Comment on Is Britain's Plug-In Solar Revolution Really Just Months Away?
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
You could use batteries, it’s just you can’t feed them into the mains. If you power stuff from the battery it’s fine and you could use the mains to power the battery as a backup option when the solar is not providing enough and the battery runs flat.
But a lot of batteries I see for this does make me wonder how cost effective it would be for me. Can’t plug my heat pump into them which is most of my power usage. Plus as costs start going up with batteries I wonder if it would be better to spend that on full roof solar and export the excess power instead of storing it. UK minimum export rates are not too bad, so export excess instead could be easier. IIRC panels have a much longer lifespan too.
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 1 week ago
I’ve got two 250w panels set up feeding a 1kwh battery box/inverter which in turn feeds my ‘fridge and works as a UPS.
Around the solstice I can run it all about 12-14hrs but even a month later it’s down to 8-10 already, never mind winter, and with current rates it’s at least a 10 year payback. I don’t really understand the financials of microsolar. It seems like something that scales better if the building management put it up rather than individuals with 400w on the balcony.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
I think it depends how much the panels cost, batteries probably make it much harder to pay for it’s self as they add a lot to the cost. Also depends on how much of that power you can use and if you get a decent export rate if not.