Solar Panels?

[OutInTheShed]

joestifff said:

Does anyone on here have a fairly standard size solar system and ASHP?

We are a full electric house, all new, very well insulated, largeish house. The ASHP has been in since new, and on a separate meter, just under two years in and it has used 8,300kw so about 4,200kw per annum.

We also use slightly more on the rest of the house. So I would say our demand in total, including ASHP is 10,000kw per annum.

Obviously we use a lot more in winter.

Looking at our usage, October to February uses around 6,000kw including ASHP. So these 5 months use 60% of our demand.

We have a perfectly South facing roof, but with news that prices are going to drop for energy bills, I cannot work out if it is worth the install cost which are still very high.

If your heat pump is using 4200kWh a year and runs with a typical COP of about 3, then no, you don't have a 'very well insulated house', in fact it's piss poor for anything built this century.

[C70R]

Gazzab said:

C70R said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for companies to get quotes from? I'm in rural North Norfolk, and having tried my energy supplier (Octopus), it seems they don't cover my area.

Is it wise to contact a local specialist, or get a national company to come and quote? Or both?

This place was recommended on another ph thread.
https://impact-services.co.uk/
They are Norwich I think ??

Thank you

[JD]

joestifff said:

Does anyone on here have a fairly standard size solar system and ASHP?

We are a full electric house, all new, very well insulated, largeish house. The ASHP has been in since new, and on a separate meter, just under two years in and it has used 8,300kw so about 4,200kw per annum.

We also use slightly more on the rest of the house. So I would say our demand in total, including ASHP is 10,000kw per annum.

Obviously we use a lot more in winter.

Looking at our usage, October to February uses around 6,000kw including ASHP. So these 5 months use 60% of our demand.

We have a perfectly South facing roof, but with news that prices are going to drop for energy bills, I cannot work out if it is worth the install cost which are still very high.

Realistically, location, size and direction of your solar array is less important for working back if its worthwhile than just knowing your usage.

I for example have no qualms that loading the roof with a solar array makes plenty of sense for my extension because; I work from home during the day, have a EV on the drive, will have a big hot water tank which feeds the washing machine/dishwashers/DHW.

I am banking on extremely high self usage with no export and no battery storage (unless it gets very cheap)

If you are the opposite, and are never home to use the power, can't dump it into a car, or hot water then it looks very different.

[gareth h]

OutInTheShed said:

joestifff said:

Does anyone on here have a fairly standard size solar system and ASHP?

We are a full electric house, all new, very well insulated, largeish house. The ASHP has been in since new, and on a separate meter, just under two years in and it has used 8,300kw so about 4,200kw per annum.

We also use slightly more on the rest of the house. So I would say our demand in total, including ASHP is 10,000kw per annum.

Obviously we use a lot more in winter.

Looking at our usage, October to February uses around 6,000kw including ASHP. So these 5 months use 60% of our demand.

We have a perfectly South facing roof, but with news that prices are going to drop for energy bills, I cannot work out if it is worth the install cost which are still very high.

If your heat pump is using 4200kWh a year and runs with a typical COP of about 3, then no, you don't have a 'very well insulated house', in fact it's piss poor for anything built this century.

I installed ASHP in my last house, which was a largish 1890, 3 bed semi (quite a bit bigger downstairs than up) our consumption was also approx 10,000 kWh/year, so your figures aren’t great, do you heat 24/7, and what temp do you run the ASHP at? In terms of whether solar is worthwhile I’d be looking at how much electricity it is generating when the heating is on, ie the dark winter months!

[gareth h]

gareth h said:

I installed ASHP in my last house, which was a largish 1890, 3 bed semi (quite a bit bigger downstairs than up) our consumption was also approx 10,000 kWh/year, so your figures aren’t great, do you heat 24/7, and what temp do you run the ASHP at? In terms of whether solar is worthwhile I’d be looking at how much electricity it is generating when the heating is on, ie the dark winter months!

If I was still there I’d be looking at a battery and one of the low cost EV off peak tariffs, charge the battery and run the ASHP during the low rate, I had UF heating in a screed which is a big thermal store, so dump as much heat as poss into that at the low rate, which I think is circa 12p rather than 36p / kWh.

[anonymous-user]

Octopus flux seems a good deal for solar owners

If you charge your car (and jn the winter your batteries) during the 0200-0500 low period for 21p you can export excess in the summer and get paid 25p for it. In between the solar can power your house and washing machine etc.

