900 Hectares in north east Scotland to solar panels

[le bon paysan]

It does seem illogical to keep using good farming land for the use of solar panels, particularly with the ongoing issues with food production and security.

I saw an interesting article the other day, whereby the French are looking at solar panels on all large car parks - essentially providing cover for the cars, whilst generating electricity. Seems like a great idea, though not sure how much space is taken up by the size of car park required to be cost effective in this country.

Correct, all car parks with 80 spaces + are to have solar panels . They've done Lidl in St Junien already and it's great, cool in summer and dry to load shopping in the rain. Will take 5 years to do all suitable car parks , existing and planned and will be the equivalent of 10 nuclear power plants
New legislation approved by the Senate last week requires all car parks with at least 80 spaces to be covered in solar panels. This new law, which would apply to both new and existing parking lots, could generate as much power as 10 nuclear reactors, according to the government.il y a 4 jours
https://www.aa.com.tr › europe › ne...
New French law seeks to cover large parking lots with solar panels -

 

[serf]

B0llocks to good productive farmland if it doesn't pay the bills.

People seem happier to pay for electric than a proper price for food.

Yep if they don't want to pay for the produce they can go without and it can go same way as the egg job and then they bleat
there's no eggs ....

Well feck em !

 

[le bon paysan]

Planning is making people have to install solar or some sort of green technology in Scotland as part of sustainability initiative/requirement. Certainly in Aberdeenshire most of the new houses i have seen have solar installed.
Speak with people with new houses in England and that doesn't seem to be case, that could be because planning obtained years in advance and not having to comply with most recent requirements though which Barrats etc are very good at.

I built new house in 2020 and solar panels put 5k onto price which was a godsend now with the way prices for electricity and installs has went.

Yes, everything new here will have to have a solar or green roof from July 23, industrial as well.

 

[Exfarmer]

I’m right on north east coast and have 4kw array with hot water diverter . Put 30kw/h into hot water week before last and last week was about 1kw/h.
Commissioned in June 21 and has done just under 10,000 kw/h to date
Production of significance only really between 11 and 3 at this time of year

Um, are you sure ?
If so you have made a few records!

 

[toquark]

Planning is making people have to install solar or some sort of green technology in Scotland as part of sustainability initiative/requirement. Certainly in Aberdeenshire most of the new houses i have seen have solar installed.
Speak with people with new houses in England and that doesn't seem to be case, that could be because planning obtained years in advance and not having to comply with most recent requirements though which Barrats etc are very good at.

I built new house in 2020 and solar panels put 5k onto price which was a godsend now with the way prices for electricity and installs has went.

I’m in D&G and it’s the same. Planning won’t pass for a new build without either a renewable heating system or the means to generate power to energise one. It’s a rare occurrence - common sense integrated into planning policy.

 

[goldeneagle]

Um, are you sure ?
If so you have made a few records!

Yip that's meter reading, am offshore at moment but will take a photo of meter when home, maybe its not accurate but that's what PV provider installed.
Solar divert has done 900 odd kwh since being installed in March 22 and import meter from grid has done just over 1000 kwh. Think the first year june to june was about 6500kwh produced but that's off top of my head.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

It’s all well and good insisting on every new build to have Pv bit if the grid ain’t there to take it, it’s not there.

If this rule was passed I can see loads of sites not being built for years whilst they wait for the DNO to decide how many years they are going to need and what price they feel like charging to upgrade the infrastructure.

Solar farms look much like lakes. If at the end of their planning consent they get returned to ag land, if the right deal is struck you can get them back free from any detritus up to 1 m down and a totally re drained farm. Plenty to like there, the ground will have had years of grazing and no doubt be better than it was before.

 

[Exfarmer]

Yip that's meter reading, am offshore at moment but will take a photo of meter when home, maybe its not accurate but that's what PV provider installed.
Solar divert has done 900 odd kwh since being installed in March 22 and import meter from grid has done just over 1000 kwh. Think the first year june to june was about 6500kwh produced but that's off top of my head.

I had assumed with your name and the discussion that you are on the North East coast of Scotland. However from these figures perhaps you are in North Africa
18 months in NE Scotland for a 4 kw array would give closer to 5,000 Kwh in my guess.

 

[goldeneagle]

It’s all well and good insisting on every new build to have Pv bit if the grid ain’t there to take it, it’s not there.

Think the way ahead is a micro grid with localised generation and storage, reduces transmission losses and demand on network. So if winds blowing at night batteries in houses etc are charged and support grid through day that sort of idea.

This should be heavily subsidised to incentivise domestic installation but won't happen until someone has the required technology to allow storage and generation to operate in harmony on a grand scale. Also will have to wait until an MP has bought shares in company/family member sits on board of said company

 

[Doing it for the kids]

Think the way ahead is a micro grid with localised generation and storage, reduces transmission losses and demand on network. So if winds blowing at night batteries in houses etc are charged and support grid through day that sort of idea.

This should be heavily subsidised to incentivise domestic installation but won't happen until someone has the required technology to allow storage and generation to operate in harmony on a grand scale. Also will have to wait until an MP has bought shares in company/family member sits on board of said company

Quite agree, they need to upgrade the grid because we can’t viably store our own production yet. If we could this would. To be needed.

Do batteries still stack up when it’s 15p/kWh to buy it in, I wonder?

