Hi All, I have about a dozen solar panels on my roof and box in the garage. I get a cheque every quarter from BG totalling probably 5-600pa. is there a way i can use the energy instead of selling it back? and is it worth it?
Solar panel usage
- Thread starter stender
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It can be used by switching on appliances in the house when the panels are generating. Some of it will already be used - you will need to switch on more things to use more of it.
Are the BG payments actually for energy sold, or are they FIT payments for what was generated?
Are the BG payments actually for energy sold, or are they FIT payments for what was generated?
yes.
But, do you have a gas boiler?
If so, the cost of hot water and heating is so low that it is not worth making special arrangements to use up the spare electricity on them.
In our house, the only appliance that is controllable and uses any significant electriciy, is the tumbledrier.
So washing and drying are always done in daylight, and preferably after looking at the weather map to see when it is going to be sunny.
Don't get obsessed and become a slave to it. You have to do the washing anyway.
You can't control the fridge-freezer; and you need to use the lights and heating when the sun isn't shining.
If you have an all-electric house and no gas supply, just make a point of using your immersion heater, washer, drier, dishwasher, sauna, jaccuzi and iron during the day. If the sun happens to be shining, all the better.
Can you afford a plug-in car? When I looked, a plug-in hybrid cost £10,000 more than a self-charger. I would not save £10,000 over the car lifetime.
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your 2 choices are either use your spare electricity to heat your hot water tank with an immersion or you can get storage batteries so you can use the electricity when the solar panels aren’t charging and you could add an inverter / air conditioner so you can heat and cool from the electricity.
We have a fit contract with bg. I cant believe we are using any of the power as im paying £140pm for gas and electric. Shockingly its going up to £350pm which i cant believe when reports are saying average rise will be £700pa.
I have gas boiler with emersion heater. We have water on in morning for showers and early evening for kids bath/shower. Gas central heating isnt on in day time. Comes on about 4/5 and then on about 4 til 7:30.
Washing machine and dryer are in daily.
we use a lot of electric but cant understand how total bill is going up so much
I have gas boiler with emersion heater. We have water on in morning for showers and early evening for kids bath/shower. Gas central heating isnt on in day time. Comes on about 4/5 and then on about 4 til 7:30.
Washing machine and dryer are in daily.
we use a lot of electric but cant understand how total bill is going up so much
of course you are.
What do you mean of course you are? How do you tell? I cant believe my bill before these rises is £140pm
How do i do that? my immersion has an electric switch which we’ve never turned on. I assume we are heating the water via boiler?
how would i use the solar?
of course you are.
when your panels are generating 2kW, and you plug in a 3kW kettle, what do you think happens to the power from the panels?
I'm new to the forum and I've a related query.
The panels should be wired back to the consumer unit and that electricity should be used. How can this usage of the solar electricity be seen or quantified?
By comparing the generation meter with the import meter, or for a real time display buy a suitable meter with sensors on import and export cables, and you can have an instantaneous net import figure. I use the Wattson, but that is unfortunately no longer available.
How do i do that? I have small meter which is where i take the fit readings from and the large box. All i know is when i moved into this house my bill went up from £100pm to £140 and now telling me £350pm
its a bigger house but our usage hasnt really changed so £40 rise and im getting some from solar?
its a bigger house but our usage hasnt really changed so £40 rise and im getting some from solar?
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One way to do it would be a set like this:
https://shop.openenergymonitor.com/emonpi-energy-monitor-solar-pv-bundle/
which, I admit, is probably a bit nerdy for most, but the principal is the same for all these things - one clamp goes over your main feed and one clamp goes over the inverter output. You need to be able to get the clamp over a single wire in order for it to work:
https://learn.openenergymonitor.org/electricity-monitoring/ct-sensors/installation
I don't know how stender would do that, from that picture it looks like the output of the inverter is a flex with both in.
So many variables. Different house, different supplier, different usage patterns, rising energy prices, ...
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