Another great video ❤ we are saving so much on fuel being an all EV household so absolutely agree on that. The driving experience is so much better too. 👍
Great video! 🇨🇦 I bought an EV 4 years ago and save $500 per month on gas. Solar and battery is a great option. It gives you control over your energy costs going into the future.
They are great, I fail to get why there are so many EV haters, they seem to be superior in almost every way except range per fill up and cost. Oh well can’t convince everyone.
Good advice, I'm already on the solar/battery journey, I decided to go for a slightly bigger inverter than was recommended but now wish i had gone for a much bigger capacity. Love your Bernese.
@@JonathanTracey I have 12 x 420w panels, the salesman recommended a 3.6kW inverter, "they like to be worked hard" he said, I went with a 5.5kW inverter which was only another £500 but i do wish i had gone even bigger. Will certainly be adding more panels and batteries later this year when i invest into an EV. Looking forward to seeing Yogi and Bear in future videos.
Yeah they recommend 3.6 as it’s easier for them to do it under G.98 regulations. I really wish they would stop this as it only serves them not the customer
We bought solar at a bad time, late 2022, but we decided to take the plunge. We didn’t want to look back and wish we had started. We are pleased we didn’t wait. I heard this nice story. The wife of the family wanted to get solar, the husband was not keen. He wanted to know how long the payback would be. The person they were talking to, look around their brand new kitchen and asked when they would pay back the money they had spent on it 😊
No battery/solar. Our gas boiler was on its last legs and it was cheaper to get a ASHP than a new gas boiler. It costs about the same to run but now we heat the hole house which we did not with gas.
Yep that makes sense, if your going to have to do something then a ASHP is a better option, later if you do decide to get solar you can make your own power for it, something you will never be able to do with a gas boiler
No solar or battery here either (I do have an EV) and I have a heat pump on order. My gas boiler was fine but as I’m retiring and will be spending more time at home I decided now is a good time for a heat pump. From what Jonathan says, that might be a mistake. I’m mulling over battery and solar, both of which are of course pretty costly up front.
@gerry it’s not a mistake but without solar and batteries it may not save you a lot of money. it will however keep your home warm all day long and it’s much more comfortable than heating it in bursts with gas.
@ thank you for commenting, I was hoping you would. The decision about how much to spend and on what is a bit perplexing and the more research I do the more confusing it gets. I’m on the brink of retirement trying to decide how much of my tax free cash to spend on renewables and how much to keep for future income. Of course without a crystal ball it’s impossible for anyone to be sure about future needs! Based on what I’m hearing, it might make sense to take a closer look at solar.
obviously for every person the decision is going to be different. I’m a few years away from retirement myself, but my plan has always been to be as energy independent as I can at the point of retirement. That way my pension is not controlled by global energy prices. The simplest way I could come up with to do this was enough solar to cover my energy needs. Now this could be quite an expensive proposition but even if you could mitigate half of your energy use with solar and maybe a small battery it would extend your pension pot significantly in later years.
@@JonathanTracey Agreed. I was just slightly puzzled that you seemed to emphasise export at 7.5p in and 15p out (7.5p in the bank) rather than self use 7.5p in and avoid 27p peak rate (saving 19.5p). Exporting rather than using is essentially spending 19.5p to get 7.5p back, unless the export is surplus you don't need for the house of course - the phrasing implies that export was the preferred option? Using IOG rates for my area here. Apologies if I've missed something, happy to be educated. A great video which I have saved for a neighbour who is looking into a smart meter, solar etc.
That was an excellent presentation. I am quite a way down this journey, still to get an EV, but this video will be so helpful to many people who are just about to embark on this journey. Lovely, clear presentation.
I've just pulled the trigger on the install. Waiting on my G99 approval, going straight for 22 panels 10KW and a hybrid inverter with a 10KWh battery, don't have an EV yet but since they're disturbing the wiring I am getting a charge point installed at the same time, that way there's a small VAT saving on getting it done later and only one lot of faff with getting cables etc. through the house.
