Is the grid a waste of time?

Guys,

The grid was a good idea at the time, but is now starting to groan following years of lack of investment, and a much higher demand.

We have already seen how vunerable a grid structure is to regional failure, witnes New York and NE USA, Auckland N.Z. and elsewhere.

It was designed to produce electricity for everyone over the widest possible national territory, and at the lowest cost per kWh, originally usng our extensive coal reserves and large coal fired thermal power stations located in the coal producing regions. Since de-regulation of the electricity industry, its role has changed a little, to that of a delivery network for electricity at the highest price that the market are prepared to pay.

Small Scale Grid Intertie (<10kW) is yet to take off in the UK for a number of reasons:

1. Lack of suitable small generators suited to continuous operation
2. Complexity and cost of suitable inverters
3. Legislation has yet to catch up with the technology and provide a framework by which it can be done easily and efficiently
4. Incentives to grid intertie are still fairly low.

Two companies are getting close to producing small 1.1kWe Stirling CHP systems that could address point 1. Photovoltaic roofs are starting to make an appearance in the UK, but certainly not on the scale of Germany's 100,000 solar roofs. Small wind installations are increasing (thanks to Ivan and other pioneers), and very soon we will see the introduction of small windturbines with integrated grid intertie inverter - plug and play?

Point 2 will very soon be addressed and we willsee a flood of suitable products come in from China. I am currently evaluating a 10kWh, continuous rated, pure sine wave inverter (not intertie) that cost just US $1900 - of Chinese manufacture.

Point 3. Kind of chicken and egg, legislation will quickly follow if products are introduced. Products will be introduced only if there is a legal framework to support them.

Point 4. Under the newly established carbon trading market, to offset their carbon dioxide emissions, generating companies will pay about £0.08 per kWh to anyone who will supply renewable power back to the grid. I belive small wind generators are being offered the same deal. Would this also apply to someone who was running a large diesel gen-set from waste vegetable oil?

From my own perspective, capital cost of equipment is a problem, with rather dubious return on investment. For the meantime I would prefer to use the grid when it suits me, and time shift the energy from the grid using a large battery bank or even electric vehicle charged from off peak power.

The rest of my heat and power would be supplied from a suitable slow speed diesel engine running on filtered WVO, and used to float charge the battery bank and power a suitable large inverter.

I am perhaps lucky in that I am a relatively low user of both gas and electricity gas 16400 KWh, electricity 2940 kWh, but which would now cost me about £675 per year.

For about the same money I can buy 2000 litres of filtered WVO (24p +VAT) in two convenient IBCs, and not have to do all those pub and restaraunt runs scrounging for WVO.

Thoughts appreciated.

Ken Boak

Powercubes Sustainable Design