Octopus Energy and Ilke to build self powered homes

[Adsibob]

https://www.ft.com/content/b81307f1-94cc-4b0f-9b64-1ac072dfe9dd

[ProDave]

Interresting story, but lacking in details.  "  Octopus has pledged that homeowners will pay no bills unless they use more than 10MWh of energy "   is about the only statement.

 

So are Octopus offering up to 10MWh of free electricity if the renewables fail to meet all the needs of the house?

[joe90]

It was our own Jeremy that said his PV income even paid for his council tax so his was a “free” house to run so it can be done.

 

edit, yes I know FIT is no longer what it was.

Edited June 5, 2022 by joe90

[Adsibob]

I’m just surprised that we don’t already have a legal obligation for ALL new builds to have all or most of their energy as self sufficient. Through changes to the regs,  Builders could be mandated to install a heat pump (with a choice of air or ground source) and PV. 

[JohnMo]

I have thought for a long time that new housing schemes should be made to bury gshp pipes in the roads and amenity spaces they have to build.  And do district heating schemes.  All roofs should have solar on them, but not as an option.

[SteamyTea]

14 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

And do district heating schemes.  All roofs should have solar on them, but not as an option.

The UK has not been very good at managing small scale, district heating schemes. I think the cost of enforcing non payers is too high.

 

Developers probably don't want to pay too much for a network upgrade. They are not very creative when it comes to buildings.  They would struggle to find space for a 200 or 300lt cylinder. Anyway, customers would complain because they would not be getting all their power for nothing, all the time. So developers probably buy an existing solar or wind farm and offset credits. 

[Ferdinand]

On 05/06/2022 at 09:07, ProDave said:

Interesting story, but lacking in details.  "  Octopus has pledged that homeowners will pay no bills unless they use more than 10MWh of energy "   is about the only statement.

 

So are Octopus offering up to 10MWh of free electricity if the renewables fail to meet all the needs of the house?

 

10 MWh is quite a lot. My solar (sub-best orientation but 10 kWp delivers a reliable 5.5 MWh of lecky per year. No divert device. If it was all south facing that would be about 7.5MWh I estimate. My usage including heating net solar is about 10MWh to 16 MWh per year, with perhaps 85% of that being gas for water / space heating and cooking.

 

I guess there are people here running largish houses on under 10MWh of power per year.

 

But the question is: Cui Bono? and where will Octopus make money from this? They are a business not a harity.

 

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

I guess there are people here running largish houses on under 10MWh of power per year.

Our house is not "large" at 150 square metres but uses about 6MWh per year all electric (ASHP)

 

Heating is only about 1/3 of our useage.

[ProDave]

Just now, ProDave said:

Our house is not "large" at 150 square metres but uses about 6kWh per year all electric (ASHP)

 

Heating is only about 1/3 of our useage.

If I could have more PV (without paying silly DNO network upgrade costs) and have an energy supplier that would store all the summer PV for free for me to use in the winter it would work.  There are just so many obstacles and costs put in the way of making a scheme like that work.

[joth]

43 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Our house is not "large" at 150 square metres but uses about 6kWh per year all electric (ASHP)

You mean 6 MWh ?

 

[ProDave]

40 minutes ago, joth said:

You mean 6 MWh ?

 

Indeed I do. Typo corrected.

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

But the question is: Cui Bono? and where will Octopus make money from this

With 'Green' credits, not having to pay for local grid connections (in some cases), selling power at peak times (via storage), the new agricultural policy.

 If you can generate enough power, then selling it is easy.