Sounds great, I wish I had just done as you have and installed the 10kw upfront, would have saved me a lot of money in the long run (Lessons Learned). I hear you with the cabling its quite substantial for a 10kw but once its done you won't ever have to think about it again
My solar (no battery) was £5674. Over the past two years it has generated 8200 kWh. Some of that energy has been exported; some of it has been used. At current rates, the energy that is exported raises 15p. The energy that I use offsets energy that I would otherwise be buying from the grid at 26.27p/kWh. If we assume that 50% of the energy is used by me, the electricity it's making for me is worth £846.03. This represents an annual ROI of 14.9%, and that's tax free, and it's pretty much risk free too. That means I don't have to work as much to maintain my same standard of living. I am predicting that at some time the green levy will be moved from electricity to gas and the price of electricity will come down a bit, so the payback may turn out to be a bit longer than seven years but probably not much. Also I don't really spend a great deal of time thinking about it!
We would like to extend our number of solar PV panels but our current system is FiT funded for another 10 years. Is it possible to extend without losing the FiT?
Yes I have just done this but its a little complicated. You have two options. Install a new system alongside the old one, just keep it running or Get permission from you FIT provider to extend. They will then ask for a final meter reading, you install the new system - get your MCS certificate and send it to them. They will then pro rate the new system based on the capacity of your FIT. eg: if you had 2kw FIT and you rip it out and install a 10kw system. You will get 1/5 of the capacity of the new system. This process took about 3 months to get all the approvals but eventually I got it done
Really good video and info you done here. One think is that one was illegal... Needs planning and cant be 1 meter from the boundry. Plug in solar isnt legal in the uk for balcony solar. You also didnt mention registered inverters that are safe/legal. and lastly we have batteries with a very short roi. And you should compare cheap rate to standard rate saving. Not export as that would take longer. Our figures worked out about 3.5 years on a avg 23kwh battery. 😊
as I said in the video, if you want to install balcony solar then you do need to install it via a fused spur rather than the plug-in version. I fully expect this to change as this is just down to our antiquated electrical code. What kind of batteries do you have? That’s quite a significant amount and such a short payback period
@JonathanTracey I did hear that bit, but that's also incorrect . You have to add protection, if you head to the website I wrote a full article (3 of them) which covers the code and install (hedged away for legal reasons :) ) The code isn't out of date as such, it's actually old, so old that most people never saw the details and the revisions seem to have 'translated' it to confuse today's reader of the newer versions. We get our batteries direct and from like minded manufacturers. Most of the UK is supplied by a supply chain (many hands to feed) which bumps up the price of batteries, inverters and panels. A few years back we smashed the market with the same batteries at 70% less. It causes more problems than you think, as that 'too good to be true' kicks in. I am on the annual battery shake down, and we do have great suppliers but we look for best budget batteries, as well as decent quality batteries and cases. As I have many years of trade, I know the prices and mark ups and costs, so I can drill down for great prices. We get the same EVE,CATL, BYD cells and the same BMS as any other batteries, but we also get non exports. That's High quality batteries that are usually behind closed doors as it were. We rebrand as some of these manufacturers names are fullkings laps Fireebattery and all sorts, some aren't, but you get the idea.lol. Also the business is not for profit. That helps too :)
I'm fortunate to have a bit of land to ground mount the panels. I'll need planning permission, which shouldn't be a problem, but how big should I go? I'm sure the local DNO will limit what I can export as I'm in a rural area and the power network is made up of bits of wet string.
@david I would go as big as you can afford, your DNO will impose an export restriction but depending on how the local area is setup it could be small say 3.6kw and could be large around 10-20kw. Mine started out at 3.6 and since then I have increased it to 10kw.
If you're doing a ground mount, which I highly recommend if possible, definitely look at Bifacial panels, they might cost a little more, but you'll definitely generate a lot more power, especially in overcast days.
