Dillsue

We heat by logs and many years ago a friend was helping splitting and stacking and remarked how cheap our energy(gas and electric) was compared to the work involved in processing logs. Energy has been cheap. We need to pay what it costs if we want the luxury of reliable, on demand and limitless energy.

You don't need a genny that big to keep the basics running. We have a 1.5kva unit. It does require fuel but we have that already for the mower. If the genny is stored indoors it'll only need servicing every few years but give it an hour's loaded use at the beginning of winter and buy a Honda powered unit. We dont hear ours in the house when its running. An EPS relies on a charged battery which in the winter will primarily be off the grid as youll not get much out of a 4kw array. If youre planning on off peak charging make sure you keep enough in the battery at the end of the day to keep you powered through an evening blackout. I'm a bit biased towards genny back up as we had the power off for 3 days over Xmas in the 90s and have never been without a genny since

Same way as we finance lots of idle gas power stations now??

You might want to look into a small generator if your concerned about blackouts. Not seamless backup but will run for days if needed and way less than the cost of an EPS unit. A small genny is unlikely to power an ASHP, cooker or shower but it will keep the lights, telly, internet, microwave and CH running.

We've got 2 Owl CTs inside our main CU, although not on the incoming tails. Probably doable to get one on the main supply but the Owl CTs are quite compact

I think gov figures for the whole of 2021 were 38% renewable generation from all renewables. Still along way to go

https://www.orbitalmarine.com/ Up and running https://www.morlaisenergy.com/ Work in progress https://simecatlantis.com/tidal-stream/meygen/ Up and running I know about these but Im sure theres others around

Youve got a few options. First and obvious one is speak to your DNO as they can be surprisingly helpful and may have capacity to take your full potential output. 2- agree a lower export limit with your DNO and implement an export limitation system. Fair chance your DNO will want to witness a limitation system operating so in addition to extra equipment there could be a charge for a witness test. 3- go partly off grid as already suggested. Likely a few bits of extra kit to be housed indoors and a second consumer unit with some circuits being moved to the new CU. 4- get an integrated battery system that manages PV generation and limits export from both PV and/or battery. I've no experience with batteries but I beleive the latest Tesla powerwall have an integrated PV inverter and if you get the G98/3.68kw limited version you don't need DNO approval to connect, just notify them once its installed. Victron do a big range of battery/PV management kit so they may do something similar??? 5- put in a DC coupled battery system where the inverter limits output. Similar to 4 but separate units so doesn't have to be a big cash outlay all at once. Solaredge do an energy bank and I think others do similar modular DC coupled systems. Speaking to your DNO first seems the obvious way to go so you know what constraints youre up against

I wouldnt beat yourself up with a 'poor planning' title! In the thick of a whole house refurb youve managed to get one of your bigger PV problems sorted by running a cable through the house. With a circa 1 metre parapet wall youll likely be able to mount the inverter on the inside of the parapet if you needed to, but..... think hard about maintenance access on a 4 storey house before committing to putting the inverter on the roof. If you do go for a roof mount get a louvred canopy to go over the inverter to keep the worse of the weather off it

Right to the boundary if you want. On my daughters semi the roofers had a join in the tiles on the boundary so we set the rails in line with the join and the edge of the panels 75mm in from the rail ends. At the edges I think the recommendation is 300-400mm but if youre not in an exposed location, I'd be happy to go down to 200mm if it allows you to have an extra column of panels or to use larger panels.

Maybe I missed something but it only seems to talk about limiting reinforcement costs......no mention of regulating application costs???

You've been bleating about charges having just been introduced, I show you something that shows you charges have been in place since at least 2014 and that's the best response you can do. Answering with something like " oh I hadnt realised" might have done done a bit for your credibility. I'm out of this futile discussion. Sorry for the derail Umer

Exactly what do you think the DNO does with a G99 application....read one form and nothing else?? In my case SPENs engineer dug out the archive details of our supply. Accurately measured cable runs from satellite images. Ran a number of calculations based on a variety of assumed overhead and undergound cable sizes. Dug out pole mounted transformer details. Called me twice and wrote 2 technical emails. All of that was within a few days of an informal enquiry from me and without me paying a penny. The fee became payable when all the work theyd already done needed formalizing for them to then price up the reinforcement needed which was FOC to me. I think you are living in cloud cuckoo land if you think a commercial organisation should do that for free

