Storing electrical energy: GE blog posting

28 Jan 2014: There's an interesting posting about electrical storage on the Good Energy blog.  It's going to be one of the next big things because the primary criticisms of renewable energy is intermittency. There are methods which require large civil engineering works (such as pumping to mountain lakes), but how does the domestic householder do this?
  Juliet Davenport's article discusses this and mentions research at Harvard that points a way to the future. Read more at: http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/articles/2014/01/28/the-truth-about-renewable-energy-storage
  GE have partnered with a British firm Moixa, using funding from the Dept of Energy and Climate Change, to develop better storage solutions for domestic users. The ideal is to charge up the storage during the peak generating hours of your PV roof, and then have backup power for lightly powered night use, e.g. lighting - works best if it is 12v.

Take action before 1st August!

Early June 2012: The public seem to believe that the government have ceased the Feed in Tariff - but this is very wrong! If you still have enough roof, it is worth doing, and the tariff continues. If you were smart enough to get your PV erected before December 2011, you are still on the high rate.
     The present day reduced rate of 21p is such that it is still worth doing if you can get near to 4 kW worth erected.  Don't delay!
    After August 1st of this year, the FIT will reduce further to 16p, but you will then need to make sure your house is insulated to level D on the 'Energy Performance Certificate' scheme. This is worth doing, even though it seems illogical to use this condition as a brake on the installation of PV. It's about as sensible as requiring you to own a dog, or could be as expensive as requiring you to change your car to a more efficient new one.
    If you have cavity fill and some double glazing you should be able to reach an EPC of level D. There are so many parameters, such as the size and age of the building, the location in a conservation area, the complexity of the roof shape. If you cannot reach level D of the EPC, then you will only get 7.1 p, plus a small amount for sale, and the saving from using your own power.
   One information page that is worth keeping an eye on is the one that Good Energy publish.
  This is http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/feedintariff/fit-payments/new-rates
  I hope they will keep this same link page for a good long time, and update the information on it.
  As there is a lead time for ordering, scaffolding, organising the crew, do act quickly if you are eligible, as the installation has to be completely in and registered for the tariff before 1st August.

Update on the FIT scheme

20 Jan 2012: Good Energy have come out with a bulletin explaining some of the options, in a PlanA / Plan B style. The FIT scheme and the appeal are still awaiting judgement.
http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/what-we-are-doing/good-energy-republic/2012/01/19/fit-update-government-acts-to-quell-uncertainty-around-the-feed-in-tariff
There is still uncertainty. Let's get this right, it is still worth doing, even with the new tariff if you have a large roof. But the uncertainty from DECC and the Govt is causing the industry to stop in its tracks. The proposal to link the tariff to households who must first raise their house to a level 'C' EPC of energy efficiency will stop many perfectly good roofs from being converted to electricity generating. A decentralised supply of clean energy is a powerful requirement - even if it is fitted to uninsulated barns, garages, or mounted on racks in the garden. Insulation, through schemes such as the Green Deal and other incentives is important, but it is wrong to make one dependent on the other, and it only favours the very well off.

Good Energy’s Ed Gill wrote recently,

"Real progress would be for the government to set out a long term future for FIT that recognises that it’s the best vehicle we have for delivering the decentralised energy market we need. This has to include a new structure that takes into account the popularity of a scheme that allows people, households and businesses to have greater control of their energy bills. It has to avoid introducing emergency consultations and measures like the proposed energy efficiency standard."

As I (DNC) wrote earlier, If the government said that 'you cannot insulate a building until it has PV', it would be demonstrably crazy. So it is equally crazy to say that 'you cannot have PV until you have insulated the building'. Each are important, but some architectural conditions are too complex to meet either of those statements. Society needs clean energy, whatever it is mounted on.

December scramble!

