Feed in Tarriffs...

pinno

Anyone got solar panels and or micro generation?

What is the current feed in Tarriff? Are you making anything from it?

bompington

We got ours when the FIT was the original (sky-high) 42.5p: but the opportunistic companies who all sprang up were charging an appropriately inflated price for the installation - something you couldn't get round by doing it yourself, as it all had to be signed off by a suitably registered person. I reckoned it would have been about a quarter of the cost to buy and fit the panels myself, less than half to buy and get someone else to do the fitting.

Not sure how it works out with the current costs and tariffs, we were told it should give about 10% p.a. ROI, and it does - but only because we make a fairly concerted effort to put on the major electricity hogs - washing machine, dishwasher - when the sun is shining. Of course, over here on the east coast it does sometimes, which helps.

ballysmate

pinarello001 wrote:

Anyone got solar panels and or micro generation?

What is the current feed in Tarriff? Are you making anything from it?

A mate got his from an outfit called A Shade Greener.
They are installed for free and the company gives him so many kw per day. There is no outlay at all. They, in effect, rent his roof space.
My mate reckons that it has slashed his leccy bills.

team47b

About 14 pence per kW on a 4kw PV array, so about 2.80 pounds per day*

*using a calculation of 5 hours of light per day, this is a summer calculation, in winter you could use 1.5 hours as your calculation giving 84p per day.

Edit...you may need to bring these numbers of hours down a touch

RDW

Has anyone done the maths for a turbo trainer wired up to a small generator?

RideOnTime

We've had ours just over 2 years and get the 46.5p tariff. Sounds good but a 4kw system cost £11k and the company went bankrupt when the government withdrew the tariff and they tried to get 50+ jobs started in a few weeks. I thought the tariff was 16.5p now but the system is so much cheaper. What's 4kw now £5k. I think it is a no brainer if you use alot of power anyway. The feeling of smugness on a sunny day is priceless.

capt_slog

I have a couple of solar panels that I bought and connected to a small grid-tie inverter, they're 80w per panel. There's no feed-in obviously as it was done by me with no involvement from the leccy company. The power produced offsets what I need for running my koi pond and any spare goes towards any other device which powers up.

I also have a homebuilt wind turbine, that I made as a hobby. It charges deep cycle batteries that power a few lights, it's not in the ideal position/height to catch the wind properly so it's main function is to fool the neighbours into thinking that I don't pay for electricity

team47b

RDW wrote:

Has anyone done the maths for a turbo trainer wired up to a small generator?

I looked into adding a generator to my rollers, the theory is that you could produce 100 watts per hour which is not much to most people but would run a laptop for a couple of hours BUT here's the thing no one tells you...if you add a significant load ie a battery or any device the motors resistance increases to a point where it is difficult to even turn the pedals, so the load would have to be very small say for example 5 volt 1amp USB devices. A small photovoltaic panel would be far more efficient.

Now a belt take off from the rollers direct to a fan blade, without the need for electricity, would work a treat and the faster you went the more air flow, ideal

pinno

@Rot - Are you getting any money back from them? I mean not including cost but whatever power produced that you don't use?

@T47b. Yes, that phenomenonandon is called Electro Motive Force or more precisely, back EMF. It is the same principle when you turn the ignition key. Starter motor @ O rpm = infinite resistance in the initial millisecond the current goes through the motor because of back EMF and a theoretically infinite amount of current required to rotate it. It is a good job the theory does not work as we would ll be using crank handles.

The way around this of course is a fly wheel with a cage bolted to it. You employ 12 Hamsters* to turn the flywheel and then you have to pedal at a rate that will maintain the speed of the flywheel which will help counteract any variations in speed so that the current produced is steady.
Don't worry about the Hamsters at this point as centrifugal force will keep them slammed up against the flywheel cage. The only downside is that it makes square shaped patterms in their fur or if you are Chris Hoy, Hamster chips.

*Make sure they all go in the right direction by gaffer taping one of your cats to the floor adjacent to the flywheel cage.

RideOnTime

pinarello001 wrote:

@Rot - Are you getting any money back from them? I mean not including cost but whatever power produced that you don't use?

I had to delete the other bit was all getting very technical!!!

erm yes we got £1500 last year so lets say it takes 7.5 years to pay for them. £1500 is what we get in revenue and as what we use ourselves is just estimated (as 50%) of that generated then the more we can use when they're producing the better. Little bits of lifestyle adaption - we have gas central heating but now supplement with electric radiators. Still have a gas cooker but tend to boil the bettle to cook rice or veg (say). I think using the tumble dryer in summer when you can't be bothered to hang watching out is a good benefit. I always used to feel guilty using electricity to dry clothes when the sun was out...

Overall I would say its when of the best things we've bought and I would buy them again if we ever moved house.