SOLAR
| ImmerSUN
Setting the standards for self-consumption
The government’s vision to end subsidies for solar power before 2020 has caused industry outrage. However, this may be exactly what’s needed to make green energy a viable alternative to fossil fuels, says Jodi Huggett, Innovation Director at 4eco
lower energy usage, balancing costs and minimising reliance on non-renewable resources is now a key national priority. To tackle this crisis and protect the future of our energy landscape, huge investment has been placed in renewable technologies to provide a more sustainable long-term solution. From biomass boilers and air source heat pumps to solar thermal technology and photovoltaic setups, there is now a wide range of energy alternatives to alleviate demand on national grid supply. These technologies require minimal initial
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investment and can provide a high volume of cost-effective renewable energy, while helping to meet environmental targets and reduce utility costs. What’s more, in many cases, they are now on par with fossil fuels when it comes to end-user costs. To boost the widespread uptake of these technologies, green initiatives and subsidies have always been available as a financial sweetener. From increased funding for efficient systems to calculating offsetting
ith utility prices rising, concern over carbon emissions and ever-increasing government pressure to
strategies, these incentives have made renewables a highly attractive option. On the surface, therefore, it seems that moving to zero subsidies and removing this support will surely impact the rise in renewables. However, there is a much stronger solution to outweigh the requirement for subsidies and make renewable energy more cost-effective than ever before – microgeneration self- consumption.
Making the most of renewable energy Much has been learned about renewable technology over the past few years and, for householders boasting PV setups in particular, a key draw-back is the fact that the peak daytime hours when panels generate the most energy are, more often than not, the times when domestic power consumption is at its lowest. PV owners then often find themselves having to buy back electricity from the grid in the evenings at a higher rate per kilowatt hour (kwh) in order to heat their houses or hot water tanks. Put simply, there isn’t wide scale capability for renewable
storage so when the sun sets, no energy is being produced. This makes homeowners still highly reliant on grid power. Self-consumption, a relatively new term in the renewables industry, is the name given to maximising the personal use of this generated green energy by effectively utilising it within the home. This is typically achieved by using microgen diversion devices - a massive progression in environmental capability that fully automate the diversion of surplus volumes.
By directing green energy to heating and hot water systems at peak generation times, diversion devices effectively ‘store’ renewable energy. This helps to reduce reliance on the grid and ensures that energy is used around the clock – even when generation conditions don’t permit. In most instances, whether in a small or large-scale scenario, 100 per cent of self-generated supply can be effectively utilised.
Self-generated supply 4Eco’s immerSUN is the market-leading energy diversion device. Working in tandem with microgeneration technologies such as PV panels and wind turbines, the immerSUN diverts green energy directly to an immersion heater, storage heater, and/or electric underfloor heating. This prevents renewable energy from being exported to the national grid and can therefore reduce an average energy bill by over £250 annually, as well as maximising the benefits of self-generated supply.
Using truSINE power control technology, the immerSUN diverts self-generated renewable energy via width modulation (PWM), which ensures the power is delivered to the load as a true sine wave. This highly effective control method means the immerSUN complies with all applicable parts of the EMC directive 2004/108/EC, including EN 61000-3-2, the harmonised standard for regulating levels of harmonic emissions. This cannot be achieved using more traditional power control methods, which makes the
64 REview Renewable Energy View 2015
www.r-e-a.net
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