Keeping the lights on when the grid is down

Homes and Retreats
jennyjj01
Posts: 3430
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Keeping the lights on when the grid is down

Post by jennyjj01 »

pseudonym wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 1:11 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 12:11 pm
It seems that the solar salesmen are pushing the grid tied systems that they want to sell, without consideration of what customers need.
Yep all tied in. That's if your roof is compatible. I've had 3 quotes, one over the phone saying the roof isn't right, one came out and said the roof isn't right, the third added panels to my neighbours roof on google maps. :?

Tell that to the houseowner on the same street that has 9 panels installed on a identical roof. :tinfoil
Better to be truthfully told "No way will it ever cost in on your East facing roof" than to be sold lots of expensive inefficient panels and make the guy's sales quota.

Mind you, what might have been marginally un-worthwhile last year might soon cost in if energy prices keep leaping.

How many folk 'get solar' based solely on what the salesman told them. And then kick themselves afterwards. Easy to persuade yourself that you got a bargain, when you've been sold a white elephant.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

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jansman
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Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Keeping the lights on when the grid is down

Post by jansman »

pseudonym wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 1:11 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 12:11 pm
It seems that the solar salesmen are pushing the grid tied systems that they want to sell, without consideration of what customers need. I bet MOST domestic solar installations are Grid Tied without batteries. Maybe uninteruptability of supply would be just too expensive to catch on. Paying ~£2k just for a glorified control panel, on top of the hugely expensive batteries is enough to make anyone baulk. Customers buying solar to save on energy costs, and not as a resilience prep? I wonder how that will work out for society when rolling blackouts start and all those customers are still sat in the dark..
Yep all tied in. That's if your roof is compatible. I've had 3 quotes, one over the phone saying the roof isn't right, one came out and said the roof isn't right, the third added panels to my neighbours roof on google maps. :?

Tell that to the houseowner on the same street that has 9 panels installed on a identical roof. :tinfoil
I looked at panels on our roof some years ago. The roof is not in the right position,and the company was quite honest about it.
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pseudonym
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Location: East Midlands

Re: Keeping the lights on when the grid is down

Post by pseudonym »

South facing roof. They all want to sell a tied in system and don't want to install off grid systems.
Two is one and one is none, but three is even better.
jennyjj01
Posts: 3430
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Keeping the lights on when the grid is down

Post by jennyjj01 »

pseudonym wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 3:33 pm South facing roof. They all want to sell a tied in system and don't want to install off grid systems.
That's what I thought. I wonder WHY they want to install grid tied and not off grid? Simpler? Margins? Some sort of kickback from the energy suppliers? Maybe it's an easier sell because they can trumpet the 'feed in tariffs'? Or maybe Tesla have sewn up Off Grid?

Bloomin salesmen! :evil:
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Entilzha
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2022 6:30 pm

Re: Keeping the lights on when the grid is down

Post by Entilzha »

I contacted Tesla support and they confirmed that the the powerwall+backup gateway WILL do what I wanted (enable use of solar and charge the powerwall while the grid is down) in the UK. The powerwall and backup gateway need to be installed on the same phase as the inverter (solaredge in my case) but that's not an issue.

So that's good news. It just seems that as mentioned in this thread, some solar installers are more focussed on the green and economic aspects of solar and batteries rather than the off-grid usage. I've had a chat with my installer and he was unaware of this capability, but anyway now he knows!

In terms of a monopoly, I don't know what other batteries do provide a backup interface in the UK, but I know that the Solaredge one does not. However this is apparently a UK license issue rather than a technical one and they plan to have it legal in the UK by Christmas.