I guess if the network/power company can't/won't accept surplus power then it hugely devalues the financial case for domestic solar, since if your summertime production doesn't much exceed consumption then you have a big shortfall in the rest of the year. Here (Germany) there are limits on what the network will accept so people play elaborate games of trading off battery charging vs selling across the day, with one eye on the weather forecast.
But in your case you're probably not so much making money from the "free electricity" as reducing the potential loss on the cost of installing and maintaining the system?
> network/power company can't/won't accept surplus power
Oh, they'll happily accept the power I'm generating... They just won't pay me for it.
> your summertime production doesn't much exceed consumption then you have a big shortfall in the rest of the year
Indeed, that's the case with most homes who invested into solar power. Most of them are planned precisely so they'll generate just enough energy to cover their yearly comsumption.
Mine is set up to generate as much energy as possible. I just installed as many panels as possible.
> Here (Germany) there are limits on what the network will accept so people play elaborate games of trading off battery charging vs selling across the day, with one eye on the weather forecast.
That's interesting, I didn't know that. Everything I've read about the german solar power system made me think it was perfect: you could just generate as much power as you wanted and get paid for it. I had no idea people had to play those games. Why can't the network accept the power?
> But in your case you're probably not so much making money from the "free electricity" as reducing the potential loss on the cost of installing and maintaining the system?
In my case the equipment has already more than paid for itself. I generate more power than I consume almost all year long and my energy bill is almost zero. Maintenance costs have been minimal so far.
When I generate more power than I consume, they give me expiring kWh credits. I don't want these credits to accumulate under any circumstances since I'm already generating surplus at almost all times. So it's in my interest to increase my energy consumption: anything else means giving them energy for free. So I set up a miner.
But in your case you're probably not so much making money from the "free electricity" as reducing the potential loss on the cost of installing and maintaining the system?