Solar Power Advice

[Bladevane]

I have a 4kW roof mounted solar PV installation which has been up and running for just over a year. During that period we kept an eye on the weather forecasts and actual conditions to decide when to maximise use of our generation on large items such as washing machine, oven etc. I intend to do similar with my PHEV charging. The immersion heater throttle device (as mentioned in above posts) will not be satisfactory as I understand the PHEV draws 10 or 16 amps - depending on the method of charging. My theory then is that I charge during sunny spells and supplement from grid during not so sunny spells. This way the cost of charging can be anything from zero to 6.5 p/mile. This may sound a bit of a faff but what piece of technology is not!!

 

[anko]

This way the cost of charging can be anything from zero to 6.5 p/mile.

The power from you PV installation does not dissolves into thin air when not used by your PHEV. It is used for something else in your household or sold to the utility company. So, it has a value > 0.

 

[Bladevane]

In the UK we get 2 tariffs. The generation tariff applies to all units generated by solar PV. The second tariff is the export tariff which applies to 50% of the generation volume. Therefore by maximising usage of solar generation in the home - washing machine, oven, PHEV, electric lawnmower etc - we can get paid for something we are using.

 

[gwatpe]

Globally, there are many different solar export regimes. The utility will pay me only 6c/kWh for exported power, but I have to pay 35c +GST for import. This was a good incentive to pull the plug on the utility.

 

[Sunder]

Globally, there are many different solar export regimes. The utility will pay me only 6c/kWh for exported power, but I have to pay 35c +GST for import. This was a good incentive to pull the plug on the utility.

How did you go about doing that?

I'm not ready to do that yet, but from the people I've talked to, many have said that their electricity providers have basically told them that they can only disconnect at the switch board, and they have to keep paying the grid charge. Others have lied and said that they were rebuilding the house, and yet others have said it was just a simple phone call and a disconnect charge.