It’s February and raining here at 9:30 and we’ve still got excess to charge our batteries which seems pretty good. (Generating 1kW)

[Road2Ruin]

Archie2050 said:

Octopus flux seems a good deal for solar owners

If you charge your car (and jn the winter your batteries) during the 0200-0500 low period for 21p you can export excess in the summer and get paid 25p for it. In between the solar can power your house and washing machine etc.

It’s February and raining here at 9:30 and we’ve still got excess to charge our batteries which seems pretty good. (Generating 1kW)

Same here. We only have a SE facing 4.4kwp array and have an excess of about 250w, when it's raining, and when the sun is out over 2kw. The other day we generated 12kw/h excess. That's pretty good for February.

Edited by Road2Ruin on Wednesday 22 February 11:26

[shocks]

Have been reading this thread with reinvigorated interest since seeing my energy costs skyrocketed!

Ergo: Usage:



Cost



Our house isnt that grand - southern facing (to the rear); 2400 sqft + detached double garage of around 800 sq ft; assuming around 1200 sq ft of roof space on house (the 50% facing south) and 400 sq ft from garage. There is unlikely enough to support enough Solar Panels to generate our needs (Edinburgh)

I'm looking at :

(1) best way to review usage (5 bed house / 5 occupants - lots of consumer tech)
(2) best solar / battery for needs and who to use
(3) best way to calculate roi / roe - too many options / counter info

Many thanks

[Jambo85]

shocks said:

Cost

<snip>

Our house isnt that grand - southern facing (to the rear); 2400 sqft + detached double garage of around 800 sq ft; assuming around 1200 sq ft of roof space on house (the 50% facing south) and 400 sq ft from garage. There is unlikely enough to support enough Solar Panels to generate our needs (Edinburgh)

I'm looking at :

(1) best way to review usage (5 bed house / 5 occupants - lots of consumer tech)
(2) best solar / battery for needs and who to use
(3) best way to calculate roi / roe - too many options / counter info

Many thanks

Your consumption is high - I think point no. 1 is definitely your first thing to look at - and consumer tech won't be the main issue. What big resistive loads are you running? Electric underfloor heating, towel rails, cooking, immersion heaters? How does your central heating work? Do you have an EV? Pool/hot tub?

[shocks]

Jambo85 said:

Your consumption is high - I think point no. 1 is definitely your first thing to look at - and consumer tech won't be the main issue. What big resistive loads are you running? Electric underfloor heating, towel rails, cooking, immersion heaters? How does your central heating work? Do you have an EV? Pool/hot tub?

Thanks Jambo,

(1) Loads: this has me scratching my head

Cooking : Elec induction & 2x Ovens - avg family use <1hr per day and typically only one from of cooking (induction or oven used)
Laundry : Avg family use on washing & drying - (siemens and using eco programs where we can on WM and DM)
Dishwasher - used 1-2 times a day
Fridges : 2 Main, 1 Freezer, 2 wine fridges
Elec Underfloor : only in smaller bathroom - on a timer morning / evening
Heating: Gas
Immersion : no it's turned off
No EV / Hot tub / Pool

I do think I have a weird problem on consumption there is consumer goods side:

6 TVs - avg usage 2 are pretty much off / off not used
3x Sonos speakers (2x One's 1x Sonos Bar)
1x Projector (almost always just on standby till footie is on at weekend)
1x Amp / Sound system - low usage on standby
3xnetwork switches (small form factor Netgears)
3xAsus AX88u / 86s (wifi / ap / main router aggregation)
1x Cable modem
1x Harmony controller & charging point
Usual phone charge (5x iPhone on occasional charge)
3x iPads
1xKindle (mrs s is wedded to this)
1xBeer Keg machine
3xlatpops - 2 of us work from home
1xMonitor
1x NAS
Cordless shark hoover
and the odd hair dryer / straighteners etc (yeah 4 girls in the house!)

Edited by shocks on Wednesday 22 February 12:02

[joestifff]

OutInTheShed said:

joestifff said:

Does anyone on here have a fairly standard size solar system and ASHP?

We are a full electric house, all new, very well insulated, largeish house. The ASHP has been in since new, and on a separate meter, just under two years in and it has used 8,300kw so about 4,200kw per annum.

We also use slightly more on the rest of the house. So I would say our demand in total, including ASHP is 10,000kw per annum.

Obviously we use a lot more in winter.

Looking at our usage, October to February uses around 6,000kw including ASHP. So these 5 months use 60% of our demand.

We have a perfectly South facing roof, but with news that prices are going to drop for energy bills, I cannot work out if it is worth the install cost which are still very high.

If your heat pump is using 4200kWh a year and runs with a typical COP of about 3, then no, you don't have a 'very well insulated house', in fact it's piss poor for anything built this century.

