joe90 Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 I read on the other thread about the possibility of a generated amount payment after the FIT finishes, this will help the payback period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 5 minutes ago, joe90 said: I read on the other thread about the possibility of a generated amount payment after the FIT finishes, this will help the payback period. Yes if it is feasible. If it requires an MCS certificate (as I cynically expect it will) then no. It will be interesting when I install my own export meter how much escapes to the grid, which will give a better indication whether it is worth bothering trying for the export payment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 2 hours ago, ProDave said: It is surprising how often we get clear sunshine at sunrise but by about 10AM it has clouded over. Not too surprising. Sun rises, warms ground, ground warms air, air rises, cools, clouds condense. Also, air rises, drags in moist air off sea, clouds form. Per the textbooks this gives puffy summer-afternoon cumulus clouds but in the real world it's often messier giving a deck of stratus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 22 minutes ago, Ed Davies said: Not too surprising. Sun rises, warms ground, ground warms air, air rises, cools, clouds condense. Also, air rises, drags in moist air off sea, clouds form. Per the textbooks this gives puffy summer-afternoon cumulus clouds but in the real world it's often messier giving a deck of stratus. This is very noticeable where we are. The larch cladding on our house seems to be fading almost entirely depending on the amount of exposure to the sun it gets. The east elevation is far and away the most faded, followed by the south elevation, with the west elevation being much the same as the north. I've been thinking of fitting some panels as a roof along the path we have that runs from the back door to the drive, alongside the east elevation, to take advantage of the clear early morning skies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 Well I have been busy with some timber, and enclosed the space under the panels to form a shed . Henceforth to be known as the Swiss chalet. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 5 minutes ago, ProDave said: Well I have been busy with some timber, and enclosed the space under the panels to form a shed . Henceforth to be known as the Swiss chalet. That looks fantastic! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newhome Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Wow that looks fab! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 I've got to ask have you got power IN there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 No, no power yet. Making a shed of it was an afterthought. There is a SWA buried ready to feed another shed just the other side of the burn, so I can extend from there when I am ready. I could always just put some solar panels on the roof. Oh wait a minute...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miek Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Looks cool. Is the roof watertight? Like, between the panel gaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Brill @ProDave looks really good ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 22 minutes ago, Miek said: Looks cool. Is the roof watertight? Like, between the panel gaps? At the moment, not entirely. The vertical gaps let a little water in. The plan is an internal gutter to catch it and direct it out at the eaves. It will never be totally dry, condensation forms on the back of the panels then drips off in the morning. But it is only a covered shelter, nothing that particular will be kept in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 14, 2019 Author Share Posted February 14, 2019 Now comes the issue of registering this with the DNO. I was in 2 minds whether to bother, but have decided to do it properly. This is what SSE says (other DNO's will probably say something similar) https://www.ssen.co.uk/Stageoneconnections/ So they want a drawing of the installation, and a "commissioning form" I could nit find a copy of the required form to download, so I emailed them and asked. They sent me a blank copy of the form that I have attached to this post. So I will do a drawing, fill in the form, and send them to them and see what they say. NOTE The document is actually a microsoft word .docx file but the forum software won't allow that, so download the file and then rename it with a .docx extension. G98 Form B Installation Document for connection under G98.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 So I sent my documentation, the comissioning form they wanted all filled in, and a drawing of the system. The drawing was accurate and showed that I have 16, 250W panels making a total of 4KW The drawing also stated the inverter was G83/2 compliant. The reply that came back from SSE was telling me this is a G59 system, it needs a network upgrade and they have opened a job and there will be a cost even for just a quotation for the works, and it must not be connected until this work has been done. I replied back sending them both the user manual for the inverter stating it's maximum output was 3.68KW and I also found the declaration of conformance from the manufacturer stating it was G83/2 compliant. This information was of course already provided on their comissioning sheet that I filled in. They replied this morning saying they have cancelled that job request and "updated their records" so I assume they now accept that it is G83/2 compliant and have registered it on the network. I think the lesson from this is a G83/2 system is simple, if only they had read the form properly, but anything more is very much more complicated and there may be costs involved. In the case of @Stones who will be doing similar, with only 1.5KW of panels, I can't see them having this "confusion" and that is likely to be accepted without query. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 29 minutes ago, ProDave said: I think the lesson from this is a G83/2 system is simple, if only they had read the form properly, but anything more is very much more complicated and there may be costs involved. Don't you find that when dealing with large companies that staff are becoming more like brainless muppets? The Computer say NO! