Random Renewables Thread

Is the thread borked? I'm seeing unread posts from Exiled Rebel but his post isn't showing up?

Okay, clearly you read a different article to the one you linked because literally nothing of what you claimed was said in the article

Unless I missed a key paragraph, Eamonn Ryan was basically saying gas is expensive so we should use less by building up renewable generation, building more interconnectors and moving ahead with the private wires bill in the Dail

Perhaps you could quote the particular paragraph where he says fossil fuels prices need to go up?

The entire paragraph for context with the snippet you quoted in bold

Electricity prices have to come down. We need that to happen so we can help Irish households pay their bills and businesses to maintain their competitiveness, which is threatened by volatile and high energy costs. We also need prices to fall to help us meet our climate targets. The electrification of transport and heating systems will be vital in this regard and we need a good gap between the cost of electricity and the fossil fuel alternatives to help drive the switch

Pretty clear that he's saying electricity prices need to come down to ensure electrification of heating and transport is financially viable for end consumers

At no point is a price hike for fossil fuels mentioned

Please stop spreading misinformation

€40K for maybe 2.5kw. A gimmick.

You'd get a similar spread of power from a 2 aspect installation with East West split, say ten panels per side each on a string. The math is easy to do, you get a very wide band from sunrise to sunset.

That's just to buy the yoke in a crate. You can double that to physically install it and commissioning, but then add the cosy of inverter, house cabling, trenches, connection to the grid etc. That UK price is for the install I'd imagine. A standard panel solar install tends to be 2-3 times the material cost.

A lot of people also bought domestic wind turbines thinking they were worth it.

8n

So before anyone asks, no the fire wasn't started by the inverter

It's interesting to see the fire department response to the solar panels. They basically sprayed black rubber stuff over the panels so they couldn't generate any power. The idea being that the cable from the panels to the inverter is probably damaged and might spark and start another

Yeah it's a bit of a developing feature. I get the feeling that everyone is seeking their own solution as well instead of a common standard

The standard in Ireland seems to be that the firefighters want to turn off one switch and know that the power is off

I feel this is a bit restrictive since it makes installing a changeover switch quite tricky, however I also want something safe so the firefighters can do their job without the risk of being electrocuted

I thought it was very interesting they considered the risk of the panels starting a new fire due to damaged wiring. It isn't something I'd personally thought about but makes sense when you think about it

I didn't realise that fireman switches weren't required in the UK, makes a bit more sensense now why they'd spray the panels

The rule I heard from the electrician was that the changeover switch has to be withing 2 metres of the door or meter box and needs to be appropriately marked

It's worth linking your post from 2022 of the regultions on this. It seems to imply in bullet point 1 that if cutting the mains supply ( e.g, the MCB in the meter box if there) is sufficient to provide "isolation of the circuit (whether AC or DC, and two pole)" then that's fine. Cutting the mains does kill the inverter, and effectively isolates the DC. It's moot as to whether adding a powered DC switch prior to the inverter achieves anything, as at some place in the circuit the series DC voltage of all the panels, maybe 500v, will be sitting idling in cables and on a pair of switch contacts. When the inverter closes down, this is effectively a DC isolator. Having the manual isolator in the attic a half mere away is required and a solenoid operated one in front of (or after?) the manual one seems overkill.

Further into your post the regs describe shunting or isolation the PV modules unhelpful language in my opinion as shunting is not the same as just switching off. The pount is, you can't switch the panels off, at best you can isolate their live DC on an outside wall switch. The regs are confusing to say the least. Here it is anyway.

You've better memory than me 😉

I think the fireman switch is a reasonable precaution, you can't guaruntee tbe inverter is in the attic. For example my neighbour has theirs in a cabinet in the garden

So without the fireman switch there is the possibility of a long cable run which will still be live even when the inverter is shut down

The regulations are a mess however, they seem to contradict themselves in several places

Whats particularly infuriating is that other countries have already figured this out and seem to do fine

In the US for example there's a requirement for a very obvious and simple isolator switch that disconnects the panels before they enter the house