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

[fizzy]

I am not totally against solar. I will be investing in a 4kw array for my Dad's old farmhouse/villa in the Algarve.
Permanent drought sadly.
Sunshine for about 320 days a year - cacti grow along the side of the road.
A tad different to Wales.
And yet Wales has more solar farms

 

[AVI_8]

Imagine if you could buy diesel at 50p per litre! How long would payback be then?
Electric cars are so cheap to run because they pay no fuel duty.
That will all change soon. The government can't afford to lose that sort of money. Road charging per mile is on it's way

I totally agree with that, the government will get their share, just at the moment they feel like they should be encouraging electric vihicles.
I can’t imagine what will happen in 10 years time when everyone with electric cars plug them in at 6pm, how will the grid supply.
And I agree with your above post, nuclear is the only way forward, but our useless namby pamby limp wristed government’s are only looking 4 years in advance, this is going to bite them severely in the ****.
Windmills are fine when the wind is blowing. Our local nuclear power station Hunterston, has just shut off its last reactor, Unfortunately Scotland is run by a complete eejit, a little Gremlin, she’s got more windmills here than I’ve seen anywhere, but when there’s no wind, theres not much movement there.
Apologies, that was a bit off topic.

 

[addjunkie]

I totally agree with that, the government will get their share, just at the moment they feel like they should be encouraging electric vihicles.
I can’t imagine what will happen in 10 years time when everyone with electric cars plug them in at 6pm, how will the grid supply.
And I agree with your above post, nuclear is the only way forward, but our useless namby pamby limp wristed government’s are only looking 4 years in advance, this is going to bite them severely in the ****.
Windmills are fine when the wind is blowing. Our local nuclear power station Hunterston, has just shut off its last reactor, Unfortunately Scotland is run by a complete eejit, a little Gremlin, she’s got more windmills here than I’ve seen anywhere, but when there’s no wind, theres not much movement there.
Apologies, that was a bit off topic.

Do I assume your not a Jimmy Krankie fan then!

 

[8ob]

14 panels, plus a spare in case you break one. Get a Chinese 4 kW inverter and a mate to wire it into your cons unit. You’ll need some 10mm earth, a pair of isolators, and that’s about it. £1500 all in plus beer money?
Oops, forgot the brackets an rails...

Can eight of these 30v panels be wired in series and not use an inverter?

Bob

 

[brewdexta]

Can eight of these 30v panels be wired in series and not use an inverter?

Bob

You'll still need to convert to AC

I'm thinking of a ground mounted array of panels, somewhere between 4 and 8Kw, possibly with home made one or two axis tracking system. I'm having difficulty finding the right spot, it would be easier bureaucracy wise to mount it in the house curtilage rather than the meadow. The wife has indicated a plot that she doesn't intend to grow stuff on, not sure its ideally located to avoid shade or is big enough yet, I'll do a proper survey when the weather gets a bit better. Trackers can be expensive and its debatable whether its better to spend the cash on more panels rather than chase the extra 40% efficiency tracking can bring. More cost, more complexity, maintenance and harder to make it withstand the gales up here, so I may change my mind but it does appeal to my inner nerd and it's a good engineering challenge. Yes I know there's load of examples on YouTube

 

[JMS1972]

Solar panels have no moving parts Trevor, they just sit there converting solar energy into electrical energy, just the same as if they had previously been on Joe Bloggs roof, in fact you can be sure that they’ll have been better looked after.
The reason solar farms will upgrade their panels is because technology moves on and newer panels have a greater output, so for them it makes sense to upgrade to a panel which has a 1/3 greater output for the same size panel.

Solar panels do degrade with time though somewhere between 1% and 3% per year. So a ten year old panel may not be a bargain unless you have room for lots....

 

[ukracer]

I know where the sun is at 12.30. Just starting to be 90 degrees to the roof.

I think we got turned down due to the trees that are fairly close. Although a few have fallen down now.

 

[DAPPH]

I totally agree with that, the government will get their share, just at the moment they feel like they should be encouraging electric vihicles.
I can’t imagine what will happen in 10 years time when everyone with electric cars plug them in at 6pm, how will the grid supply.
And I agree with your above post, nuclear is the only way forward, but our useless namby pamby limp wristed government’s are only looking 4 years in advance, this is going to bite them severely in the ****.
Windmills are fine when the wind is blowing. Our local nuclear power station Hunterston, has just shut off its last reactor, Unfortunately Scotland is run by a complete eejit, a little Gremlin, she’s got more windmills here than I’ve seen anywhere, but when there’s no wind, theres not much movement there.
Apologies, that was a bit off topic.

There are already powerbanks for the domestic user that can be topped up by small quiet domestic turbines , PV panels and various slots of allocated off peak cheap electricity and humungous industrial sized one in the very near future .

The much vaunted intelligent grid amongst numerous other things looks like using the plugged in cars as a further source of stored energy that can be call on . Data gleaned from th early free home charging exercise & free pod points etc indicates that most electric cars are parked up for many hours each day so using this as a power facility seems to me to be an excellent idea .

I think that this is not only going to be a temporary stop gap measure that can quickly be expanded but that it may become a permanent way of having out own UK secured energy supplies

 

[dobbslc]

^
I wonder weather the manufacturers will void the warranty of their cars if they are used to heat hot water every night?