21 Nov 2011: I had an email from Good Energy today to say that they will have staff in the office on Saturday 10th (10-4pm) and Sunday 11th (12-6pm) in December to super-streamline OfGem registrations in time for the midnight deadline of Dec 11th. If you get your installation registered by then, you are on the 43pence tariff for the next 25 years! Some utility companies are telling people that they need 3 or 4 weeks to register, so don't take that nonsense from them - switch!
    I don't normally want to promote one company only, but if they can do this for the customers, it's a benefit for all. Also. I hope they can lose George Monbiot his £100 bet - he bet someone that renewable energy companies can't maintain their prices till  2014... but GE have already maintained their prices without an increase for 4 years - due to the fact that their 'Wholesale Fuel' price is zero - the Wind for their windfarm and the Sun for their customers who are home generators!
     This underlines the fundamental benefit of renewable technology - it trumps all the arguments of people who say that Wind farms or Solar or Hydro is not 'economic'. The fossil/nuclear generators are helped by the many visible and invisible subsidies and economies of scale that the fossil/nuclear systems get - but every other one of these is trumped by the fact that the renewables come free, but the nuclear fossils have a Wholesale fuel purchase price, with competition from others to obtain those fuels, with risks of war or hostilities cutting off the supply.

Tariff for early adopters

2nd November 2011: I was asked recently if there might be changes for people who adopted PV prior to July 2009. It really has been very unfair that they were not included in the FIT, albeit at half or third rate. They seem to have been forced to accept a share of the tiny 3.1pence/unit rate, despite having installed at a time when PV was twice the cost it is now. Well. there is a scheme, although it is not as good as the FIT, it is better than nothing.
  My electricity utility, Good Energy, have a reasonable deal for such people. Prior to the FIT they were offering me 15p/unit, so I wrote to them to ask if they had anything similar for early adopters of PV.

Click to view the details of the
review of the FIT 2nd Nov 2011

  One of the Home Generation team replied to me: "Prior to the FIT we did run our own HomeGen scheme which offered a higher payment for installations, however this is now reduced to 9.4p/kWh for every unit generated and a 3.1p/kWh for 50% which is deemed exported. This is the payment existing generators who transferred from the RO scheme are now paid.
   In regards to the recent announcement - Good Energy is disappointed with the Government’s proposals on the FIT review. We believe that the cause of the problem lies with the artificial cap imposed on the scheme by the Treasury and will be working hard to improve the proposals put forward by the Department of Energy & Climate Change."

FIT change is not as bad as feared

1st Nov 2011: I did a Rushcliffe Solar estimation for one client and was pleased to find that the situation is not as bad as I feared. She does happen to have a perfect south facing unshaded roof, which helps. The new rules on FIT will discourage people who can only fit 6-10 panels, because of the higher cost per kilowatt. However, for a 16 panel installation of nearly 4 kW the payback is still quite good, and would be equivalent to about £1000/year - about 8-9%. The return from the tariff is still enough to justify installation. The assumed earnings from saving on your current bill, and the income from direct sale to the grid assume a larger proportion of the calculation - the 3.1pence per unit being worth £50.

People will be more choosy (not doing a roof unless it has good orientation), and they will be taking the long view - that over the years, the costs of energy for everyone else will rise and their virtual income from the savings will increase proportionately. There will be an increasing tendency to adapt lifestyle, like baking cakes or running the washing machine at midday.

     Under the 43pence rule, the payback was getting up into the teens, like 14-16% which must be far more than the original creators of the FIT intended - caused mainly by the much reduced cost of panels.
See Full details of the review at Good Energy's website.

Discussion about getting PV for free

31 Jan '11: Will Vooght of Good Energy has written an article on the pros and cons of having PV fitted for free on your roof. This is only likely to be possible if you have a very clean unshaded roof. If you do, and you lack the capital to have it done at your own cost, then this is still a good idea. You will still enjoy a saving in annual electrical bill, will be able to have no worries about maintenance, and will have the comfort of knowing that the installation takes you closer to Carbon Zero, even if the installer company takes most of the Tariff. Your house isn't as big as Ratcliffe power station, but if a thousand houses have PV installations, the effect begins to be quantifiable, as has been happening in Germany where the impact of PV on nice days reduces the power consumption of the conventional electrical producers.

Ken Clarke and FIT

18 Nov '10: DNC writes: Tomorrow, Friday, I am having Tea and a photoshoot with Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP, who is supporting National Energy Action's Warm Homes campaign 2010. This particular visit is because of Rushcliffe Solar's work in Rushcliffe, and NEA have nominated us to take part in this at the house of one of RS's 'clients', who recently had her roof fitted with PV panels by EvoEnergy.

....and by the way,

THANKYOU to Good Energy for finally making the Feed in Tariff payment! this is very welcome, before Christmas! A Tax free £1015 just landed neatly in my account, the FIT amount from April 1 to October 1.