Great video JT, simple, concise introduction to the subject where you could easily talk for hours! Solar, battery and Cosy 6 heat pump all installed and running well. Charging the house Tesla Powerwall 3 battery overnight on Intelligent Octopus Go at the same time as the Model Y. I'm looking at a 5 to 6 year payback and free energy for years to come. The gas got disconnected last Friday, new induction hob installed at the weekend. With the new pans needed, payback will be 7 years on the standing charge only. Very happy with it all!
@JonathanTracey it's pretty much as expected, COP of 3.11 since commissioning on the 15th of November. That masks the below 5⁰C outside temp COP of circa 2.8 and above 5⁰C COP of 3.8. I did see an overall COP of 3.25 just before the last cold snap, so I'm anticipating a SCOP of 3.4. Which is fine by me. The main thermostat is in the hall, away from the outside doors. We run the house temperature at 16⁰C overnight and increase to 18⁰C during the day and 20⁰C in the evening. Hot water is heated to 45⁰C 6 nights per week during the Intelligent Octopus Go period and 60⁰C once per week to kill any legionella. We have a 12 year old house with additional cavity wall insulation and we're about to increase our loft insulation to 400mm. All in all, perfectly warm and with the solar and battery, the costs have plummeted.
Sounds brilliant, I think you’ll see that rise with a few more months under your belt. I’m coming up on three months and I’m already starting to see the SCP rise. Like you, I took a spot measurement on the really cold days and you can see the difference. The biggest difference we’ve noticed is just how consistently warm the house is.
We do these as a normal for a lot of homes, even call it the energy trader. Our 23kWh battery only costs £1500 on 'the budget range' adding a decent inverter will cost about the same, but 'token solar' helps if it's cost effective to do so. Thats more a longer term.. You can save £3.00 a day so over priced batteries are not going to work.
@@JonathanTraceyinteresting. Cost wise, how does the solar install work out? I was doing our battery (only battery) and roi was 1.5 years, a smaller battery was .89 year. With some of the install charges/cost being about the same or more.
Batteries aren't necessarily going to be compatible with earlier models, and biggest proportional cost of solar installs are labour and scaffolding. If you can afford it, better to go all in in one go.
Haha. Im. A solar solar installer, scaffold cost our client £65. 😊 They saved 70% on their batteries too.. The install is fairly expensive around 30% of the total cost. Its a bit unfair as it costs more for smaller systems
Its something I am looking at now but the worry is will a car vendor allow its battery to be used for V2G with third party systems, if it kills the battery who is responsible? I suspect the first gen systems will require you to have the car vendors kit in your home.
@@JonathanTracey Here in the U.S. both Ford and General Motors offer expensive proprietary systems for vehicle to home power not compatible with anyone else's solar system or EV. My home solar/battery system is from Enphase and my EV is a Kia EV9. Both manufacturers are awaiting final approval of the ISO 15118 standard before releasing their V2G capable products -- a bidirectional charger in the case of Enphase and a software upgrade in the case of my Kia. This standard will allow any ISO 15118 compatible EV to work with any ISO 15118 compatible bidirectional charger, thus preventing vendor lock in. My Kia has a 99.8 kWh battery, which, in conjunction with my solar output during the daytime, could run my home for the better part of the week. This is important because I live in hurricane country (Florida) where it is not uncommon to lose power for a week or so following a big storm.
