The Green Page

Here locals can send in their experiences of trying to be more environmentally friendly. I will start it off with Website HQ's new Solar PhotoVoltaic Microgeneration system. The Ed.

Web HQ 4 Kwp Solar Photovoltaic Microgeneration System.

Background

We first started looking at a Solar PhotoVoltaic installation after reading about a firm in the Midlands who were installing free systems where the householder would receive all the generated electricity for free. They would install and maintain the system completely free and leave it there for 25years. This got me thinking, how could they afford to do this and why can't we have this on the Island?

Once I started to investigate, I discovered that the Government had introduced in April 2010 something called a Feed In Tariff. Basically this is a payment of 41.3p for every unit of electricity that is generated whether used or not by the householder, plus an extra 3p per unit for every unit that is exported to the grid. This compares to about 12p per unit that we currently pay for our electricity. There is also a saving from the electricity you don't have to buy.

It became clear the midlands firm was claiming the tariff to pay for the system, so I wondered how much a system would cost and exactly how much cash would it generate.

After looking at various internet sites including the Energy Savings Trust, a 4Kwp system would cost around £16,000, but the Feed In Tariff would provide an inflation proof tax free income of between 8 and 10% guaranteed for 25 years. This means a payback period of about 10 years, then 15 further years of guaranteed income. The figures for the Feed In Tariff are set by the Government, but crucially from my point of view, are paid by your chosen electricity supplier. Personally I would not trust the tariff system to last 25 years if it were paid by HM Govt., as any Govt. expenditure can be cut at any time, as has been proved recently.

Getting Quotes

The problem of getting quotes for the Solar PV Array is made easier in some respects by some of the rules regarding the Feed In Tariff. The system must be installed by a MCS registered  Solar PV installer who has passed various courses specifically on Solar PV systems. The equipment used also has to be MCS certified. One benefit of this is that VAT is charged at 5% instead of the normal rate. The other consequence is that there were only 4 MCS registered installers on the Island when we started looking. We spoke to all 4 Island installers, some seemed very good, but expensive, others quoted unrealistic systems from a technical point of view, ie. quoting for more panels than could physically fit on our roof. We also found that Tesco were doing fixed price installations through an installation company, these seemed very competitive, but ultimately after nearly 2 months they finally quoted for an expensive very small system which was not at all what we wanted.

Meanwhile we contacted various mainland installers, which had recommendations from various forums on the internet. One of which, Solar Focus, sent over a surveyor from Kent, who bothered to listen to what we actually wanted and quoted us a reasonable price for the whole job using Sharp Monocrystalline Panels and special SMA inverter that could cope with two uneven arrays at 90 degrees to each other, thus allowing us to get to the 4KwP system we wanted. We liked the Sharp panels because they are well known and liked, plus they are actually made in the UK!!, Wrexham to be precise. They also quoted us about 4 weeks lead time for installation, so early August we paid our deposit and true to their word they started installing on the 31st.

Installation

Day 1

8.45 - 11.45am - Scaffolding Erected

As arranged by the installation firm, local scaffolding firm, Dee's, erect a platform for the installtion team to safely work on the roof.

6.15pm - Installers, Solar Focus, Deliver Solar Panels and Inverter

The 2 man installation team arrive on the island and immediately drop off the very expensive Solar PV Panels and Inverter rather than leaving them in their van overnight at their Hotel. They also double check the roof dimensions ready to start the installation early next morning.

Day 2 - Installation Day

7.45am - Installers Joe and Dave arrive and start to install the panel fixing brackets.

Fixing the brackets to the roof trusses is very time consuming and takes nearly all day. At first I thought the brackets would disturb the way the tiles lay together, but after hours of grinding bits off brackets and tiles, then applying lead flashing to keep it all watertight, I needn't of worried as the finished result shows.

Horizontal Stainless Steel bars are then attached to the brackets before vertical bars to which the panels are fitted.

5.15pm - The first panel goes up, ensuring the panels are below the height of the ridgetiles, to keep the planning dept. happy.

Day 3

After early morning discussions with Joe, Dave and Adam, the Surveyor, its decided to split the panels; 15 on the main SE facing roof and 7 on the smaller SW facing roof as this should produce the best output matched to the SMA 4000TL inverter, which was chosen as it is suitable for unevenly split panel arrays.