I would have thought 4,200kWh a year for a 3,000 square feet house was fairly impressive myself, it is rated "B" in the EPC, not sure if that means much!

Never thought the COP of a heat pump got anywhere near 3, I'd believe 2.2, especially during all this cold weather we have been having!

---

Edit.... looking at my readings from the heatpump, it looks like it used ~300 in November, 458 December, 413 January, 184 so far this month. So realistically, I think it is heading for 3,000kWh in a year on the heatpump.

My mistake, still It is a fairly large house! So I am happy it is performing well, just looking at whether solar is even worth it for us.

Edited by joestifff on Wednesday 22 February 13:31

[joestifff]

gareth h said:

OutInTheShed said:

joestifff said:

Does anyone on here have a fairly standard size solar system and ASHP?

We are a full electric house, all new, very well insulated, largeish house. The ASHP has been in since new, and on a separate meter, just under two years in and it has used 8,300kw so about 4,200kw per annum.

We also use slightly more on the rest of the house. So I would say our demand in total, including ASHP is 10,000kw per annum.

Obviously we use a lot more in winter.

Looking at our usage, October to February uses around 6,000kw including ASHP. So these 5 months use 60% of our demand.

We have a perfectly South facing roof, but with news that prices are going to drop for energy bills, I cannot work out if it is worth the install cost which are still very high.

If your heat pump is using 4200kWh a year and runs with a typical COP of about 3, then no, you don't have a 'very well insulated house', in fact it's piss poor for anything built this century.

I installed ASHP in my last house, which was a largish 1890, 3 bed semi (quite a bit bigger downstairs than up) our consumption was also approx 10,000 kWh/year, so your figures aren’t great, do you heat 24/7, and what temp do you run the ASHP at? In terms of whether solar is worthwhile I’d be looking at how much electricity it is generating when the heating is on, ie the dark winter months!

House is 3,000 square feet and rated as "B" on EPC. Heating is usually 20 degrees all day long downstairs, and 17-18 upstairs. We are comfortable with these temps, and for the sake of a couple of quid a day they wont be going any lower.

Wife is part time, so home sporadically on her days off. Kids at school, I don't WFH.

May not be worth it for us. But as a bit of a gimmick may give it a go.

[Tesco]

C70R said:

Gazzab said:

C70R said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for companies to get quotes from? I'm in rural North Norfolk, and having tried my energy supplier (Octopus), it seems they don't cover my area.

Is it wise to contact a local specialist, or get a national company to come and quote? Or both?

This place was recommended on another ph thread.
https://impact-services.co.uk/
They are Norwich I think ??

Thank you

Another upvote for Impact Services. I contacted them back in October for a quote and had a system installed by them in early December. Whole process was very professional. No pressure selling and very easy to contact and deal with, Clearly understood my needs, budget and different system options. I suspect prices have increased a little from my quote due to supply and demand, I was happy with what I paid considering equipment breakdown and day rates for tradespersons. Happy to discuss further, PM me if you like.

[pingu393]

Archie2050 said:

Octopus flux seems a good deal for solar owners

If you charge your car (and jn the winter your batteries) during the 0200-0500 low period for 21p you can export excess in the summer and get paid 25p for it. In between the solar can power your house and washing machine etc.

It’s February and raining here at 9:30 and we’ve still got excess to charge our batteries which seems pretty good. (Generating 1kW)

It seems a good tariff if we decide when to push the excess into the grid. It may not be so good if Octopus decide when to pull.

I'd be very happy if I only export during the peak time. I wouldn't be too chuffed if Octopus decide that they want to pull on my battery at 3am.

[anonymous-user]

pingu393 said:

It seems a good tariff if we decide when to push the excess into the grid. It may not be so good if Octopus decide when to pull.

I'd be very happy if I only export during the peak time. I wouldn't be too chuffed if Octopus decide that they want to pull on my battery at 3am.

When you discharge batteries back to the d grid is entirely up to you. You control it

[dmsims]

What is your background use?

