Solar panels….?

[Alex321]

I was about to do this, then realised my incoming is on the standard flexible Octopus tariff, rather than Agile.

So now in the process of signing up to Agile.

I've still set it to charge the battery tonight and discharge tomorrow between 5 & 6pm to see if I can gain from the saving session tomorrow.

 

[Alex321]

I was about to do this, then realised my incoming is on the standard flexible Octopus tariff, rather than Agile.

So now in the process of signing up to Agile.

I've still set it to charge the battery tonight and discharge tomorrow between 5 & 6pm to see if I can gain from the saving session tomorrow.

That was quick. Switched to agile already less than 2 hours after applying for it.

 

[Alex321]

And now I've just received my latest bill/statement from Octopus. As they had so much difficulty connectng to our outgoing meter, it was only mid November they got it, after being on their Agile Outgoing tariff since April, this meant thath the statement had all the backdated half hourly metered values for 8 months - so 216 pages of PDF!

During which time, our total electricity bill was -£365.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Well that’s a year of solar panels about tick over next week . I’m slightly up on the cost in terms of ROI , ( did take out the energy trust loan for them ) . We are quite heavy users , and now EV owners it’s going to increase . However …… now on an EV tariff so batteries charged at cheap rate , I expect to be exporting a lot more this year coming , due to the over night cheap rate , starting the day fully charged !

 

[Legs]

We get fitted tomorrow! Very excited, hopefully it’ll go smoothly 🤞

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

We can only fit a few panels on the roof - weird shape

also the trees at the back mean that over half the panels are shaded in winter to some extent

as a result we have exported no power to the grid over the last 3 months
I know because EDF have just asked me for an export reading - and it was the same as the last one

should increase soon

 

[Tenkaykev]

I used a couple of solar forecast utilities to forecast my generation when researching my solar PV plans. As they take Lat/Long as well as orientation and roof angle etc, as expected they were within a few kWh of each other. My actual generation is below that ( 198 kWh from a 5.26 array since 18 November), but I think with all the cloud and rain that's to be expected.

 

[Legs]

We get fitted tomorrow! Very excited, hopefully it’ll go smoothly 🤞

Well, the panels are up, the inverter and batteries are in position, and the cable routing has been done, but there’s still a fair bit more work for the electrician to do today.

 

[Buck]

It’ll be amazing how quick they commission the system now the physical install is in.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Well, the panels are up, the inverter and batteries are in position, and the cable routing has been done, but there’s still a fair bit more work for the electrician to do today.

After all this rain it's good to see a bit of Solar generation today. I've just switched from a variable export tariff to a fixed 15p per kWh. Hoping there are a few more of the special export sessions that the National Grid has been organising. Thry have been very lucrative for those with batteries.

 

[Alex321]

After all this rain it's good to see a bit of Solar generation today. I've just switched from a variable export tariff to a fixed 15p per kWh. Hoping there are a few more of the special export sessions that the National Grid has been organising. Thry have been very lucrative for those with batteries.

Yes, we are generating today, and after charging the battery overnight, have actually exported a tiny amount, and currently exporting 0.13kW.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Yes, we are generating today, and after charging the battery overnight, have actually exported a tiny amount, and currently exporting 0.13kW.

Our panels hit 3kWh about an hour ago and it was all being exported as the battery was full. I switched the immersion heater on ( it's usually heated by the gas boiler ) but the water is up to temperature so we're exporting again ☀️

 

[Alex321]

Our panels hit 3kWh about an hour ago and it was all being exported as the battery was full. I switched the immersion heater on ( it's usually heated by the gas boiler ) but the water is up to temperature so we're exporting again ☀️

Yes, we are exporting 3.2kW now. Earlier, I would guess my wife had the tumble drier on, or maybe the cooker making herself lunch (I'm in the office today, so don't know for sure).

 

[chris-suffolk]

Our panels hit 3kWh about an hour ago and it was all being exported as the battery was full. I switched the immersion heater on ( it's usually heated by the gas boiler ) but the water is up to temperature so we're exporting again ☀️

You can get devices to automatically switch spare generation to the immersion, then you don't need to monitor it or manually switch.

 

[Alex321]

You can get devices to automatically switch spare generation to the immersion, then you don't need to monitor it or manually switch.

Which is a very good popint looking at my last response. We have one of those, and will have been switching the output to the immersion rather than exporting, until the tank was at max temperature.