Archev
Prominent Member
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I’ll only be 103 by then but I’m worried that the battery might be a bit past it’s best.
Information & Inspiration For MG Electric Vehicle Enthusiasts
Gadget Geek
Distinguished Member
I have had 4kW solar PV for 10 years now and an 8kWh Powervault battery for 3 years. I am on the EDF GoElectric tariff which was 90 hours a week at 8p/kWh and 21p/kWh peak.
I recorded my usage for 2020:
Total PV generation = 4421.5 kWh
Total PV consumed = 4170.06 kWh
Total peak grid consumed = 349.45 kWh
Total off-peak consumed = 9389.24 kWh
Total battery consumed = 2072.3 kWh
Cost of electricity without PV or battery = £959.77
Cost of electricity with PV = £579.80
Cost of electricity with PV and battery = £390.66
Total saving of £569.11
Hope that helps.
I recorded my usage for 2020:
Total PV generation = 4421.5 kWh
Total PV consumed = 4170.06 kWh
Total peak grid consumed = 349.45 kWh
Total off-peak consumed = 9389.24 kWh
Total battery consumed = 2072.3 kWh
Cost of electricity without PV or battery = £959.77
Cost of electricity with PV = £579.80
Cost of electricity with PV and battery = £390.66
Total saving of £569.11
Hope that helps.
DavidGM
Standard Member
Hi Chris
I have had 4kw Solar installation for 11 years - on the original FIT tariff. Use SyncEV smart charger to charge the ZSEV on Octopus Go at 5p night rate and use granny charger to charge my wife's Countryman PHEV during the day using solar when the sun
shines. Also have Solar iBoost to heat hot water via immersion when surplus electricity generation from solar. I installed 9.6 KW battery storage with a Sofar controller last year but the savings are not really sufficient to justify the cost. At £200 the iBoost is a far more cost effective energy storage device as it converts surplus electricity into hot water - could be set up to granny charger to store electricity in the EV battery. We do charge the storage battery up at night rate saving 10p per KWh for early morning electricity use and also in evenings. We were also fortunate last year to obtain a £5K Green Homes grant for air source heat pump to replace a 22 year old gas boiler but that scheme is no longer available - the economics do not quite justify the energy cost savings against capital costs, but we are now a green home using renewable energy for heating and virtually all our transport.Gwyn Wardman
Standard Member
We have had a 7.2Kw PV display and 10Kw battery storage for just over a year and we have been paying GBP30 pcm. We have ground source heating which is run by electricity and a Zappi. All in all we are very satisfied with the PVs and batteries but are somewhat disconsolate when the sun refuses to shine.
Davef
Standard Member
We're getting some quotes for solar pv + battery storage amd one of from Deegee for potentially a 9kW system. We'll be getting a couple of quotes but it'll be interesting to see what Deegee quote us. 9kW of solar could potentially cover our entire annual electricity use with a bit of battery storage to help.
Vince31
Established Member
If you have battery storage then why are you exporting 996kwh back to the grid?
Gadget Geek
Distinguished Member
When your house battery is full, and your car battery is full, and your immersion heater is full of hot water, the excess solar goes back to the grid.
Flat top
Standard Member
We had to wait for the Eddi as it was not available during the install in May. Once the batteries are fully charged any surplus energy goes to heating the hot water via the Eddi.
marcopolomt
Established Member
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- Not an MG
This would be more around my sort of setup. We rarely use less than 20kWh daily (regularly over 30kWh in winter), but not much in the way of gas (modern terraced house with heat recovery hvac). We can fit around 4kW of panels on the south-south-westerly facing roof that can't be much off 45 degrees.
I really need to sit down and run through the figures. I'm not expecting our usage to drop for at least 15-20 years when the last rugrats move out/are shoved out the door. I reckon its a bit of a no-brainer for us, but by how much is the question.
Mike01Hu
Standard Member
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2021
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- Location
- Axminster, UK
- Driving
- MG4 Trophy LR
I should have said that this is a 2-person (retired) detached bungalow setup. This allows me to organise consumption at peak sun times e.g. showers, clothes wash/dry etc., something you working guys would have difficulty with, although I admit to having a smart washer-drier and dish washer, so can set start times remotely, and the charge point is a MyEnergi Zappi that allows scheduling. I will get the MyEnergi Eddi later, to realise more of the energy capture for my use.
marcopolomt
Established Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2021
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- Location
- Potteries, UK
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- Not an MG
We are a large family of 2 adults and 7 kids. I now work from home permanently, and the kids are home educated. We do try to ensure that we have a load each of dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer (in winter) on before we go to bed to use off-peak rates. I also only charge the car off-peak.
An awful lot of energy usage cannot be time-shifted. We also have a mechanical heat recovery system which is constantly consuming electricity, but does minimise gas usage. I need to download my usage data from octopus to try and work out what the best solution would be. Solar is probably a good idea and can fit around a 4kw system on my south-south-westerly roof with no shading. I want to be consuming the solar rather than exporting but just have to make the maths work.
