Back in November 2023, I got solar panels installed along with a ‘solar’ battery – I don’t like the term ‘solar battery’ as it’s not a thing. The battery isn’t solar, and doesn’t require solar. It’s literally a battery.
I’m UK based, so I used a solar calculator from the Energy Saving Trust to see if my roof would be viable for panels – I did see a roof around where I live that faced the same way as mine, but they only have panels on one side of their house. I wanted to see if I could have more panels installed.
It turned out that my roof is South-East and North-West facing, both are suitable for having solar panels installed on them. However, even though I specifically asked, most quotes I got didn’t accomodate for panels on the North-West side of the roof, which was frustrating. In fact, only two installers listened to what it was that I wanted.
I read up on panels – They mostly seemed to be much of a muchess. Some panels are more powerful, some are more efficient. But on the whole, it felt like a panel was a panel.
For me, micro inverters were the sensible choice (I have a little bit of shade on part of the roof). Out of sight, out of mind.
So, I’ve ended up with 12 panels (I have quite a small roof) facing in two different directions along with a 13.5kWh battery. My daily usage used to be 9-10kWh a day.
How’s it going?
The panels and battery were installed in November 2023, and the battery export permission granted in May 2024.
Average daily usage by month, by year:
April 2024 was looking fantastic, and I was a little disappointed when I started to import more electricity once the battery was discharging daily. Howrver, the solar is still cutting the actual usage of electriciy in the grid. I’ve gone from 9-10kWh used a day to 3-5kWh a day. That’s pretty good in my mind.
Imports and exports
The time when I’m using the grid seems pretty limited to the off-peak period when the battery is charging, so this must be having a positive effect on my bills.
The battery will export to the grid during the peak period, but any excess solar will go to the grid when the battery is full & house demand is being met. This all generates a little credit to my bills.
Here we can see that for 4 months out of almost 7, when I’ve been exporting to the grid I’ve been sending significantly more back than I’ve bought in.
I’m absolutely thrilled with this. Outright grid usage is down on last year, and obviously net usage is down significantly too.
Generation
You can see there’s been some variance in where the electricity is generated from, but we’re approaching a 50:50 split. I’m pleased that I decided to get panels on both sides of the roof rather than the one side that some installers were pushing for.
Overall usage
This graph will get more informative at the end of the year. But overall this year, I’ve used -360kWh of electricity from the grid.
Summing up
I would 100% reccomend that anyone who can get solar panels installed does so. I think I was told that the break even point for me was around 11 – 13 years, but that’s not the important part for me – What has been spent has been spent, I won’t see that money again. My ongoing bills have been reduced, and will continue to be reduced in the future.
I’m not convinced that a heat pump is suitable for me – They don’t look very nice, I’ll likely need to upgrade my radiators and pipework, and I don’t believe they’re currently suitable for providing hot water. Instead, I’m looking in to getting plaster-in infrared heating. That will be one for later in the year, though.