.

I think cous has 4 x 1KWh's worth of battery but I don't think that's enough for much, even after a good few days of sun.

I think he has the deal where they supply the panels and take the FIT and he gets the free electric. Not sure about the batteries though.

I'll have to ask him for the stats now OOI.

Cheers, T i m

[harry]

The cost of Solar panels has fallen massively since mine were installed.

There WERE a lot of cowboy installers back then in spite of government regulation.

[harry]

That is a nonsensical statement.

[T i m]

<snip>

What bit(s) confuse you harry, I'll see if I can try to translate it into left brainer speak?

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

I know if one locally who has done the latter.

Either the various restrictions on cold calling are working or they have stopped trying to 'push' Solar installations, here anyway.

Cheers, T i m

[charles]

someone (Musk?) suggested the batteries be used a s then walls of the house.

[Chris J Dixon]

They have moved on and are trying to sell insurance for existing inverters, or air/air heat exchangers.

Chris

[tim...]

452 x 483 x 227 75 Kilos

[mechanic]

When you have surplus energy happens to coincide with the same situation for everyone else, so the spot price of energy will be very low.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Tell me, bert. What is the point in trains using regenerative braking if it's impossible to feed back into a grid?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

OK. Hopefully everyone will then get cheap electricity when the sun's shining? ;-) As there's no demand?

[tabbypurr]

75kg of lead acids running a house's heating for a few days is just funny. It wouldn't even run the other stuff.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No.

Its just that its the chance to deliver cheaper electricty to an electorate that is totally bored with climate change.

Of course the big wind and solar farms are still trading ROCS. You can sell a ROC for about £50/Mwh, and the electricity for the same again.

So e.g. a big windfarm will chanre about 10p a unit whoselale - aboytr duble tha gas, and te gas balancer will charge a fair buit nore than tey would have to cover the costs of keeping plant runniung that is on reduced duty cycles due to being displaced by wind. Say another 3p.

So in reality adding wind power is at a wholesale cost of around 13p,

3.5-4 times the cost of gas or nuclear. And of course its remote so needs extra transmission costs added. Call it 4 - 5 times the cost.

Now do you see why leaving the EU and phasing out renewable obligations and phasing in nuclear is something the EU is so scared of?

We could end up with industrial level electricity 1/3rd the price of say Germany.

[The Natural Philosopher]

What cheap eco-friendly batteries would those be, then?

[The Natural Philosopher]

I did some calcs. 5 grand of lead acid was a decent sort of pack. A 75Ah battery is say £75, so that is 12Wh/£. For £5k around 60KWh..I reckoned that would be something that would enable you to switch completely to off peak . Wouldn't keep you going on solar power through the winter though. Or do heating.

And not sonethig Id car to drop a screwdriver across either.

With a battery life of say 10 years thats £500 a year. I use around £1000 leccy a year and going full on cheap ratee would maybe save £200 a year.

Not f****ng worth it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You would do similar to an oil tank. Have an isolated slightly remote situation with a LOT of building regs involeved. Mind you my (German) sister has a Li-ion back in the garage where the solar panel control gear is. They have swallowed the eco shit hook line and sinker.

Hope it doesnt kill them when it catches fire

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Remind us of the guaranteed price per unit we were going to pay the Chinese for that nuclear power plant?