Yesterday I took delivery of a energy storage system from Columbus Energy, the next step up from photovoltaic panels. This has two benefits for me and one for the grid. The first is that the huge battery liberates me from power cuts such as the one that occurred for four hours on Saturday; a topped-up battery gives me 48 hours of electricity before it runs down. Given that the longest I've ever experienced was 36 hours, that's plenty. [Even the three-day week caused by the miners' strike in the UK in 1974 didn't result in power outages that long.] The second benefit is lower energy bills in winter. Now, whereas my panels cover between two-thirds and three-quarters of my electricity use across the year, there's still a disparity in the price I pay for power from the grid and the price the energy company, PGE Obrót, pays for power from my panels.
The tipping point occurs in late October, when I have to start heating the house and the panels no longer generate enough power to cover that difference. This state of affairs continues into early April, by which time the sun is shining strongly and I no longer need to heat the house. This means that for seven and half months of the year I'm a net producer of electrical power and for five and half months, I'm a net consumer. [It's worth pointing here out that 61% of Poland's energy is generated by burning coal and a further 10% from gas.]
Then there's the benefit to the grid. Poland currently (as of July 2024) produces 17% of its energy from solar power. On sunny weekends and public holidays, when factories aren't using electricity, the outdated and creaking grid is overloaded. In such situations, the self-sufficient are no longer a burden to the system.
I have paid 32,400 złotys (£6,480)for the system, of which I will receive 50% (16,200 złotys or around £3,240) cashback from the Polish state. Yes, I could be poring over the numbers and trying to work out the return on investment – but I won't. I don't care. I have the cash; what matters to me is reducing my carbon footprint in a country that still generates too much power from fossil fuels, and having greater autonomy from the grid.
One thing I don't like about the set-up is that it all comes from China; hardware and software. I looked carefully at the permissions I'm granting to the system supplier, to handle my personal data (the terms and conditions say the data stays in the EU). However, I'm mindful of what Western security analysts have to say about this; the idea that the Chinese Communist Party ultimately has the wherewithal to spy on my energy use is not really an issue, but that it could – theoretically – cut me off from electricity is a small worry. I would have happily paid more to buy a Made in the EU set-up, but do these even exist?
This time last year:
Plenitude in the Year's Fruition
Behold the wonder of the commonplace
This time three years ago
The force-field of fate
This time four years ago:
Hot in the city
This time four years ago:
Resting with the heroes
Polish employers' demographic challenge
[Since then, it's got worse. And it will be worse still.]
This time 12 years ago:
The rich, the poor, the entrepreneur
This time 12 years ago:
Food: where's the best place to shop in Poland?
[BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS AUCHAN FOR NOT QUITTING ruZZia!]
This time 13 years ago:
Bittersweet
This time 14 years ago:
Commuting made easy
This time 15 years ago:
Work starts on the S79/S2 'Elka'
This time 16 years ago:
Warsaw's accident-filled streets
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1 comment:
Nice set-up Michael and good to see that the Polish state are still supporting green initiatives. I was a relatively early adopter of the solar panels here in the UK [back in 2011] and back then the system installed had Austrian made panels [with Bosch made cells] and a Italian/Swiss made ABB inverter. Back then in the UK the government 'pay back' was in the form of a feed-in-tariff that paid a decent amount per Kwh generated [note, I say generated as you got paid regardless of whether you used the energy or fed it back into the grid] This was reduced for newer adopters so the take up in the UK slowed dramatically, until in recent years the spike in energy prices meant suddenly people got interested again. A couple of years ago I also got a storage battery system added to the existing set-up but like you have found that now everything seems to be of Chinese origin. It was bought in a 'Group buying' scheme organised by the local County Council which lowered the purchase/install price on the basis of a large number of people buying [and it was also backed by a 10 year warranty]
I did enquire about European/EU made systems and it seems most have exited the business as they couldn't compete with the flood of cheap Chinese systems.
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