Solar Panels / Heat Pump Discussion

[Luckypants]

All the threads on this subject are pretty old, so I'm starting a new one.

The government incentives to have solar and heat pump installed are pretty good at the moment if you qualify for a full system 'for free'. I would urge anyone currently on means tested benefits to look into getting one of these.

The means tested benefits that qualify are:

Child Tax Credit (income below £16,105 a year)
Council Tax Reduction (exemption and discount do not qualify on their own)
Housing Benefit
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Income Support
Pension Credit
Universal Credit
Working Tax Credit (income below £16,105 a year)

Two people in my village have benefitted from the scheme and are well happy with the results. Someone else in receipt of child tax credits is thinking about it. One chap is disabled, the other on JSA after being made redundant. The whole thing was done in a month as insulation was OK.

Think about it folks, a new heating system and free leccy (whatever the solar generates) courtesy of the government seems like a good deal.

[Kenzie]

We have solar panels on the roof and recently added some batteries to the system to charge during the day and to run the house at night. Our electricity bill has dropped quite a bit. We didn't qualify for any of the above, but we're part of a tender run by the local council.

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[Luckypants]

My solar and battery system has seen our consumption from the grid drop almost to zero. My step-son has solar panels but no battery on his housing association home, his bills are very low too at the moment.

[garynortheast]

Wish I could persuade the council to fit panels and a heat pump on this bungalow. There's a massive roof on it, and it faces south. As a council tenant, I don't have the option of making that decision unfortunately.

[Luckypants]

Sounds like a no brainer to help the council meet it's Net Zero target. Maybe they are waiting for a big ole grant from WAG? I know there is money available under Barnett formula consequential from the UK Government "Social housing Decarbonisation fund" Keep at it Gary, it is worth it.

[garynortheast]

I think I shall have a few discussions with the council to that end Mike. It's such a waste of so much roof space otherwise.

*Edit* Just emailed the council. We'll see what the response is.

[Luckypants]

There are other councils in Wales doing this, so I hope you have some success. (e.g. Denbighshire and Wrexham)

[garynortheast]

I know that Powys CC have built a number of new properties with solar panels. My (ex) FiL and MiL live in one in Sarn. The panels they've used though, don't appear to be very good quality as they pretty much stopped generating after August last year and didn't really start again until the spring. I have friends in Llandysul, near Trefaldyn, who have had good quality panels fitted on their own properties, and these have worked pretty much all winter, admittedly not at the same level as the summer, but they have generated power right through nonetheless.

[Luckypants]

You are probably right re the quality, but also it will depend on the inverter and measurement devices. What I've found so far with my set up is that the software does not measure anything less than 200W, yet the physical display on the inverter can show less and that does get fed in to the system. So even though my system 'thinks' there is no solar, the inverter may be providing up to 199W. As house baseload is 300W, its a decent chunk of my usage. Obviously I've no experience of winter, but its been pretty gloomy this week and this is what I've observed.

[garynortheast]

That's interesting Mike. I shall pass that little bit of info on to them.

[Luckypants]

What I've found so far with my set up is that the software does not measure anything less than 200W, yet the physical display on the inverter can show less and that does get fed in to the system. So even though my system 'thinks' there is no solar, the inverter may be providing up to 199W. As house baseload is 300W, its a decent chunk of my usage.

Gary, I've confirmed this these past two mornings. With the later rising sun and the earths orbit moving towards autumn equinox, solar generation has started about the time I start work (8am), so have access to the computer. What I see is that no solar generation is reported, but the reported house load is low, as little as 50W - my normal baseload is around 300W. Checking the physical display on the solar inverter shows generation of 100-150W. So while the solar system does not detect generation below 200W, the solar inverter is producing and that is being used by the house and shows up as a low reported load.

If I was looking at this data in Autumn or Winter, I suspect the depressed house load would be masked by additional loads at the times when generation is low as folks will be getting up, having breakfast, etc. So I expect there is some benefit year round to having solar, but it is not always obvious in the data feed to the app.

[garynortheast]

Thanks Mike, that's very useful info.

[Kenzie]

I don't know if this is of interest, but this is the current data for our panels. I think it was a little cloudy first thing so it took the panels a little while to get going. Our bill has dropped massively since adding the batteries, we are considering a third. According to the app, we've generated 5.7 kWh today https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230810/7dffe9bd56663e60df7354d9064c5db2.jpg

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[Luckypants]

What size battery do you have? what size array?