D
Deleted member 7576
Guest
Interesting figures, but I was wondering: if you have used 2682.4 kWh solar energy, and thi sis split between 1700.2kWh directly and 1798.40 kWh from stored energy (which is 3498.6 kWh) did you charge the battery from the net also?
I ask - not to nitpick, but as we had recently a similar system installed and I try to make sense of the figures in the daily and weekly report....
Thanks
seye
Standard Member
Summary: Very happy. Very worth while
I have had 4kw PV for about 8 years, with solar diverter for hot water I added 8.2kWh GivEnergy storage a year ago. Originally on Octopus Agile, now on Octopus Go Faster 5. I have been really happy witht he solution. Even in December / January my average £/kWh if < £0.08. In the summer I did get down to effectively being off grid. My direct debit to octopus for both gas and electric is £25
The GivEnergy system is modular. I would suggest using that to get detailed evidence of your usage prior to investing too much. Start small but leave open ptins to expand later. There is a "goldilocks" configuration for your use case, but your will be different to mine, which will be differ to another persons.
Octotopus Go was orginally targetted at both EV and storage customers. The rules have now changed and storage only customers can not access the reduced tariffs. Really mad economics currently have resulted in my buying MG ZS EV to retain cheeper tariffs. My economonic case to make the switch previously was borderline. Now factoring in domestic energy savings and taxbreaks its a no brainer. I was going to do it anyway, but this brought it forward by a year.
Having had the system for a long time I have gone through the emotional cycle and heart and head battles. I did actually order a second battery by have cancelled that having redone the maths. I had not factoredi just how much load shifting I have mananged to do ( which is the zeroinvestment way to save energy costs e.g. washing machines, driers etc overnight)
If your energy supplier provided peak and offpeak cost breaksdown or you can download your usage it straight forward to work out where your goldilcks zone is. Look how much energy is consumed on average at peak each day.
As I have had the GE system for so long I can also see my power usage graphs during the day so can see its very rare during peak I exceed 2.5kw. A single inverter can satisfy that, the question is then whether the occassional ability to supply >2.5kW is worth the considerable investment for an additional inveter .
Capacity can be increased again due to the modular design. a single inverter can ony charge at 2.5kWh so depending on the off peak period you have that will limit ideal capacity eg.g. mine is 5 hours so 2.5 * 5 = 12.5kWh. PV can top that up further so 16.4kWh would be the most I would consider, accepting that I ony get the benefit of 4kWh for part ofthe year when PV is assisting
There is no simple answer to the question if storage is beneficial and how much. Sorry to say there is a bit if work getting your own data and anlaysing in spreadsheets etc to to prodictions and "what if" scenariois.
Comment above re payback. The wider the gap between offpeak and peak rats gets the quicker the payback. mine was 7 years on the 8p difference. Now the difference is up to 23p that period comes down to 3 or 4 years.
Also think total energy and cost footprint i.e. Car, House, heating, Hot water. Historically they are seperate in peoples minds. Now they overlap significantly. Costs in one area may well be offset by savings in another.
my expected use of battery and Ev is as follows:
1) charge car + battery off peak overnight
2) supply house from PV
3) if spare PV charge battery
4) if spare PV and battery full heat water
5) if spare pv, battery full, hot water hot and PV >1kw, charge car for 30 mins at 3kW ( if I can )
The battery removes the need for expensive PV intergrated chargers, just use short burst charging
Does anyone know if MG have API to invoke charging? I can do via charge point but would be nice to just use MG as I want to automate heating too based on shift patterns and weather
I chose to buy the MG ZS EV instead of another battery. I was looking at v2l in the future to effectively suppliment the GE system but CCS bidirectional chargers are not mainstream yet.
I have had 4kw PV for about 8 years, with solar diverter for hot water I added 8.2kWh GivEnergy storage a year ago. Originally on Octopus Agile, now on Octopus Go Faster 5. I have been really happy witht he solution. Even in December / January my average £/kWh if < £0.08. In the summer I did get down to effectively being off grid. My direct debit to octopus for both gas and electric is £25
The GivEnergy system is modular. I would suggest using that to get detailed evidence of your usage prior to investing too much. Start small but leave open ptins to expand later. There is a "goldilocks" configuration for your use case, but your will be different to mine, which will be differ to another persons.
Octotopus Go was orginally targetted at both EV and storage customers. The rules have now changed and storage only customers can not access the reduced tariffs. Really mad economics currently have resulted in my buying MG ZS EV to retain cheeper tariffs. My economonic case to make the switch previously was borderline. Now factoring in domestic energy savings and taxbreaks its a no brainer. I was going to do it anyway, but this brought it forward by a year.
Having had the system for a long time I have gone through the emotional cycle and heart and head battles. I did actually order a second battery by have cancelled that having redone the maths. I had not factoredi just how much load shifting I have mananged to do ( which is the zeroinvestment way to save energy costs e.g. washing machines, driers etc overnight)
If your energy supplier provided peak and offpeak cost breaksdown or you can download your usage it straight forward to work out where your goldilcks zone is. Look how much energy is consumed on average at peak each day.
As I have had the GE system for so long I can also see my power usage graphs during the day so can see its very rare during peak I exceed 2.5kw. A single inverter can satisfy that, the question is then whether the occassional ability to supply >2.5kW is worth the considerable investment for an additional inveter .
