Random Renewables Thread

In Ireland the required storage is actually very low, one of the lowest in the world. Presuming of course we get more wind and solar installed first. Tony Seba has shown the figures for several countries - of hours or days storage needed.

Storage can take many different forms BTW. Chemical batteries is only one of them, but it is getting better and cheaper all the time. I believe it is now substantially cheaper to install than pumped hydro, or interconnectors

I hunted high and low for the microgenerate rate reduction, finally found it in their updated tariffs beginning July'24

https://www.sseairtricity.com/assets/Tariffs/ROI/Future/1YR-ELEC-15-NightBoost.pdf

here is a comparison of the previous and newest tarriffs from SSE (for NightBoost only)

I'm hoping your right, although I have my suspicions. It's your typical supply/demand model. Price is cheap when demand is low and there's a good supply. This has worked to Octopus's and others benifit over the last number of years as we've seen the usage low at 3am etc. and the famous negative prices, where they are paying YOU to use electricity. It seems like it shouldn't be true, but it is!

Fast forward a couple of years and if we've say a million EV's soaking up power at 2am and the likes, the demand is there and while it's great to get a more stable load, I'm wondering if we'll continue to have these cheap zones.

Again, hoping your right….

In theory I'd get away with it but I would have to be careful not to run it when other heavy appliances are in use

Yeah, I'm familiar with Tony Seba and his "s" curves. I do think that it will happen, but the timeline is hard to see happening in 10-20 years. But yeah, his point is always that once the "tipping point" has been reached, then adoption grows exponentially……

We live in hope, but then you see articles from other countries with large solar penetration that have effectively zero FIT rates, as they've so much solar they don't want anymore being added. Negative pricing is cool, but if they take away the good FIT that may be net zero change - if you know what I mean.

Electric shower, 4 rings on hob, heatpump and car charger are much more likely to be 6 to 8 kwh. Decent Electric showers (i.e, actual warm water at a modest flow rate in winter), are voracious consumers, typically 8kwh. A practical installed car charger should provide 7kwh, even the tiddlers can pull 3.5. All rings on, on a quality large hob is close to 7kwh. Induction hobs are more efficient, but expensive and you need new pots'npans. If you want a heatpump to be able to heat and maintain house temperature in really cold weather, practically you'll need about 7-8kwh in and hope it COPs on to 2.5 to 3 times that output. Undersizing any of the above will frustrate you in the end, and an undersized HP will rob you unless your house is real insulation A rated.

Without a doubt you'd be shuffling consumption. I'd read that people looking for two electric showers (and often the power shower variety, 10.5 kw), would have to settle for exclusive switched supply wiring, only one on at a time. Extend this to a heatpump and a 7.5 charger, and you could be in trouble. There are people in well built but not deep retrofit bungalows who would need an output of 25kw to bring the house up the heat in a modest time frame. I had my 22kw boiler serviced last winter, the chap said it was way too small for a 2000m² bungalow, true enough in the more extreme winter days, running almost constantly. He said 35kw should be used.

To use a lower heat input source would require a Deep retrofit, almost a demolition, to line inner walls, (the outside is brick), dig up floors for UFH and deeper insulation, replace all the large double glaze, with the superior stuff, heat exchange ventilation and sealed increased attic insulation. I doubt even €100k would do all that, especially all the kitchen/bedroom/bathroom exterior wall fitments, tiling, plaster cornice and cabinets that would need to come down. In that context the current insulation spec has limited scope for improvement. The idea that a 3.5kw input heatpump could heat, or reheat after a days absence, a common house like this is ludicrous. Might as well demolish and rebuild an A+. I'll probably top up the attic, original 10" has settled substantially since the previous owner had it pumped in, circa 1999.

I do know the difference between kw and kwh, the autofill likes to correct and add the h.

Heat pump efficiency is not as widely effected by insulation as is made out. They've been used to heat marquee tents after all!

What impacts efficiency most is the flow temperature, which can be reduced by sizing the heat emitters and piping correctly. This is the single-most important factor in designing an efficient heat pump-driven heating system, not building insulation.

Anyone here that can send me a copy of their nc6 done for a sunsynk 5.5kw hybrid, trying to help a friend out.

Needs to be the new form, when I did mine it was a one pager but they changed since, asking for more info now.

Which ones did you buy and do they have any HA integration?

Did you use a heat alarm or smoke alarm in the attic? The guide says heat alarm, same as a kitchen. I assume it's because the attic is prone to dust which would cause false alarms

Not sure if they thought about an inverter and battery, hopefully I never find out either way

Does anyone find they've been put off using gas in the past few years?

Maybe it's just me, but the idea of pumping poisonous and explosive gas into people's houses to cook chicken nuggets seems outlandish in 2024

I'm in a holiday home at the moment and it's gas water heating and cooking. I've found I've had to get used to checking the flame on everything as well as the stink of gas fumes whenever the boiler lights

As for the boiler, it looks like something from Dealz. Proper cheapest of the cheap, doesn't even have a cover over the ignition window so there just a naked pilot light. It even pushes the cabinet doors out slightly when it lights, real confidence inspiring stuff 😬

I get that for a lot of older homes there's no real choice other than a very expensive retrofit, but how can people realistically think this is the best option for heating?