Solar Stories

The end of May has seen continued dry and sunny weather, with lunches by the castle, a fishing trip for Martin, and the usual gardening and household tasks inbetween.

All in all, it has been a good start to the summer - hoping for more lovely weather to come . . . although even with long May days of sunshine we haven't yet topped our best solar production day ever:

2023 is only 3rd in the top 5 list to date . . .

Which brings me to a long overdue 'Solar Power' update (the last posting takes us back to 2020 stats!)

The graph below provides an overview of performance through to the end of 2022, focusing on solar generation.  (With the arrival of the battery in 2021 other figures are a bit skewed by how that works / is controlled, as until the end of this year we are still on something called the 'Tesla Plan' *).

At the time we invested in the solar panels and battery it did feel like something we'd never really see pay-back from, but recent events have seen energy prices soar, and the solar has really come into its own.  Over the summer it more than covers our bills, and that cushions us for the winter months when the solar generation is not so great.

Anyway, here's a nice sunny view of the end of the pier to finish - fingers crossed for more sunshine to come:

* This allows our electricity provider to control the battery, charging it up and drawing down from it as required.  In other words our usage includes power taken from the grid to charge the battery (mostly in the winter months), which they then take back when they need it (and for which we are credited). We still get an export payout or 'Feed In Tariff (FIT)' too, which is a payment direct to us, but now it is for actual figures (taken from a smart meter) rather than 'deemed' export. This has all worked really well, and has meant we haven't had to think about 'when' we use 'what' as it doesn't really matter - we pay the same for what we use, as they pay us for what they take from the battery.  It will be all change at the end of this year however as the 'Tesla Plan' is being withdrawn - so 2024 will be different again.

All That Glitters . . .

A bit of an update on Project GOLD . . .

Unfortunately all that glitters (or should I say gives the strongest 'signal') is definitely not gold (in fact it's almost certain to be a bottle top or ring pull!).

The finds table continues to be dominated by what can mostly be described as rubbish - plus a little loose change (including what to date counts as our 'star find', a £2 coin 😁).

All that beach walking has also turned up an almost complete set of plastic sand toys - all found at different locations - which has been donated to next door's grandchildren.

It does look as though we may have a field or two in the offing now though - so hoping for better things to come . . .

Project Weed Patch

This time we are round the back of the Folly, adjacent to the log store and vegetable patch, in a section of ground, which for whatever reason, did not get the concrete treatment.

We'd never really decided what to do with it, periodically putting down weed control fabric, which would in time just see the weeds growing back through it, making it more difficult to weed if anything!

With the field next door breeding a variety of 'wild' plants (including the dreaded ground elder), this was a battle we just weren't going to win without taking proper action.

So, we've cleared it all out (kudos to Martin for all the hard work) and started to fill it with stones, broken tiles, etc. from round the garden (forgot to take a 'before' picture 😞).

Will keep knocking back any weeds that appear over the next few weeks, then once it is sufficiently full of rubble, we'll put down some fresh weed control fabric, and add a nice deep layer of shingle.  

Hopefully that will do the job!

Return to Project Greenhouse

Back home from a few days visiting family, and it was time to pot on this year's crop of beef tomatoes into our newly 'paved' greenhouse.

And here they are - all planted up in their £1 buckets, sitting in trays to capture any water drainage.

So far so good - they seem to be taking to their new home well, and no rat holes to be seen!

Project GOLD!

Not really a 'project', but something to do in the time when we're not busy round the house and garden - and who knows what we may find?

We both enjoyed the Detectorists tv series, and it turns out we'd both quite fancied giving metal detecting a go.  

So we decided to invest in an entry level detector and see what we thought - and what turns up!

To date we've just been trying it out on the local beaches - where it does feel more like we're performing a beach cleaning service than anything else 😞

So far the monetary return has been a solitary 2 pence piece (see below for the haul from the first three outings) . . . and I at least need to get in training and build up my arm strength!

On the plus side we've had some lovely peaceful evening walks - Ynyslas Beach may not have given up much in the way of 'treasure' but the views alone are worth it.

Hopefully we'll also get permissions to detect on some local fields, and see what they yield in the way of local history (Martin would really like to find a hammered coin from the old Aberystwyth Royal Mint).

And who knows, we may yet get to do the detectorist's 'gold dance' . . .