SBSwords wrote: » Thanks. What I'm finding hard to understand is what might make sense for my setup, then I can go looking for best price. Should I be going for 3kw panels and a 5kw battery, or something less for example. There's no hot water tank in my setup so at least that rules out the hot water diverter.
wexfordman2 wrote: » Price is ridiculously high, tell em to deck off. For 600 euro more, I got a 6kwp solar, 5kwh battery, eddi hot water diverter, essential load wiring, and ber included. Your person quoting you is overcharging you by thousands, and on that basis alone I would refuse to deal with them
wexfordman2 wrote: » Price is ridiculously high, tell em to deck off.
SBSwords wrote: » Very interested in going down the Solar PV route. I've read quite a bit of this thread - but I'll be honest I'm still a bit confused when I put it all together!. Apologies if this is not the right place for this sort of query. I've got a ordinary semi-d, hipped roof, back is south facing. Combi boiler - so no hot water storage. Imported a Phev and switched to night saver back at halloween - just shy of 6 months ago. Moved some of our electricity usage to nightsaver & will keep that up. House is occupied most of the day so this could be moved back if made sense with Solar PV. Phev is not there during the day however. Looking at our usage for the just shy of 6months - 2,700kwh - split 1,500 day (€0.16 incl VAT), 1,200 night (€0.08 incl VAT). So maybe roughly 10 units during day, 8 at night. I've got a quote from a Solar PV installer for a 3kw system with 5kw battery. €11,400 (incl VAT) minus SEAI grant €3,100 = €8.300: - 10 x 300w sharp solar panels - split over back roof & side roof 16.5m2 total - Sonnen eco.9.53 Hybrid 5kw battery - Expected typical generation 2,700 - 3,000kwh/y - Expected savings €540-€600/y (based on 0.20c per kwh incl VAT) Leaving aside the quote even - I get stuck. Is this the right size installation for my needs? would smaller be better? does it just not stack up now - but would if prices fell/grants increased/fit came about. thanks in advance!
barryleonard79 wrote: » Ireland’s renewable mix last year in total was 31%. You can’t buy 100% renewable energy in Ireland. Utilities are purchasing what’s called “guarantees of origin” from renewable projects such as Norwegian hydro projects. It’s a complete joke to say the are 100% renewable.
During the hot summer I think almost 90% of our energy mix was from gas, there was no wind and I think Moneypoint was down as the turbines were out of action. Now if I had solar I could have saved even a small amount of fossil fuel. Also remember that it takes generally 2.5 Kw’s to get 1kW to your house. I would imagine this isn’t the case when generating on your own roof. It’s not all about payback. Energy is used to make and transport panels but even factoring that in they still save energy over there lifetime.
barryleonard79 wrote: » Thanks for this i'll have to go back and get more details on option 1
antoinolachtnai wrote: » Why do you think that being self sufficient will be good for the environment? It may not be. The distribution and transmission infrastructure has to be paid for no matter what. You can get environmentally friendly renewable electricity without spending thousands of euros up-front. You will pay a premium for it but it is there. In the end, if you use a lot of electricity during the day you will get some sort of payback on this stuff. If you want to protect the environment when you use electricity, another option would be to buy renewable electricity and minimize electricity consumption at peak times and when the wind is low.
rolion wrote: » @Barry F I T ... !? Do you know something we all don't know !!???
unkel wrote: » Average house (without EV) uses 3.5MWh per year. If you use 25% on the night rate of 8c and 75% on the day rate at 17c on a normal meter and 18c on a night meter, you break even: 3500 * 17c = 2625 * 18c + 875 * 8c + €50 (extra standing charge per year) If you get an EV, or even just run appliances at the night rate time on purpose some of the time, you are in for serious savings with a night rate meter.
AidenL wrote: » Ok, so I called Energia today about a night saver meter. They did their best to put me off it. I ran a quick check last night, from 10.30am to 7.30 am, used 6.5 units on the meter. Thats just about 25% of our daily usage. That didn't include dishwasher or washing machine overnight. So does that sound a sensible use case for a night saver meter?
AidenL wrote: » 1992 house, it seems to be an olde worlde meter !
n97 mini wrote: » You may even already have the meter. Depends on when your house was built. If you have a digital meter with R1 and R2 rates then it's only a matter of changing your billing.
AidenL wrote: » On my list to do tomorrow. I was worried it would tie me into a new contract. Thanks for the tip.
unkel wrote: » For anyone with a high base load, night rate is a no brainer. You'll save yourself a small fortune. You don't need to wait until you are switching either. Ring your electricity provider and they'll contact ESB networks to come replace the meter. Costs nothing, but your yearly standing fee will go up by about €50 and your day rate will go up by about 1c/kWh but your night rate will be about half what you pay now...
Silent Running wrote: » Waiting until change time is a bad move. It'll cause a delay at changeover. Get it done ahead of making a supplier change, you'll be glad you did.
AidenL wrote: » maybe night rate should be the start anyway. I'll organize when I'm switching next time.
niallers1 wrote: » Hi AidenL, Forgive me if I'm making the wrong assumptions. I don't know your circumstances so I'll presume the worst. Apologies in advance 8600 Kwh is more than twice the average household usage. Have you looked at some usage changes like tunring off items on standby when not using, turning off lights in rooms not occupied, Using LED lighting. Sounds like you would benefit from a night rate meter You will not get self sufficient with Solar PV alone but you will get an excellent contribution. You will have to use the grid no matter what. Winter (Mid october to Mid Feb )you might only get 3kwh average a day with a 5kw system. From Mid Feb to Mid october you will get alot of solar and cover a sizable chunk of your requirements on average. Some days you'll have too much and other you might only get a third of your requirements. Battery will even it out. In my case I also have them east west which coincides with our highest usage times. if you do get solar PV and battery you will still need to be smart with the way you use it. stagger appliances such as washing machine and dishwasher by using the delay start and not use while using the electric over/hob.
niallers1 wrote: » I have a 4.2kw solar PV. I expect I'll get about 3200kwh over the year with an east west array (75-80%). You'd get about 4200 kwh if it was south facing.
phester28 wrote: » @ Niallers. I am curious to your setup. When I was looking into solar my limitation was that my south facing roof I could probably only fit 2 panels (maybe 3 at a push and depending on regs) You mention east and west facing. Are you able to tell what these produce and until what time. My East facing has sun until maybe 1.00 and West starts to get it about an hour or so later. Do you parallel 3 strings into your inverter
AidenL wrote: » I'm totally confused by PV from reading this thread. We use around 8600 kWh per annum. Around 1700 euros including Vat. I guess bottom line is, there's quite a long payback, even with the grant, and that its the battery cost which is increasing the payback time? I haven't even had my quotes yet, and I'm wondering is it worth my while. Based on the poster above, even with 100% self sufficiency, its a long payback. Are we looking at a case where, its not financially sensible, but we do it for the good of the environment? If anyone has the same consumption as we do, and can give me a real world example of a change in bills since PV was installed, I'd appreciate it - it would help my decision making process. Consumption is 24kWh per day. So can 5 or 6kw on the roof, with a battery, make us reasonably self sufficient?
