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Kurotani

-- This is my first post, so introductions may be in order. My name is Pete. I work for a small wind energy company primarily as a site finder. I am not an electrician, but might be in the future.. that's a different story --


I am looking to source some sort of a smart device [or devices] to optimise the usage of output from a wind 10 kW turbine. The property has 2 meters and 3 circuits on a "Total Control" tariff. Standard price electricity is supplied to the power points and cooker but half-price electricicity is supplied not only to storage heaters and immersion heater at [mainly off-peak] times selected by the electricity supplier but also to supplementary heaters [for a rated capacity of up to 40% of the power of the storage heaters] at any time. The latter two circuits are fed via separate outputs from the same meter; the full-price circuit is fed from the other meter.

So, ideally the turbine will supply the main circuit first, with any excess going onto the heating circuits. Any further excess can go onto the grid.

Has anyone any experience of doing something like this or have any recommendations for equipment that can perform this kind of power management.


Regards
 
wlecome pete,
your not off grid so it just requires a smart meter (energy supplier) and enjoy the fits too


Thanks for suggestion. The property has a smart meter for the heating circuits I believe, but still 2 meters. Should we be looking to replace the 2 existing meters with one smart meter which will also manage the 3 circuits? My understanding would still be that the turbines will be connected house side of the meter though making it hard to connect to all 3 circuits. The homeowner is keen, for obvious reasons, that the turbine should cover as much of the demand as possible on the main circuit, with excess going to heating which is on the cheap tariff.
 
the turbine would be a sub meter the exhisting meters would stay as normal or just upgraded to a smart meter, obviously a mcs installer will be doing the works to submit for the customer to the supplier and start his/her feed in tariff payments. this isnt a job for a non mcs installer
 
Aye, we have a couple of MCS accredited guys who do work for us. I'll look at this option. Only drawback is that demand wont be matched to the output of the turbine - i.e. heating wouldn't automatically come on when demand from the other circuit was exceeded. I was looking at something like the coolpower EMMA (too expensive for this application I think, and I've read of reliability issues) or the smart management system SMA produce to deal with that. Do you think it would be best just to stick with the simple option?
 
I would IMO you could also charge batteries from the wind power

what area are you in you need to check it got suitable winds
 
There are products that could be configured to do what you want, like the Immersun.

I guess you've got the turbine feeding 3 phase - Immersun don't have a 3-phase though, yet!

Principal is that it monitors the current in the tails at the meter and turns on/off appliances as and when there is excess power. Whilst the unit itself can only control a 3kW load it could be used to control larger loads via contactors.

For example could have a change over switch configuration, where if there is sufficient excess turn heating on, if at off peak times there is no excess energy then connect to low tariff supply.

Difficult to give a full description as I don't know all the facts.
 
There are products that could be configured to do what you want, like the Immersun.

I guess you've got the turbine feeding 3 phase - Immersun don't have a 3-phase though, yet!

Principal is that it monitors the current in the tails at the meter and turns on/off appliances as and when there is excess power. Whilst the unit itself can only control a 3kW load it could be used to control larger loads via contactors.

For example could have a change over switch configuration, where if there is sufficient excess turn heating on, if at off peak times there is no excess energy then connect to low tariff supply.

Difficult to give a full description as I don't know all the facts.

Immersun units can be linked to handle 3 phase, they can be configured as Master/Slave.

This company supplies them for a reasonable price. They are for trade, but you can get your local electrician to buy and then fit for you.
The unit should take 30-45 mins to fit.

immerSun
 
Gentlemen,
Thank you all very much for the advice / info so far. The Immersun unit on the face of it seems to do what we want it to do. I will certainly look more into that and see how it will work with the wiring at the house. Batteries are an interesting option - perhaps a better one as it wouldn't mean sending power to heaters in the summer. It would require more investment though - the heaters are already there. Perhaps we will stick with doing heaters for now and look at buying in batteries for the summer. The site is in Orkney by the way so plenty of wind. Good wind speed numbers from both NCIC and NOABL.
 
Just a heads-up... I've *heard* there are grid connection issues on Orkney at the moment, probably worth checking with DNO before you invest too much time, just in case
 
We are aware. This site has been in the pipeline for a while and we have a grid connection paid for. The owner has decided that given his configuration he isn't satisfied with the original offer of plugging the turbine into his primary circuit to offset the full price electric and send excess to the grid. This would have been simpler, but I understand his stance.

But yes, SSE have essentially written Orkney off the map for new renewable installs. You can export only 3.7 kW per phase, and if you don't have a 3 phase connection they will not provide one for a turbine.
 
Glad you got it covered :coolgleamA:

...and good luck with finding a way to use the excess, too
 
Immersun units can be linked to handle 3 phase, they can be configured as Master/Slave.
The Immersun is not a true 3 phase solution yet.

Consider the following:
3kW being generated and exported on each phase - so each Immersun on each phase will divert 3kW to its relevant immersion. So the 9kW excess is being used up.
Now if the cooker/hob is on 1 of the phases and takes 6kW.
Immersun on the cooker phase turns off, but the other 2 keep going , so now you have 9kW generated but 12 kW being used, so you have to start using power from the grid - something you're trying to avoid!

So a real 3-phase solution is required - as opposed to 3 single phase solutions.
 

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