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Energy prices - gone nuts.

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If I have to make a choice between selling a kidney or a pin then it's a simple choice.
I can easily get by with one kidney
 
I'd expect we've got an 'emergency' budget coming in pronto to distract from yesterday - and reducing tax on fuel is a simple and popular thing that can be done without going to a parliamentary vote (which might well now be lost). It'd be no surprise if that magic-money-tree they used to deny existed is going to suddenly come to life and be given a good shake for a few weeks/months.
 
if that magic-money-tree they used to deny existed is going to suddenly come to life and be given a good shake
Think that was well and truly shook during the pandemic. Until they break the link in energy so the wholesale price of leccy falls and remove fuel as an indictor of inflation (so interest rates freeze), there won't be much help IMO.
 
I was in arrears with EDF, just shy of 1K, so I increased my DD to get this covered, 3 months later I'm in a small credit. Time to reduce my DD back to around what it really should be....

NO was their answer to my request!

Did and online chat, again the answer was again NO, so had to refer them to their bill that they sent me, divide cost/months = new approximate DD!

All sorted now, but just don't take NO for an answer with these suppliers.

Chris.
 
I managed to switch Shell to 'variable payment by direct debit for bills due' since they wanted to double the fixed DD amount 'to build up a credit' on the account.

Told them to get lost, they ain't keeping any of my money.

I've seen others don't even bother to use any of my credit balance to pay/offset my bills, all of them are cheeky gits.
 
I was in arrears with EDF, just shy of 1K, so I increased my DD to get this covered, 3 months later I'm in a small credit. Time to reduce my DD back to around what it really should be....

NO was their answer to my request!

Did and online chat, again the answer was again NO, so had to refer them to their bill that they sent me, divide cost/months = new approximate DD!

All sorted now, but just don't take NO for an answer with these suppliers.

Chris.
Octopus was not to bad, the site would not let me drop my DD so i just emailed and asked to drop to £50 as Solar covers electric at the moment, was no need for it to be £300! but they just said ok and swapped hehe :) Never had any issues with Octopus found them quite good really.
 
Petrol and diesel prices are eye watering at present. Unfortunately, looking at oil prices and futures and derivatives, looks like they haven’t peaked yet. roll on well over £2 a litre.
 
Question for the Solar Experts :D

How come on a nice clear day (no clouds) the system will slightly under perform ie max out at about 4kw (system is 4.8kw)
1655478739604.png

But on partially cloudy days were there is a mix our sun / cloud it maxes out at say 5.4kw? (iv noticed this on every sunny / partially cloudy day we have)
1655478827409.png


Do the panels work better when cooler? and the pure sun just heats them up and makes them less efficient maybe? the cloud gives them a chance to cool down a bit so when sun next comes out it has like a spike of power?
 
Question for the Solar Experts :D

How come on a nice clear day (no clouds) the system will slightly under perform ie max out at about 4kw (system is 4.8kw)
View attachment 173268

But on partially cloudy days were there is a mix our sun / cloud it maxes out at say 5.4kw? (iv noticed this on every sunny / partially cloudy day we have)
View attachment 173269


Do the panels work better when cooler? and the pure sun just heats them up and makes them less efficient maybe? the cloud gives them a chance to cool down a bit so when sun next comes out it has like a spike of power?
Yes. Google for "Edge of Cloud Effect"
 
Some panels are rated at dealing with it better than others but mine are meant to be very good and they are struggling like yours. More hours of sun but lower peak meaning a shorter day in early May might maintain the record of best day generation.
You should still be happy with your generation today though, looks like your system is performing well.
 
Some panels are rated at dealing with it better than others but mine are meant to be very good and they are struggling like yours. More hours of sun but lower peak meaning a shorter day in early May might maintain the record of best day generation.
You should still be happy with your generation today though, looks like your system is performing well.
Yeah really happy so far, it covers all our day and charges the battery and heats our hot water and most days dumps quite a bit extra back into the grid. But has been pretty nice weather since we had them installed about 6 weeks ago. Will be really interesting how they perform in the winter with the shorter days and cloud / rain etc.. I'm happy with electric/gas grid free summers though :)
 
For me, Jan was about a quarter of May, Feb about a third. March 3/5.
May looked like being a better month for generation than June but this week might nudge it.

Your graph shows a classic south facing array, it build up, has a peak for 30 minutes and then drops off. I don't get the same peak as you, as mine are on two faces of the house. I get a lower overall peak but it lasts for 3 hours. So your question is, where can you fit more panels on another face?
 
@ianw. I think that is pretty impressive and shows that whilst they degrade, it isn’t like a cliff they drop off and become worthless.
 
Just wondering what I've done with the feed in tariff... 50,000 at 50+ pence
Wow good they still Honour those early tariff rates :)

@Calimori
This is the panels on top / lower roof. The back roof is free for more :D

D8E53160-0363-4262-B107-A55360653206.jpeg

But I read systems over 6kw are not allowed on feed in tariffs? Or are classed as commercial?
 
A friend of mine has recently purchased a storage battery and he's been on a feed-in tariff for approx 7 yrs (circa 54p pkw). He seems to think he will lose out on the quarterly statements but I'm sure I read that all you relinquish by purchasing a battery is the 50% they estimate you don't use, this is priced at around 3p pkw so no big loss there.

Does anyone know what the official position is maybe you have already upgraded to battery storage and a long time feed-in tariff customer, would be good to know?

Thanks
Chris
 
I am speaking from research and not personal experience.
It would appear to be dependant on multiple things, each one has a different impact.
If they are not on a smart meter, the energy company do an estimate, battery won’t make a difference directly to this.
If they are on a smart meter, the energy company take export readings and calculate it directly on that. The battery would then reduce the export.

Plus, I believe there is a device to calculate generation figures. And I believe this is after the inverter turns it to AC. If the battery is on the DC side, the AC side would see less generation. This would reduce the Feed In Tariff generation.
If the battery is AC side, then they would see no difference.
My battery is charged via AC, technically I have losses from solar generation (DC), through inverter to AC, then through a charger doing AC back to DC, then back into AC when my house needs it.
 
The conversion to/from AC strikes me as rather wasteful... Has anyone setup a DC network in their house, whereby the solar panels charge a battery (DC->DC), and the battery provides 48VDC to some sockets? Most things we run in the house are DC anyway... Even the modern pins can be powered by a single 48V line!
 
The conversion to/from AC strikes me as rather wasteful... Has anyone setup a DC network in their house, whereby the solar panels charge a battery (DC->DC), and the battery provides 48VDC to some sockets? Most things we run in the house are DC anyway... Even the modern pins can be powered by a single 48V line!

I think the problem with that is Solar panels on homes tend to run in the 100v plus DC rannge up to 500v so you would still need to use a buck converter to bring the voltage right down which would cause losses.

Also running DC power over long cables is very lossy, and at 48v to get any sort of decent power delivery you would need thicker cables than for 240v AC, for 1KW of power you would be pulling 20amps.
 
The conversion to/from AC strikes me as rather wasteful... Has anyone setup a DC network in their house, whereby the solar panels charge a battery (DC->DC), and the battery provides 48VDC to some sockets? Most things we run in the house are DC anyway... Even the modern pins can be powered by a single 48V line!
Thomas... Edison?
 
Who of my fellow solar nerds are looking forward to the upcoming heat wave :D
 
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