Is it depressing that I am actually pleasantly surprised that wordpress handles direct uploading and embedding of video clips? It should be a pretty trivial endeavor in 2024, but I’m apparently shocked to find it working :D. Anyway, here is a video taken by some contractors on the site as they worked on the cabling and site substation.
In terms of progress… well not a lot, despite it being HUGELY SUNNY right now, my farm remains unconnected, earning nothing, due to the insane delays and bureaucracy. There is some good news, in that finally the insane list of delays and excuses got exhausted and I was given an actual firm date for when the overhead line (so small you will barely see it on the video) gets taken down and buried. This is the hugely expensive work that has to happen before we can fill in those pesky gaps in the rows of panels, and then actually do the final bits and pieces before the big ‘energisation’ of the farm when it goes live.
That date is <DRUMROLL>
SEPTEMBER 9th.
There is actually a few days of work associated with all this. The schedule looks like this:
- 9th September – Deliver materials to site
- 10th September – Install 2 x HV poles ready for shutdown
- 11th September – make off 2 x 11kv pole terms
- 12th September – make off any stay and make sure everything is in place ready for shut down
- 13th September – Shutdown to loop in new substation
So from the 13th September onwards we will be in a hopefully minutely planned and seamless period of work to install the last frames and panels, and wire those up, plus connect the final bits and pieces, final fencing, and so on before we can switch on the site, just in time for mid-October’s total lack of sunshine. Oh the irony. However, that means a switch-on this year is almost guaranteed!
I will definitely be going to the site to see what is going on during that week, probably on the 13th, and obviously I’ll be returning to see it switched on. I might go back in-between those dates as well.
Some actual progress has taken place in the meantime, but its been slow because frankly there has not been any hurry given that the line-move was delayed so much and then there was insistence on a pointless 8 week delay on top of that. We are currently finishing our substation (mostly a switchboard) and the inverter to substation cabling (underground), and then there is something called ‘tails’ that needs doing, and we need to install the meter to read the generation, and also any power we import to run equipment overnight. The only interesting picture I have of all this is these big phat rolls of high capacity power cable:
So its sort of good news, in that there is progress and then end is in sight. I have not yet signed a deal to sell the energy from the farm (a power-purchase agreement), as its a bit early to do that. Also prices tend to rise as we head towards winter so a late signing probably benefits me. I’ll be considering that around late August/September.
Something interesting is that lithium-ion battery storage costs continue to fall. I had decided not to add a battery but may be able to revisit the economics of that once everything is running. I’ll definitely want a full years data from generation before I even consider it though.