SOLAR POWER WHAT IS THE BEST VALUE

@comfortapaul

Many thanks for the information. It is very helpful and will help me in the conversations with whoever we asked to supply and fit solar.

Stephen

ITexpert7

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Aug 17, 2021 1:35 am

@comfortapaul

Thank you for writing about your experience in such detail.

432kWh x 0.15 euro = 65 euros roughly of saving on your electricity bill. Not bad for 6 panels, although it will probably be much less in the winter.
Could be even more if the feed-in tariff is more generous. Do you know how they are paying you per kWh?
In that case I'm wondering why would someone bother with battery, when you can just sell to the grid, and take it back when you need it at night?

I'm surprised you needed wi-fi to make this work.

Did you have to put a "smart" meter that sends data to the electricity company? They have their own network and antennas.

Kind Regards,
Michael.

PaulLouiseLottie

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Aug 17, 2021 10:58 am

ITexpert7

@itexpert7

hi Michael,

The inverter has wifi so that you can connect to an app that gives you the production data and diagnistics (ie it can measure output of each panel).

It means that we can look at the app to see how much we are generating rather than having to physically go to the inverter and press buttons.

The connection to the app will also allow us to do periodic reviews of production, ie compare this month to last month; review annual charts by month etc.

We've been putting off getting wifi for a few years but monitoring the pv generation was deemed 'the straw' or 'the icing' dependant on your view point 😂

Connection to the grid was straight forward. Although we already had a smart electricity meter that was bidirectional, E-Redes said that we needed a newer version installed.

The final step that we are struggling with is the feed-in agreement as it requires creating ourselves as an electricity production entity in the Financas system (economic activity code CAE 35113). We have an appointment arranged to sort this out.

Hope this assists,

PaulLouiseLottie

sonia

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Aug 17, 2021 12:06 pm

@comfortapaul great information, thank you for sharing.

would it be to much to ask you to keep reporting about this when you have more information.
i would love to know how it impacted your bill, how much you produced and how much you saved and what you gained by feeding in to the grid.

i would love to put panels in my house so your information is very helpfull.

PaulLouiseLottie

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Mar 24, 2022 10:54 am

@sonia and all others that are interested.

We now have 6 months data since installation of the pv panels.

Comparing 2021with the same 6 month period in 2020 our billed for usage is on average €10 a month cheaper. Plus, covering the same period we have received a feed in tariff payment of €174 from edp (this works out to € 0.18 per kwh generation).

Please note, it did take edp 6 months to produce the first feed in tariff payment, but now we are receiving monthly rebates.

We do try to use electrical items, e.g. washing machine, cement mixer etc when we are generating electricity so this has helped with the slight monthly usage reduction.

Current estimate is that our panels and installation costs will be recovered in approximately 7 years.

Hope this assists.

Louise & Paul.

sonia

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Mar 24, 2022 2:53 pm

@comfortapaul thank you for the update.

At the end of last year I did a simulation based on my average consumption for the las 12 months to see if I had produced energy what would be the savings, and it amounted to about 12 € a month, it seemed very low, so we decided to shelve the idea for now.

But with your information about the payments from eredes, if I understood correctly they paid 174€ for 6 months, so 29 € / month, this plus the 12 €/month savings looks a lot better.

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sonia

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Aug 10, 2021 3:30 pm

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My understanding is that nowadays there is no payment for feeding the excess energy to the grid.

With EDP the only benefit is that they offer you a 10% reduction on your electricity, (not the entire bill only the part about electricity consumption).

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stephenwonders

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Aug 10, 2021 4:44 pm

@sonia

Ola Sonia,

Only 10% wow that's a bit mean.

For the next couple of years we have got to work in England so the house roof could be generating power and feeding into the grid all day. There must be quite a few properties like that. Not much of incentive from the energy companies.

Then again 10 per cent in better that zero I suppose.

Obrigado

Stephen

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aspidistra

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Aug 10, 2021 7:30 pm

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I'm trying to decide what to go for in terms of solar power and am in two minds. An electrician has suggested a couple of the panels that generate electricity would be a good thing but I wonder about having the type that heat water, instead, or whether one can easily have both and how much that would cost to install.

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stephenwonders

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Aug 11, 2021 8:14 am

aspidistra

@aspidistra Bom dia,

Yes we are the same. With the hot water situation - because we are not in permanent residence yet, we wonder if it would be worthwhile yet.

However with generation solar at least energy could be fed into the grid and make a contribution to the national effort to be totally renewable.

It is something we are trying to find out what the best option will be.

There is also a government scheme that offers grants for work and improvements on property that will improve the energy efficiency of the property. Our great neighbor Pedro informed us of this and it is something we are preparing to apply for.

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Stephen

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sonia

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Aug 10, 2021 10:21 pm

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You could have both, but if you have to chose one of them i think the generating electricity ones would be better.

If you go with the water heating one you will also need a backup water heating system for those cloudy days. But if you have the ones that produce energy you can have an electric water heater that you can program to work during the day when the panels are producing energy and it will also work in cloudy days. also you will have energy for a lot of other things and not only for heating water.

if you do buy in silves and you plan to be living there permanently the solar system is a good option because of the amount of sun in the region

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stephenwonders

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Aug 11, 2021 10:20 am

@sonia Obrigado Sonia, we are not in the Algarve, we are Silver Coasters. We get plenty of sun around Alocbaca but not as much as in the Algarve.

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sonia

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Aug 11, 2021 10:45 am

stephenwonders

@stephenwonders my reply was to aspidistra post that is looking to buy in silves, but when I'm using the ipad for some reason the forum does not work well and I was unable to direct the response.

stephenwonders

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Aug 12, 2021 9:16 am

@sonia I just may get the hang of social media technology one day. 🤔 🤔

aspidistra

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Aug 11, 2021 10:24 am

@sonia thanks for that. It is sounding like initially some solar ones for electricity are the best starting point.

It's funny, the hot water heating ones have been around for so long, I remember them in Greece 40 years ago, I am surprised they haven’t developed to be more efficient and cheaper. They used to be good for just a couple of showers each day.

tygger

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Aug 12, 2021 10:11 am