It Seems Everyone Around You Is Getting Solar… What's Going On? 

I've followed these videos for a while now and learned some good stuff. I recently had a 5.46kWp SE-facing array fitted with a 5kW inverter and a 3.6kWh battery. I wish I'd gone for a bigger battery as I'm exporting more than I use but storage runs out before the next day. It's worth pointing out that unless you've got a monster inverter, you won't be able to run multiple high-draw devices simultaneously (oven, hob, kettle, toaster etc) and maintain zero import. The inverter will limit you no matter how much sun and/or battery there is. It's also worth noting that even within the inverter limit, the battery may not be up to delivering enough power to a high load depending on its C-rating (my battery is 0.5C which means that it can only deliver 0.5x3.6=1.8kW at any time). Gary, you may like to do a deep dive into some of these aspects of matching components within a system...?

If it helps anyone considering solar, I put a 4kW array on my roof last December along with an 8.2 kWh battery. Over the last 9 months I've reduced grid reliance by approx. 74% and as Gary says, my energy bills have returned a healthy profit during the summer months. Whilst there's no denying the upfront costs aren't cheap, if you can it's well worth the long term investment.

I can only say well done. You have certainly helped me along my journey. Keep up the good work it is most appreciated .

You must be enormously pleased with the understandably positive reaction you are getting. And well deserved 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Well done Gary on another excellent video that sums it all up nicely. I had a solar and battery system installed in May, and although July and August have been miserable it's still a no brainer. On those days with surge pricing I derived much joy from being paid to switch everything on and charge the EV, house battery and every laptop and phone in the house. I've said I'll wait until we've had the system for two years before I've got enough data to make a confident prediction on long term savings but so far I'm very pleased with how it's working.

Your content and delivery is fantastic!

Gary, I really appreciate your videos. They are informative and well made. Are you able to make a video for options for people living in properties with North Facing roofs?

Let’s go Gary! You are helping the world go green 🍃

Good video to start Gary. I’m already far into this. I’ve got PV panels and an All Electric Heat pump. I’m about to embark on a Battery journey with GivEnergy. Exciting times.

You must be a teacher Gary. Each video is explained very well. A pitty you don't live in The Netherlands. Prices in UK are different to ours.. but anyway, I learn a lot. Thanks.

I've got a small 320w system on my narrow boat. Only a small 30ft. I installed it myself I sourced all the materials myself and put it together courtesy of university of RU-vid. I'm very pleased with it. I stayed in a marina last year and what I paid for additional electricity (mainly using power tools to fix up my boat was £10) There is only me onboard. But from a personal experienced perspective I'm a massive fan of solar. God give free energy.

The more I watch these videos, the more happy I am with my installation. I am seriously considering another battery to help make more money. At present I do not force export. I was lucky, I could use two roof directions East/South and West/North. The West/North is less good in the winter, but 14 panels (400watts), 3.6kWh inverter and 2x 3.2kWh batteries. This is my first summer with them (if you think July and August in the UK was the summer 😂) and they have been working great. If I had known what Gary has taught me, I am not sure I would have had a better system.

Well Done Gary ~ your usual excellent video - Well and clearly presented - KR AndyT(Somerset)

I've been looking in to this for several months, Gary's videos are exemplary. I'm in the situation where due to my age I'd never see a " Break Even " date, but I'm still planning on installing as many panels as possible, and as large a battery as possible. It will give me some independence from future tariff increass as well as some degree of independence. When the house is eventually passed on to the kids / sold then I'm sure the fact that the house has such a system fitted will add to its " saleability "

Panels plus battery have great potential. But with changing weather and dynamic tariffs we need some integration with the controller. I use a Growatt SPH5000 and have to tweak the settings seasonally and sometimes daily to optimise the result.

