What if I already have solar, can I add this? Also do you actually need a balcony or can you hang these out of a window somehow? Very few houses in the UK have balconies.
You can put it on the ground if you like
Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
21–30 of 46 posts
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#22Nice. I'm working on a project called homestocompare to help people house-hunting in the UK. Would be nice to add this as an extra data point when comparing. Are you open to collaborating at all?
Absolutely! I have some other datasets that might be useful too (e.g. air quality). Drop me a line: ruaraidh[at]southlondonscientific.com :)
Great, thanks - I'll drop you a line.
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#23Nice. I'm working on a project called homestocompare to help people house-hunting in the UK. Would be nice to add this as an extra data point when comparing. Are you open to collaborating at all?
Let me know if you’d like access to alt net availability data
Sorry, not sure what you mean by "alt net availability"
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#24> Worth it. The kit pays for itself in 7.1 years; over 20 years it's good for about £1,095 net. This is my issue with this sort of thing. Am I going to have this kit in 7 years? Or would I upgrade to better stuff at the technology improves?
These calculations often fail to account for present vs future value of money.
If you’re financing the system you have no big cash outlay, but returns are further out, possibly never when accounting for the useful like of the system.
With cash up front all the returns are yours, but they are much lower than what that cash would net you in an average investment.
The financial math on small solar systems can be complex. If the system is sufficient to provide power to major appliances in a power outage (assuming you have a power outage risk in your area), it can make more sense to tie money up in these systems.
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#25> Worth it. The kit pays for itself in 7.1 years; over 20 years it's good for about £1,095 net. This is my issue with this sort of thing. Am I going to have this kit in 7 years? Or would I upgrade to better stuff at the technology improves?
I got the exact same values.
I'd like it if it would actually show me how much sun it thinks I'd get at the postcode I put in. I've got about a third of an acre of garden in a 6 acre field to play with, before I start having to dig up roads. I can afford to be quite free and easy with placement ;-)
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#26"Any address in Britain"
"Caveats: - Outside LIDAR coverage (most of Scotland and Wales) it falls back to a synthetic horizon (less accurate)"
So, "any address in the most of the southern half of Britain"?
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#27Huh, TIL about the National LIDAR Programme: https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/f0db0249-f17b-4036-9e65-3091... Very interesting stuff and quite a large undertaking! I'm often impressed by the quality of the UK's open data.
> I'm often impressed by the quality of the UK's open data.
The ordnance survey not being open data is a bad look though.
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#28This is a really interesting project! The use of LIDAR data to account for actual building shadows is a clever approach. I'd be curious to see how this compares to commercial solar assessment tools in terms of accuracy. The UK's move to legalize plug-in solar is great for residential adoption.
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#29I am just surprised about the cost?
Kits in Germany are 300€ without a battery.
Re: Show HN: Helios – what plug-in solar could generate for any address in Britain
#30I am just surprised about the cost? Kits in Germany are 300€ without a battery.
Surprised which way? Too cheap? Too expensive? Surprised things differ in price by country?