Solar pv and other domestic micro-generation technologies
30 watchers
Nov 2023
10:35am, 8 Nov 2023
48,364 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Sorry jda, you've lost me. "...once you get beyond the stage of daily cycling, the return on investment will drop precipitously, as it's just sitting there not being used." ?? Ours is 9.5kWh. My wife is trying to encourage me to get a second one, so doubling us to 19kWh. A "normal" 3 bed semi, 4 person family will prob use 4-8kWh a day electricity, but we're a big house and some outbuildings, so we use more. But even if we didn't, as you say, you could always just sell it back! So that's why I said bigger is better. Only caveat would be if you didn't have the ability to have a smart meter and therefore couldn't do the cheap rate pricing. Or if you couldn't get your Grid connection for export approved for some reason?  G
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Nov 2023
10:39am, 8 Nov 2023
15,819 posts
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jda
If companies are happy for you to buy cheap power from them overnight and export it back to them during the day at a sufficiently higher price for the battery to make economic sense, then that's great, no limit to your battery as I said. And no need for solar panels even. But I suspect that this won't sustain as a long-term state of affairs, as once enough people have installed big enough batteries there won't be the same economic imperative for overnight power to be sold cheap in the first place as the demand will be higher!
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Nov 2023
10:45am, 8 Nov 2023
21,052 posts
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rf_fozzy
As soon as everyone has a smart meter and we have effective real-time ToD pricing, the bigger the battery the better. Doesn't matter if the cycle is diurnal or chaotic, just choose to charge the battery at the cheapest times. The key is when ToD pricing comes in. Suspect it'll be sooner rather than later. It'll save most people money. |
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Nov 2023
10:58am, 8 Nov 2023
48,366 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Fozzy, by Time of Day pricing, do you mean this... octopus.energy Agile Octopus Enjoy cheaper electricity prices when wholesale prices fall With Agile Octopus, you get access to half-hourly energy prices, tied to wholesale prices and updated daily. So when wholesale electricity prices drop, so do your bills – and if you can shift your daily electricity use outside of peak times, you can save even more. G
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Nov 2023
11:00am, 8 Nov 2023
48,367 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
jda, as fozzy says, doesn't have to be selling back at more than you buy it. As long as you buy it cheap and use less of the expensive stuff, the saving pays for the battery. I agree that the whole market and supply demand needs to be evened out by big storage capability at grid and regional level - but home storage could/should be part of that? G
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Nov 2023
11:12am, 8 Nov 2023
15,820 posts
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jda
Well ok but then you're back to the daily cycling argument. Once the battery holds more than you use in a day, any extra capacity is just sitting there not returning any money. You have to either use it yourself on a daily basis (offsetting peak prices) or sell it back at a decent profit. Certainly overnight batteries will be part of the process of evening out supply and demand. But the price differential requires that there's an imbalance, and it will decrease as this process builds. Investing heavily now on the assumption of 20 years of buying at 5 and selling/offsetting at 30 is perhaps a bit risky. In 10y there will be millions of people charging their cars overnight, and they may even be prepared to pay a premium over normal prices for the convenience/necessity! |
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Nov 2023
11:15am, 8 Nov 2023
48,369 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Payback is in 7 years for us, and anyway, green, innit?! G
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Nov 2023
11:17am, 8 Nov 2023
7,114 posts
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ThorntonRunner
As v2l and v2g matures, will this make large house batteries redundant for those with supporting EVs?
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Nov 2023
11:20am, 8 Nov 2023
11,919 posts
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cathrobinson
I was just thinking the same… some of this decision making needs to be less about the money as it is about the environment. Sure, you don’t want to be making a loss… but personally I’d be happy to save a little bit whilst not pulling from the grid at times when more fossil fuel generation is going on. Even better if I can give back during those times (I can’t yet…). Has anyone ‘handed over control’ of their PV / battery system to Octopus yet? Looks like it’s a new version of Go where they determine how best to use your system efficiently. |
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Nov 2023
11:23am, 8 Nov 2023
48,370 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Agree TR, hopefully V2H, V2L, V2G will mature, but home batteries are available now, and prices are dropping. £3K for a 10kWh battery. Lower for smaller. G
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