Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are both right and wrong at the same time. Long time ago when Siemens in Germany was still building nuclear power plants, I was working in the nuclear power plant engineering department. After the year 2022 when the Russia invaded Ukraine, the gas shortages and the following costs hikes renewed my interest energy sector. Why didn't German reverse it's anti-nuclear stance, even with war in Europe? Was is the gener…
The real question is "why are nukemen so desperately against renewables (and therefore by default in favor of fossil fuels)?" The all-nuclear future had its moment in the sun in the 70s and has been comprehensively lapped. Only France came close. > the machines that convert the energy, store it and distribute it are not. Minerals have to be mined, machines build, transported, installed and then disposed off This is o…
Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
81–88 of 88 posts
Re: Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
A 3.7 year ROI would be incredible (and fairly uncommon AIUI) South facing?
Mine was around 4 years and its west south + a tree in the middle. So spring and autom the tree is no problem but in summer lunch hpeak there is shadow on it.
Nice! What location, equipment and total investment?
Re: Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mine was around 4 years and its west south + a tree in the middle. So spring and autom the tree is no problem but in summer lunch hpeak there is shadow on it.
Nice! What location, equipment and total investment?
Its my south/west balcony with a 1 square meter panel from some online shop. 400 watts, with an easy to install rail system for my balcony and a plug and inverter for ~400 Euros.
Re: Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
are you running bitcoin farm or cook and heat with electricity with 100 eur monthly bill? my yearly consumption for whole household of 4 people is around 1.2MWh (gas cooking, and external grid central heating), which makes like <400EUR per year in Czechia (infamous for high electricity prices across Europe) and already now most of my fees are not really my consumption, but distribution and other stuff, it's even wors…
The average consumption figures used by the UK regulator https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/average-gas-and-electricity-use-exp... are 7.5MWh gas and 1.8MWh for a "small" household, so I guess you're really frugal and/or well insulated?
as I said it's excluding external central heating which covers also hot water for shower, so it always comes down what you use for heating to compare, someone use gas, someone electricity and someone is outsourcing it to heating factory (my case) on different bill
your link doesn't mention whether gas/electricity are used for heating (including hot water), plus UK houses are infamous for having horrible insulation
and I am working from home with big external display (so does my wife) as well for many years, TV is running roughly 5 hours per day, game console around <1hr and that 1.2MWh includes also AC set to 26C when it will get hot, though not spending that much time at home during July/August
Re: Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
#85In Germany, where Lidl is originally from, you can already order them online in their store. This is a variety for your balcony: https://www.lidl.de/p/vale-gmbh-balkonkraftwerk-ecoflow-860-... Product Features: - Name: VALE MiniPV 880-EF8N - Control: Free App - Communication: WiFi 2.4 GHz - Performance: max. 800 W - Tension: approx. 230 V - Frequency: 50 Hz - Power supply: Solar inputs: up to 60 V, mains current 230…
> Control: Free App
Ugh.
I have as much love for solar as the next hippy, though I can't be the only one put off by a lack of an open API and, *gasp*, a complete set of physical controls.
This IoT shite has gone too far.
Re: Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
#86Any dangers from plugging this in to a socket? Does it need its own earth? Will it switch off if it detects a residual current? Can it handle spikes in load?
No your normal socket can be used the other way around without issues and that reverse load doesn't create a problem. Its even reducing your load on your main line beause the energy directly flows into the next consumer. German socket has earth, thats fine. It has protection mechanism and shuts down if it can't sync to the powergrid. The panels only produce (in peak!) 400-800 watts. Thats not an issue.
That is very interesting. I guess it makes sense. A properly fitted solar does roughly the same thing. But electics are weird and there are lots of rules that defy intuition. E.g. you can get a shock without a full circuit on AC.
Re: Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
The average consumption figures used by the UK regulator https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/average-gas-and-electricity-use-exp... are 7.5MWh gas and 1.8MWh for a "small" household, so I guess you're really frugal and/or well insulated?
as I said it's excluding external central heating which covers also hot water for shower, so it always comes down what you use for heating to compare, someone use gas, someone electricity and someone is outsourcing it to heating factory (my case) on different bill your link doesn't mention whether gas/electricity are used for heating (including hot water), plus UK houses are infamous for having horrible insulation an…
Those figures will include heating from either source, yes. Non-heating electricity consumption tends to be a tiny fraction of energy use. Centralized "district heating" is pretty rare in the UK.
Re: Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops
#88Man, I'd buy these in a heartbeat if our local Cyprus regulations allowed for these. Participating in green transition as an immigrant renter sucks.
Check with your local utility. Here, (MA, USA), we can't run classic balcony solar (feeds the grid when you produce more than you consume). But we can run zero-export solar (never feeding the grid, but dialing back the inverter when you produce more than you consume). The economics behind battery-backed zero-export solar are interesting because they keep your local solar energy local, and you can extract maximum bene…
I believe the major hurdle would be from the "renter" part.
Usually such installations are only allowed to be done by the owners, not tenants.