Random Renewables Thread

idc

More likely the parts will be shipped to a convenient port where a crane can do the final assembly and then that is towed out rather than towing fully assembled turbine half way around ireland/europe (depending where turbine/blades/etc are constructed)!

bullit_dodger

That makes more sense. T'would be great to see some of these monsters in Ireland.

Still don't know if they are designed for our kind of wind speeds. For all I know, we might have TOO much wind for their design.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120736366#Comment_120736366

They are designed for typhoon wind speeds that this country has never seen (as in well over 200km/h winds)

bullit_dodger

Yup with you there....although that's a little different - that's more around structural strength as in what they will withstand in a storm. In a typhoon they would feather the blades and they wouldn't be turning, unless they are insane :-)

No, my question was more around the aerofoils themselves. They are often designed for different average wind speeds. You might have an aerofoil which will deliver optimal efficiency at a specific windspeed, and while a higher wind speed may generate more power counter-intuitively it might not be doing it as efficiently. Ideally you want a variable patch blade, one that would start with low m/s and work through all ranges. But it complicates things and makes the gearing heavy. So I think most of them are fixed, and if you have to fix the blade's "angle-of-attack" they might fix that for a different speed than it optimal for us. I know a little about this from airplane prop engines which effectively do the same thing (in reverse of course - turning rotational torque into lift/trust) Maybe they have 2-3 different blades , and they sell you the ones that you need based on your circumstances. dunno.

Variable speed wind turbine - Wikipedia

Not sure those behemoths have variable pitch blades. (I tried looking it up, but couldn't find an answer)

In any case, maybe it's the Don Quixote in me, but I'd love to see one of them up close. Fascinating stuff.

paulbok

Definitely will be of interest to many if they produce a patio awning version.

https://electrek.co/2023/06/16/rollout-solar-awning-rv/

Gerry

Finally lined up an EV. Yep an older generation leaf.. no need or possibility even for a big pcp extravaganza.. It will do fine for most of our journeys. Really like how reliable they are. Going for the top spec and our cars are old so it will be a big step forward for us.

Will be granny charging for now and looking at options. Perhaps Zappi early next year. But with our mileage its hard to justify. Sourcing one and getting an electrician to fit is what I'd hope for. more like 1200 than 1600.

A different granny charger which could charge at say 6A would be more appealing in the short term.

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740479#Comment_120740479

I’m about 1 year ahead of you with our 2nd hand Leaf too. Our first EV and only car we have, and we’ll never get an ICE car again.

You get a €600 grant on charger. Granny charger runs ~2kW – can’t remember but close to that. I’d suggest charge it to full each day (or night) as the charger is so slow. Leaf has a small battery so best it’s full at the start until you get used to the range.

We got a Zappi maybe 2 months after we got the car. Any granny charger (irrespective of the speed) is a pain day after day I found. Lead is short and costs something mad like €200 to buy a replacement one with a longer 10m lead (so don’t need an extension lead too). But you’ve time to decide what to do. I read there is more electrical risk too as they are not designed for everyday use.

I put the extension cable to the granny charger in a waterproof box and ran power from the shed (as was too short without it). Granny charger itself is waterproof but a very short lead. Box and plugs got very hot even when the weather wasn’t hot – sealed so heat can’t easily escape. And extension reel was rolled out fully so wouldn’t cook. I live in Dublin so wouldn’t be leaving windows open on the ground floor for a cable to hang out of it for X hours a day during charging.

Another option is if you’ve a smart meter, get a cheap EV night rate and then ‘sell’ FIT. So just need any entry level charger, not a Zappi. Benefit reduces if FIT drops in time and nightrate increases of course. Plus you pay the dreaded peak TOU rates. Like me, I don’t think you have a battery.

Btw, what I read at the time was to let the Leaf charge get low once (like 10-20% or so). Then charge to 100% and the SOC can improrve when it ‘remembers’ what 100% of the battery is. And suggestion was to do that every one in a while. Also look at the % charged and not the GOM (guess-o-meter). Then you can tell your available mileage from the % charged once you start to suss out the % you use for mileage. So you’ve an idea of juice, we use ~1800kWh for ~15km a year. Pretty much a steady 150kWh a month. Little more in winter when using the heater a lot. Seems to use a little more battery when it’s cold, maybe more electrical losses – just a hunch. That’s ‘driving miss daisy’ stuff around Dublin.  

