Excess PV Electricity

JonMac

I recently watched a US home restoration program where the home owners intend to have a net zero annual usage of electricity from the grid.
I may have misunderstood but I think their meter ran backward when exporting to the grid; don't think it was a feed-in tariff.
Any hints of a plan like that here? I would think the Green party would be keen, as more of us would instal PV.

xl500

This is a buyback scheme where a smart meter works out import and export and bills accordingly

There was a pilot scheme here a few years ago but it was discontinued this is definitely the way to go imagine all the power could be generated if people and industries were encouraged to install PV

Hopefully with Greens in it might but this government is looking decidedly shaky

unkel

JonMac wrote: »

the home owners intend to have a net zero annual usage of electricity from the grid.

And this is pretty easy and cheap to accomplish. An average home in Ireland uses 3.5MWh of electricity per year. Just 10-12 PV panels facing south will generate this per year.

It's cheaper to give the power away than to keep it. Size your system accordingly.
ESB are great with excuses. Step up lads.

JonMac

Could you please explain how that works after dark in the Winter?

Markcheese

unkel wrote: »

And this is pretty easy and cheap to accomplish. An average home in Ireland uses 3.5MWh of electricity per year. Just 10-12 PV panels facing south will generate this per year.

Yeah but not necessarily when you need it , and every one else with solar panels is pretty much generating at the same time ...
In saying that things like air-con are becoming increasingly common in Ireland ,and pv is great for countering that ... And I suppose that pv also produces most while wind in Ireland produces least , so it's a handy offset ..

unkel

Markcheese wrote: »

Yeah but not necessarily when you need it

Indeed but that is what the OP is asking about. They stated "Net zero annual usage of electricity from the grid". Unfortunately we do not have net metering in Ireland.

Markcheese wrote: »

and every one else with solar panels is pretty much generating at the same time

Only a few thousand houses in Ireland have a substantial PV array. This is not an issue until about a million houses do Even if net metering was introduced tomorrow, this million would take at least a decade, at which time plenty of PV would actually be desirable on the grid (as we will likely have far more storage in the form of home attached and grid attached batteries, hundreds of thousands EVs, etc.)