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 1 minute ago, Triassic said: Don't you find that when dealing with large companies that staff are becoming more like brainless muppets? The Computer say NO! Their default is the customer is at fault and that any investigation will be chargeable. Case in point: My BT line was playing up. I reported it and their response was that line testing indicated the fault in or near my property. Furthermore to investigate and sort any such fault would be at my cost. From memory I had to agree to I think to an over £100 minimum charge. Making sure that no overhead lines (their lines) were snagged by (my) trees I disconnected the overheads at the box on the wall and insulation resistance tested the surface mounted cabling running from the box along the house and through the wall to the master socket. Tbh I'm pretty sure it's their cable anyway (maybe the old "Dropwire No.1"?). Plugged in a known good phone and still dead. Even tried another master socket. It was pretty clear it was their side so I wrote back with the IR results and that I wouldn't agree to the minimum charge. Fault was found 2km away at the local exchange. So much for in or near my property! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 I also like companies and organisations that make up rules as they go along. A friend had to re-apply for a Blue Badge. Can only be done online and you have to photographer or scan in the documents listed. She did this and was then told that one of the documents was out of date, yet the Government issued document clearly stated it was valid for 2 years. No said the council we only accept the document valid for 1 year. So now she has to contact the relevant Government Department to re-issue the document so that it's within the 1 year validity period. Madness!!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 On 17/12/2018 at 08:44, JSHarris said: Whenever I've used PVGIS I've just copied the data from the tables into a spreadsheet and then done comparisons using that. That way you can do things like combine the predicted output for several arrays and see what the overall shape looks like. It's a bit tedious getting the data out of PVGIS and into a spreadsheet, as you need to do several PVGIS runs and then a bit of cutting and pasting of data from each, but once done you can play around with it far more easily. Right now I wish we had some East facing PV, as we have clear skies and sun from the East but are generating sod all, as our 45 deg pitch array faces slightly West of South. It's a nuisance, as I want to charge my car... how do PV paenls work hung vertically on side of house I know a man in denmark with solar thermal and he does that to limit summer outputand get max in winter would it worrk same with PV if so that may work for quite few folk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 11 minutes ago, scottishjohn said: how do PV paenls work hung vertically on side of house I know a man in denmark with solar thermal and he does that to limit summer outputand get max in winter would it worrk same with PV if so that may work for quite few folk Easy enough to check with PVGIS for any location. Just stick in your location, the direction the panels will face and set the inclination to vertical and it will give you the predicted output over a year. It seems to be pretty accurate as far as I can tell. For us it predicted our total annual generation to within better than about 5%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Triassic said: Don't you find that when dealing with large companies that staff are becoming more like brainless muppets? The Computer say NO! But it wasn't the computer that said no, it was the person dealing with the notification. I think they saw 4KW of panels and just got stuck into thinking it was not a G83/2 system, even though both the drawing, and the information on the form said that the inverter was G83/2 compliant. I have to admit when I first had that response, part of me said oh bugger why the hell did I try and do the right thing and notify it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stones Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 2 hours ago, scottishjohn said: how do PV paenls work hung vertically on side of house I know a man in denmark with solar thermal and he does that to limit summer outputand get max in winter would it worrk same with PV if so that may work for quite few folk My PV array will be mounted vertically. PVGIS suggests an approx 20% reduction in annual output for my location / array orientation compared to optimal mounting angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 1 minute ago, Stones said: My PV array will be mounted vertically. PVGIS suggests an approx 20% reduction in annual output for my location / array orientation compared to optimal mounting angle. does it show more in winter than optimal orientation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 5 minutes ago, scottishjohn said: does it show more in winter than optimal orientation It varies a lot with location and orientation, so the best bet is to go to PVGIS here: http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/tools.html#PVP and start by putting in your location. There are initial instructions here: http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_static/en/intro.html . You can then just change the orientation and do another run to get a set of predictions for a year, month by month. There is an option in PVGIS to model a tracking system for any location as well. For example,for our old house in Portpatrick, with a fixed 4 kWp array facing South, then this would be the likely output with the panels at 45°: and this would be the likely output for the same array mounted vertically: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 so conclusion from those numbers is basically NO only dec+jan fractionally better --rest well down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 2 minutes ago, scottishjohn said: so conclusion from those numbers is basically NO only dec+jan fractionally better --rest well down Vertical will usually give a lower overall output than any other inclination, but the difference tends to reduce as you go North (or South if in the Southern hemisphere). @Stones is up in Orkney, so the difference there may well be smaller than for somewhere further South. It also depends a bit on the local horizon. The location I chose to use is partially set down in the valley at Portpatrick (it's on the old railway line, about 100ft above sea level) so has a clear view to the West, but the horizon to the South and East is higher, which probably impacts the winter generation a bit. For completeness, this is what the same array would probably give if mounted on a two axis tracker: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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