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740479#Comment_120740479

You can soon pick up early generation zappis as people are selling them to upgrade to newer versions. There is a problem between newer myenergi hardware and older zappis and myenergi are offering far below market value upgrades. So wait for that

Then you could pick up a zappi, pay an electrician €250 and get the whole install done for around the grant value, so for free!

Gerry

Thanks both, deposit down on it this evening, delighted.

Yeah the cable run for granny charger won't be huge deal as have an outside socket. Mileage won't be huge but will keep it near full for first little while.

600 grant yup but I don't fancy another 800 on top. That sounds interesting unkel.. presume there are threads on ev forum about that.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120742287#Comment_120742287

Yeah if you just look at the zappi thread here in this forum and go a couple pages back, you'll see it. In the UK people in above situation are offered a brand new zappi V2 for GBP350 incl. VAT!

KCross

In the UK people in above situation are offered a brand new zappi V2 for GBP350 incl. VAT!

NOTE: Not everyone will be offered that v1 to v2 cheap upgrade, just in case peoples hopes are being raised here but there should be some v1's coming online for sale alright as a result.

I was hoping to do that myself but got rebuffed by myEnergi as I dont have other myEnergi products. This is what they told me

"As to the upgrade offer, this is only available to people who have other myenergi products in their setup (zappi2, Eddi or Libbi) and the compatibility will affect their connectivity."

I dont know if you can bluff that and just tell them you have an Eddi that you bought after market, or if they'll request proof etc but it seem the offer is only going to those who MyEnergi know have multiple products.

idc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745048#Comment_120745048

I expect you'd need to send unique product IDs, other option is hope it breaks during warranty! Got my zappi replaced with new internet enabled model when it was faulty 😀

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745048#Comment_120745048

They can see what is linked I expect. The website portal shows my Zappi and serial number and all the data that sends back and forth.

So they could see another device was never linked I would expect.

Jonathan

Happy solstice everyone. Winter is coming now.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120746135#Comment_120746135

Banned

bullit_dodger

This month could be Ireland's hottest ever June, according to Met Éireann (msn.com)

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750236#Comment_120750236

About 20 houses on our road in D12, including mine, came within a whiskers of being flooded the other day after the flash floods. We got a wild amount of rain in maybe 20mins and nothing to soak it up. Road just became like a river, and it filled, and filled. Dry ground can't absorb water quickly as it's pretty solid. Blessed it didn't rain a 2nd time or we were gonners. Neighbour was draining water from inside his car.

Tbh it was scary in that I was helpless to do anything. Called Council emergency drainage number, but apart from that I could only watch it. Not helped by Council not longer actively cleaning drains as they did in the past. Means they can handle less volume.

Last time it was that close was maybe 3 years ago. We're in a large housing estate that's 80 years old. It's a recent problem afaik. Happened that bad maybe 3 times in 20 years I'm living here, but all in the last 6 or so years.

Weather unpredictability is becoming the new predictability sadly. I'm not saying poor me, simply pointing out that change is sadly coming. And we're in a country where we're less impacted by that change.

bullit_dodger

Couple of years back ....

Watch: The Heavy Rain Is After Wreaking Absolute Havoc In Dundrum | Balls.ie

Happened back in 2007/2008 too - and your right mate that rain we had last week was nuts. Similar to you, the road I'm on in D16 does suffer from very very rare flooding. The moron who designed the drainage system back in the late 80's decided to put in a right angled bend in the sewer pipe. I'm not great with fluid dynamics but even I know right angles + pluming are to be avoided.

When it started, I stopped work and started to look out the window at it with....."interest" shall we say. :-(

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750391#Comment_120750391

Flash flooding from torrential rain is very hard to counter, even if you have huge drains there's nowhere for it to go!