I think that as long as the battery discharge rate is low and constant, there shouldn't be a problem with the warranty etcétera. My BYD discharges at 1.6kw V2L so this is peanuts for the battery, which will regularly hit 30/40 in normal driving situations. I only use my car battery as an emergency backup, primarily to heat the hot water tank. She who must be obeyed, must also have plenty of hot water! Lol
Surely there is no benefit in charging a car during excess solar when you would export that solar at 15p then just charge at the 7p overnight? Essentially being paid to charge the car
I'm totally off grid so for me solar is a necessity. I have 8kw of panels, 10kwh of lithium batteries and a 6kw inverter so there is no roi when I compare what I use vs what would that have cost me if I was grid connected. But, I have all mod cons I'm not living like a caveman.
for me my solar system installed in 2013, although the headline price for a 4kw system was £7200 i had a nice tax rebate which took my out of pocket cost down to £2800 which equated to about a 3 year payback time, in 2015 i installed triple glazed windows on the majority of the house @ the average cost of £350 per window, two years later i built a rear single storey extension, which i automatically triple glazed & a year later i triple glazed the porch, the intial triple glazed windows cut down the cost of gas c/h dropped by 68% in the first year, the only window in my house that is not triple glazed is the d/g velux loft window, the main part of my house is solid stone 2 foot plus thick walls, the already existing 2 storey extension (circa 1988) is cavity wall insulated done on a grant 15 years ago £0 cost, my current annual gas/electricity is circa about £900 which is covered by my FITs payments, i am currently saving for a pw3 and newer more powerful & more solar panels of 700w each on 3 different aspects south facing roof/north facing roof & east facing vertical on the gable end, i am expecting this install to be roughly £8-10k which i aim to pay for in full for cash, then it will a heat pump followed by a EV
Sounds like a great plan, I haven’t seen 700w panels before, they must be massive. I don’t envy the installer that’s got to carry those up onto the roof.
Oh dear. Your thoughts and advice re EVs seems somewhat 'dated'. Missing a LOT of the downsides. Then you're 'saving the environment' but taking foreign holidays? Sure, you offer some really good advice but there are glaring inconsistencies. Despite some 'errors' your own opinions were valuable advice, thanks.
The EV market is still in its infancy, much like the smartphone market in 2007. Processes, production, products and recycle programs for EVs will inevitably follow the same path as smartphones.
@@JASONEAVIS The difference being that everyone wanted a smartphone and no Government offered subsidies to help them sell. The current decline in interest for EVs will further stifle side-product manufacturers from taking part and eventually add to the demise of EVs for the foreseeable future.
@@kellyeye7224 I'll have to agree to disagree on that one... The Model Y was the best selling car in the world in 2023 and the 2nd best selling car in 2024 (behind the Corolla, which is less than half the price of a Model Y). The price bracket where we see the Model Y accounts for around 10% of global car sales, guess what will happen when we see Tesla reach a £30k price tag...
@@JASONEAVIS Tesla sold 1.75m cars in 2023 against a global sales market of 92 million so ~2% of global sales. Big woo hoo. The next 10 best selling cars were all ICE. Then another Tesla then another 10 ICE types. I'll tell you what happens when Tesla reaches the £30k bracket - they go bust - like all other EV manufacturers that aren't Chinese will.
I am looking forward to my next car being an EV. Not because we may save much as we don’t travel much, but I want the ability to put that massive car battery back into the house. It would be very handy in the winter.
The only problem is, I’m not seeing any of the car manufacturers rushing to get vehicle to grid into their cars. I suspect they’re worrying about the impact that it might have on the battery pack.
@@JonathanTracey Strangely Octopus have a tariff, Octopus Power Pack: the UK’s first Vehicle-to-Grid tariff. As you say, they have no compatible cars. Is it a hard limitation on cars or can software make them compatible?
It definitely needs the car manufacturers to turn it on, and it will require some hardware in the car to make it work. But I suspect they’re going to be very careful. Imagine in my case I’ve got solaredge inverter and batteries and a myenergi car charger and a Tesla car. Let’s say something ends up damaging the battery pack in the car. Who’s going to pay for it?
@@JonathanTracey Probably you! Seriously, with the size of battery packs in cars, cycling 10 or 20% of the pack would be all that's needed for it to be very useful and (I expect) wouldn't have any real world impact on its longevity. We just need standardisation and a will to get there. We already connect all sorts of chargers to cars and there are very few problems -- if there's something wrong, generally either the car or the charger says no.
