If you divide the calendar into quarters, one can say that Summer has just begun. And Spring has ended. So, according to the BBC (that bastion of truth and unbiased reporting), Spring 2014 was the third hottest on record. Hot does not however equate to sunny, and although the generation is up on last month, it’s not by much.
This month (May ’14) we generated 441 kWh
We managed to break the 20kWh barrier with 22.5kWh on 17th May – of course we weren’t home to enjoy the sunshine, being up in the Lake District. Cue gratuitous photograph of me at the top of Hard Knot Pass (we walked up, the camper van she said no). The rest of the month seemed to be an ever dipping output under grey (but warm!) skies. Here’s hoping for a flaming June!
| Mains Electricity Import | 312 kWh |
| Solar Electricity Export | 095 kWh |
| Solar Generation | 441 kWh |
| Gas (Units = 013, converts to kWh by x 11.14) | 145 kWh |
| Feed in Tariff (441 kWh x 15.3p) | £67.47 |
| Export Tariff (441/2 x 4.77p) | £10.52 |
| Mains Import Saving (441 kWh – 095 kWh) x 12.45p | £43.08 |
| Gas Import Saving estd ((15000/12)-145)x4.15p | £45.85 |
So making some kind of overall savings estimate, of the cash we get from the solar, plus the cash we saved on buying electricity and gas… we saved £166.92 in the merry month of May. The estimate is in fairness a guesstimate, since we would have used less gas than the monthly average over the whole year, but hell, you’ve got to allow for some guess in the guessometer.
And using those guesses and the Carbon Trusts calculations we ‘saved’ 357 kgCO2e as shown below.
| Did not consume 346 kWh of Mains Electricity @ 0.44548 kgCO2e | 154 kgCO2e |
| Did not consume (estd) 000 kWh gas @ 0.18404 kgCO2e | 203 kgCO2e |
I’ve already noted our first FIT meter reading… At some stage I should get a cheque, and at that point I’ll be confident I know how this system works.
The final caveat in a long list is that I was away last night in North Wales, so the final meter reading was done when I got home this afternoon. Potentially, therefore, the figures are 1/62 in excess! Heh, I only put that there so I could upload this rather splendid photograph of yours truly on Morrigan, taken by a lovely old fellow of eighty-plus being ridiculously fit on a push bike. I’d just done the 250 miles up to see my mum and stopped off on the Penmaenmawr shoreline to get (some of) my hearing back before saying hello…
Rosher.Net 
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