Post 20 Oct situation with Renewables

20 Oct: Despite this day being a much feared day (for budget cuts), and one that will have many consequences in other parts of our life and economy, there is a small glimpse of relief, in that the situation for renewables is presently unchanged.
The Good Energy website sums it up well, Feed in Tariffs will continue in their present form for PV, and the Govt will continue with intended plans for the Renewable Heat Incentive.
    The degression rate - the rate at which the rate of FiT payment is reduced annually - might be reduced a bit faster than the originally proposed 7%, but this can only be good for those who get their panels up before 2012. The degression system was always intended to encourage early adopters, and discourage the "We'll wait until prices come down" brigade.

Support for the Feed in Tariff

30 Sept '10: DNC writes: It's unfortunate that the Coalition government, having promised to be "Greener than Gordon Brown's government" have allowed rumours to grow and destabilize our confidence in the Feed in Tariffs.

If you are an early adopter, and installed PV before July 2009, they will not retro-engineer the FiT, so the best deal going seems to be with Good Energy. GE will continue to pay microgenerators on its HomeGen scheme who had their systems installed before 1st February 2010, and aren't eligible for the higher FiT rate. This amounts to15p per unit generated until April 2011, 5 times the amount that other utilities will pay. I don't know if this applies to you if you join them now, because initially, it seems to be a loyalty payment for those who have been with GE for a while. For my system they kept their word and sent me payment at 15p a unit for the period Oct 2009 to April 2010.

Please join the http://wesupportsolar.net/ website group and send the emails to Chris Huhne and others, to make sure that there is no regressing on the Feed in Tariffs. To me, there is a fair case for reviewing the original FIT idea on other systems such as Biomass and Heat Pumps, as it was hard to quantify the income and earnings. With PV, there is an OfGem meter, and the amounts generated and the amounts imported through the house meter are completely clear, and are very difficult to falsify, so there should be no altering of this scheme. Flexibility is built into the existing scheme by their ability to tweak todays's figure of 41.3p, so it would be better to let that scheme continue. Home generators are, collectively, reducing the need for power stations to be burning Columbian coal or imported oil or gas, so are good for the country as a whole, making use more energy independent.

Good Energy Case Study - published!

2 Sept: DNC writes: wow! I am really happy that Good Energy (renewables-based electricity supplier) have written a case study about the PV roof on my house and the research on the Sunbox project.
See the Greenenergyrepublic Page
Although their main focus is on solar electricity, it's generous of them to give so much space to the Sunboxes project.

Good Energy help Home Generators

28 June: This a non-commercial plug here, because of course, everybody makes their own choice of whom to supply electricity - based on price usually, but the change can also be made on ethical grounds. We made the choice 4 years ago to change to Good Energy as they are the only UK electricity supplier who are 100% renewable based energy - under their charter they can only deliver electricity in quantities that they can procure as completely renewable. So every new customer is an additional incentive for investment in wind, solar, tidal energy.
   They do have a wind-farm of their own at Delabole, but they need more power suppliers if they want to take on more customers. Therefore they are extremely eager to sign up Home Generators and give them plenty of support. Before the Feed-in Tariff began in April 2010, they were paying us a sort of early feed in tariff of 15p per unit (instead of the normal selling price of 5p per unit) from 1st October 2009 to 1st April 2010. So even if the FiT had never happened, they would still have provided income for some payback.
   If you do not have your own generating capacity, you pay a bit more than the cheapest, but what you pay is furthering investment in wind-farms and home generation.

Marlow making a go of Solar!

http://www.generateyourown.co.uk/marlow
Quoting the Good Energy Newsletter it seems Marlow are making good progress with a solar initiative:

"Transition Town Marlow held a really successful public meeting last week to mark the official launch of their Solar 100 Project, which aims to get Marlow residents generating their own renewable heat and power." 

   "Our Microgeneration Team went along to the meeting to show our support and were thrilled to find the auditorium packed with residents who had all turned up to hear Philip, Willi and the rest of TTM explain how all participating residents would be rewarded with a 20% rebate for the cost of their installation if the community reached its target of installing 100 solar systems in 12 months."

    "Hugo House, our Head of Generation Marketing, also delivered a presentation that offered advice on how to finance their solar project, and how the new feed-in tariffs would work."