You need to start auditing use because nearly 30kWh a day seems high!

shocks said:

Thanks Jambo,

(1) Loads: this has me scratching my head

Cooking : Elec induction & 2x Ovens - avg family use <1hr per day and typically only one from of cooking (induction or oven used)
Laundry : Avg family use on washing & drying - (siemens and using eco programs where we can on WM and DM)
Dishwasher - used 1-2 times a day
Fridges : 2 Main, 1 Freezer, 2 wine fridges
Elec Underfloor : only in smaller bathroom - on a timer morning / evening
Heating: Gas
Immersion : no it's turned off
No EV / Hot tub / Pool

I do think I have a weird problem on consumption there is consumer goods side:

6 TVs - avg usage 2 are pretty much off / off not used
3x Sonos speakers (2x One's 1x Sonos Bar)
1x Projector (almost always just on standby till footie is on at weekend)
1x Amp / Sound system - low usage on standby
3xnetwork switches (small form factor Netgears)
3xAsus AX88u / 86s (wifi / ap / main router aggregation)
1x Cable modem
1x Harmony controller & charging point
Usual phone charge (5x iPhone on occasional charge)
3x iPads
1xKindle (mrs s is wedded to this)
1xBeer Keg machine
3xlatpops - 2 of us work from home
1xMonitor
1x NAS
Cordless shark hoover
and the odd hair dryer / straighteners etc (yeah 4 girls in the house!)

Edited by shocks on Wednesday 22 February 12:02

[pingu393]

Archie2050 said:

pingu393 said:

It seems a good tariff if we decide when to push the excess into the grid. It may not be so good if Octopus decide when to pull.

I'd be very happy if I only export during the peak time. I wouldn't be too chuffed if Octopus decide that they want to pull on my battery at 3am.

When you discharge batteries back to the d grid is entirely up to you. You control it

Happy days. Octopus Flux looks like a no-brainer.

[Jambo85]

shocks said:

Jambo85 said:

Your consumption is high - I think point no. 1 is definitely your first thing to look at - and consumer tech won't be the main issue. What big resistive loads are you running? Electric underfloor heating, towel rails, cooking, immersion heaters? How does your central heating work? Do you have an EV? Pool/hot tub?

Thanks Jambo,

(1) Loads: this has me scratching my head

Cooking : Elec induction & 2x Ovens - avg family use <1hr per day and typically only one from of cooking (induction or oven used)
Laundry : Avg family use on washing & drying - (siemens and using eco programs where we can on WM and DM)
Dishwasher - used 1-2 times a day
Fridges : 2 Main, 1 Freezer, 2 wine fridges
Elec Underfloor : only in smaller bathroom - on a timer morning / evening
Heating: Gas
Immersion : no it's turned off
No EV / Hot tub / Pool

I do think I have a weird problem on consumption there is consumer goods side:

6 TVs - avg usage 2 are pretty much off / off not used
3x Sonos speakers (2x One's 1x Sonos Bar)
1x Projector (almost always just on standby till footie is on at weekend)
1x Amp / Sound system - low usage on standby
3xnetwork switches (small form factor Netgears)
3xAsus AX88u / 86s (wifi / ap / main router aggregation)
1x Cable modem
1x Harmony controller & charging point
Usual phone charge (5x iPhone on occasional charge)
3x iPads
1xKindle (mrs s is wedded to this)
1xBeer Keg machine
3xlatpops - 2 of us work from home
1xMonitor
1x NAS
Cordless shark hoover
and the odd hair dryer / straighteners etc (yeah 4 girls in the house!)

Honestly iPads, phones, kindles etc. are barely a rounding error on the kind of usage you have. Would agree with the other poster it would be worth finding out what your background usage is, multiply that by 24x365 and see where you are.

[anonymous-user]

Jambo85 said:

Honestly iPads, phones, kindles etc. are barely a rounding error on the kind of usage you have. Would agree with the other poster it would be worth finding out what your background usage is, multiply that by 24x365 and see where you are.

Are the TV's off or on standby and are they LED or plasma (plasma is much more power hungry)

The underfloor heating is the one that standsout to me.

Also how modern are the PC's? older ones can be very power hungry even in standby compared to more recent models.

[mikal83]

Archie2050 said:

Jurgen100 said:

Our installation has just gone live this afternoon. 17 panels on a virtually south facing roof in Hampshire. 10kwh battery and an Eddi as well. I’ll share some real world stats once I have any.

Snap!

We went live with 20 panels (7.9kWp) 2x5.2kWh batteries and and Eddi and a Zappi on Sunday.

Watching the electrons flow on the app has (temporarily) replaced Netflix as family entertainment.

Which inverter and panels did you go for? We have a GivEnergi (ugh!) 5000w hybrid and Vertex s 395w panels.

It’s great stuff even in cloudy February and I’m trying to work out all the various software schedules to sync everything, nearly done I think.

WE put 5.6kw 14 panels on Cornish Rockers in Nov and its quite fun looking at the weather forecast to see when we will do a wash.....And now we are away on Lanzagrotty, a quick peek at the myenergi app gives us an idea of what the weather is like at home. We to have an Eddi but thats it...oh and a Harvi obvs. Time for its first tilt soon!!!