 

[DAPPH]

Solar panels do degrade with time though somewhere between 1% and 3% per year. So a ten year old panel may not be a bargain unless you have room for lots....

Maybe that's why people who use the secondhand panels are using many more than they would need on a new panel installation .. four extra panels would see off any degradation losses with knobs on.

 

[ukracer]

There are already powerbanks for the domestic user that can be topped up by small quiet domestic turbines , PV panels and various slots of allocated off peak cheap electricity and humungous industrial sized one in the very near future .

The much vaunted intelligent grid amongst numerous other things looks like using the plugged in cars as a further source of stored energy that can be call on . Data gleaned from th early free home charging exercise & free pod points etc indicates that most electric cars are parked up for many hours each day so using this as a power facility seems to me to be an excellent idea .

I think that this is not only going to be a temporary stop gap measure that can quickly be expanded but that it may become a permanent way of having out own UK secured energy supplies

Until you come to drive your car down the road to find its not got enough range because Fred down the road has been cooking his Hempstead up...

 

[fizzy]

There are already powerbanks for the domestic user that can be topped up by small quiet domestic turbines , PV panels and various slots of allocated off peak cheap electricity and humungous industrial sized one in the very near future .

The much vaunted intelligent grid amongst numerous other things looks like using the plugged in cars as a further source of stored energy that can be call on . Data gleaned from th early free home charging exercise & free pod points etc indicates that most electric cars are parked up for many hours each day so using this as a power facility seems to me to be an excellent idea .

I think that this is not only going to be a temporary stop gap measure that can quickly be expanded but that it may become a permanent way of having out own UK secured energy supplies

Peak demand is often around 6 to 8 in the evening. Just after people have got home and their cars are pretty flat.
Most people will just unplug their cars because they don't want to risk a flat battery!

 

[DAPPH]

^
I wonder weather the manufacturers will void the warranty of their cars if they are used to heat hot water every night?

You see problems I see challenges and quality engineering & social solutions .

I doubt it , the current draw will be finely controlled by an electronic control circuit , why would you need to heat much water .. only heat what you use and you'll not need much power . Heating a tank to cool off and waste energy is going to be a thing of the past for many many people. Our 7 year old Outlander PHEV battery is warranteed for ten years till it drops to 80% efficiency .

You can bet your bottom dollar that Mitsubishi have run very very effective tests to ensure that they will be able to cover that warrantee.
I have the old Ni Cad batteries for my drill that must have had a thousand or more full recharges each before they failed . Now on the sixth battery 34 years later .

People who currently have a fantastic power shower that uses 1/3 of a bath of water at each session seem to be looking to have to change over to a hot & cold water micro misting spray unit for a shower where the discharge will be in half liters per minute & not gallons . Once you're well wetted ,turn the water off as you shampoo your hair ( if you've got such stuff ) then shower it out .

My own experience of getting soaked to the skin whilst setting up my glasshouse micro misting watering system is why I'm thinking aloud like this & if I can think it ................ so can somebody ese .

 

[DAPPH]

Peak demand is often around 6 to 8 in the evening. Just after people have got home and their cars are pretty flat.
Most people will just unplug their cars because they don't want to risk a flat battery!

That can be solve easily , I'm sure our " Podpoint " talks with the energy control company by wifi internet as it was a condition of to have wi-fi for it before we got our free Podpoint

I suspect it is already set so it will not attempt to charge until it gets right voltage, so can be set up so it gets a " charge now " signal from the control station .

 

[DAPPH]

Until you come to drive your car down the road to find its not got enough range because Fred down the road has been cooking his Hempstead up...

We have a manual /auto switch in / switch out heavy duty Sagamo ( sp?) time clock bypass for full tarrif & off peak electricity that would I suspect prevent that .

 

[fizzy]

Diesel no tax 52p per litre.
What is the advantage of an electric car?
Not a level playing field - YET!

 

[fizzy]

In fact rather than spending a fortune buying solar panels to charge your car get a diesel genny running on red. Perfectly legal. Less efficient than putting red in your tank but still legal

 

[DAPPH]

Diesel no tax 52p per litre.
What is the advantage of an electric car?
Not a level playing field - YET!

Our free charges cost nothing , an all mains off peak full charge is about 19 p for 32 miles . A day rate charge about 60p for a full rehcharge using the domestic plug in charger and similar for the Podpoint

Alison has just plugged her PHEV in ready for the 01, 00 hrs to 04.45 hrs low tarriff night rate .


We are currently using 138 to 283 watts & have enough PV generation for it to be FOC .

 

[DAPPH]

In fact rather than spending a fortune buying solar panels to charge your car get a diesel genny running on red. Perfectly legal. Less efficient than putting red in your tank but still legal

Buying & using untaxed fuel might soon be a thing of the past in any case.

You'd need to work out the complete running costs of your genny , you may have a false picture . You may soon also have to have a pollution related licence to run generators & other plant .

. I did a bit of research in making my own BIO fuel to supplement the diesel in my car . IIRC , I found I was only allowed so many litres before it was taxable & all fuel used had to be recorded.

 

[not done it yet]

. I did a bit of research in making my own BIO fuel to supplement the diesel in my car . IIRC , I found I was only allowed so many litres before it was taxable & all fuel used had to be recorded.

IIRC, it was 2250l/annum?

Edit: I wad wrong. It was 2500litres per annum. It would be better if people provide facts, not just wishy, washy suggestions without any definitive facts on the subject.