Here’s a user’s guide to living with solar panels in an area with no gas supply like Portesham (where I happen to be selling my home, equipped with 3.4 kilowatt potential (kWp) of solar panels)…
Use Power In Daylight
Washing to do? Sunny day forecast for tomorrow but cloudy today? Put your 1400W washing machine on for when the sun is above the horizon. That’s usually after around 9 in the morning in winter and after 7 in peak summer.
With 3,400W of solar energy swilling around your system on a sunny day, that could mean your hot water, dryer and washing machine are at full blast for a few hours and you aren’t paying for it.
Export in Summer, Make Credit with Energy Company…
Find a good import/export tariff with an energy company.
We are in a high latitude country and consequently get loads of light from mid March until mid September and very little the other six months of the year.
I use Octopus Energy but Ovo are good too. In getting an export tariff with a green energy supplier you can sell energy to the grid in lighter months for 15p per kilowatt-hour (kWh) (possibly more soon). In summer if you use your high energy gear in daylight you’ll soon accrue a £700 credit to abuse in winter.
Use Your Credit Balance in Winter
Being where we are on the planet, and in Portesham’s case the Sun rising a full half hour later than elsewhere due to the topography of the land, there isn’t so much sunlight in winter.
Solar doesn’t mean electricity is all free. To get your comfortable £700 credit, work on a £100 a month direct debit to your energy company. In my case, my 1200W underfloor heating will soon chew through the £ on a cold day, but I’ve had the place insulated to the hilt and added new double glazing so it’s not very power hungry.
Get a Window Cleaner to Clean Once a Year
That’s about all the maintenance required on them. They just sit and pump green energy into your house, and will likely do so efficiently for another 15 years or more.
Savings to be Made in £?
I reckon my energy bills are around 50% of that without them. That’s a £1200 a year saving, or roughly a new set of solar panels every 4 years. If you buy my house from me you get instant savings for free. It really is that simple!
If you like our content, join us in helping to bring reality and decency back by SUBSCRIBING to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ1Ll1ylCg8U19AhNl-NoTg AND SUPPORTING US where you can: Award Winning Independent Citizen Media Needs Your Help. PLEASE SUPPORT US FOR JUST £2 A MONTH https://dorseteye.com/donate/