Weird in our new(ish) 2018 build development, we are one of the few houses that have solar. Absolutely delighted that we have. Since our system went live on 13th July our electricity bill has been -£147 (yes minus)

@Gary LOVE the content. Would be cool to hear you share insight on DMS technology (similar to Brayden or Inergy) that handles demand in 30min increments on many upcoming utility plans. I live in Arizona and have SRP. I don't have solar or battery yet (plan to install by end of 2023), but have been on SRP's E-27 plan, which incorporates a "demand charge"... a tiered cost per kW demand based on HIGHEST 30min sample any given month (can get pricey if not properly managed). The incentive levelizing the demand during peak time is have all day energy a quarter the cost for flat rate plan. Do you have any insight on this? Thanks

My estimation is that in the Netherlands, about a third of the houses have solar panels. I heard somewhere that the Netherlands has the highest solar capacity per citizen in Europe, but I don't know if that's true. Also, about 20% of the houses have a heat pump. This has exploded recently, especially since gas prices went sky high after the U.S. blew up the NordStream pipelines (see for example investigative journalist Seymour Hersch's article).

The latest step in flattening the peak demand I've seen is the Octopus power-up's. In conjunction with UK Power Networks (the East of England DNO), in times of excess grid supply (lots of solar and wind) they are giving you free electricity for that specific period. Put the cooking on, heat up your hot water, fill up the batteries, it's all at zero cost! At the moment it's only the one DNO and a long list of specific postcodes which fortunately I was in, but is an interesting trial that will be run for at least a year. They held the first power up event last Friday; I discharged the batteries beforehand and charged up again in the 2 hour period - double win!

Always good to watch your fantastic solar videos. 2023 January I bought 8.88 kWp solar system, 6850 euros installed (1400 euros tax return included) . I just bought more 10x astronergy 410w panels for 990 euros. Next summer i have 13 kWp system. I think I will never buy battery, more wise to buy more panels. Greetings from Finland-

Another great video. I have installed 3 kw hybrid solar system with 6 panels of 540 w each. Batteries of 230Ah. I have been able to reduce my electricity bill by more than 60-70%. I am not exporting to grid so far. My mantra is to spend less and reduce bill and also pay some to let the government function. Regards.

Yes lots of new installs but a big issue I have is the local network is now going over voltage and then inverters close down at 253v . SSEN so far measured voltage agree it goes to 256v out of spec and illegal. But seen not to bother saying well the voltage goes down winter. If no adequate action will have to go down legal route. My so had same issue but he is in different part of country. If you wonder why leds mains lights don’t last as long as they should over voltage is the main issue. My average voltage is 246v not the agreed standard of 230 volts set 20years ago

Thanks for all your informative videos! We're close to pulling the trigger on an 11 panel 4.57kw setup with a hybrid inverter. Gary, I found your Solarazma pro app incredibly useful, especially if you do your research on panel efficiency in summer/winter and all other seasons, together with your tarrif (ours will be Octopus Flex). I'm still trying to wrap my head around the "losses" and "import" figures, particularly as we're trying to decide on a single 5kw vs double 10kw battery pack (3kw discharge on one - not sure if it doubles at two). At around 6000kw yearly usage (I know it's high, but we WFH 100% of th time), the difference doesn't seem to significant, but of course, there are 365 days in a year and it all adds up. For anyone with a similar system, would you choose the larger or smaller battery option? Many thanks!

Also note that the demand period is roughly 5 hours (4-9pm) and it doesn't take a whole lot in terms of grid-scale storage to cut the top off of that peak. My presumption is that the U.K. is or will follow Australia, California, and Texas and add grid-scale storage to remove the need for peaker plants during the evening peak. It looks like the U.K. only needs around 5GW (20GWh) to do it. The nice thing about e.g. battery storage is that not only does it allow peakers to be decomissioned, the batteries themselves can be positioned to alleviate transmission line congestion and reduce the need to string more transmission lines. So its a 3-in-1 deal. Provide energy, remove peakers, alleviate transmission line congestion. People shifting their usage won't move the peak by much (if at all), but it will save money for those individuals doing it.

