Random Renewables Thread

ColemanY2K

A great price from Poland for panels. Just have to figure out a way of getting them back to Ireland. The father-in-law being Polish might know the craic with groupage transport to Ireland.

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120086213#Comment_120086213

Good prices but you will find good prices on most of the Polish sites, probably not as cheap as that one you posted though. But they won't ship them I found with the majority.

I used Sklep Soltech last year for 18 panels and they will send them. About 260 for sending, would have been the same for up to 30 panels.

But their prices have increased a lot on the panels I ordered since then. But competitive still on some alternative panels.

Jonathan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt9qLRN7JvA

Good explainer for newbies on the effects of heat on PV panels.

ColemanY2K

Can I ask people's opinions on this solax hybrid inverter. 7.5kW single phase.

I was considering going for the 6kW hybrid solis but for a few hundred more could get 7.5kW.

I intend to export some of my power so is there any obvious pitfalls to this unit?

https://im.solar/en/solar-inverter/solax-inverter-hybrid-x1-hybrid-75-g4-190.html

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120090916#Comment_120090916

That's for high voltage batteries. You'll probably only get anywhere near the 7.5kW in and out of battery if you go close to the max battery voltage which is 480V. Do you really want to go that route? Quite likely also very restricted what batteries you can use for it. Don't buy until you know exactly what you are getting and if it is suitable for you.

The devils

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120059248#Comment_120059248

Well got heat pump dryer in the end(weekend)

Hotpoint 9kg

Works a treat outside: 3, 5 and 10 degrees so far and all within what time it should. All be it a little longer than gas dryer but still very Happy.

Thanks for your help

The End 😀

unkel

That's the one I have too. Slow, but does a good job and uses 60% less energy than a conventional one.

graememk

This is UK related, and on how their price cap/energy guarantee is and how it has a lag up and down.

But will give an indication of a trend in prices going forward for next winter.

https://twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/1613189073929383937

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096848#Comment_120096848

Yeah it's a bit of an unfortunate wake up call for people. Prices have come down and are trending downward, but at the end of the day one of the biggest suppliers of natural gas has been removed from the market, and that's going to have a lasting effect

I think gas storage in Europe is somewhere around 80%, but a cold snap could consume a pretty big chunk of that. And after winter the race will be on again to refill it before next winter, which will keep prices high

I think the days of cheap gas are gone, at least for the next couple of years. On the plus side it should make a lot of renewable resources that were marginal before suddenly look a lot more attractive

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097414#Comment_120097414

IMO electricity prices are not dropping – I feel we’re in an era of rising prices for many years. Not trying to scare monger. As we move to electrify almost everything (certainly for our homes, which is a good thing), we need wilddd amounts of power from the grid.

In the last year our house is using about 3 times as much electricity. Bump is from the EV we bought, and shifting a fair chunk of gas heating to electric rads. But outside that our actual electricity usage in the house is unchanged - as in we're not using more electricity in the house itself.

For those on fully electric houses (heatpump, electric cooking, EV..) we can see the large amounts of power needed. @ECO_Mental kinldy shared some numbers and his was something like 1500 kWh for Dec and that’s an energy efficient new build with UFH.

We need gas to make electricity. And for heating. And for manufacturing and for….. So the electricity market is competing to buy gas from those other industries. And while gas has half the CO2 of coal (which is great), it’s still a fossil fuel adding more CO2. So it’s better than coal of course, but worse that renewables. 

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097665#Comment_120097665

Nb. Day is night, night is day.. it just works better for this app.

That's my last 30 days import.

I was putting about 30kwh of heat into the house every day (I've pulled that back a bit now that it's warmer) rest of heat for the house is a stove.

+ EV(300-400km/w), + farmyard, which only has 1 big load, maybe on average 4kwh a day.

This what it would be like if I didn't have solar + batteries(night and day is flipped again)

slave1

Seems a lot of talk about heat pumps and removal of fossil fuels, I get the removal of fossils but throwing money into poorly insulated homes is a waste.

When I bought the current home in 2000 (1974 build), there was zero insulation and I mean zero, you could see your breath downstairs in the mornings and once heating (oil) went off it was cold cold.

I'm not going to go on a rant on the efforts made but now the house is transformed, we put on a small fire (1/3rd bucket of coal) and that's it for the day, the fire goes on around 2-3pm and heats the house through the night and there is zero "cold snap" when going downstairs in the morning, all bedroom windows (two storey semi) are open at night. On the real cold snap before XMas where it was minus throughout the day, we still had windows open but had to use a full bucket

Insulation!!