The last panel goes in, just the wiring to go!!

The DC Power cables from the two strings are threaded through the roof sections and the porch to the garage where the inverter is to be installed.

The Inverter, which is far bigger and heavier than I expected goes in.

5.07pm - Its all a bit of a race against time as the sun is fast dissappearing behind the cliff and ideally the fitters need a fair amount of light falling on the panels for them to switch the inverter on so they can commission and test the system.

6.15pm - The sun is well behind the cliff, but the panels are still producing voltage, but it looks like Joe and Dave will be staying on the Island another night, so they can finish off and commission the system in the morning.

7.45pm!! - The system is fully installed, but although it registers the string voltage, there is not enough current to power up the inverter as its getting dark. We'll have to wait till tomorrow for the commissioning.

Day 4

It Works!!!, its cloudy, but the system is producing 1.5Kw, we have earned 40p Woo Hoo!!!, but its only been on about half an hour and its only 9.30am.

10.30am - Joe and Dave have tidied up and are off to catch the ferry, going to Cornwall for the next job!!! - We can't believe how long and hard they work, very impressed!!

Alaster at the Solar Focus office registers our system on the MCS website and they email us our MCS Certificate which we then send to EDF, our electricity supplier, with their Feed In Tariff application form. Once accepted EDF will then send us a Cheque every 3 months based on our Total Generation Meter readings.

Alaster also arranges for the scaffolding to be removed, as until this is done there will be some shadowing of the panels reducing their efficiency.

8.00pm - The sun has gone down and we watch [Sad I know] the Watts generated gradually drop to zero. The first day has been hazy sun/ light cloud all day and we have generated 17KwH which has earned us £7.90, not bad considering it was not switched on til 9.30, the scaffolding is still shading a bit and it was a bit hazy. The system peaked at 3.012Kw at 12.40 suggesting on a good day we should be nearing the 4Kw maximum the system is capable of.

The graph shows the 1st day's output starting at 9.30. The wireless data from the inverter is picked up by my laptop's Bluetooth receiver and displayed using Sunny Explorer software. 

Solar Focus also supplied a display device called a Sunny Beam Bluetooth, which also picks up the data from the inverter and displays it wirelessly in the house so you can keep an eye on what is being generated. This is also solar powered. The above display shows a graph of the days output and the actual output at that instant [822W], below that is the output for that day [6.67Kwh] and the systems total output since commissioning [49.44Kwh], Photo taken on 4th day of generation, a gloomy day at about 2.00pm.

After Installation

3/9/10 - For Investment Comparison the FTSE = 5428.1 Today

5/9/2010 - 10.45am - 32.34Kwh and £14.55 so far since 3/9, currently raining but still generating 473W and 1.08Kwh today so far.

6/9/2010 - 12.00 Dee's arrive to remove the scaffolding. Hopefully the sun will come out and we can get an idea of the maximum output with no shading from the scaffolding, unfortunately it starts to rain.

 The finished installation.

7/9/2010 - EDF Confirm receipt of our Feed In Tariff application by post.

7.30pm - 14.06Kwh today making a total of 65.41Kwh [About £29] over 5 days since commissioning, we would have earned about £5 in interest if we left the money in our Building Society. Still not had a proper sunny day yet, hazy sunny intervals today.

10/9/2010 - Its been a week since it was turned on and we have generated 94.9 Kwh of electricity which is an income of £40.61 plus some savings on our electricity bill, so about £45.00 in total. Not bad for a week considering it was not terribly sunny. If we had left the money in the building society it would have earned us about £7.55 in interest at 2.5%. The system also reports we have avoided producing 66.43Kg of CO2 - That sounds like quite a weight to me!!! Out of the 94.9Kwh of generated electricity we have probably only used about a third, so the rest is exported to the grid and used locally in the village.

30/9/2010 - Its been 28 days since the system was switched on and we have generated 330KWh of electricity with an income of £141.24.

The graph shows the daily output in KWh for each day of the month, the best day was the 25th with 19.62KWh, the worst being the 14th with 2.15KWh. The average generation for September was 11.78KWh per day. September is probably about average for solar irradiation over the course of the year, so if we generate at our September daily average, we should generate about 4300KWh [About £1840] over a year which is a return of 11.7% on our investment plus a saving on our electricity bill. During September we have used an average of 8.2KWh a day, but according to our meter we have bought an average of 5.2KWh a day, so we have saved buying about 3KWh per day, which equates to about £10 a month saving.

