Solar PV - is it worth it?

Deleted User wrote: »

I still think even a 5 Kwh battery is useless with a 4.13 kwp array. Don't get me wrong, it's better to store 5 Kwh than dump it but I feel a 4.13 Kwp system will generate far more than 5 Kwh worth of electricity in the Summer months per day, not every day, of course but I think significant energy will still have to be dumped.

Good sunny Winter weather could also see a lot of energy dumped.

It's ridiculous there's no push to make the ESB take more energy from Micro generation in the way of FIT.

My 3kw system can generate up to 20kwh a day. Obviously we’ve had a sunnier few weeks though. But 10-13 on average is the normal since last September on decent days.

Today was a bad day. Only 4kwh generated.

The problem with saying a 5kwh battery is worthless, is the cost to go bigger and the size of the unit. You have to start thinking about where to put this battery.

What would the average use be from 6pm to 6am for a typical house?
5kwh would put a major dent in what you draw from the grid if you could fill that most days?

Add to this an immersion divertor and if you get hot water and some storage then your laughing but I’d probably prioritize the battery storage as you can use that to turn on the immersion that evening if required.

Today was the second day since April I’ve had to fire the gas boiler up to heat the water

Deleted User wrote: »

The problem is that it's substantial energy wasted when the battery is full, if as you say you generate up to 20 Kwh on a sunny day that's a huge loss of energy , dumping it to hot water is fine but who has even close to 20 Kwh of storage in their hot water tank ? I'd say 0.

Before I went EV our daily average house consumption was about 6.5 Kwh per day which I'm told was good.

Only sane way to use solar is FIT, send to the grid all the excess , none is wasted and you buy back only what you need.

Obviously we don't have such a system so in my opinion solar PV is not viable at this time.

Our daily average now is about 15 Kwh per day.

So run by me again, how much was the 4.3 Kwp array with battery including install + grant ?

20kwh would be rare enough.
FIT is the best option, I agree but it ain’t happen so we got to work with what we have.

I actually dont know what my daily use is, can I work it’s out by checking the meter figures?
I would only dump about 3-4kwh to the immersion on a good day Andy that gives me a full tank of hot water (300L new, highly insulated cylinder).

Also not sure on complete costing for a 4.3 system but my 3kw system including the immersion divertor cost me €2900 supplied and fitted while I was renovating my house last year. I didn’t do it for the financial gain, although it simply nice to save a little, I done it for the environment if I’m honest and to do my little bit as corny as it sounds.