 

[Lexion1000]

I think we need to be careful about spoiling what makes this island a great place. We need to be a bit more selective about where big solar parks go. There are many places outside AONBs that are still beautiful and really shouldn’t have an industrial installation on, yet it seems like there’s a wave of them coming.

 

[goldeneagle]

I had assumed with your name and the discussion that you are on the North East coast of Scotland. However from these figures perhaps you are in North Africa
18 months in NE Scotland for a 4 kw array would give closer to 5,000 Kwh in my guess.

Can only go by what meter says and yes North East Scotland, panels are installed on roof on south facing aspect, no shading and think slope is 35 degrees ish, Online calc suggests 3255kwh/year for postcode but will take a photo of meter in a fortnights time when home. Maybe meter is wrong or assumptions made are incorrect (i have assumed units were kwh on meter from my panels)

Edit - panels commissioned during Covid in June 20 so 2 1/2 years, last couple of years has been a blur.

 

[goldeneagle]

Do batteries still stack up when it’s 15p/kWh to buy it in, I wonder?

Batteries don't stack up that's why it needs to be subsidised for domestic install. If they are paying wind farms to shut down then there is a pot of money available to fund just needs the tech to allow batteries and grid control to charge and discharge when conditions are right.

Will need some sort of AI however to work out usage patterns in grid sections to optimise charge/discharge cycles. If a decent percentage of houses have storage available negates the need for acres of battery storage to be installed around the country.

Homeowner wins as they get economic storage and grid wins by having a utility available to store and release excess green production.

Will always need some sort of base load power stations for foreseeable future however no matter what the Green party/SNP say.

 

[Exfarmer]

Can only go by what meter says and yes North East Scotland, panels are installed on roof on south facing aspect, no shading and think slope is 35 degrees ish, Online calc suggests 3255kwh/year for postcode but will take a photo of meter in a fortnights time when home. Maybe meter is wrong or assumptions made are incorrect (i have assumed units were kwh on meter from my panels)

Edit - panels commissioned during Covid in June 20 so 2 1/2 years, last couple of years has been a blur.

That is more likely and your panels are doing really well. The high angle will be helping

 

[goldeneagle]

That is more likely and your panels are doing really well. The high angle will be helping

Think the angle also helps keep them clean, bought equipment to assist access to clean but not done it yet as visually clean, on a sunny day still put out just under 4kw.

On the plus side for the online calculators they are not over promising either which is a good thing for budgeting if looking to install.

 

[Exfarmer]

Think the angle also helps keep them clean, bought equipment to assist access to clean but not done it yet as visually clean, on a sunny day still put out just under 4kw.

On the plus side for the online calculators they are not over promising either which is a good thing for budgeting if looking to install.

I would give them a clean as often as possible with a brush rain water nd a drop of detergent

 

[2wheels]

I had assumed with your name and the discussion that you are on the North East coast of Scotland. However from these figures perhaps you are in North Africa
18 months in NE Scotland for a 4 kw array would give closer to 5,000 Kwh in my guess.

our 4kw array has been generating since june 2012. total so far is 35711 kw. ours are s-sw facing. they are cleaned twice a year.

 

[steveR]

I think we need to be careful about spoiling what makes this island a great place. We need to be a bit more selective about where big solar parks go. There are many places outside AONBs that are still beautiful and really shouldn’t have an industrial installation on, yet it seems like there’s a wave of them coming.

I have to agree with a lot of what you say, however, my major argument is with the massive parks going in. 10-20ha can often be sited more sympathetically, behind woodland, hedges or folds in the landscape. With the added bonus of the output being "used" locally. 1-200ha, are a tad more difficult to locate in such a fashion. 1000ha.... Hmmmmm!

 

[thesilentone]

Indeed battery tech is advancing rapidly.
But even in the depths of winter a 3kw solar panels would still produce 3kwh which should be more than enough to get the house through peak demand hours between 4pm and 8pm. If they had a 5kwh battery.

I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable about the whole subject of battery power and storage. The planets resources of raw materials to make batteries is not infinite. In addition, the CO2 footprint mining, transporting and manufacturing is huge, as is the pile of spent heavy metals at the end of life.

So much so, I'm certain fossil fuels will never ever disappear to the extent the political agenda's hope for.

The argument always harks back to CO2 units per ton (transport and shipping) or per head (air travel and population) or per mile (air travel and transport) which is all a load of bxxxcks !

China is by far and away the planets biggest polluter and will continue to be so for generations to come, I'm sure per head they aren't !!

Solar is a low hanging fruit, however how practical is it really, without battery storage ?

 

[Exfarmer]

I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable about the whole subject of battery power and storage. The planets resources of raw materials to make batteries is not infinite. In addition, the CO2 footprint mining, transporting and manufacturing is huge, as is the pile of spent heavy metals at the end of life.

So much so, I'm certain fossil fuels will never ever disappear to the extent the political agenda's hope for.

The argument always harks back to CO2 units per ton (transport and shipping) or per head (air travel and population) or per mile (air travel and transport) which is all a load of bxxxcks !

China is by far and away the planets biggest polluter and will continue to be so for generations to come, I'm sure per head they aren't !!

Solar is a low hanging fruit, however how practical is it really, without battery storage ?

solar, being a good generator when the sun is out is a good match for Airconditioning plants , and we are going to need plenty according to the doom mongers