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098062#Comment_120098062

Ultimately the first thing to do is reduce, which is what you've done. I'm in a relatively new build (18 months) but still it came with gas. I could jump ahead to a heat pump but from what I've seen there are actually some improvements that could be made before that.

Some people seem to jump ahead to the big ticket items ignoring the cheaper but unseen improvements that do help a lot. Insulation, ventilation, older inefficient appliances etc. or even just optimising the equipment you have.

ELM327

I've been selected for an SEAI audit . This delays grant repayment even further so I'm not best pleased. My system is in since Sept 9th and no SEAI grant yet.

The devils

I was chosen also for the seai audit (only took an hour) , the guy was great but it took a while for it happen.

Hooe fully you'll have it completed soon

bullit_dodger

ELM I wouldn't get worried too much about that (other than the fact if your out of pocket then yeah, it may delay them paying you). In my case it was the supplier who was left waiting for SEAI to pay them. Fellow who came out was a nice chap. Very patiently answered all my questions too. Turned out he knew a friend of mine so that helped, but he found a few things which needed addressing. Stuff that I wouldn't have known myself - like AC and DC in the same conduit is a no-no - but most of it was straightforward and very easy to fix.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098062#Comment_120098062

100% agree, well insulated and airtight homes make the energy load better. They also have the added bonus of making renewables easier and insulating (couldn't resist myself, sorry) you from price increases

If you look at countries with traditionally cheaper energy like France or the USA, they tend to have very poor insulation on their houses and are generally inefficient. They're the ones being hit with some of the steepest increases and where people are complaining loudly

Well okay, might be some national politics involved there as well 😏

The devils

Guys just wondering does your solis 6kw hybrid invertor - above 3/4 kw sound like the internally fan is kicking and out ?

Currently batteries running at 3.59 kw

Cheers

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100187#Comment_120100187

Sounds normal, they do that on high loads in and out.

the_amazing_raisin

Since we're comparing grid usage, here's mine for the month of December

House is A2 rated BER, heat pump, electric cooking and 2x EVs. There's usually at least someone WFH so there's a fair chunk of daytime usage

Unfortunately the Zappi doesn't measure night rate consumption but it's around 45% on average

No solar yet, can't wait to get it installed

slave1

Wish mine was that low

jkforde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099439#Comment_120099439

yeah, they're very deliberate\picky but that's their job after all... hint, check for enough fireproofing in front of battery if you have one which you could remedy yourself.. it'd be handy if they sent the checklist ahead of time so people could remedy any low hanging easy snags.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100556#Comment_120100556

Should really be up to the installer though, shouldn't it? I would withhold the final payment to the installer pending receiving of the grant. Or better, just pay the installer net of the grant

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100531#Comment_120100531

I'm noticing some definite gaps there that mine doesn't have, I'm guessing you're charging the battery overnight and discharging during the day?

Despite using more it's probably costing less because you can take better advantage of the night rate

Like unkel's favourite saying, "15kW o'clock"

unkel

@the_amazing_raisin - "Like unkel's favourite saying, "15kW o'clock""

Bring it on, I'm bloody freezing here and almost run out of battery

The devils

Screenshot_20230112-222723_SolisCloud.jpg

Consumption for December

PCDub

Hi slave1

Can i ask if you've a thread anywhere on what measures you took to insulate your house? I'm in the same boat. Have changed the windows so far but would love to know what you did and if it was diy'able or did you use a contractor?

the_amazing_raisin

For anyone with an MHRV system, have you any kind of silencers or attenuators fitted to the intake and exhaust?

I'm getting a lot of aircraft noise coming in through the high tech Irish ventilation system (holes drilled in the wall) and it would be a bonus if I could cut down on that somewhat

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120101648#Comment_120101648

Can you have an A2 BER rating and holes in the wall for ventilation?

You can get inline noise filters for MHRV. I don't have them as never had any issue with the air noise from the unit.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120102405#Comment_120102405

Apparently you can, or at least you could in 2017. I suspect there was some funny maths going on behind that one

We're quite close to the new runway at Dublin Airport and there's definitely been a dramatic increase in the amount of aircraft noise. Turns out those noise calculations from DAA weren't worth much 🙄

Been considering an MHRV system for a while and if it cut down on the noise it would be a nice bonus. We'd have to deal up the existing vents in the process obviously