December 11, 20223 yr 22 minutes ago, NSS said: Two hour session tomorrow from 5pm to 7pm. So you got to cut your power for two hours at tea time?
December 11, 20223 yr 22 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: So you got to cut your power for two hours at tea time? This is the carrot. A small scale experimental scheme to pay a small number of people to not use electricity. The stick will come later when all those with smart meters will get charged more in peak times with no choice in the matter. Just my humble speculation. That is after all the agenda for a "smart grid"
December 11, 20223 yr No you increase your power before the deal, and then go low during the time period and you get more payment rebate.. as your ‘savings’ are higher others on a different forum have been doing this.
December 11, 20223 yr Author Perverse incentives. All good fun. I found out about this saving session from the news several hours before Octopus got around to letting us know. Did alright last time - the battery definitely makes it less noticeable, although I'm still turning off the heat pump for the duration. That might be worse over two hours, I've not put any effort into airtightness yet!
December 11, 20223 yr 3 hours ago, ProDave said: The stick will come later when all those with smart meters will get charged more in peak times with no choice in the matter. Just my humble speculation. That is after all the agenda for a "smart grid" I can't see a system that would hand an advantage to those who don't have a smart meter. Quite the opposite. Effectively raising all tariffs across the board then giving smart meters the advantage of automatic off-peak reductions would seem more logical - especially as the goal is more likely to get every home equipped with a smart meter that can be remotely managed for billing and disconnection.
December 12, 20223 yr 14 hours ago, ProDave said: The stick will come later when all those with smart meters will get charged more in peak times with no choice in the matter. I've had two cards in the post and a phone call in the last two weeks asking me to have a smart meter.
December 12, 20223 yr 23 minutes ago, Gone West said: I've had two cards in the post and a phone call in the last two weeks asking me to have a smart meter. I don't object to a smart meter and get begging letters asking me to have one fitted. Shame after 2 attempts they (EDF) cannot get it organised. They cannot even organise the smart meter at my 'vunerable' Mother's home to be replaced. So shall just have to wait till the E7 radio signal is switched off and EDF are forced into action.
December 18, 20223 yr Octopussy has now published (on my account anyway) total amounts saved in Saving Sessions. That's 443 MWh, or the annual electricity (not all energy) demand of an average group of around 100 detached houses in the UK, saved by approx 250k customers over 4 sessions. Average electricity demand of detached house = approx 4 MWh. More relevantly, it knocked 108 MW off the peak of demand, by engaging just under 1% of electricity account holders. Gives an insight into potential flexibility. Ballpark that is a reduction of 1/4 to 1/3 in short term electricity demand, when you pay people far more than the cost of the electricity. Analysis: https://octopus.energy/press/believe-it-or-watt-octopus-energy-customers-provide-108mw-of-grid-flexibility-in-first-saving-session-equivalent-of-a-gas-power-station/
December 18, 20223 yr On 12/12/2022 at 09:01, Gone West said: I've had two cards in the post and a phone call in the last two weeks asking me to have a smart meter. Well - the posties are giving you a break !
December 18, 20223 yr 26 minutes ago, ProDave said: +1,more greenwash. TBF - smoothing out usage reduces the need for backup infra.
December 18, 20223 yr 15 minutes ago, Ferdinand said: TBF - smoothing out usage reduces the need for backup infra. That is the ultimate idea. Run the 'virtual' generator at fixed output and at best efficiency constantly. There may be better ways to do that than though variable pricing. If each house in this trial displaces say 0.5 kWh, that could easily be done with a very small battery system. Shift it up a layer, a larger battery at the local substation. There will be a point where the substation and recharge/discharge efficiency is optimal, and that should determine the best placement of a system. If course we could easily add in thermal storage, even if just a 50lt water pre heater, or even a cheap storage heater hanging in a wall. It is too easy to want the best system there can possibly be, rather than a cheap and easy one.
December 18, 20223 yr 5 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: Shift it up a layer, a larger battery at the local substation. There will be a point where the substation and recharge/discharge efficiency is optimal, and that There is planning in progress for such a scheme here, a field full of batteries and switchgear to do just that. Far enough from us that we will just see the glow in the sky when the batteries catch fire and hope there is not s strong SE wind blowing.
December 18, 20223 yr 1 minute ago, ProDave said: There is planning in progress for such a scheme here Here too https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/st-austell-large-battery-storage-7899714.amp
December 18, 20223 yr Author At £6000/MWh, the prices they're paying us for the saving sessions actually seem sensible. Lots of battery storage going on at the moment - I'm aware of two being built out in my general area. There's also https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/18/sse-begins-work-on-hydrogen-storage-cavern-on-yorkshire-coast coming along, which is probably best described as a very large, quite inefficient battery. Would remove a good chunk of the coast if it decided to explode, but it's all being eroded away by the sea anyway.
December 18, 20223 yr 4 minutes ago, Nick Thomas said: Would remove a good chunk of the coast if it decided to explode Not that likely. Would need to have a lot of oxygen mixed in with it. It is that power and energy thing again. There may be a lot of energy stored, but even if it caught fire, it would probably be a relatively small leak, so little power to it.
December 18, 20223 yr We have some big caverns up here, man made dug out of sold rock, previously used for oil storage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchindown_oil_tanks
January 19, 20233 yr 27 minutes ago, NSS said: Latest session just started. Ah yes. Got the email yesterday, signed up, planned to turn everything off at 9 o'clock, forgot to set a reminder, and have just noticed that my wife decided to plug the car in this morning to charge. It's been sat there sucking up over 2 kW for the first 40 mins of the session. Even if I turned the entire house off now, there's no way I can make up that deficit!
January 19, 20233 yr Author Hah, yes, I forgot 9-9:30am, the heat pump was running on full for the whole time. Was still worth turning it off for the second half, though. even if it saves 1kWh relative to the baseline that pays for the heating we used overnight 🤷♂️.
January 19, 20233 yr Like a present on Christmas day. The novelty soon wears off. Edited January 19, 20233 yr by SteamyTea
January 22, 20233 yr 2 hours ago, Ferdinand said: have now made about £2.50, At the end of the trial, work out your kWh rate to see what it really saves.
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