Sun-Powered Rooftops Could Generate Two Nukes Of Electricity…If England Follows Peterborough’s Lead
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.
This is the sub-heading.
Household and commercial rooftop solar could save £450 million on bills.
These are the first two paragraphs.
If all English constituencies matched Peterborough, which has the highest proportion of homes with rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, the country’s solar capacity could be increased by around 7GW (gigawatts), new analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found.
The nuclear power station Hinkley C will have a capacity of around 3.2GW, so the capacity rooftop solar on domestic properties could be more than the capacity of two new nuclear power stations.
It is an interesting thought.
I should say, that I have rooftop solar and it generates more electricity, than I ever thought it would.
I find this an interesting paragraph.
In addition, industry analysis shows that the capacity potential of solar on the roofs of commercial properties, such as warehouses, is 15GW. Combined, Peterborough levels of domestic solar and industry estimates for commercial solar could deliver an additional 22GW capacity, which is the equivalent of the capacity of almost 7 nuclear power stations. However, industry has reported that it is currently difficult to get commercial roof top developments connected to the grid, with waits up to a decade or more, and it can be costly.
22 GW is a lot of electricity, but I do feel, that with innovation that probably uses energy storage devices, the connection problems can be solved.
In Denny Bros Completes Solar Scheme At Bury St Edmunds Factory, I wrote about what one company in Suffolk has done with their roofs.
The technology already exists, so how long will it be before a company offers an electrolyser to convert excess electricity into hydrogen, which is used for transport, heating or an industrial process?
In Government Hydrogen Boost To Help Power Kimberly-Clark Towards 100% Green Energy Target, I talked about how Kimberly-Clark are partially switching from natural gas to green hydrogen.
The Anonymous Widower 
Out of interest, how much power does your PV produce? Do you use it yourself, or export it?
Besides storage, local distribution networks probably need replacing, similar to the way old copper phone wires are being replaced by fibre. Just as the original phone network never envisaged large amounts of data transfer, so the current electricity supply system never envisaged large amounts of local generation.
Comment by Peter Robins | September 1, 2023 |
I get about £400 a year fed in directly to my bank account.
Comment by AnonW | September 1, 2023 |
I was meaning more in terms of kWh. Presumably it produces more in summer than you need, and less in winter (if you include heating kWh).
Comment by Peter Robins | September 1, 2023 |
You made me look up the variation in tariffs currently being offered under the latest Smart Energy Gaurantee that replaced Feed In Tariffs. From what I understand it depends on your electricity supplier who in my case currently has a special rate of 5.6p/kWh. The lowest tariff I found was 2.46p/kWh. These rates do seem to be driven by marketing imperatives and to a large degree by the number of solar panels that are installed
Comment by fammorris | September 1, 2023
https://octopus.energy/smart/outgoing/ offers 15p/kWh, and OVO Solar 20p. Those SEG tariffs are a very poor deal given current wholesale prices. A wind farm I invested in currently has a 1-year PPA at 29p/kWh.
That’s why I was asking Anonw what kind of kWh his installation produces – the income depends entirely on what tariff he’s on.
Comment by Peter Robins | September 1, 2023
It ought to be mandated that all new build warehousing has PV installed on the roof and im minded to say battery storage as well if its over a 1MWh system. The more we can supress demand at the local level with embedded PV+storage the more it releases at the transmission level to shift renewables elsewhere
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | September 3, 2023 |
Commercial properties of all sorts, not just warehouses, should be much better able to use solar power than households, as they tend to be occupied during the day. But a major problem is that most commercial property is leased. If you’re on a short-term lease, there’s no incentive to spend money on a long-term asset. And there’s no incentive for the lessor either, as the benefits accrue to the occupier.
Comment by Peter Robins | September 3, 2023 |
Without doubt, it’s good sense.
If this firm in Bury St. Edmunds can do it anybody can!
Comment by AnonW | September 3, 2023 |