31/10/2010 - October has been very sunny and we have generated 293Kwh of electricity, which is an income for the month of £125.40, making a total since switch on of 623kWh and an income of £266.64.

The graph above shows the daily generation for each day of the month. The expected total for the month was 241.5Kwh [Latest PVGIS Estimate] so we are way above our predicted figures for the first 2 months at 10.56 Kwh per day. We have imported 197Kwh of electricty during the month at a cost of £22.28, but we have used 290Kwh which would normally have been £32.80, so an extra saving of £10.52 for the month [All figures are based on 11.31p per unit [Inc 5% VAT] excluding EDF's standing charge].

We are using about a third of what we generate, the rest is exported to the grid and used locally, which is a benefit for the environment as there are much lower transmission losses as the power does not have to come miles from the most local power station, in Cowes as far as I know.

30/11/2010 - November has been a bit dull, very wet, with snow towards the end of the month but we have still generated 142kWh of electricity which is an income of £61.06 for the month, making a total of 765kWh and £328.95 income since installation.

The graph above shows the daily generation for each day of the month. The expected total for the month was 152kWh, so we have generated slightly lower than the latest PVGIS prediction.

23/12/2010 - At long last, EDF have sent back the 25 year Contract to be signed and a request for a Generation Meter reading. We have Generated 837.7kWh since 3/9/10 which should mean a payment from EDF of £358.53 will be paid wheras we have used 836.4kWh but only paid them £94.59. So in what will probably be the 2nd worst quarter of the year we have produced almost exactly what we have used, but have made a profit of £263.94 due to the Feed In Tarrif.

29/12/2010 - The next quarter to March will almost certainly be the worst period of the year for generation, with a prediction of 577kWh from 21/12/10 to 21/3/11 as against 830kWh from 3/9/10 to 21/12/10. [Using the latest Autumn 2010 Climate-SAF PVGIS Website Estimator]. The new estimate for the whole year has increased to 4270kWh, which is remarkably similar to my guestimate of 4300kWh based purely on September's total being an average month!! Out of interest the UK Govt. Standard figure for our system which has to be given on a quotation was 3066.62kWh. We should be well above that figure as we have already done over 27% of that figure during the Autumn/Winter!! and 2/3 of the years total is generated during the April - August period.

31/12/2010 - Despite no generation at all on several days due to the panels covered in a thick layer of snow, we have still managed to generate 99.1kWh during December which is just ahead of the PVGIS estimate of 97.7kWh.

The graphs for Oct, Nov and Dec are all to scale and show anoticeable reduction in the peak sunny day generation due to much shorter daylight hours and the sun being at a much lower angle in the sky.

During the month we have imported 303kWh [£34.24] according to our electricity meter, but have used 350kWh [£39.55], which means we have used approx. half of our generation saving us a paultry £5.31 of our bill, but we will receive a Feed In/Export Tariff of £43.40. So even in the worst month of the year for sun we have made/saved £48.71 and still well above our import cost of £34.24.

The year end total generation stands at 864.1kWh which equates to an income of £378.47 plus an electricity bill saving of approx £33 and 604.32Kg less CO2 in the atmosphere for 120 days since 3/9/2010. During that period we have lost about £130 in interest at 2.5%, which we would have received if we had not purchased the system, so the actual return is approx. £280 for the 4 months.

1/1/11 -  See our new Solar PV Statistics Page for full details of generation, expected generation and income. 

31/1/2011 - As expected January was very grey, but the system generated 122kWh, just above the 121.1kWh PVGIS prediction, Click  Solar PV Statistics page for full data etc.

Adam from SolarFocus came down to the village during the month and they will be installing two more systems during February.

25/2/2011 - SolarFocus have installed two more 4kWp systems in the village this week despite it raining for most of it. Joe now has a 3 man team so they managed to finish both systems despite the rain. It will be interesting to compare the output of each system as they all have about the same capacity, but on very different roofs.

