Powering Up – Feeding Excess Power Back into the Grid

Ex- zoologist, Steve Krzystyniak, and his partner, Lily Guilford, run two small  organic orchards on their 10 acre block near Helensville. One is in avocados, and  the other is in mixed heirloom fruits. They also grow their own vegetables  organically using lots of compost and love, and sell any surplus to friends. In  season they sell avocados from their double-decker bus converted to a stall for  the purpose.  “It’s not an income, that’s for sure,” says Steve, “but we can’t bear to  eat out of the supermarket – you have no idea of what you’re eating.”

Steve and Lily have grown organically in serious fashion since they purchased  their block four years ago, but they’ve always grown as much of their own food as  possible in an organic way. Not only is it cheaper, but it’s better for the  environment.

Food isn’t the only thing that can be managed more cheaply and in a much better way for the environment.

They purchased their property with the existing house, but aside from being marginally insulated, the house lacked eco-friendliness.

“There was a wetback,” said Steve, “but it hadn’t been connected. We’ve put in under-floor polystyrene, and doubled the ceiling insulation with wool batts. We connected the wetback and installed solar hot water which instantly dropped our power bills by 40%.”

“Installing solar hot water cost $4,000 including replacing the water cylinder to accommodate the wetback, but we have fantastic pressure and super hot water. As long as there’s a wetback, you can put solar straight in.

“We also installed a wood-burning kitchen stove to conserve power,” says Steve.

“We were paying $1800-$2000 a year for electricity. When we installed solar hot water it went down to $1200. When we installed the grid-tie solar system it went down to $2-300.

In early 2011 Steve installed a grid-tie solar power-generation system. The system feeds excess power back into the national grid, from where it is used by neighbouring properties.

When it comes to generating your own power, research is critical.  Steve says, “You really must understand what you are doing, what you need, and the terms of any contract you enter into.”

“Our photovoltaic system generates 3.2kw, which is plenty. In full sun it runs a normal oven at full bore. During the day that power is fed through an inverter and directed into the house for our use. The excess is then directed back into the grid via the power lines. It doesn’t go back to the power station, but to our neighbours. Effectively, during daylight we relieve the load on Huntly power station so they don’t have to send as much electricity down the lines.”

“The grid-tie system became available in New Zealand about five years ago.  At the time Meridian offered a credit of one kilowatt (kw) of power for every kilowatt we fed back into the grid. That’s changed a little.  Now they only pay one for one for the first five kilowatts, and after that they give about a third. Meridian has pulled back on their commitment to support grid-tie systems, but other power companies have even lesser deals.”

In NZ there is currently no compulsory feed-in tariff (FIT) for power companies.

Steve says, “NZ government policy seems to suggest that a huge proportion of our electricity is green because it’s hydro-generated, so they don’t need to support anything else. A standard 10% loss of power in transmission from the power station means generating power locally helps ameliorate that transmission loss.”

Encouragement in NZ to feed privately generated electricity into the grid is virtually non-existent, whereas in Europe, particularly in France and Germany, encouragement is high.  In 2011, 3% of German electricity was generated by photovoltaic systems. Germany is working towards a goal of 35% of electricity generation from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar by 2020. They aim to generate at least 80% from renewable sources by 2050.

For Steve and Lily, a set-up cost of around $15,000, at Meridian’s 1kw for 1kw allowed about eight years to recoup costs, but Steve says they’ve made money to start with.

“If you put $15,000 in the bank at 4% you won’t get very much out of it, whereas this is more like 7-8% return on income, and you’ve still got the power system.  It’s not going to wear out. The solar panels are guaranteed for 30 years at 90% efficiency – 90% being equivalent to having a light coating of dust on them (we maintain panel efficiency by waterblasting them occasionally). With Meridian’s reduced offer for privately generated power, our system will now take 10-11 years to pay for itself.”

“It’s still great.  My last power bill was $3.57. I suspect this year we’ll be paying a maximum of $300 over the year.

“You do have to manage it. For instance our freezers are on timers; they’re on all day, but turned off from 6pm until 7am. We use as little power as possible in the evening and try to put the load on during the day when we’re generating. We’ve become very aware of our power use and really watch it,” says Steve. “Turn unnecessary lights off.”

Another unusual way the couple reduces their power usage is in absenting themselves occasionally to run motorbike tours through India (Indian Motorcycle Adventures).

Best advice on grid-tie solar systems? Steve says, “Some installation companies give poor quality information. If you haven’t done your research, beware, because they can give you information that is untrue.

“Look at your costs; is it a walk-away system; is the company going to support your connection to your network; is it going to support you in getting a deal from your network? You would be foolish if you failed to get a contract rate with a power company before investing in a system.

“Technically we’d do nothing differently,” says Steve. “At the end of the day we’re really happy with the system we’ve got. Every time the sun shines, I smile……and run the coffee machine.”

Resource: Theresa Sjoquist interview with Steve Krzystyniak

First Published: Nov/Dec 2013 Organic NZ

https://organicnz.org.nz

©Theresa Sjoquist