Solar P.V and Solar Water Courses

redgapjack

Thinking about doing a solar p.v and solar course for DHW installations to add to the C.V to generate another avenue for work.

Without breaking the bank, is there courses out there for self employed or am i looking at sizable bill to re - train:mad:

Also is solar p.v sustainable/viable with the current feed in tariff's compaired to the U.K?

evosteo

honestly i wouldnt pay to do the solar pv in you plan on staying in ireland, great if you going to a hot/ warmer country like aus etc... the current payoff for solar pv in ireland is 20 years+

the domestic solar water heating course is a better one in my opinion as there are savings to be made and pay off is something like 5-10 years

i done the domestic solar water heating course through fas in ballyfermot about this time last year, im not sure about what the charges are if your self employed or employed.

if you are self employed it could be an oportunity to branch out for a different type of work,

you have to be competant in basic plumbing as there is alot of it involved,

also i reckon you would need to invest in more equipment to help install the panels on the roof,

just my 2 cents

redgapjack

Thanks,

I have all the materials/plant to execute this type of work but just wondering is demand there to look at this as a business venture.

How did you find the course? How long did it run for and what level of qualification is rewarded at the end?

Getting back onto the P.V end of things does anyone know what the feed in tarriff currently stands here and what requirments are needed to sell back to the grid any electricity generated? Is it an opportunity?

rum and coke

Ireland is the only country in the EU that doesn't have FIT.it is actually breaking EU law. It is protecting fat cats in the ESB. I looked into this a while back.Great business in the UK but not here.

evosteo

redgapjack wrote: »

Thanks,

I have all the materials/plant to execute this type of work but just wondering is demand there to look at this as a business venture.

How did you find the course? How long did it run for and what level of qualification is rewarded at the end?

Getting back onto the P.V end of things does anyone know what the feed in tarriff currently stands here and what requirments are needed to sell back to the grid any electricity generated? Is it an opportunity?

the course that fas run i honestly feel does not give you enough hands on experience, from what i remember i think its only a week long.

as for the award, you will be given a fetac level 6 suplementary cert,

this certificate will let you avail of seai grants for the installation of the solar tubes

http://www.seai.ie/Grants/Better_energy_homes/homeowner/What_Grants_Are_Available/

redgapjack

rum and coke wrote: »

Ireland is the only country in the EU that doesn't have FIT.it is actually breaking EU law. It is protecting fat cats in the ESB. I looked into this a while back.Great business in the UK but not here.

Im sure ive seen some where that we do have a FIT but it is s**t compaired to the UK and other European Countries.

Surely it's not up to the ESB to set this tariff but the energy regulator.

Any feedback anyone?

heinbloed

Well, an older thread but anyhow:

There is nothing like "solar PV" , the correct term is " photo voltaic " electricity. Only PV, that's enough for trade and costumer.
Similar to " round circle" , the term "circle" would do on it's own.

For smaller installations no courses or electricians are needed anymore. It's plug ond go with these ones:

http://www.gp-joule.de/en/home/news/news-details/article/the-minijoule-the-first-diy-solar-power-plant.html

Stoner

heinbloed wrote: »

Well, an older thread but anyhow:

There is nothing like "solar PV" , the correct term is " photo voltaic " electricity. Only PV, that's enough for trade and costumer.
Similar to " round circle" , the term "circle" would do on it's own.

For smaller installations no courses or electricians are needed anymore. It's plug ond go with these ones:

http://www.gp-joule.de/en/home/news/news-details/article/the-minijoule-the-first-diy-solar-power-plant.html

Heinbloed,
The terms Solar PV and Solar Thermal are used a lot in the industry in the UK and Ireland rightly or wrongly, they are just terms used to distinguish between two common solar options within the sustainable/renewable energy market. Many boroughs in the UK will state the type of sustainable or renewable energy they will allow within a scheme, some will simply ask for solar energy, while some will ask that a percentage of the energy be generated via renewable means, a designer/contractor can use a combination of technology from PV to Ground Source Heat Pumps, these different authorities can sometimes differ on what they call renewable, some count rainwater harvesting towards their quota, some don't. They have to be satisfied before planning permission is granted, in Ireland developers are sadly not required to meet the same requirements, but I'm sure it will come the sooner the better for many reasons.

Therefore in the industry here terms like Solar thermal, Solar PV, Biomass wood chip, Biomass Ethanol etc are all used to describe the type and source of the energy, it may not be correct but that's how it rolls here at the moment due to a little inconsistency between authorities so we need to be more descriptive. Then non technical people know if the source is the sun or biomass, disregarding the sun being the source of the energy in the first place to create wood chips but I feel in this case I need to cover the base here.

As you stated this is an old thread, I fail to see a reason to dig it up to correct users on this small issue twice in one day, I have already removed a complete thread today as it took this type of post to another level.

