New Solar Technology on the Horizon?

[johnsandywhite]

:Cool: It would appear that there is a New Solar Technology on the Horizon:-

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-...uced-at-Home-With-Inkjet-Printers-60394.shtml

 

[Supertractorman]

:Cool: It would appear that there is a New Solar Technology on the Horizon:-

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-...uced-at-Home-With-Inkjet-Printers-60394.shtml

If this sort of technology took off, we might need an electric point on each site, so that we could download some of our surplus electricity.

 

[BGD]

If this sort of technology took off, we might need an electric point on each site, so that we could download some of our surplus electricity.

Possibly you meant to say upload.................



Incidentally, here in Spain the Government passed a ley (a law) which compells the electricity companies to buy surplus electricity from commercial and private suppliers - if generated by renewable mean, and a lot of private houesholds here now do exactly that; selling the surplus from their own wind turbine or solar electricity generators back "up the line".
Groups of people, especially inland, are now clubbing together to buy/build big solar panels which are installed on solar farms.
Crackling (hahaha) idea.

 

[Enodreven]

Hi,

That idea has been in the UK for at least 12 years for Commercial/Public CHP, I actually think it is acceptable for domestic generation. But the problem is not the fact of them buying it back its what price they will pay for it, as if you take capital cost + running costs including maintenance and replacements you cannot generate it as cheaply as they can buy it from a power station, that's why the idea is very difficult to get off the ground hear.

Possibly you meant to say upload.................



Incidentally, here in Spain the Government passed a ley (a law) which compells the electricity companies to buy surplus electricity from commercial and private suppliers - if generated by renewable mean, and a lot of private houesholds here now do exactly that; selling the surplus from their own wind turbine or solar electricity generators back "up the line".
Groups of people, especially inland, are now clubbing together to buy/build big solar panels which are installed on solar farms.
Crackling (hahaha) idea.

 

[Suzy]

I worked for a company for years that used the equivalent of a jet engine (CHP) to generate power for their paper mill. We sold all the surplus energy generated back to the national grid.

The price was an agreed formulae that was stated every 30 mins. I thought it was a great idea but of course it was no where near as good as a green option!

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[Enodreven]

Hi, Suzy

We installed 4 CHP units in on one of the estates for the Council I used to work for and while we established a similar agreement to the one you have stated below,

When we actually carried out an analysis of the scheme and the actual capital costs and when compared at the unit prices they were offering to buy the surplus at coupled with the fact that the scheme had penalties that meant that you had to pay a higher rate than normal, if your system couldn't meet your own demand we decided that we couldn't recommend any further investment.

The situation may have changed now but I really can't see a power company paying more for the electric you generate from what ever source than they would pay for that electricity from a power station, so i would look at any agreement very very carefully.

I worked for a company for years that used the equivalent of a jet engine (CHP) to generate power for their paper mill. We sold all the surplus energy generated back to the national grid.

The price was an agreed formulae that was stated every 30 mins. I thought it was a great idea but of course it was no where near as good as a green option!

 

[Suzy]

They paid the same rate it was the published rate for energy that was adjusted every 30 minutes. That was the rate we were charged and that was the rate we were paid for all surplus supplied back to the grid.

I don't know if they still have that arrangement I have been away from there and running my own business for the last 6 years.

 

[Enodreven]

Hi, Suzy

We had negotiated as a council for substantial discounts on our electricity supplies to all of our public buildings and communal services so that could have been the reason for the price rise if we weren't generating sufficient.

However there was also at the time a levee which I think still exists placed upon generators big or small which also detracts from the price you used to receive for generating.

It would be interesting to see the contract details that you obtained as they sound like they were substantially different from those that we could obtain, and I would think they would help anyone thinking of adopting CHP as the market as I understand it has more or less become stagnant, there was a resurgence a year or so ago and i think John Prescott was involved but from what i have seen that appears to have slowed

Interesting subject

UPDATE: I just checked some old records and you are correct our price fluctuated every 30mins also, but from the records that was where the problem lay, The way the CHP system had been designed it matched our needs during the peak use periods when the cost per unit was at it highest e.g. daytime.

However when we monitored the systems over a year it showed that due to the constant fluctuations in the price, the times when we had any surplus was always, in the lower rate range e.g. in the evenings, and when we had to purchase any supplemental electricity it was always during the highest rates, this was mainly due to down time for servicing etc which was always carried out in the daytime and this from our records was always the highest rate periods

Sorry about any confusion I hope that explains my suggestion that we paid more than we got for any generated electricity ?

They paid the same rate it was the published rate for energy that was adjusted every 30 minutes. That was the rate we were charged and that was the rate we were paid for all surplus supplied back to the grid.

I don't know if they still have that arrangement I have been away from there and running my own business for the last 6 years.

 

[Suzy]

Brian

I think the company were called Dalkia, though something in the back of my mind says different. I remember sitting in a meeting when the chairman was signing off on the contract it extended to over 80 pages and had to be signed by both parties. I was a smoker then and I remember thinking can't they write a bit faster!

Anyway said contract was the subject of court action which I think lasted a couple of years. It started after I left the company in 2000 and ended up in the High Court in London. I don't know why or what the outcome was. I think I'd forgotten until your thread reminded me!