Plug In Solar

[Nick]

Anybody got it yet? As I understand it, you can't use a plug in battery so is it pointless if you aren't using the power there and then?

 

[Marty]

Anybody got it yet? As I understand it, you can't use a plug in battery so is it pointless if you aren't using the power there and then?

Off the top of my head most of the ranges from the following brands Anker Solix, Bluetti, EcoFlow, Jackery all have a dedicated standardised solar input socket (XT60). There must be a way of feeding it into a battery and once that is full, it sends it back to the grid.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Anybody got it yet? As I understand it, you can't use a plug in battery so is it pointless if you aren't using the power there and then?

Surplus returns to the grid and you get a saving on your bills from that. Savings are bigger with a battery though and I’m not sure if those are coming for sale at some point.

If you can afford them the rooftop panels give bigger savings and obviously can have batteries installed.

 

[Nick]

Ah, I cant get a tariff to send it back to the grid because Western Power and Octopus are cunts.

Can't get a smart meter either (stuck on pay as you go because of wiring issues before the meter nobody will touch).

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Ah, I cant get a tariff to send it back to the grid because Western Power and Octopus are cunts.

Can't get a smart meter either (stuck on pay as you go because of wiring issues before the meter nobody will touch).

I know someone who did a big policy brief on this recently, I’ll have a look and get back to you.

 

[DT-R]

Worth giving.this a watch if anyone os interested.

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[DT-R]

It all looks very interesting. Good plugged in and to use in time if you WFH and use a lot of electricity during the day. Not so good if youre out all day and home using appliances of an evening/night. Unless of course you get a battery to store it. Still a lot cheaper than standard solar panel set ups either way.

Im quite a low electric usage household anyway, but anything I can do to get my usage/bills down for me the better. Especially as im looking at getting a PHEV soon. If i can charge the battery in that using the sun alone and not touch my grid usage itd be great.

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[wingy]

I liked the fact that he said it can be added to so get 5kwh sounds good, hopefully and the fact it sounds like a a thirty year lifespan?

 

[Nick]

I liked the fact that he said it can be added to so get 5kwh sounds good, hopefully and the fact it sounds like a a thirty year lifespan?

I thought it was capped at about 800 for plugin?

 

[Marty]

Had this video pop up, seems to know what he's talking about.

 

[DT-R]

I liked the fact that he said it can be added to so get 5kwh sounds good, hopefully and the fact it sounds like a a thirty year lifespan?

Im also a fan that its not permanent. I remt, so if and when I come to move, I can take this with me rather than the next tennant benefitting from it.

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[DT-R]

The more research im doing the more this is appealing to me. My average usage on my electric is between 4.5 and 5.5kwh per day. If the battery can hold 5kwh of charge, if I did most of my washing/drying/car charging in the day whilst its sunny, id hopefully never use the grid for 6 months of the year. And all for less than £2k. Im really impressed with this you know!

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[wingy]

I thought it was capped at about 800 for plugin?

The more research im doing the more this is appealing to me. My average usage on my electric is between 4.5 and 5.5kwh per day. If the battery can hold 5kwh of charge, if I did most of my washing/drying/car charging in the day whilst its sunny, id hopefully never use the grid for 6 months of the year. And all for less than £2k. Im really impressed with this you know!

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And when the sun isn't shining much, you can load your battery from the grid when it's cheapest to do it I think

 

[DT-R]

And when the sun isn't shining much, you can load your battery from the grid when it's cheapest to do it I think

Yeah so it seems. And a lot of companies now do half price hours. Im with Scottish Power. Says it takes 1-2 hours to fully charge from the grid. I could do 1 hour each day at the lowest price (1am-2am maybe) and hope the little amount of winter sun helps keep the rest topped up.

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[DT-R]

This is probably the most dumbed down and simplified description ive found on it. Well worth a watch.

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[Captain Dart]

Surplus returns to the grid and you get a saving on your bills from that. Savings are bigger with a battery though and I’m not sure if those are coming for sale at some point.

If you can afford them the rooftop panels give bigger savings and obviously can have batteries installed.

Only if you do the paperwork to get an export MPAN for your meter, the solar installers may not tell you this they did not for me or one of my friends and it took both of us a few weeks (in completely different years and for different installers) before we even realised. Don't expect the supply company to be rapid in issuing one.

To export electricity and receive payments, you need an export MPAN (Meter Point Administration Number), which is a unique 13-digit identifier assigned to your electricity connection.

 

[King of the Lesbians]

I might have completely misunderstood but say my leccy is 25p per kWh.
A quick google says I could earn between 15 & 25p per kWh for each unit returned to the grid.

So (and I'm dumbing this down a bit for myself mainly) if I had enough panels to put 1kWh back into the grid I would get free electricity?

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

The more research im doing the more this is appealing to me. My average usage on my electric is between 4.5 and 5.5kwh per day. If the battery can hold 5kwh of charge, if I did most of my washing/drying/car charging in the day whilst its sunny, id hopefully never use the grid for 6 months of the year. And all for less than £2k. Im really impressed with this you know!

