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Solar Energy - No Thanks.

Toodles · 2026-05-26T16:46:26Z

Any readers with an interest in Solar Farm generation in North Devon may be interested in this announcement I have received from The Derril Water team. ” We are writing to inform you of an unexpected electricity grid issue that requires Derril Water Solar Park and other renewable generators in North Devon to shut down. We have been notified by the electricity Distribution Network Operator that they are constraining Derril Water Solar Park and other generators in North Devon to prevent potential network overloads. The problem has been triggered by works being carried out at the Transmission Network sub-station at Alverdiscott near Barnstaple. The constraint is unexpected and has been enforced on our solar park and other generators in North Devon with no warning. The information we have so far from the Network Operators is the curtailment may remain in place through the summer until early September.” Regrets, Toodles.

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Solar Photovoltaic (PV)

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Toodles

(@toodles)

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Joined: 4 years ago

Posts: 2917

Topic starter 18/07/2026 11:22 am

@transparent I wonder, how many heads might you be able to knock together at once?😉 Toodles.

Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.

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Old_Scientist

(@old_scientist)

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Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 521

18/07/2026 12:50 pm

The generator (Derril Water Solar Farm) should have a contract with the grid operator for transmission. If the grid operator is unable to fulfil their contractual obligations around transmission for whatever reason, then the generator will be entitled to compensation for their financial losses, commonly known as constraints or curtailment payments as the grid operator is in breech of contract.

This post was modified 4 weeks ago by Old_Scientist

Samsung 12kW gen6 ASHP with 50L volumiser and all new large radiators. 7.2kWp solar (south facing), Tesla PW3 (13.5kW)
Solar generation completely offsets ASHP usage annually. We no longer burn ~1600L of kerosene annually.

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Jeff

(@jeff)

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Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 644

19/07/2026 4:14 pm

Posted by: @old_scientist

↑

The generator (Derril Water Solar Farm) should have a contract with the grid operator for transmission. If the grid operator is unable to fulfil their contractual obligations around transmission for whatever reason, then the generator will be entitled to compensation for their financial losses, commonly known as constraints or curtailment payments as the grid operator is in breech of contract.

Unfortunately it isn't yet live on the CfD contract by the look of things, this is why it hasn't been getting CfD payments yet I assume and does not hence get curtailment payments in general. Until then everything is at risk anyway which should have been made much clearer with all these sort of investments. They should really only have been advertised to FCA Sophisticated Investors, they really aren't suitable for standard retail investors.

A generator doesn't immediately go under a CfD contract after the first time it exports, in fact in the past some wind turbines held off as they could get more money in the open market for their electricity....

The expected start date was 1st July 2026 with a long stop July 2027.

https://register.lowcarboncontracts.uk/AR6-DWS-700/

I assume there are no contractual obligations before this which is why they have been told that they have no insurance cover or compensation.

You would also need to check if there were any get out clauses in the CfD contract when it actually kicks in.

Having got caught out myself with green investments, I would strongly urge people not to get involved unless they were OK loosing all their investment. I got lucky, once with compensation instructed by the FOS, the other time with compensation via the FSCS. Many are not so lucky.

This is a typical FCA warning more recently introduced for these sort of investments

"Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose money. This is a high-risk investment. You may not be able to access your money easily and are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong."

This post was modified 4 weeks ago 5 times by Jeff

👍

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Toodles

(@toodles)

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Topic starter 19/07/2026 4:47 pm

@jeff I am well aware of the riskiness of such investments and have risked no more than I can afford to lose - but I would rather not for all that😉 Regards, Toodles.

Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.

👍

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