Solar for caravan park

[Demolition Man]

Hi there, just looking for a bit of advice as thinking about a Solar installation for our caravan park.

My idea is to intall 50kw roof mounted solar on farm sheds next to site. We are currently using 28,000kwh between April - September. We hope to expand soon and should easily use 50,000 kwh in a season. Is Solar feasible? Also will the surplus energy I supply to the grid be balanced against energy I draw at night, I.E. will I still have to pay 17.5p unit at night but only get 4p for units I sell at midday? All replies appreciated. Thanks

 

[Exfarmer]

Solar for a summer caravan park sounds a good match, except I expect most of their draw will be in the early morning and mid- late evening. However if you run a swimming pool you can time pumps and heaters into the mid day.
You cannot balance draw and export and to gain from the Export you will need a HH meter. This will cost £250- 350 a year depending on the meter operator. You will need to factor that against exports. Even if you currently have one, you will still be charged again!

 

[Demolition Man]

Thanks for your reply Ex-Farmer, it would seem it wouldn’t be as good an idea as I envisioned ?. Would battery storage be feasible or just make it an expensive white elephant? The only other benefit of having solar is appealing to the environmental side of people i.e. having a ‘sustainable’ site. Could also use some solar energy to pump well water and treat it during the day. Probably wouldn’t use all that much power though. I like your idea about a swimming pool ?

 

[Exfarmer]

Battery storage is expensive for a relatively small amount of power. The long term life of batteries as well is questionable. They can be a good match if you know you will use that power and can combine them drawing night rate power to use early morning before the sun gets going

 

[gmgmgm]

Do you use electricity to heat your hot water? If so, then a large hot water tank is akin to a battery in that it stores energy for later use. Do you know what your main electricity uses are? e.g. caravan heaters, TVs, well pumps?

 

[CentrecoSolar]

In the current market it is essential to do studies on your electricity profile to maximize return on investments. We have bespoke software that takes data from your current supply which allows us to size a PV system correctly, as a general rule of thumb the PV system will be sized at about 50% of the annual consumption (this can vary a lot depending on industry) if you would like me to have a look at this for you and give you a indicative quote feel free to contact me
[email protected]

 

[Dave645]

Thanks for your reply Ex-Farmer, it would seem it wouldn’t be as good an idea as I envisioned ?. Would battery storage be feasible or just make it an expensive white elephant? The only other benefit of having solar is appealing to the environmental side of people i.e. having a ‘sustainable’ site. Could also use some solar energy to pump well water and treat it during the day. Probably wouldn’t use all that much power though. I like your idea about a swimming pool ?

I think a sustainable site, could be a good upsell, long term.

EV charge stations? this could be another way to earn more from your solar you charge more than grid at all times but at some points you will be charging from solar so you can be earning far more than 4p a unit more like 20p
So finding ways to sell your excess solar at a profit. While advertising a sustainable green site.

These are off topic but maybe relevant to you, if you had solar then a cheap night tariff may help if solar can supply your more expensive daytime power then cheap night rate power may cut you overall electric costs

This second is to give you an idea how much money these tariffs can save you and what charge stations are charging customers to give you an idea of the profit s you could make by offering rapid EV car charging.

I don’t sell solar but it sounds to me like it may all work in tandem, that and you could run an EV car yourself for nearly nothing on solar.

I have said in the past farmers could cash in on EV charging as they often have large connections to the Grid.
So maybe solar is a way to maximise profits from doing so. Not least they can then charge there own EV’s for nearly free. And charge others for the rapid charging that only large grid connections can provide.
And on-site EV charging would be good for holiday makers you have a captive audience. That can then use your site as a base to charge at for the time they stay there.

Good luck.