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Almost like us science boffins have some decent ideas sometimes

 

[wingy]

Almost like us science boffins have some decent ideas sometimes

Or even load the battery overnight on the cheapest tariff although knowing our attitude to this kind of thing there would be a swift u turn on tariff would that make it equlize or even derer ?

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Or even load the battery overnight on the cheapest tariff although knowing our attitude to this kind of thing there would be a swift u turn on tariff would that make it equlize or even derer ?

You can get time of use tariffs for this sort of thing

 

[wingy]

You can get time of use tariffs for this sort of thing

I'm thinking through the capitalist prism?

 

[DT-R]

I might have completely misunderstood but say my leccy is 25p per kWh.
A quick google says I could earn between 15 & 25p per kWh for each unit returned to the grid.

So (and I'm dumbing this down a bit for myself mainly) if I had enough panels to put 1kWh back into the grid I would get free electricity?

Not with plug in solar, no. From what i can work out your unused solar will run back in to the grid, but you wont be paid for it. Its almost a "use it or lose it" scenario with plug in. So you either need to do everything you can during the sunny hours to maximise the free electric, or you need a battery to store what you collect.

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[wingy]

Not with plug in solar, no. From what i can work out your unused solar will run back in to the grid, but you wont be paid for it. Its almost a "use it or lose it" scenario with plug in. So you either need to do everything you can during the sunny hours to maximise the free electric, or you need a battery to store what you collect.

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Hardwired to the consumer unit sound's plausible but comes with the added expense.

 

[wingy]

Hardwired to the consumer unit sound's plausible but comes with the added expense.

Sometimes you wonder if the utube advisor's have a vested interest.

 

[wingy]

I'd definitely go for the bigger battery to try and get the max out of it.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

I'd definitely go for the bigger battery to try and get the max out of it.

Basically to be able to get paid for exporting to the grid the panels have to have a specific certification which plug ins don’t have. If that isn’t changing and you can afford it, either consider a battery or rooftop instead.

 

[Captain Dart]

I have 12 south facing panels and 10 kW battery storage.
I have enough battery storage to cover my daily usage and some.
In summer I export my surplus once the battery gets full.
4 months of the year the solar generates very little power.
I'm on a tariff that has cheap feed in rates between 2am and 5am.
In winter I top up the battery in the cheap rate window.
I ensure I am using the battery during the peak import rate which is 16:00 to 19:00
In fact when the sun is shining I run the battery down in the peak period because the export rate in this window is higher.

However it's debatable whether you'll ever get a decent ROI on a system, they keep changing the rates (especially by raising the standing charge ) to prevent anyone making decent money on the cost of the system and remember you lose interest on the money you spend to install the system and the electricity company gets a free investment from you.

There are no free lunches.

 

[Marty]

I have 12 south facing panels and 10 kW battery storage.
I have enough battery storage to cover my daily usage and some.
In summer I export my surplus once the battery gets full.
4 months of the year the solar generates very little power.
I'm on a tariff that has cheap feed in rates between 2am and 5am.
In winter I top up the battery in the cheap rate window.
I ensure I am using the battery during the peak import rate which is 16:00 to 19:00
In fact when the sun is shining I run the battery down in the peak period because the export rate in this window is higher.

However it's debatable whether you'll ever get a decent ROI on a system, they keep changing the rates (especially by raising the standing charge ) to prevent anyone making decent money on the cost of the system and remember you lose interest on the money you spend to install the system and the electricity company gets a free investment from you.

There are no free lunches.

How long have you had it installed? I keep reading about 8-10 years covers the cost of the install, would you say that's about right?

 

[Captain Dart]

How long have you had it installed? I keep reading about 8-10 years covers the cost of the install, would you say that's about right?

You're reading industry sales pitches which will paint a rosey picture not a realistic one.

I am not going to get a brain ache trying to work out ROI time. You have to account for the electricity you're not drawing from the grid as well as the amount you're exporting plus any lost interest.

The tariffs and standing charges keep changing usually not in your favour. It also makes a difference if you're a low user and hence get to export more power or a higher user so you export much less.

The other thing to bare in mind is that you use much more power in winter when the solar system is hardly generating anything.

I am in my 4th year of having a system.

 

[wingy]

Basically to be able to get paid for exporting to the grid the panels have to have a specific certification which plug ins don’t have. If that isn’t changing and you can afford it, either consider a battery or rooftop instead.

Can't unfortunately as it needs to be the mobile version.

 

[DT-R]

Can't unfortunately as it needs to be the mobile version.

Get a battery or 2 then and store it up. Sure, on really long, sunny summer days you'll probably still lose some, but if youre clever with it, you shouldnt lose much and hopefully buy much less from the grid, amd at a cheaper rate when you do. I think whatever you do, it'll take a bit of trial and error to configure your best input/output to maximise savings.

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[wingy]

I thought it was capped at about 800 for plugin?

Yeah you have to go hard wired into the your system but can then add more in to your system enough to do 5kwh worth I believe