Solar power on roofs - more viable with energy price hikes?

[DAPPH]

De ionised water in Wales?
Total waste of money. I saved a local transport company a fortune by telling them to stick tap water in their forklift batteries.

Yes , Peter the window cleaner has a couple of IBC's in his garage being filled with de-ionised water from his de-ioniser machine24/7 , he decants from them into six 25 litre plastic cans & puts them in the back of his van . Then decants into the small battery operated pumping tank on wheels to feed the cleaning lance & brush . After the first or second clean with purely de- ionised water & nothing else the grease is gone and so is all the muck .

Then once a month he gives them another clean .. they dry in about five minutes to a streak & spot free finish for at least two hours ....... till a bloody big truck comes haring down the hill kicking up dust & / or salt from road gritters.

 

[DAPPH]

Swansea water can be used in anything. Drawback not much taste.

We think our local supply tastes absolutely vile, so it seems does our cat , he won't touch it , prefers to drink out of puddles outside instead .

The taste reminds me of touching my tongue on a galvanized bucket lip

 

[DAPPH]

Re:-
Using tap water for battery topping up .. Locally ours has some iron salts in it .....as evidenced by a " tea stain " in the kettle .

The battery electrolyte will have to over come this iron content and therefore it will affect the quality of the electrolyte altering the specific gravity and the chemical content & eventually this will affect the battery itself .
In most cases it would not be noticed but in some vital things it will , like the really heavy duty submarine's running batteries & the old lead acid back up systems for gas alarms , fire warning alarms it could be fatal , as well as producing some dangerous gases whilst being recharged

 

[fizzy]

Re:-
Using tap water for battery topping up .. Locally ours has some iron salts in it .....as evidenced by a " tea stain " in the kettle .

The battery electrolyte will have to over come this iron content and therefore it will affect the quality of the electrolyte altering the specific gravity and the chemical content & eventually this will affect the battery itself .
In most cases it would not be noticed but in some vital things it will , like the really heavy duty submarine's running batteries & the old lead acid back up systems for gas alarms , fire warning alarms it could be fatal , as well as producing some dangerous gases whilst being recharged

How old is your kettle though?

 

[DAPPH]

How old is your kettle though?

Four ( ? )years old

 

[fizzy]

Four ( ? )years old

Lol - look at a London one after 4 years

 

[jsf55]

When we head away to car shows in england, we always take a supply of welsh water for the teas

 

[Trevorleach]

Been down the father in laws to look at his recently installed solar PV set up, 4kw with battery storage
Been up fro 7 mths, obviously mainly winter and already it has made 1948kwh and I am sure as the weather improves it is going to do very well.

Am seriously thinking of fitting the same kit he has which can be had for 5.6k if I diy fit.

 

[fizzy]

Been down the father in laws to look at his recently installed solar PV set up, 4kw with battery storage
Been up fro 7 mths, obviously mainly winter and already it has made 1948kwh and I am sure as the weather improves it is going to do very well.

Am seriously thinking of fitting the same kit he has which can be had for 5.6k if I diy fit.

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Quite impressive but still 7 year to break even at 23p per kw/h
I don't have such a problem with domestic installs like this - what gets me are the subsidises companies are getting to cover prime agricultural land with them.
Commercial gas power stations get about 4p per kw/h. Based on that it would take over 40 years for payback. Solar farms wouldn't exist without subsidies and that is why our electric prices are going through the roof.

 

[fizzy]

I am possibly going to install them at my Dad's old house in The Algarve.
Spot the difference. Taken late October. Serious drought conditions. Not a blade of grass. Bare earth like Mars

 

[DAPPH]

When we head away to car shows in england, we always take a supply of welsh water for the teas

Do you have a poison's licence for that and the waste transfer & carriers permits too ?

 

[Trevorleach]

Quite impressive but still 7 year to break even at 23p per kw/h
I don't have such a problem with domestic installs like this - what gets me are the subsidises companies are getting to cover prime agricultural land with them.
Commercial gas power stations get about 4p per kw/h. Based on that it would take over 40 years for payback. Solar farms wouldn't exist without subsidies and that is why our electric prices are going through the roof.

I wonder what gas and elec prices will be like in 7 years time?