Mine is still new to me, so get excited about days like today.

[Kenzie]

Not sure of the data in the app is spot on, but it's saying 4.8kWp for the batteries and for the panels 3.6kWp. We have two batteries installed.

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[Luckypants]

Yes 3.6 Solar inverter is common as it comes below the G99 threshold for notifying / getting permission to connect it to the grid. If over 4kW (I think) the DNO electricity board have to agree the connection and also can insist that export is limited. The G99 application also costs £400, whereas the under 4kW G98 notification is free.

We also have a 3.6kW solar inverter and then a 13.5kWh battery, to store all the unused power. We've just filled that up on this sunny day, so I've put the washing machine on to save it going to the grid.

[Kenzie]

I think the data in the app is incorrect, will have to get it updated. Having a bit of trouble with one of the dataloggers not working properly too which we need to sort.

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[Luckypants]

......and then a 13.5kWh battery, to store all the unused power.....

After a battery firmware update, our useable capacity in the batery has increased to 15.6. Which is useful.

I'm now trying to get on a trial to connect SMART meters via home broadband in order to get onto a smart tariff. If I can connect my meter at long last (installed 3 years and has never connected) I will be able to get cheap overnight leccy to fill my house battery and car. Then, hopefully I'll be able run the entire house over the winter using off-peak electricity.

[Luckypants]

Little update to show the advantages of a house battery in a power cut.

We have a planned outage today which I barely planned for as I 'planned' to rely on the house battery. When my reminder on the phone went off to warn me of the impending power cut, I set the battery to charge to boost it (was already charged to 100% overnight) up to make sure we get through the day. The power went off as promised at 9am and the battery took over running the house - almost seamlessly. there was a 1-2 second glitch so the PC and router needed re-booting. After that I've been WFH and sitting here happily with the central heating on and everything running normally. As its a sunny day, there's quite a lot of solar energy being generated, so I'll have plenty of power if they run over.

We get quite a lot of unplanned power cuts here, so seeing the battery act as backup for real is quite reassuring. It's one of the reasons I went for the GivEnergy All-in-One system for my battery, even though it was fairly expensive compared to less sophisticated systems.

[garynortheast]

Ha! I am really pretty envious of your set up there Mike. I wish to goodness it was possible to have the council do this sooner rather than later for their stock of social housing. This ought to be funded by central government as a matter of urgency for all social housing.

But of course it won't; they're too busy signing off licences for new fossil fuel drillings and mining.

Er mwyn Duw, achub ni rhag San Steffan. :-(

[Luckypants]

Well it hasn't been all plain sailing Gary. The battery suddenly decided it was full while the solar was generating (jumped from 70% to full - BMS known bug) so the solar power had no where to go. Cue all kinds of power drops in the house until I worked out what was going on and isolated the solar. I'll need to raise this with the manufacturer / installer to see if they can work out how to avoid this in future. This wouldn't be an issue with a no backup system as the solar inverter shuts down if no grid voltage is detected, to protect anyone working on the lines. In the meantime, I just need to make sure the battery has some capacity for any spare solar in future events.

[Luckypants]

Ha! I am really pretty envious of your set up there Mike. I wish to goodness it was possible to have the council do this sooner rather than later for their stock of social housing. This ought to be funded by central government as a matter of urgency for all social housing.

But of course it won't; they're too busy signing off licences for new fossil fuel drillings and mining.

Er mwyn Duw, achub ni rhag San Steffan. :-(

I completely agree. Denbighshire, Wrexham and Flint are doing this as part of their carbon reduction targets so I see no reason why Powys do not. As previously discussed you would be eligible for 100% grant if a home owner, surely the council can claim a similar grant for their housing stock?

[garynortheast]

It's the funding structure for the carbon reduction targets regarding social housing, which prevents stuff moving at the pace needed. Under the terms of the funding, Powys are not able to upgrade in any way, C rated houses such as mine until all the D, E, and F rated properties are up at that level.

[Luckypants]

Well that seems fair to those in less efficient housing but they need to get going fast so every house gets upgraded. AFAIK the home owner grants are the same, the home needs an EPC of C before funding is given. There are (were?) grants to help with extra insulation, double glazing etc. to get there.