I have looked at the link you posted and I saw the minijoule site

http://www.minijoule.com/de/shop/ I assume this is the link to the products for sale?
We need some out of the box solutions here and I understand that Germany is a huge market within the renewable energy sector so it would follow that they would be available there first. I have no knowledge of German and it seems that some of the technical information is included in PDF format so google translation is not as effective. Under what conditions could the mini joule supply 185 Watts?

heinbloed

Thanks for asking! The output of PV installlations in our hemisphere ( %) is compared to the input, a 1000 Watt / m2 sunshine is taken for granted in the center of Europe at full blaze.


Further down in Italy for example the output is considerable higher, with an input of 1300 Watts/m2.

So a PV panel similar to the one quoted in the link (and there are hundreds of others) would work out - with a stated effiziency of 20 % - a harvest of 200 Watts. Subtract the energy consumption of the inverter and the loss during transmission a net harvest of 185 Watts is achieved.
The to-be-harvested energy production from the same input gets better with larger installations, for example the quoted installation shows a significant better harvest with two panels and the same inverter.

Which is also shown on the link.

Check out the potential harvest of a PV installation by following the www links provided in the deleted thread (smiley).


I wonder why an entire thread needs to be deleted? Would it not be better to anominise the OP?
With a phrase like let's say " Poster xy who want's to stay anonymous states the following...." ? Just an idea.

One wonders why an anonymous/avatar is used in a public forum ?

A crussification for posting stupid things is only a virtual crussification after all - the advantage of the www .

heinbloed

We need some out of the box solutions here

No, you need some IQ solutions. Every market is different. Solutions based on involvement, not on purchase.

Metered experience so to speak. Not sales men talk.

.

heinbloed

Heinbloed,
The terms Solar PV and Solar Thermal are used a lot in the industry in the UK and Ireland rightly or wrongly, they are just terms used to distinguish between two common solar options within the sustainable/renewable energy market

Well, Einstein got his Nobel price for the description of the PV power. Not for the description of the solar photovoltaic power....
If we use terms of science then on a common way.


The term "solar photo voltaic" is used and misused by the cowboys to fool the public. If we stay realistic and involve the general public we don't propagate advertising slogans.

Bruthal

heinbloed wrote: »

Well, Einstein got his Nobel price for the description of the PV power. Not for the description of the solar photovoltaic power....
If we use terms of science then on a common way.

His nobel prize was for the discovery of the photo electric effect. I remember doing PE years ago in school. That must be why its not called PE anymore.

The term "solar photo voltaic" is used and misused by the cowboys to fool the public. If we stay realistic and involve the general public we don't propagate advertising slogans.

So if we call a panel on the roof a PV panel to a non PV expert, i.e. the general public, thats perfect, but if we describe it as a solar photo voltaic panel, then we are fooling them?

Is a PV not a solar photo voltaic panel? Is a circle not a round circle?

There are plenty of cowboys around that use correct terminology.

To clearly describe to customers exactly whats happening or how a system works, this description should not be limited to the terminology of what someone like yourself tells us what is the only correct terms that should be used.

As an example, we often see people in here refer to RCD`s as ELCB`s, the latter being an old term. We might point out that they are referred to as RCD`s these days, but we dont, or at least try not to go off on rants about using incorrect (in our opinion) terms instead of actually answering the question asked, or trying to he helpful.

heinbloed

The OP asks:

Also is solar p.v sustainable/viable with the current feed in tariff's compaired to the U.K?

Here some news from Japan and Germany:

http://solarbuzz.com/industry-news/sojitz-corporation-completes-24-mw-project-germany

refering to

http://www.sojitz.com/en/news/releases/20111024.html

A feed-in tarif of 22 cents/kWh is payed in Germany, for this money PV can be made profitable.

That's what most people pay for 'grey' electricity from the grit.
Grid parity has now been achieved.

About 4 months ago the PV industry forcasted grid parity to be achieved in 1 or 2 years.

And the uranium/plutonium (MOX) fuel rod manufacturers around the world are closing down, today anounced in Belgium:

http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20111025_049

Last week Areva in Germany, three rod manufacturers are closing down:

http://www.verivox.de/nachrichten/areva-plant-abbau-von-800-stellen-in-deutschland-80032.aspx

And of course, our neighbour has given up as well:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/03/sellafield-mox-plant-close

Site for sale with outline planning permission:

http://eandemanagement.com/?p=4962


So, redgapjack, yes: PV is viable. And needs no feed-in tarif.

Stoner

heinbloed wrote: »

Every market is different
.

Exactly

heinbloed

Here a link to a webpage showing the potential harvest in kWh per kWp installed:

http://www.solar-yield.eu/plant/comparecontinent?year=2010

Adjust the year to get a better overview.

The UK scores worse than Italy but better than Austria, for 2010 1129kWh were meassured.
For the installations taking part in the research see here:

http://www.solar-yield.eu/plant/viewall

Assume Ireland has a similar climate as the UK then this is what we can expect to harvest.

For a calculation this tool is very good:

http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/