Very good explanation for the uninitiated. But I'm glad more people invest in solar. It'll lower the electricity price for people like me who wait for a good pervokite system and aluminum sulfur batteries. :)

Thanks. Your output is valuable and appreciated. However isn't energy sold to ordinary joe/josephine by distributors? They are essentially sales exercises based on a call centre and software systems. They produce nothing other than profit for shareholders....courtesy in the UK of Ofgen who have been feeding them cash in truckloads...see annual report of XXXXplc. Energy suppliers have staff who maintain plant and generate supply. They also have shareholders but they actually do work and aren't fed by a Government quango inserted by market analysts keen to profit from "energy switching"...another desktop "business".

1/3of all houses here in Oz hove roof top solar pv installed. And solar installations are accelerating, meaning that this figure will be 1/2 soon. I fitted 6.5kw 11yrs ago, and havent had a bill since. 25% roi tax free.

In the USA, we buy gas or diesel guzzling, lifted, 4wd trucks. Then park them outside either because there is no garage or it’s too full of stuff. $2500-$4000 for a set of tires. It’s all what’s important to each of us. Go ahead, see how many arrays you can spot?

It all grate to have solar panels even with the battery, unfortunately that only take care just about 6 month of summer. What everybody should have in addition is small win turbine, like 2lkW. Wind turbine with that power probably is 2-3 meter in diameter, so it small enough to be clouse to privet house and not be noisy enough to be an issue.

Biggest issue I see is that the energy companies keep on cranking up the daily standing charge and I can only see this rising as they realise people are making their own electric 😢

Our home rooftops supply grid connection and structural support to pv panels. The cost of grid expansion, fattening, to carry the massive increase in electricity is a stupendously expensive thing for the taxpayers. 😮😮😮😮😮😮

We have gas appliances. Conversion to new electric appliances would add to our conversion cost to an all electric home. Our vehicles do very small mileage and tradein value compared to EVs. So doing nothing renewable for us is the smallest cost. FOMO, fear of missing out, is very real for some. But if PV panels get cheaper and power bills climb, then it will be a clear choice. Particularly when V2G EVs with their 'free' big batteries. 😊😊 Just saying. 😊

I have not looked into this as we remortgaged last year, but I believe you can get green mortgaged if you have things like solar installed

Hi Gary, i have at my home a 12.5KW batteries and an EV with a zappi charger. I am getting solar panels fitted to my roofs. I am on octopus go tariff. Please can you advise me, if i can get paid to export on this tariff, if not what is the best tariff for this setup.

I'm seeing install costs for domestic solar of around the £1500/kWp mark. Add in another £200/kWp for future maintenance. If that is generating 900kWh/kWp/year (a reasonably sunny bit of the UK), and the system is still producing at 85% after 25 years (which is kind of where warranties are), that's a total generation of just under 21,000kWh. A cost of £1700 up front for that 21,000kWh that's a cost of 8.1p/Kwh for the solar electricity assuming you use every single drop of it. You can charge a battery for around about that with overnight electricity, and you get that benefit on every day rather than just the sunny ones. I would like to see solar on every factory and warehouse in the country, but looking at it from purely a financial perspective I don't think it makes sense on homes currently. I am expecting overnight electricity to become more expensive but for now I'd just be putting in the battery.

There's another reason why people are getting solar - there's energy security by having it, both for yourself and for the country. Equally if the price of electricity drops considerably because of an over abundance of energy, and that's consistent throughout the year, that means that electricity prices would be competitive against gas which would seriously help push heat pumps into the mainstream

I went with Luxpower batteries but they come with a controller that does not switch efficiently. I' m still waiting for the company to fix it all 🤔 😐

If you buy a house you plan to stay in forever then go for solar. Most however are to short term. We are 40 and buying our last house so solar is something we want to add to our house. Also if you are a family it makes more sense than a couple as your usage is greater.