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750487#Comment_120750487

True

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750391#Comment_120750391

Often when I'm walking home I curse the idea that I bought a house near the top of a hill. But when I'm watching the river of water flowing down the road away from the house then I'm a lot happier with my decision

What's the deal with DLRCC council not cleaning drains? Fingal seem to have the truck out several times a year checking all the storm water drains are clear

slave1

Real bad vibrations from sitting next to propeller (bad focus) but you can just make out the solar farms whiltst ascending from Dublin airport

ColemanY2K

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120741421#Comment_120741421

Hi unkel...are you able to elaborate on the issue between older zappi's and new myenergi hardware? i have a second hand zappi lined up over here in england which i think would be ideal for my gaf in ireland. i haven't one yet but i'm also thinking of picking up a second hand hub and eddi. would be good to know what's compatible and what's not.

p.s. i note from myenergi's website that from september neither new zappi's nor new eddi's will no longer require a hub.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120773278#Comment_120773278

Yes the older V1 zappi and the newer V2 eddi can't work together IF you install the latest firmware on the eddi. If you don't, they are fine. I have just paid myenergi £350 myself and they are sending me out a V2 zappi for that. Can't argue with that deal. I will be putting up my V1 zappi up for sale shortly, very cheap as it has just developed an error that it starts charging and immediately stops, I've seen control pilot error show up on the screen a few times

ColemanY2K

Has anyone bought kit from a distributor based in Tullow? Don't want to name names but the prices on their site are keen. They seem to be a fairly new operation with Dublin area number.

the_amazing_raisin

More about undersea cables

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JH9-0AbR_1U&feature=youtu.be

It would be great to see high voltage cables across the Atlantic, buy and sell renewables between Europe and the US

Also I couldn't help but laugh at how Ireland got repeatedly deleted from the map. Must have been put together by the UK government 🙄

randombar

Hi Folks,

planning a project at home with a lean to. I saw somewhere about a sealed roof using panels with a kit of some kind.

does anyone have any links or anything?

thanks

AndyBoBandy

Scheduled power cut in the estate today from 9am - 5pm..

Charged the battery up this morning from 7-9am (last 2 hours of night rate) to 81% (had been charging it to 50% the last week or so anyway as the weather has been so bad the last few days)....

Ran a lead down from the attic and split it off 3 ways powering her office (laptop & 2 screens), and my office, (laptop with 2 screens & a Mac Mini & a small TV) as well as all the peripherals that go with a home office..., and then a lead down to the sitting room to power the fibre modem..

9:20am - power goes, battery at 81%

10:27am - battery down to 76%

11:00am - battery is at 74%

So roughly using 4%-5% an hour means I'd have about 11 hours of this set up before the battery cuts out at 20%

(Have a camping kettle that I can boil on the gas hob for the tae.....)

Happy Days. And a win for having a battery!!

unkel

Nice one @AndyBoBandy

I wouldn't open the freezer at all until the power has been back on for several hours. I would also quickly eat the perishables from the fridge well before the use by date over the next few days as all of them will have been compromised after an 8 hour power cut. Except of course if you can run another extension cable to the attic to plug your fridge / freezer into

I take it you're not in Dublin then? I can't remember a power cut that lasted that long in the 23 years I live in this house. But I'm well ready for that situation myself with a very large home battery with a continuous 3kW output through the EPS socket while solar panels are still charging the battery, also have my eBike battery pack and a 48V inverter ready for a more mobile 1000W continuous solution and I can connect a 12V inverter to either of my EVs 12V battery, for another steady and pretty much unlimited 600W continous output

AndyBoBandy

Yeah, I'm in North County Dublin, and these scheduled power cuts are quite common... at least 3-4 now over the last 2 years or so.... I think it's because of the new houses/estates that are popping up around us... (had an unscheduled power cut about 2 weeks ago for a few hours also!!)

As for the fridge, I keep a few bottles of water frozen in the freezer for use in cooler bags/boxes if/when we go out on the boat so I popped one of them (1.75L of Ice) into the fridge to help keep it chilled.... perishables will be going anyway this week as we are heading away for a few weeks holiday this weekend..

I could run another lead into the kitchen for the fridge if I wanted... but the doors will remain closed expect when I briefly grab the milk for a cup of tea... so I don't usually bother with it...

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120870178#Comment_120870178

Yeah I'm in Swords and we'd typically have 1-2 unscheduled power cuts during the year. Only a few hours each thankfully

Last one was a few weeks back and we got to try out the battery. Ran extension leads and plugged in the fridge and internet router, laptops had enough battery to keep going but we could work in the kitchen if we fell short

I've got the 10kWh battery set to charge to 40% overnight just to ensure there's some useable energy in the morning, it came in handy that morning

Now I need to work on the unofficial fireman switch override to be able to get power from the panels in the event of an outage

I was speaking to the installer about doing it within regs, but the changeover switch needs to be within 2 metres of the front door, and my CU is way further than that

AndyBoBandy

Thats interesting as my CU is about 50cm from the front door, and I'd never before even considered a changeover switch... but it certainly would be handy if the panels were keeping the battery topped up while the power is off... though I just checked again and I'm using 4% per hour... so as long as I know the power is going off I can plan for it, but even when I got caught out a few weeks ago the battery was only at about 35%, but still it was enough to power the modem and her office for a few hours until power was restored.. I just worked off the laptop battery.

