RE: https://solar.bots.edent.tel/posts/6a9c618e-1a00-e6c2-9362-e5c45b7b1d34.json
This is what the future looks like. Every home in the UK being self sufficient in electricity production and selling the excess back to the grid.
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@GavinChait you can read about the grid upgrades at https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/sep/13/mapped-150bn-megaproject-aims-to-protect-britain-from-energy-shocks
@Edent hoping for the best, but the UK doesn't exactly cope well with big infrastructure projects 🫣
The UK is generating so much green energy from wind that it is *PAYING* people to use electricity all day long.
This is what the transition looks like. An abundance of electricity.
Edit: This is with Octopus. Join with my link and we both get £50
https://share.octopus.energy/metal-dove-988
@Edent It’s great on a windy day but there is still a storage and base load problem for the days it isn’t windy. Where either gas or nuclear has a role.
@Edent Better still, I’m being paid to export my surplus solar, which I have plenty of because my automation loaded the battery overnight, for which I got paid. So I’m being paid to export it and you’re being paid to import it 😆
@Edent True.. but look what it peaks at by about 18:00.
Agile is always swings and roundabouts.. you have to be able to manage your electricity use quite carefully to win.
@Edent I can see this requires some planning around the times of day you use electricity, which many households are unused to. You wouldn't want to be using much at the peak rate of 50p, so don't have your 8kW electric shower in the evening...
@kbm0 yes. It does take some effort. Putting on laundry at a different time, or delaying cooking dinner.
@Edent iirc part of this is that most of wind production is in Scotland and there are not enough grid connections from up there to England, so the energy goes to waste...
@Di4na yes, that's why there's a massive upgrade going on right now.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2026/sep/13/mapped-150bn-megaproject-aims-to-protect-britain-from-energy-shocks
@Edent buy a battery for instance https://www.docanpower.com/eu-stock/solar-home-battery-1
@trademark As I say in the link above, I already have one.
@Edent whilst this is great about UK renewables and energy.. I don't think people realise that many of us in rural areas cannot access such great deals and pay far, far more. Smart meters don't work round here as most people have huge problems with them due to poor radio and mobile signal and old buildings with thick walls. We have no mains gas, old houses not suitable for ground source heating and often in conservation areas and/or national parks (we are in both) so other things like solar panels are at the whim of a planning officer.
@stuffjolikes so move house.
If you've chosen to live somewhere so restrictive, that's the only viable option.
That said, there are trials to use broadband for smartmeters, and you should be able to use balcony/garden solar without planning permission.
@Edent @stuffjolikes ohhh privilege showing a little?
“Move house” is a massive cost that many (I included) cannot afford. So we do the best where we can.
I appreciate the thinking though.
@Edent I’ve been thinking about this a lot and considering how often this happens the UK really needs to invest in more than demand shifting. Green hydrogen and even eSAF are right there for the taking.
@Waf agreed. Good news is, it is currently being planned and built.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/super-battery-projects-maximise-renewable-generated-power-enter-next-phase-ofgems-green-power-storage-scheme
It's a shame that British Gas isn't giving away electricity 😂🤦♂️
@simonzerafa Switch to Octopus and we both get £50.
https://share.octopus.energy/metal-dove-988
I have looked bu most of they rime they seem more expensive than British Gas. We like the ~5p overnight rate.
Doesn't seem that Octopus offer that low a tarrif at night?
@Edent which provider is that?
@Edent How cool! I asked my cousin why more people in the desert region of California don't use solar panels to power their A/C and she very gently reminded me of a little complication called earthquakes!
@Edent some alleged newspapers taken pleasure in telling us public money is wasted when wind farms etc are constrained.
Actually every unused Watt of transmission capacity at other times is a demonstration of the shortage of batteries.
Which the constrained generators could have filled.
@Edent we only get sunlight here about ten days a year on average but every time you post about this I wish we would put all this wind to good use
@Edent If only the energy providers didn't keep cutting export rates whilst import keeps going up.
I guess it is now making my household now ponder getting a battery instead of selling it, but better export rates would help more justify them I think.
@Ryanteck
You should either complain to OfGem (who are responsible for the SEG) or move to a different provider.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-and-social-schemes/smart-export-guarantee-seg/smart-export-guarantee-seg-generators
@Edent we could get more by changing provider, the downside is then paying more for import which then negates the savings.
Think it's because too many were abusing charging batteries at night and immediately dumping them first thing in the morning.
@Edent I've said for a while 3kW arrays on roofs ought to be mandatory on new builds and very cheap/free for everything else. And we're looking at the grid the wrong way around. The existing infrastructure is fine, if we replace powder stations with grid storage and make every home a micro generator then the existing grid is perfect. 👌
@greg_harvey they are going to be mandatory on UK roofs.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rooftop-solar-for-new-builds-to-save-people-money
I'd like to see a practical and affordable #solar #PV solution for houses whose roofs aren't suitable for panels. Two installers have looked at our roof and walked away. I was hoping that plug-in solar might (ahem) plug the gap, but HMG is limiting it to 800W peak per household, which is nothing if you have a fully electrified house and car, as we have.
@CppGuy Roof orientation east/west? That is a bummer. I have no idea what it cost or how effective it is, but in my dad's town someone has a wall-mounted array on a south facing wall. Sorry about the Google link, but Streetview - you can see it well: https://maps.app.goo.gl/7VLJh3bhH6E8Ba2M7
@Edent but does the excess matter if it's all at the same time? Who will buy it? Electricity prices are already negative on most of the European market on sunny days at peak hours. Unless the gap is wide enough to make batteries economical at scale, more energy when no one needs it doesn't move the needle :/
@halfa not every electricity user is a domestic user.
Trains, factories, supermarkets, homes which can't have solar, EVs, and a hundred different users.
Batteries are already economical. We have one at home and huge amounts are being installed across the UK.
@Edent
+ Community owned wind turbines
@Edent the question, once some threshold of people who are net contributors to the grid is reached, is... Who pays for the development & upkeep of the grid? By definition, those who have the space, & can afford it, install solar, leaving the poor & vulnerable at risk to a grid no-one wants to pay for. Solar is a net good thing, but we risk compounding inequality & equity problems we already have.