Going Solar PV

Hello dan_b

dan_b said:
I saw those just the other day - quite expensive but would be ideal. I may yet return to solar hot water; I have a west-facing roof on my rear addition which could be suitable for evacuated tubes...
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I have 200 x 47mm plus 96 x 58mm evacuated tubes...... They provide hot water all year round, space heating when required from October - May, hot tub & 10M x 5M swimming pool from May - September.

The main problem is that the days are too short in December & January to fully heat the house.

get1962
 
I'm interested in learning more about how you plumb in the solar hot water to provide space heating as well as hot water, as that really would be good.
 
I do however like the look of wind turbines. Love the ones at Delabole which appear on the horizon as you come up the hill. I think they can add to the scenery and like solar are removable, but cannot for the life of me agree to the fields of panels that are springing up down here in Devon. They are worse than the fields full of caravans/mobile homes. I know Im old fashioned, but bring back the 50's for me when summer meant fields full of a mix of tents, campervans and small caravans, not serrid rows of mobile homes or solar panels. Everyone down here is 'up in arms' about the planning for large turbines (and waste incinerators) but seem to be turning a blind eye to fields of panels??? I quite like Rabs suggestion of blinds for panels, would just look like the roof has a temporary repair being carried out, but not sure how they would work?. I do however approve of green energy, I think the government should be promoting small scale water turbines especially as we are prob the wettest place in europe. Think Ive said enough. Cheers Colin.
 
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Hello dan_b

dan_b said:
I'm interested in learning more about how you plumb in the solar hot water to provide space heating as well as hot water, as that really would be good.
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The solar hot water is simply pumped through the radiators - which are at 62 degrees as I type this..... Pity they will be cold this evening when I would like them to be hot.

I did try a 1,000 litre thermal store, but I dont have enough energy collection area to get it above 40 degrees at this time of year, so I have turned it off.

get1962
 
Colin Shurvell said:
I quite like Rabs suggestion of blinds for panels, would just look like the roof has a temporary repair being carried out, but not sure how they would work?.
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Remote controlled apparently but no details as the datasheet link does not work!

RAB
 
They also have parabolic reflectors behind the tubes which follow the position of the sun, so should be super efficient.

RAB
 
I was the lucky one to buy in 2011. The 12 panel system then cost £10,000 with a rated output of 2.9kw. On average since then i get around £1,300 cash annually plus whatever electricity i use free. My current generation tariff is just about 50p per kw generated, index linked - much more generous than current start up rates. There's a feel good feeling about generating ones own electricity - probably similar to the feeling of driving around in a sustainable A2!
 
nealmccay said:
I was the lucky one to buy in 2011. The 12 panel system then cost £10,000 with a rated output of 2.9kw. On average since then i get around £1,300 cash annually plus whatever electricity i use free. My current generation tariff is just about 50p per kw generated, index linked - much more generous than current start up rates. There's a feel good feeling about generating ones own electricity - probably similar to the feeling of driving around in a sustainable A2!
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Me also in 2010. The panels were a lot more expensive then but as Neal says the feed in tariff is a lot better. It's led to changes in how we use electricity such as scheduling dishwasher and washing machine to run between 1-4pm when our panels are usually generating the most electricity.
For £8500 it is a good investment and a good way of lowering our carbon footprint.
 
I had heard that! :)

If you don't mind me asking what is your PV max, I've got 3.06Kw, would be good to know if this would be suitable to charge an EV.
 
I think mine, from memory, is about 4kw. On the Up, you can set the charge current to 5, 10, 13 or 16A to suit.

RAB
 
Occasionally I look at EVs, especially as I've solar. Recently I managed to connect my PV monitoring system to a smart meter and now I can see all the surplus energy that could be used to charge an EV. One snag is the monitoring system supplier wont give me API access to the system so I can't control demand to match supply; says I have to upgrade to the commercial system.

PV.jpg

Red & green lines are the 2 PV strings (ESE and SSW orientation). Red area is demand>supply; green area is demand<supply and yellow area is surplus energy. Surplus today was just over 15kWh. This will provide about 70% of a Nissan Leaf 22kWh model or 50% of the 30kWh model. Similar for the i3.

Actually April/May time is the best time for PV. Although there may be more sunny hours in July the PV panels do not perform so well as they get too hot.
 
Alan_uk said:
Actually April/May time is the best time for PV. Although there may be more sunny hours in July the PV panels do not perform so well as they get too hot.
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My figures show that, over five years, June and July are the best months for PV.

RAB
 
Alan_uk said:
Surplus today was just over 15kWh. This will provide about 70% of a Nissan Leaf 22kWh model or 50% of the 30kWh model. Similar for the i3.
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Problem is that when the sun is out, you are most likely to be out driving and can't charge the car with PV. If not, there's no need to charge unless you need to top up from yesterday.

RAB
 
Would love to know more about how you created that graph, my PV system creates it own graphs on an internal web server but I cannot see the demand vs supply through this and it would be very interesting to get that info.
 
mrbroons said:
Would love to know more about how you created that graph, my PV system creates it own graphs on an internal web server but I cannot see the demand vs supply through this and it would be very interesting to get that info.
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The graphs are generated at the supplier of the Solar Log monitoring unit (i.e. in the cloud). Data is sent every 15 minutes. I can get them direct from the unit but a) the graphs are not so pretty b) it's slower and c) cannot be accessed from outside the home (unless I open up my router to external traffic).

Demand vs supply is achieved because my Smart Meter has an S0 output (1,000 pulses per kWh) that feeds into the Solar Log monitoring unit. This was a pain to get working as both the Smart Meter supplier and the Solar Log unit supplier both said there was no problem with their unit. Took over a year (on and off) to sort it out. Turned out the plug into the Solar Log should have been wired right to left not left to right! They tell me that all new units now have a wiring label on them and the manual has been updated!

Solar Log UK graphs: http://home.solarlog-web.co.uk/unitedkingdom.html?c
Solar Log UK main site: http://www.solar-log.co.uk/en/home.html They are a German company. UK technical support was pretty poor (I think they were mainly sales) but now technical questions are answered by the German HQ - much better.
I have a model 200 but that is superceded by the 250 http://www.solar-log.uk/gb-en/produkte-loesungen/solar-log-250/technical-data.html
The Solar Log 250 has no API - they say buy one of their more expensive commercial models for that :(
Solar Log 250 retailer: https://www.solar-pur.com/products/...161806&ls=en&gclid=CISgoPf5pNMCFUwq0wodtjIGbw
Smart Meter http://www.edmi-meters.co.uk/mk7c-smart-electricity-meter/
 
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