26/2/2011 -  The new Feed In Tariff from 1st April 2011 has been announced, as expected it has been raised by the Retail Price Index for 2010 which was 4.8%. The new rate is going up from 41.3p to 43.3p per unit generated and to 3.1p from 3.0p for exported units for Roof Mounted systems under 4kWp installed before April 2012. This should increase our income and shorten the perceived break even period even further. Reports in the press of the Fit being reduced or even withdrawn refer to the New Government reviewing industrial scale installations greater than 50kWp as these threaten to swamp out the small household sized generator and take all the available FIT allowance. Apparently there are 6 huge sites being applied for on the Island alone!! Obviously big business can see a fast buck to be made, even though these huge installations only get about 30p per unit.

28/2/2011 - End of month report - February was dismal, only 138.7kWh generated in the month, well below the expected 186.6kWh.

The only encouraging thing was the peak output when the sun actually came out reached 3.8kw albeit only for a few seconds. 

1/3/2011 - Looks like EDF are getting their act together at last, today we received an email request for a quarterly generation meter reading and also the payment for the previous quarter arrived in our bank. 

24/3/2011 - Having sucessfully installed 3 complete Solar PV systems in the village, Solar Focus have kindly offered to sponsor this page. If you are interested in a Solar PV System, give Adam Smith a ring on 01732 424106.

31/3/2011 - March was very sunny and we generated 411.7kWh, well above the predicted 353kWh.

We also managed to use more, so although we used 349kWh during the month, our meter shows we only imported 197kWh, so we did not have to buy 152kWh making a saving of about £19.31 off our electricity bill at the new import rate of 12.71p/kWh since 3/3/11

30/4/11 - April was fantastically sunny and warm, we generated 563.2kWh, again well above the PVGIS estimate of 492kWh. We also have got used to using the washing machine and dishwasher when its sunny and saved £23.89 on our electricity bill this month.

Total earings and electricity savings have now exceeded £1000 since September with the best 4 months still to come, hopefully.

31/5/11 - May was again very sunny, if not terribly warm, we generated 611.7kWh which was 8% above the PVGIS Estimate. We also saved £24.53 off our electricity bill.

The above graph is from a website PVOutput.org where all the data from our panels is now posted. The live data from the panels can be accessed here; http://pvoutput.org/intraday.jsp?id=2476&sid=1872 This site also shows historical data since installation, but only daily data since the beginning of May. It can also show figures for our energy consumption and how much electricity we have saved on a daily/monthly basis.

1/6/11 - EDF emailed us to request a meter reading for the quarter, we generated 1586.2kWh during March/April/May, which should equate to a payment from EDF of about £700!! Making the total income since installation of £1306.34, which includes an electricity bill saving of £113.16 - not bad for 9 months and well inline with my original estimate/guess of £2000 for the first 12 months. Hopefully the next 3 months are as good as the last, in theory it should be 18% better than March/April/May, according to the PVGIS estimates.

19/6/11 - The total generation since installation has just exceeded the UK Govt. SAP PV estimate for the year of 3066kWh for our specific system. Obviously this is a grossly conservative figure as we have nearly 3 summer months to go until the end of our first year. The SAP estimate is what has to be given by the installers so they do not try to over estimate income, it doesn't even take into account where you are in the country, or local climate, which is why its so inaccurate. The PVGIS Climate annual estimate of 4270kWh, however, looks like being much closer to reality so far this year, we are on target to just exceed it if all goes well. The best day so far was June 11th with just over 29kWh of generation.

30/6/11 - June was patchy, some good sunny days, but quite a few dull and misty days. Overall generation was 556.7kWh making a total of 3268.1kWh since installation. The monthly total was 5% lower than the PVGIS prediction of 588kWh, although the overall figure is still 3.2% above the predicted figure since installation. An electricity saving of £24 during the month is much better than expected with our import costs down to only £14.23.

Total income and electricity savings = £1580.59 for the 10 months since installation.

The Daily output graph above for June, shows the Generation as normal in green, with Export in orange and Electricity Saved in blue all in kWh. Interestingly the worst generating days have the highest proportion of self usage [Saved] as practically nothing is exported.

31/7/2011 - July was pretty good for generation, but most people would say it was a poor summer month. We generated 565.1kWh which was 2.4% below the PVGIS estimate, although overall generation since commissioning at 3833.2kWh is still 2.3% above the PVGIS Estimate.