You need to listen and think about what people are saying. If you did that, it would be blindingly obvious that I think £300 is a reasonable charge. I've paid it without moaning

Here's a relevant doc from 2014 talking about charges in section E https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/userfiles/file/8_G59%2050kW%20Full%20June%202014%20v2.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjwzqLUzun7AhXYg1wKHWweD-o4ChAWegQIGRAB&usg=AOvVaw3jnrnxUCogZAlulqhDPPE9 If youve got "grandfather rights" for your system why all the fuss

At what point in time was a grid connection(the vital service) ever free?

And Ill ask yet again, how are you going to prove that? All the DNOs want is a bit of dialogue with you to ensure that your claimed safe system is actually that.

What! The vital service that everyone enjoys is a grid connection and the ability to use electric when they want(importing). Having a PV system connected to the grid isn't a vital thing to have, it's wholly optional The last thing any of us want are free spirits doing their own thing, circumventing the rules and connecting unapproved equipment to the grid. If you dont like the rules go off grid and do your own thing. Remember that a typical PV install is £1000s so a G99 application at £0-300 is peanuts

The DNO is interested in safety of the grid, which includes controlling whats connected to it for the benefit of everyone. You might see them as a pain in the butt but consider a couple of scenarios that G98/G99 ensure dont become problems. One of your family needs sensitive medical equipment and has some in the house. Living down your street are a load of reckless PV cowboys who've connected 10s of KW of PV without giving a hoot about what it might do to the neighbours medical equipment. Sunny day in June and the cowboys PV export pushes the voltage way past the UK limit and your medical equipment shuts down. Another scenario. Same PV cowboys install cheap Chinese inverters that aren't type tested and no one checks because theres no G98/G99. Turns out they dont actually disconnect from the grid when theres a power cut. Come the first daytime power cut and the repair linesmen find theres still 240vac on the faulty lines because of the PV cowboys inverters. Despite having the option to earth the live lines they decide to investigate the source before making a repair. The power is off to your house for significantly longer than it need be until they find the PV cowboys non compliant inverters and shut them down. Both hypothetical scenarios but you'll hopefully see that theres more to G98/G99 than DNOs just being awkward

Would that be buried in insulation? What would the voltage rise at the inverter be if the house was running at 250vac and the system was upgraded to 3.68kw? Without us knowing install characteristics its probably prudent to let the OPs lad size the cable.

Plenty of clarification so far. I would install a larger than 2.5mm cable if theres a chance you or someone else might expand the system in the future. You also need to consider the no load voltage in the house. If its already high you don't want a smallish cable creating too much of a voltage rise and pushing the inverter voltage over the 253v limit. Your lad should be able to calculate cable size for you.

I dont think you would need to send a fresh G98 for an inverter change as your staying within the G98 limit that youve already notified them of. Youre probably obliged to let them know about the change so just email them a copy of the ENA type test cert for the new inverter. As you say, additional panels are on the DC side with export limited by the inverter so the DNO isn't bothered. MCS is a different matter! There were some changes to the OFGEM rules in the last few years. For a FIT system you can add panels but will only get FIT payments on the original FIT registered TIC. So if you had a 4kw system and upped it to 5kw, youll get paid 4/5 of whats generated. If youre on metered export the additional panels need to be MCS installed to get paid for export. You can install extra panels yourself but can't get export payments, for the extras, without an MCS cert. Seems that metering could get a bit messy if you want to mix MCS with non MCS install. I'm sure the OFGEM guidance will explain it all so Google it

If your connected to the grid with something that should have permission, then youre not "doing the right thing". The "right thing" is to submit an application, seemingly with some DNOs not charging. If you are actually doing the right thing then your application will get approved.

The connection to the grid is electrical work so put down the name of your electrician. Failing that your local building control is obliged to test any work you do if you ask and pay their fee. On my application I just put down self installed with test and inspection by *councils* building control. All accepted and G99 approved.

Any or all of those options may work but how are you going to prove they work if not done through a G99/G100?