Good video but so many assumptions. You mentioned octopus as a supplier of variable tariffs but I have been with them for several months and still can’t get on it. I have EV, solar panels and solar battery, the ‘perfect’ set up. Smart meters are required for variable pricing but they are so unreliable. As a letting agent dealing with all suppliers and meters, the problems they cause are not investigated enough. It has not been a particularly sunny summer here in the UK, on sunny days the battery is full before lunch time and can last all night but September is here next week. Sunshine will soon giveaway to dullness and then the batteries will need to be topped up at night. Once EV batteries are fully reversible and can feed back to the grid during peak times and charged cheaply during the night, then we might see the curved flattened. Individual solar and battery installations are more of a middle class dinner party conversation just now. Are you Green or just trying to save money. The cost and pay back time are just to great for most people just now.

Why? because it is cheaper for the individual to make Electricity than to buy from a mass-producer, crazy! Why? Profit margins are enormous, greed. No more than that.

When it comes to solar more is better👍

You are forgetting the cost of battery usage, typically 21p per kWh for a Powerwall 2. Charging cheap at night for 9p means the daytime per kWh cast has to be greater than 30p per kWh for you to make any savings.

Found a battery offered a much quicker return on investment, but then the installer quotes are inflated at the moment.

On the east side of the North Sea, there is so much cheap field solar that roof solar can't compete. More field solar is coming to export to the expensive English market.

I know I'm saying this to the wrong people on the wrong channel (🙂), but 'free' energy is only free if the means to harvest and utilise it is also free. Spending £5,000+ in order to access all that lovely free solar power is not what I call free. I call it ludicrous, because for the past 14 years my annual budget has been £800 (eight-hundred). I'm based in the cold, wet, gloomy north of England [West Yorkshire]; trust me: if solar power were affordable I'd be using it. But it's not. My home [1913 two-bed terrace] doesn't have gas, just electricity, and by having no form of heating whatsoever (I dress warmly), no hot water, no fridge, no freezer, no washing machine, no proper cooker, no TV, no mains lighting (I use wind-up torches), no fun, and by limiting myself to one hot meal every three days (cooked on an induction hob; otherwise I boil water and cook stews and curries outside on a tiny wood-burning barbecue grill-type-thingy), I've got my electricity usage down to 0.25kWh per day. I forage for [FREE!] firewood in the nearby woods and on the local 13th century Common. Verily, I'm living like unto the mediaeval dream. Yes, it's pathetic, I know. Go ahead and laugh. I'm skint, not old enough for the State Pension yet, and I'm trying to 'live small'. So... I use 8kWh per month, or about 100kWh per year. At today's rip-off prices - £0.33-ish per unit - that should cost around £35 annually. I could afford that. Ah, but then there's the standing charge, isn't there. There are no zero-rate standing charge electricity tariffs at the moment. I had one three years ago. It was great. Pay for what you use, and only use what you can afford to pay for. Simple. Yay. But then... My current (⚡) tariff, pun intended, has a standing charge of £0.56 per day, or more than £204 annually.😲 About SIX TIMES what I consume in power. That's obscene. I'm considering having my house disconnected from the mains and having the meter removed to avoid the charge because I can no longer even afford to use NO electricity. I'm heartily sick of being charged what's effectively another poll tax - the poor subsidise the rich with the standing charge. The snug and the smug probably spend more on their mobile phones in a week than I spend on electricity in a year. So what about going off-grid? Freedom, right? Alas, there's a disconnection fee (which I also can't afford). So yes, a neat little solar installation would be perfect for me. I could live off-grid and worry-free - if the 'free' solar energy were really free. Somehow I don't imagine anyone is giving away panels and inverters and batteries and installing it all for nothing.

it would be many more if they brought back the Feed in Tariff.

They aren't and nothing. Once you factor in the initial costs and expected lifespan you'll be lucky to break even after 15 years.

For those of you that have fallen for the EV lie, a typical domestic solar system will probably take a week to charge an EV without taking power from the grid.

V2G EV will be able to daytrade electricity. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