Introduction post. This is Paul doing a barn conversion.

[PaulFC]

We have a 11 acre plot in Oxfordshire/ Warwickshire border, with stone and brick barn in decent nick.

Various outbuildings in bad state. Asphalt track to village. This is totally off grid so my immediate challenge is options between PV & battery & Biomass boiler etc and the iniquitous Nat grid connection. 

Any advice would be great!

 

[Russell griffiths]

Have you had a quote to put electricity in.  Oxfordshire Warwickshire border, I can’t believe your that far from a transformer. 
im on 12 acres and have power on both boundaries 

there’s obviously a high cost to install, but off grid equipment is not cheap either. 

[nod]

16 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Have you had a quote to put electricity in.  Oxfordshire Warwickshire border, I can’t believe your that far from a transformer. 
im on 12 acres and have power on both boundaries 

there’s obviously a high cost to install, but off grid equipment is not cheap either. 

Plus 1 

Electricity supply has to be prioritized 

You could end up spending more on PV and batteries Which won’t do you much good November to Feb 

[PaulFC]

We're about 900m from nearest 2 connection points. Quote from Nat Grid was 3k non contestable / 95k contestable (I.e. the trench).  

One route via agricultural land(with wayleave in place), and other on verge of track.  I'll happily hire trencher & do it myself if I can keep it under 50k!

 

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, PaulFC said:

I'll happily hire trencher & do it myself if I can keep it under 50k!

Over agricultural land should be easy, and the farmers will know contractors to do it.

Do you supply the cable in this scenario? That's £9/m. Duct or sand. marker tape is cheap.

Kiosk too.

[Russell griffiths]

Do it yourself it will be under £20,000

mine is 400m, trench took about a week to put in with my own machine. 
largest cost will be the cable. 

[SteamyTea]

Welcome

 

Down here, PaulFC is a local football club on the outskirts of Penzance.

 

You are about the third person that has mentioned off grid living in the last few days.

I may have to write some of my thoughts down about it.

[PaulFC]

Agricultural land option seems to be 1m depth, while highway is 60cm.. is there a standard width to trench? Trenchers as standard normally 10-15 cm which may not meet regs..and imagine mini digger would take twice as long? This is for 11kv cable..

Thanks for pointers btw! 

[saveasteading]

the width is a practical matter. How narrow a trench can you work in?.....bedding the cable in sand, backfilling and compacting , placing a yellow warning tape.

 

In a road, the narrowness will reduce the cost of rebuilding a road surface. In a field it doesn't matter.

[Gus Potter]

13 hours ago, PaulFC said:

We're about 900m from nearest 2 connection points. Quote from Nat Grid was 3k non contestable

Sounds a bit too cheep to me at 900m? That's half mile! That will need a big cable to avoid voltage drop, a good few lecky board guys to unroll the reel and some fancy connections at each end.. all for 3.0K?

 

Have you sorted out any wayleaves you need?

[PaulFC]

On 29/12/2024 at 00:19, Gus Potter said:

Sounds a bit too cheep to me at 900m? That's half mile! That will need a big cable to avoid voltage drop, a good few lecky board guys to unroll the reel and some fancy connections at each end.. all for 3.0K?

 

Have you sorted out any wayleaves you need?

Wayleaves sorted which is one thing done. 

The non contestable part of quote from National Grid (3.5k) was pretty much just the connection work. The £95k part was everything else..so 11kv SWA cable, ducting, trenching.. but according to my sums that should be more like 15-20k for trench and similar for cable/ ducting. 

[Russell griffiths]

Would be cheaper to buy an excavator and do the trench yourself.