• 9:20am - 81%
• 10:27am - 76%
• 11:01am - 74%
• 11:27am - 72%
• 12:27pm - 68%

So just over 3 hours have consumed 13% (of a 5kWh battery)...

idc

Also in swords too and have similarly experienced a 2-3 power cuts a year since my install. Glad I got changeover switch but the biggest issue and its nothing to do with Solar is broadband! As its probably going through some distribution cabinet somewhere else in the estate which also has no power we don't have any broadband or tv!!

AndyBoBandy

I have fibre broadband and it's always worked fine in any power cut as long as it's been plugged into the battery! Now maybe my local cabinet is an an area that's unaffected by the power cuts I experience, but so far so good!!

I believe cellular masts have a back up power supply that lasts about 2-3 hours, so at least you could hotspot for a short time anyway?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120870388#Comment_120870388

So what I was told is that they can put a manual changeover switch which will swap the grid supply of your CU to the backup power from the inverter

There's a particular way it needs to be done, I think the changeover switch has to be after the main MCB in the CU, and before all the stuff you want to run. Otherwise you need a new meter tail which is a whole other job

It has to isolate the netral as well, which is what was my downfall. I was going to put the changeover switch in the meter cabinet where the existing switch is, but only the live runs through that switch so it wouldn't work, I'd need a new meter tail AFAIK

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120870805#Comment_120870805

Be sure there's a neutral earth bond in the inverter for your eps supply. If not the main neutral should not be switched via the changeover switch.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871687#Comment_120871687

The installer told me the neutral need to be switched as well, I'm hoping they'd know their own hardware

But I'll ask the question anyway, always interesting to see if they answer with "ehhhhhhhhhhhhh"

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871972#Comment_120871972

Most electricians blindly switch the neutral without giving any thought to the generator. In a tncs system in Ireland there can be only one point at which the earth and neutral are bonded together. This is at the esb meter. If you switch the neutral then you lose that bond so the generator/inverter must have one.

Well worth asking the question and keep in mind about 60% of pv installations in the Uk are non compliant with the regs. I would suppose the percentage is even higher here, so I wouldn't assume they know what they're doing.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872109#Comment_120872109

Thanks for the good explanation.

I dare say it's similar in other countries, I've seen videos on US installs and it's explained in a similar manner, there should be only one point where the earth/ground or multiple paths to earth can occur in a fault.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872167#Comment_120872167

Yes, probably safer having multiple points than no bond at all though.

ELM327

Just off the phone with a company interested in the next stage of my journey to fully off grid. When the chap both a) used kilowatt and kilowatt hour correctly and b) suggested a victron quattro as the best new main hub of my system, I was inspired!

Will be installing a new ground mounted array facing due south, as a carport (ie off ground enough for cars to park under. - if you saw my photo of the funky cat that's the area where it will be) with as much array as I can get away with. Will be turning the existing solis hybrid into a string inverter, and getting a 15000VA quattro as the main control hub. That way everything goes through the quattro, no need for changeover switches etc.

I know they get a bad rap on forums sometimes because they are expensive - and they are - but you know what, they work and offer great plug and play functionality. The app is live, not a 5 minute snapshot like solis. It isnt going to consume grid energy to balance, as it will only be connected to the grid if excess power is needed, and also I can connect my generator at the same time as the grid, since the quattro can switch between the two.

This upgrade will likely put me to 16kWp of panels. I have another set of panels, approx 6kWp - on order to pair with a 5kW string inverter - ordered Jinko panels and some mounts on Ali Express. Am also waiting on approx 35kWh of additional storage, giving me around 52kWh or so total usable LFP storage, coupled with 120kWh of EVs on site and some lead acid UPS (which I've since moved out of the office and wired them in instead - thanks @unkel for the safety tip!)

Big year of improvements here. Solar and renewables is an addictive game, and I am still aiming towards that north star goal of mine, which is the removal of the ESBN connection altogether, regardless of cost.

