Solar cloudy cutoff switch for storage heaters

[george [dicegeorge]]

What king of device could turn on the power to an electric storage heater only when its sunny and my solar panels are exporting energy to the grid?

[george]

[The Natural Philosopher]

Try a Greene King

[Andrew Gabriel]

Assuming you're on FIT, this is extremely expensive because you will be losing 43p/unit that you put into your storage heaters, but it will only cost you low rate (no idea, 6p/unit ?) to run them at night on E7.

I know that sounds stupid, but it's because of the frigged solar panel scheme - you are being paid much more for your solar energy than it's worth. You need to minimize your own energy consumption when the panels are generating, and try to use energy when they aren't.

If you really want to heat the house using solar, you need to use solar water heating into a thermal store. That way you are making much more efficient use of the energy, because you aren't going through the phase to convert it to electricity, which is very inefficient in solar panels.

[Andy Burns]

That's not how it works AFAIK, the 43p is paid for generating it, not exporting it (there's a small additional payment for that), he could have solar powered 500W halogens lights in his garden and be paid to run them while the sun shines...

[Andrew Gabriel]

Actually, I think you may be right..

[Martin Brown]

The FIT is even more barking mad than it seems at first sight then.

Using solar power to drive resistive electric storage heaters should forfeit all FIT subsidies on the PV electricity used that way!

The daft government produced a system for PV that provides a perverse incentive not to install the one sort of solar powered water heating kit that does actually give a decent (well better) true ROI.

[Dave Liquorice]

could

Yep.

Even more barking when you find out that if you don't have a fully metered system you are deemed to export 50% of what you generate and get the extra 3p/unit export rate for that 50%.

So you can use all the PV electricity lighting halogen lamps in your back yard during the day and get paid the 43p/unit FiT for all those units *and* extra 3p/unit of 50%.

[george [dicegeorge]]

Yes, but they are inventing a meter which measures how much you put back in the grid so this last dodge will not be possible. Labour invented the FIT scheme to encourage solar panels, but left a few loopholes. [george]

[mogga]

people discussing same sort of thing on there

[The Other Mike]

You could also point the halogen lights at the solar panels and 'boost' the output.

[Dave Liquorice]

You wouldn't want to do that. The extra power generated would push the voltage up too high and blow the bulbs. B-)

[xiaotomok]

you need solar panels?

we can provide you the panels

[Brian Gaff]

And our Panel said, EE ork. Brian