Six Months of Solar Power Stats
solar · 5 comments · 350 words · Viewed ~283 times.
We've had our new solar panels for 6 months. Here's how they've performed over summer.
3,361 kWh Generated
2,445 kWh Exported
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916 kWh ConsumedDespite working from home every day, using laptops, monitors, microwaving lunch, we only used about 5.5kWh of solar each day. About 72% of our summer generation was sold back to the grid.
According to our electricity provider, in those 6 months, we imported 992kWh of electricity. So the solar panels reduced our energy bills by 50%. That saved us about £120 buying from the grid, and we sold the excess for about £136. Giving us a pleasing saving of £256 so far.
Very roughly, we used (992+916)=1,908kWh over 6 months. That's 10.4kWh per day.
According to official statistics, the average UK domestic electricity consumption in 2018 was 3,831kWh. About 10.5kWh per day. We're bang on average!
There's a limit to how much power we can use while the sun is shining. We can set the dishwasher, tumble dryer, and other appliances to gobble up power during the day. But we use an electric oven in the evening, have lightbulbs and TVs on, and need an electric blanket in winter.
Here's a graph of a typical summer's day usage.
Once the sun comes up, our electrical import drops to virtually nil. Once we hit sunset, our import rises as we turn on games consoles, run a hair dryer, and cook dinner.
So, the next obvious step - get a big battery!
Regular readers will remember that in our last house we we installed a Moixa battery as part of a local energy trial. We're preparing to get an upgraded version installed in our new home.
That should allow us to save our excess energy and then use it overnight. The plan is that the battery will charge during the day - so we can use its electricity overnight. Over summer, it should take our import almost to zero. But how will it fare in winter? Subscribe to the blog to receive updates!
Andy says: