Random Renewables Thread

Total for today was 4.8kWh. I'm really benefitting as someone cut down the large trees across the road that were blocking out sun for about an hour. Every day in December so far has been 4-5kWh. So, not covering my usage , let alone charging the car. However I have 20 odd panels on my roof for the 8kWp, and room for another 10 in that aspect. Plenty of space in front that doesnt get used either, so ideal for ground mounting. I do think it would be perfectly feasible to get to treble my existing array, or 24kWp approx, without any issues other than finding the funding! If you treble that 4-5kWh you're getting into the territory of covering my daily usage. So then I'd need to add some more for buffer, and then to cover charging the car.

Yes I agree it's not easy and not for everyone, but I'm going to give this a good go. I firmly believe it is possible to be 12 months off grid in Ireland. I also - as I mentioned earlier - have a possibility to add a natural hydro generator to supplement but I do believe that it wont be needed.

People mention ESB limits etc. The only limit is the max inverter on single phase on an NC6 connection meaning that you can only connect a 6kW inverter to the grid. You can have 40kW of inverters in the house but if only one 6kW is grid connected then you're fine. There is no limit on the number or power of panels you can have.

Ohh completely doable - have always said that, and (to be clear) ....I for one am routing for you. My comments sound like I'm negative, I'm not - only stating some realities I think which doesn't make sense.

Going at the very generous (these days) €1k/1Kwp your talking about adding 20Kwp or so, or the ballpark of €20K. Probably closer to €25K with wiring/ground mounts etc. This also brings you into the territory of 3 phase inverters and as unkel has found, sometimes difficult to source - get people to work on etc. ESB limits do matter as while what you say is totally correct about if you only have 6Kw inverter exporting your kosher i, but then your not going to be getting the FIT benifits for 20-30Kwp during the summer which reduces your overall payback timeline. So you'll be on NC7 and even at that ESB may turn around and limit you to 11Kw (depends a little on what your local substation can handled in the reverse direction)

Setting up the panels for winter time will mean that you massively (massively) over produce in summertime. I'd hazzard a guess at 200-250Kwhr/day. Unless your exporting that, your not really utilizing the panels.

On the flip side, I'd imagine that for €10-15K you'd get a professional installed 5Kw turbine which would be making good power for many of the darker days. Assuming your site has good wind resources - of course.

The goal is admirable to be fair, but spending €25K+ to save €200-300/year seems on the winter months (Nov-Feb) ..... is odd. I'm not always for payback timelines on solar. Sure it's a good way to get new people on board, but in this case I don't see the benefit other than to tick a box that your offgrid.

@ELM327 - "so all I'm paying for really is the night rate usage."

Indeed, I'm pretty much the same myself. But that's where my ambitions stop really, I've no further room to extend, if I had, I would probably look into a commercial PV install (for export / FIT)

@ELM327 - "I'm likely to never have an electricity bill again"

Not sure how you figure that one out? You will still have to pay for a lot of night rate units and this will not be offset by FIT, even if you had a smart meter. When you take income tax into account. A 14c FIT is reduced to 7c income after (50%) marginal tax, which is less than you'd pay for night rate electricity. So even if you produce more PV over the year than you use, you will still have a bill. Not only in terms of unit costs, but also the full standing charge. Until you go off grid of course and have your grid connection disconnected 😁

I'm following your progress with interest though, you've come a long way, very quickly!

WFH relief is separate. I already reviewed registering for individual/sole trader for tax reasons when I was starting a side hussle - sidelined for a while now.

If you use your own car you can expense 12.5% of the value * the percentage of commercial use.

Therefore for PV if I'm getting taxed on the income it's absolutely carrying out a trade. And I will expense the money spent on PV multiplied by the percentage of non self use generation as an expense, if they try get me for tax on it at all that is.

I think if that;'s the requirement you may need two meters (and two standing charges).

Similar to the fuel allowance setup.

I don't think so. 200W panels haven't been sold for about 10 years and there's none for sale. Have a look yourself on DD or adverts. Most people get a PV install done, and that's it. They leave it well alone forever. And why wouldn't they? Efficiency has only increased a tiny bit over those 10 years. From about 15% to a bit over 20% and there is barely any degrading on panels.

Only some eejits like you and me like to upgrade and stick bigger panels on after a few years 😂

Last summer was much better than average for PV, if your installer can sell you panels with an efficiency of 27% instead of the rated 21% for the same price, he would be a billionaire by now 😂

Efficiency of panels is going up by about a single percentage point every few years. People are tricked into believing progress is much higher because the panels for sale are increasingly higher wattage. But they are also increasingly bigger. It's like cheating!

Depends. Can you do all the work yourself and at what price are you buying the new stuff and selling the old stuff. Personally I have upgraded several times and bought new higher efficiency panels and sold my old panels for more € per kwp than I bought the new ones.

Also unless you are extremely tight for roof space, the best panel imho is not the most efficient panel. But the panel that is cheapest to buy per kwp.

LOL - for a minute there I thought it was "Ozzy man reviews" (look it up on google)

That's interesting as I have that exact micro-inverter, thanks Graeme

Yes and also got my One4All card today. It has zero value for now but if you answer more than half of those messages you will get €30 on it.

Gotta love winter sun in Ireland. Producing a ton of PV today, washing machine and dryer running all day, heaters (mining rigs) on to pump a lot of heat into the house. And battery near full, still charging at the moment (after it took a hit from all that washing from 8AM this morning)

I for one will be using pretty much zero electricity from the grid during the 15 day rate / peak hours. Or during this "peak event". As I do most days although sometimes I run out (20kWh battery, soon somewhere between 30-42kWh) but that is more because of mis (micro) management or mistakes. Will need to do some more automation here as it is taking up too much of my time. I don't mind, but still...

Yeah I saw the one a few weeks ago. Very skeptical too. Your man is good for following for getting new ideas and technologies but he's not that practical.

Yeah, it's a good message alright. And it will make me reduce the usage for those peak hours. I'm on a 24hr meter (so no cost difference) but still good to remind me the be kind to the grid when it's heavy demand. The expected demand for today is close to the all-time high which was this day in 2020 (only 150MW lower today). EirGrid Group plc - Smart Grid Dashboard

@DC999 - "I'm on a 24hr meter"

Any reason for that? For anyone using at least a third in night rate hours, it is already generally cheaper to get a day / night meter. It is free to get one installed. And if you have an EV and / or battery and / or try and use appliances at night and / or have even a small PV setup, it's a total no brainer

You will save a lot of money and a lot of emissions by using as much night rate electricity as possible, also stabilising the grid that will need more and more of that while total national electricity consumption is going up by 10% per year or more every year for the foreseeable future (while we transition away from fossil fuels)

If you're on a 24 hour meter then you're on the list to be changed over to a smart meter at some point regardless of whether you've solar or not

D/N meters aren't able to switched to smart meters, so if you switch to one now you won't get a smart meter until ESBN sort out the issues moving them over

I'd look closely at getting a D/N meter, you should still get your deemed export and Energia's EV plan is the cheapest night rate going

If you have a battery too you can charge it from the night rate and use it to offset some daytime usage on these dim winter days

Might as well get the free €30. A little reward for the many of us who promote renewable energy and energy awareness in our circles.

They know I'm on the cutting edge. That must be the reason I get all those communications first. And the giftcard of course.

So with gas prices easing off their all time highs for now, where do we reckon electricity prices will go over the next few months?

FWIW, my prediction is that gas prices will drop slightly but increase again in spring and Europe starts trying to refill storage. On top of that China easing COVID lockdowns and reopening their economy will drive demand for energy. So long term prices will stay high but might not reach the peaks they were at this year

So I think some of the smaller companies like Energia will drop prices a bit to undercut the competition and try and tempt a few people over, but we'll see high electricity prices into 2023, at least compared to 2020 prices

We're seeing inflation easing off, but it's still positive which means prices are still going up. There's talk of Europe entering a recession next year which may put downward pressure on prices, but that's unlikely to affect energy prices in the short term

What does everyone else think?

My Bord Gais discounts end in Feb. 29% on electricity and pretty high on gas also.

My usage is mostly shifted into the 2-5am cheap rate I have at just under 8.69c/kWh. Only saving grace in Feb/March is the payment that they're supposed to give for the export. I'm not seeing any suitable tariffs to move onto and not sure what they'd be offering now in the way of discounts.