Capacity can be increased again due to the modular design. a single inverter can ony charge at 2.5kWh so depending on the off peak period you have that will limit ideal capacity eg.g. mine is 5 hours so 2.5 * 5 = 12.5kWh. PV can top that up further so 16.4kWh would be the most I would consider, accepting that I ony get the benefit of 4kWh for part ofthe year when PV is assisting
There is no simple answer to the question if storage is beneficial and how much. Sorry to say there is a bit if work getting your own data and anlaysing in spreadsheets etc to to prodictions and "what if" scenariois.
Comment above re payback. The wider the gap between offpeak and peak rats gets the quicker the payback. mine was 7 years on the 8p difference. Now the difference is up to 23p that period comes down to 3 or 4 years.
Also think total energy and cost footprint i.e. Car, House, heating, Hot water. Historically they are seperate in peoples minds. Now they overlap significantly. Costs in one area may well be offset by savings in another.
my expected use of battery and Ev is as follows:
1) charge car + battery off peak overnight
2) supply house from PV
3) if spare PV charge battery
4) if spare PV and battery full heat water
5) if spare pv, battery full, hot water hot and PV >1kw, charge car for 30 mins at 3kW ( if I can )
The battery removes the need for expensive PV intergrated chargers, just use short burst charging
Does anyone know if MG have API to invoke charging? I can do via charge point but would be nice to just use MG as I want to automate heating too based on shift patterns and weather
I chose to buy the MG ZS EV instead of another battery. I was looking at v2l in the future to effectively suppliment the GE system but CCS bidirectional chargers are not mainstream yet.
Gadget Geek
Distinguished Member
Hi there. Pretty much the same use scenario as me except I have an 8 kWh Powervualt system with a 4 kW inverter.
For my car charging at the bottom of the pecking order, I built a light sensitive switch which switches the granny charger on when the sun comes out, and off when the clouds drift by.
busta999
Standard Member
I have just ordered MG EV LR Trophy.
in final stages of purchasing a house.
Will be adding a zappi charger, for the MG.
That unlocks Octopus Energy Go 7.5p cheap 30.77p the rest.
I have 3 x 8.2 kWh Givenergy batteries, with 2 x the new Inverters being installed shortly after.
That will allow me to run the house entirely on 7.5p electricity, and still be able to get the MG ~50% charged on cheap rate Per night.
Cheap rate energy goes above £20p/kWh then the solar panels go on, two arrays, 6 kWH and 4kWh on south facing roofs.
I have enough space around the house for a ground source heat pump later.
It all has an ROI that falls within warranty periods, if energy prices go up, then a quicker ROI.
in final stages of purchasing a house.
Will be adding a zappi charger, for the MG.
That unlocks Octopus Energy Go 7.5p cheap 30.77p the rest.
I have 3 x 8.2 kWh Givenergy batteries, with 2 x the new Inverters being installed shortly after.
That will allow me to run the house entirely on 7.5p electricity, and still be able to get the MG ~50% charged on cheap rate Per night.
Cheap rate energy goes above £20p/kWh then the solar panels go on, two arrays, 6 kWH and 4kWh on south facing roofs.
I have enough space around the house for a ground source heat pump later.
It all has an ROI that falls within warranty periods, if energy prices go up, then a quicker ROI.
JohnInFrance
Established Member
Your system sounds exactly what I'm looking for, I wish we could get sensibly priced storage batteries here; we have oodles of sun and solar installers everywhere, but, especially with an EV, the batteries really make the difference as our off-peak rate is only a few cents different from peak, so harvesting lots of our plentiful sun and storing it rather than sending it to the grid makes far more economic sense.
The problem is, nobody has really got onto the battery thing here, thus there are only one or two makes readily available (LG is one off the top of my head), installers are few and far between and prices make it totally uneconomic as payback would be bouncing on 25-30 years.
JohnInFrance
Established Member
Not. Jealous. One. Little. Bit. (see my post above for reasons, lol)
D
Deleted member 2439
Guest
I’ve got 7.7kW of solar and 19.2kWh of battery storage 
In conjunction with Oct Go Faster means that in the summer my bills are almost zero & pretty much all my winter consumption is at the Oct Go Faster night rate due to being stored overnight from whatever level the solar needed a top up by.
It’s obviously capital intensive, & if we had a mortgage I’d have paid part of that off as a priority use of the money.
In conjunction with Oct Go Faster means that in the summer my bills are almost zero & pretty much all my winter consumption is at the Oct Go Faster night rate due to being stored overnight from whatever level the solar needed a top up by.
It’s obviously capital intensive, & if we had a mortgage I’d have paid part of that off as a priority use of the money.
D
Deleted member 7171
Guest
Just as a matter of interest, how many panels does that equate to?
I've had solar for 10 years this coming October (paid for itself in FIT and reduced bills about 18 months ago. It consists of 16 panels and was originally 3.8 KWh south facing. Efficiency now is estimated as 80 - 90,% of it's original efficiency.
Just curious if your yield is due more panels or better technology panels.
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