 Next month being the 12th month since installation will be the last monthly update, I will post quarterly or when any significant occurs from then. The Monthly statistics will continue on the PV Statistics Page. 

31/8/2011 - August was dull and cold, but only 3% down on the PVGIS estimate with 483.7kWh being generated during the month [499kWh Estimated]. Total since installation is now 4316.9kWh, with 2 days to go till the end of the first year.

August Total Generation 483.7kWh

EDF sent payment of £700.93 in payment for the 3 months to 1/6/11 a few weeks ago.

3/9/11 - One Year Old Today

4357kWh's were generated during the year which has produced an Feed In Tariff/Export Tariff income of £1931.18 plus an electricity bill saving of £186.84, making a total income of £2118.02 for the first 12 months. This represents a return on investment of 13.66% as against 2.5% if the money was left in a Building Society, for investment comparison the FT SE 100 is 5292 today which is down 2.5% since 3/9 last year.

Basically the Solar Panels are paying our Electricity and Central Heating Oil Bills!!

The year has been about average overall weather/Sun wise, with a very good spring, but a pretty dismal summer, so my own estimate back last Sept. of 4300kWh was pretty accurate, much better than the Govt.'s estimate of 3066.62kWh which was only 70% of the actual total of 4357kWh. The PVGIS monthly estimates have been very accurate with only a 1.7% difference over the whole year. We are lucky to live in such a good area for sunshine and this combined with the very generous Feed In Tariff have made it a fantastic investment that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone with a vaguely South facing roof. The prices have come down quite a lot over the year and a system similar to ours would now cost between £10-12,000 which would give an return on investment of well over 20%.

Although our Tariff is fixed, except for inflation rises, the tariff for new installations is to be reviewed and will change April 1st 2012, my guess is our tariff will rise to over 46p per Kwh because of inflation, the new tariff will drop to about 25p which at today's installation costs would still be about 10% return. So if your thinking about it, get it installed before next April!! - You Know it Makes Sense.

Update 28/10/11 - Looks like the tariff will drop dramatically for new systems from the 8th of December, 4 months earlier than expected!!!!!

Update 31/10/11 - It has been confirmed today that New systems from 12th December will receive 21p per kWh generated as against 43.3p for systems completed before that date. This has been done as the installation costs have reduced dramatically, so a 4kWp system may cost as litttle as £10-11,000 now, but was £15,000 a year ago. So the investment return which has recently been as high as 20% in this area will be reduced back down to the approx. 10% the FIT was supposed to have yielded when first announced  in 2010. Overall I think the new rate is about right, but the Govt. should have gradually cut the fit over the last year rather than leaving it this long and risk killing off the fledgling solar PV industry with a panic 55% cut. - The Ed.

23/11/11 - Now that the shock of the FIT reduction for new installations has sunk in I have worked out what return last years generation would earn at the new rate of 21p + 1.55p Export tarif [3.1p for 50% of Generation] + the same electricity saving of £186.84. The total would come to £1169.34 for the year. This sounds a lot worse than the £2118.02 we actually earned, but the installation cost has reduced considerably. With 4kWp systems currently being quoted for the New Year as low as £8,500, the return on investment is almost exactly the same as our system at 13.7%. So don't think its too late and you have missed the boat, its still a brilliant investment IMHO, just make sure you get a good deal on the installation. The Ed.

12/12/11 - New FIT rate of 21p comes onto force for NEW systems installed from today.

22/12/11 - Govt. Loses court case regarding FIT decrease - Nobody knows what's happening!!

31/12/11 - Total Generation for first full Calender Year = 4362kWh from 1/1/11 to 31/12/11.

Slightly higher than the 4357kWh during the first 365days, but remarkably close.

Total Generation to date = 5226.1kWh with a total income/savings of £2564.10 which includes an electricity saving of £243.10. Out of interest the 2nd increase in electricty price this year, in November by EDF, has added 15% in total this year!! It was 11.31p in Sept 2010 when the system was installed and is now 13.10p

As mentioned in October 2011, I shall not bore you with monthly reports from now on, but if there are any notable events, I shall post them here. I will continue to post the monthly results on the Solar PV Statistics Page and on PVOutput.org where you can see all the live and historical data/graphs. - The Ed.