 

[Trevorleach]

I am possibly going to install them at my Dad's old house in The Algarve.
Spot the difference. Taken late October. Serious drought conditions. Not a blade of grass. Bare earth like Mars

View attachment 332030

View attachment 332029

Off grid kits on ebay, some quite large

 

[DAPPH]

Quite impressive but still 7 year to break even at 23p per kw/h
I don't have such a problem with domestic installs like this - what gets me are the subsidises companies are getting to cover prime agricultural land with them.
Commercial gas power stations get about 4p per kw/h. Based on that it would take over 40 years for payback. Solar farms wouldn't exist without subsidies and that is why our electric prices are going through the roof.

It's a lot more complicated than that . What I say is only a very minor part ofit all.
The price increase is to fund the change over from hundreds of years more of heavily polluting generation to what is hoped to be far less polluting level of generating our electricity . As well as effectively distributing the supply from as many different sources as possible so we never ever get caught out by foreign players hiking the price up when they feel like it or cutting off the supply like Putin seems to be doing or be at the mercy of striking trade unionists as has frequently happened in the past & at present times .

 

[DAPPH]

I wonder what gas and elec prices will be like in 7 years time?

Using the historic rule of thumb that generally money halves in buying power every ten years I'd guess they will be nearly double the price of what we are paying right now.
If there are more global supply problems & global instability ....... well that could easily see them tripple or even be much higher .

 

[daleyd]

It's a lot more complicated than that . What I say is only a very minor part ofit all.
The price increase is to fund the change over from hundreds of years more of heavily polluting generation to what is hoped to be far less polluting level of generating our electricity . As well as effectively distributing the supply from as many different sources as possible so we never ever get caught out by foreign players hiking the price up when they feel like it or cutting off the supply like Putin seems to be doing or be at the mercy of striking trade unionists as has frequently happened in the past & at present times .

Redirect Notice

Interesting article from new scientist on the matter.

 

[DAPPH]

Redirect Notice

Interesting article from new scientist on the matter.

That pretty much sums up things ..it was well worth reading .
Thanks
Dave

 

[brewdexta]

I guess the upside of the energy hike is that people may take saving energy a little more seriously, I definitely am. Its much better to not use it than produce it. I've been monitoring electricity usage for a month now, I wanted to confirm the figures were correct and it was meter reading time today. The meter reading correlates exactly with what the sensor I put on the flashing LED on the meter, so I know that tool works. The spikes are charging the EV. Next job is to put current sensors on various feeds and see what else is consuming power, I know the underfloor heating mats in the office could be controlled better so that will be looked at next.

Also can be used to help size planned solar PV/battery storage.

The wife and kids get up earlier than me on a Friday. They were off to school/work by the time I got up. Half the downstairs lights left on, all the doors open.... I shall get Greta to send my kids a stern letter

 

[fizzy]

It's a lot more complicated than that . What I say is only a very minor part ofit all.
The price increase is to fund the change over from hundreds of years more of heavily polluting generation to what is hoped to be far less polluting level of generating our electricity . As well as effectively distributing the supply from as many different sources as possible so we never ever get caught out by foreign players hiking the price up when they feel like it or cutting off the supply like Putin seems to be doing or be at the mercy of striking trade unionists as has frequently happened in the past & at present times .

Only one country major country in Europe meets and exceeds the energy targets. France. Currently 90gm CO2 per kw/h
Britain is 325
Germany usually around 450 but not registering today.

France does so well due to all it's nuclear power. Clean and cheap - not at the whim of fluctuating gas prices.
Strange how the countries with renewables actually put out MORE CO2 than France which has hardly any.
I was concerned that France was also going to follow the folly of renewables but they have finally seen sense. They are not going to close their existing plants and have pledged to build 14 new ones. A victory of common sense over the so called greens masquerading as the old anti nuclear lobby.

 

[minimutly]

Only one country major country in Europe meets and exceeds the energy targets. France. Currently 90gm CO2 per kw/h
Britain is 325
Germany usually around 450 but not registering today.

France does so well due to all it's nuclear power. Clean and cheap - not at the whim of fluctuating gas prices.
Strange how the countries with renewables actually put out MORE CO2 than France which has hardly any.
I was concerned that France was also going to follow the folly of renewables but they have finally seen sense. They are not going to close their existing plants and have pledged to build 14 new ones. A victory of common sense over the so called greens masquerading as the old anti nuclear lobby.


View attachment 332042

Well it may be "clean" on paper, depending what you include...
Does their figures include carbon in concrete and steel, decommissioning carbon, icluding writing off all the metalwork within each plant? I'm all for nuclear, but remain to be convinced the accounting is correct..