Viability of selling back microgenerated PV power

bonzodog2

Buying a house soon, thinking of putting PV panels on the roof. Any thoughts/advice/experiences on costs/grants/planning/ etc? Do all electricity suppliers here have a buyback tarriff?

freddyuk

Only ESB offer a net metering payment.
Well worth it if you can manage your onsite usage and get the kit at a decent price.
Check local planning etc. but should be no issues. Go for 5-6kw if you can as it will run your base load and some if you are economic with power (which you will be ).
Consider what to do with excess power in summer.

quentingargan

There's another new thread on the forum on PV as well. Because you only get paid 9c for exports (compared to paying 19c for electricity imported) the more of your own power you use yourself, the better.

For that reason, oddly enough, you might get a better payback on a smaller system. If you put in a 1kw system, you will probably use up to half of the power produced, saving an average of 14c. If you put in a 5kw system, you will probably only use about 20% of the power, so your average savings are 11c. It really depends on whether there is a home-office type situation.

It all depends on your consumption patterns.

There are no grants or other incentives. Industry with a high baseload can usefully use all its own power from PV. The rest of us struggle to make financial sense out of it. Get PV if you like the idea of reducing your ecological footprint, but don't do it to get-rich-quick.

quentingargan

I forgot to mention planning. This is usually exempt for up to 12m2 per house provided it is not in a visually sensitive area. See attached.

quentingargan

Oops. Meant this file...

murphaph

The batteries are now becoming more viable. In 5 years probably even more so. Make sure any system can be extended to feed batteries in the day to power the house at night.

quentingargan

murphaph wrote: »

The batteries are now becoming more viable. In 5 years probably even more so. Make sure any system can be extended to feed batteries in the day to power the house at night.

I notice you're located in Berlin where grant aid is promoting self-consumption units. There are sophisticated methods of demand-side management as well as batteries being incorporated into some units under development. So if it look like there is lots of sun, the system will run the washing machine... that sort of thing. But the cost of using lithium batteries at present is multiples of the cost of electricity. The prices would need to drop enormously, and I am not sure that economies of scale will be there to bring that about, except possibly through electric cars taking off.

bonzodog2

Thanks for the info and comments

bonzodog2

Another few points
I think I read I can only sell back 6.5kW, is that right?

An electrician friend, who's done a solar installation course, tells me it depends on whether anyone else in the area has a PV export installation

Would ESB installation of an import/export meter depend on the house being totally up to current regs?

A back of the envelope calculation, which doesn't allow for varying hours of sunlight, sun strength at different times, suggests, assuming a 12hour sunlight day, with 6 x 1kW panels, would give 6 x 12 x €0.09 x 365 = €2365.20 return per year. How far off is that in the real world?

Ronan Raver77

I was enquiring recently about a Pv set up but if Electric Ireland are not giving a good pay rate i think i will wait. Save up some money for 2/3 years and fingers crossed the Government will have subsidies and also battery technology systems will be affordable but also efficient.

Curious Geroge

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Another few points
I think I read I can only sell back 6.5kW, is that right?

An electrician friend, who's done a solar installation course, tells me it depends on whether anyone else in the area has a PV export installation

Would ESB installation of an import/export meter depend on the house being totally up to current regs?

A back of the envelope calculation, which doesn't allow for varying hours of sunlight, sun strength at different times, suggests, assuming a 12hour sunlight day, with 6 x 1kW panels, would give 6 x 12 x €0.09 x 365 = €2365.20 return per year. How far off is that in the real world?

Re the calculation, its not 1KW per hour, its per year. So you have 6KW (6000 units) per year which is about 25 panels (i guess) and you sell all back to the grid at 9c.. 6000x€0.09=€540 assuming 100% efficency and with short days in winter, you wont get that.

quentingargan

This debate is perhaps superceded by another one HERE. Electric Ireland no longer pays 9c

Bonzodog - if you had 6kw of panels (which would typically be about 24 panels) depending on where you are, you could be expected to get about 4800 KwHrs per year - maybe a bit more. At 19c if you used all the electricity, you would save about €900 per year.