Comment by philjohn

Comment by philjohn 13 hours ago

7 replies

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If you just want to come out cost neutral, the battery required is far smaller when paired with a large enough array, and a time-of-use tariff.

With 3 EV's in the house, and a 12.8kWp array, with a 10kWh battery, charging overnight in the winter on the cheap EV tariff (7p per kWh vs 27p per kWh) and exporting during the spring, summer and autumn at 15p per kWh I'm seeing an electricity bill of below 0.

Of course, with a shift in energy production to renewables, all of that maths may get upended, but for now, I'm going to break even far before my original estimates.

dylan604 12 hours ago

> Of course, with a shift in energy production to renewables

clearly, you're not in the US as renewables are considered the problem here and not part of the solution. i'm waiting for the administration to come out with clawback plans for all of the subsidies for home solar and even the EV subsidies. gotta pay for those tax cuts some how

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  • syncsynchalt 11 hours ago

    Politicians make a lot of noise about renewables but they're still being installed by grid operators record-breaking numbers, including in places like Texas.

    Renewables pay for themselves and the lack of federal incentives no longer slows the rate they're being installed.

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    • epistasis 10 hours ago

      One of the most important new types of renewable, deep offshore wind, is just becoming very economical, and was on the precipice of being deployed at large scale in the US.

      However, Trump has issued stop-work order on the only two projects, both multi-billion dollar, with issued permits. They are the ~800MW Empire Wind Project and the ~700MW Revolution Wind project:

      https://www.utilitydive.com/news/trump-administration-offsho...

      https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/offshore-wind/fishermen...

      The Empire Wind project was allowed to continue after negotiation from NY's governor, but these sorts of mafia tactics will stop the development of new off shore wind projects. Multi-billion dollar projects getting shakedowns midway through is no way to run a country.

      Perhaps even worse, it prevents the US form acquiring the construction skills to work on this on our own in the future. We are getting extremely far behind on a crucial technology for renewables at the population centers for northern latitudes.

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      • dylan604 10 hours ago

        > Perhaps even worse, it prevents the US form acquiring the construction skills to work on this on our own in the future. We are getting extremely far behind on a crucial technology for renewables at the population centers for northern latitudes.

        nah, we'll just give out Halliburton style no bid contracts to companies owned by vice presidents. they've got plenty of practice pouring mediocre concrete pads underwater. at least when these let go, they won't spew oil

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Theodores 12 hours ago

That is quite a setup for the UK. I have gone for the frugal option, so that means I have a vehicle fleet that consists of one naturally aspirated bicycle augmented by electric train for longer journeys. In Scotland the trains run with electricity from wind farms, so I am okay with that.

However, from how you describe it, you are getting lower costs than me! My electricity bill is lower than the standing charge, but this adds up to more than what you are paying. Train fares also seem to be costing me more, although I have done well out of compensation for late trains recently, so my trips to the south of England are averaging out at around £100 for the return journey.

I am beginning to question my life choices. Frugal was the wrong way to go. Why do I need this cardiovascular exertion when I could be getting around for less in a two-tonne EV?

I think I missed the boat. Getting a feed in tariff is far from given these days and the government grants for solar ended about a decade ago.

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  • philjohn 8 hours ago

    You still don't pay VAT if installed by an MCS accreddited installer.

    Also commute by train, and yeah, it's not cheap. My season ticket is £11k a year!

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