Mike I have been thinking about solar for the last 6 months or so, more as a hobby project than enything else. (At present I have 2 100 watt panels on my garage roof to supply the pond pump and filter), I have now ordered a 3Kw system with battery for less than 5K, so will see how it goes. I will be installing it myself (as an old regular on this site used to say it aint rocket science), I may even install an 100amp contactor between the meter and consumer unit.

At these prices, local diesel generation may be competitive with electricity purchased from the grid.

Red diesel, which is still allowed domestically is about 100 pence a litre. A large diesel generator under good conditions will produce about 4 kwh per litre of fuel used. 3 kwh per litre may be more realistic for a smaller generator. 33 pence a unit for fuel.

If some of the waste heat can displace gas for space or water heating, then diesel generation will be substantially cheaper than mains power.

Change back to mains at times of low load to avoid the low efficiency of low load operation.

For industry the more costly white diesel is needed, but economies of scale and higher electricity prices could still make it worthwhile. For hotels and hospitals with large hot water demand, then local generation should be most worthwhile.

So at hospitals, instead of hearing the delightful cries of new born babies and the patter of little feet we may hear and feel the thump, thump, thump of a diesel generator with its fumes.

Z.

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Z.

Nice one Mike! I've been looking for pence per unit prices, where did you find them? These headline grabbing £X,000 per annum figures are useless except for scaring people to death.

Probably yes, and hospitals can use red diesel.

Well the Ofgem doc I linked to is quoting the upper permitted standing charge and the unit cost as if you buy either 3100 units, (dual fuel gas + electric) or 4200 units per year (all-electric) plus if applicable 12000 units of gas. The rest is division - now the BBC et al may prefer ' the bill of a standard house' but I do not know anyone who lives in one of those so some division  to price per unit and then re-mutliply by your own consumption figures.

Note 3100 kwHr per year is only a couple of amps average through that 100A fuse, so leaving seemingly 'innocent' low current things on all the time like fish tank heaters and extra fridges can have a noticeable effect.

Mike

Fish tank heaters for tropical fish are essential Mike, and they are also thermostatically controlled.

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Z.

Just about any energy saving measures are beginning to look cost effective. Until October 21, I was paying 11.79 p/kWh for electricity and 3.2571 p/kWh for gas. So a rise to 55 p and 15 p respectively is a bit painful. Unless patterns of usage change dramatically, I don't see the price coming back down any time soon.

Out of interest , where did / have you brought the system from , im looking to upgrade my 3kw to 4kw and a battery ,