The changes outlined above will bring me from 8.2kWparray /6kVa inverter/18kWh usable storage to approx 21kWp array/ 15kVa main inverter with 6kva and 5kva string inverters/52kWh storage. Not bad for year2.

unkel

Requirements for going off grid in Ireland:

1. need large roofs for PV and / or land for PV ground mounts - tick
2. need lots and lots of PV - tick
3. need genny and / or wind turbine - tick
4. need massive battery - tick
5. need big budget for other also very expensive hardware - tick
6. need awareness that going off grid is going to cost a lot more than staying on grid - tick

Following your journey with interest, will help out where I can. I'm sure most of the other enthusiasts on the forum are the same 😁

ELM327

Cheers. Yes it's a good goal to have and yes it is not going to be cost efficient, you can get 80% off grid pretty easily but the remaining 20% will be difficult . Its a mix of hobby and finance though. Like have a new bathroom ordered, no one asks for return on investment there for instance! Or spending money on a continental holiday - we're taking the tesla to france - no one asks for return on investment for that. At least with solar and storage theres an interest and a payback.

I also won't be going for an NC7, apparently theres a different way to go about supplementing your NC6 when you have software limited export to 25A. With the quattro installed I will aim to export zero. Not one unit.

unkel

Not exporting is near impossible with a big setup on a run of a few very sunny days even if you have a very large battery and several EVs and a thermal dump like a large hot water cylinder. Unless you "waste" electricity by running resistive heaters or the likes of crypto mining rigs 😁

the_amazing_raisin

I'll also be watching with interest, I'm hoping to do a significant upgrade to my system in a few years to go as close to grid independent as I feasibly can

I'm also fan of the Victron gear, they're pricey but if you look at any off grid setup it usually has a Quattro or a Multiplus at the centre of it

The Multiplus II is certified for the Irish grid settings AFAIK, but the Quattro II was having some issues so got delayed

There's a way around it by using a seperate anti islanding board if needed, it's just more work needed to program it and certify it

Same for the export limiting, it's all doable but it's more work for the installer and has a higher level of scrutiny, so they tend to just say it can't be done

One of my favourite things about Victron is the community. I'd definitely recommend heading over to their community page and taking a look, usually there's several people who have answers to any questions you have. It's a lot like here but with a global user base

I like how open they are as well with the software. For example there's full guides on Nose Red integration if you want to do some home automation. I think there's even a Docker image of their VRM server you can run in the likes of AWS or locally, so you can have remote monitoring without sending data to a 3rd party server

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120899484#Comment_120899484

Large battery - check

Several evs - check

large hot water cylinder - check (we have 2!)

But what I like about the victron is the way it;s integrated. Solis (and many other hybrid inverters) work in paralel with the grid, whereas victron operate as a hub and a barrier between the house and the grid unless its needed. I have a grid isolator switch which I will be using a lot I'd say. Grid off unless needed.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120899602#Comment_120899602

Did your installer say how they're going to install the grid isolation?

The 1st Gen Quattro needs an extra isolation switch which needs to be programmed with the Irish settings like the one below

https://www.victronenergy.com/accessories/anti-islanding-box-63a

The newer generation should be able to handle the Irish grid settings but Victron were having some issues with the larger Multiplus II inverters, so they only got certified recently

They haven't released the larger Quattro IIs yet, max available is 5kVA. So if you need more you either need to parallel a bunch of Quattro IIs or go with the Gen 1 Quattro

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120899602#Comment_120899602

Would you not leave it on and export? (It might make doing excess diversions easier, eddis/smart switchs/zappis etc)

But your building your own "micro grid" really where the quattro is the boss and only that is connected to the grid in that aspect.

Wish you all the best, and will help where I can on the automation end. Your likely to need home assistant or something to heat them tanks.

From experience if there is any heat demand from the house, the tanks can take any power you throw at it! 😂

AndyBoBandy

Spotted this mobile solar charger in the local town in Lithuania… I know we have the benches with phone charging and Solar together, but these are a lot more mobile and could be deployed when and where needed like at festivals and outdoor shows etc….

they also provide free Wi-Fi.

The photos are rotated because of reasons…. I tried turning them 90 degrees in my photo album and they are somehow still uploading sideways because of reasons I am yet to understand!!!

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120901021#Comment_120901021

Lithuania: We were worried they'd get stolen but a few concrete blocks underneath stopped that

Dublin knackers: Hold me drink, bud

😉