Not spending thousands on solar with a battery at my age 75.I can live with my combi gas boiler and 8 radiators.Solar should be free if governments are that keen saving the planet.
I fully understand in your position its a different set of calculations you need to make, however i disagree the government should pay for solar, even if they did everyone would complain that others got it before them. However you could make an argument if they took the cost of a nuclear power station and spent it putting solar on every single council house in the UK you would still have billions left and take a huge strain off the grid.
Each to his/her own of course and you and I, we're the same age, might not live long enough to see our investment get into profit but at least we won't be adding to the horrendous climate change problem that our grandchildren will be facing. Have a think because we cannot take it with us and you may find, as I've found, that green technology e.g. heat pump, has given us a thermally comfortable house day and night, great for old bones, for less than we were paying for central heating oil and boiler servicing. The solar panels and house batteries are helpful too. If you can, try it first. Good luck.
@steve thats something we have noticed, both my wife and I are mid 50s with mild arthritis and its been so much better this year with a constantly warm house
I'm 78 and in the San Francisco area. My 1903 house was renovated adding solar, heat pump heating/cooling, heat pump water heating and, most importantly, insulation. My electricity and gas bill went negative. I still have a gas clothes dryer, but I have never owned a car or needed one. Oh, and I don't (yet) have batteries as I am under NEM 2.0 which allows me to use the grid as my battery. This will eventually go away and batteries keep getting better and cheaper. I can wait. It also helps that I am at the latitude of southern Portugal.
People should ask themselves..”When will I get my money back from that 2 week holiday to Florida?”……( spoiler alert…..NEVER) “When will I get benefit from my £5k of solar?”……EVERY DAY…FOREVER👍
Another great video ❤ we are saving so much on fuel being an all EV household so absolutely agree on that. The driving experience is so much better too. 👍
@pete fully agree there are so many benefits that don’t have a £ value attached but most people want an ROI
Great video! 🇨🇦 I bought an EV 4 years ago and save $500 per month on gas. Solar and battery is a great option. It gives you control over your energy costs going into the future.
They are great, I fail to get why there are so many EV haters, they seem to be superior in almost every way except range per fill up and cost. Oh well can’t convince everyone.
Good advice, I'm already on the solar/battery journey, I decided to go for a slightly bigger inverter than was recommended but now wish i had gone for a much bigger capacity. Love your Bernese.
Hey Warrren we always have buyers regret, what size did you settle on? Yogi and Bear are developing a bit of a fan club :-)
@@JonathanTracey I have 12 x 420w panels, the salesman recommended a 3.6kW inverter, "they like to be worked hard" he said, I went with a 5.5kW inverter which was only another £500 but i do wish i had gone even bigger. Will certainly be adding more panels and batteries later this year when i invest into an EV. Looking forward to seeing Yogi and Bear in future videos.
Yeah they recommend 3.6 as it’s easier for them to do it under G.98 regulations. I really wish they would stop this as it only serves them not the customer
We bought solar at a bad time, late 2022, but we decided to take the plunge. We didn’t want to look back and wish we had started. We are pleased we didn’t wait. I heard this nice story. The wife of the family wanted to get solar, the husband was not keen. He wanted to know how long the payback would be. The person they were talking to, look around their brand new kitchen and asked when they would pay back the money they had spent on it 😊
Yep what’s the ROI on a family holiday or a new TV 😂
No battery/solar. Our gas boiler was on its last legs and it was cheaper to get a ASHP than a new gas boiler. It costs about the same to run but now we heat the hole house which we did not with gas.
Yep that makes sense, if your going to have to do something then a ASHP is a better option, later if you do decide to get solar you can make your own power for it, something you will never be able to do with a gas boiler
No solar or battery here either (I do have an EV) and I have a heat pump on order. My gas boiler was fine but as I’m retiring and will be spending more time at home I decided now is a good time for a heat pump. From what Jonathan says, that might be a mistake. I’m mulling over battery and solar, both of which are of course pretty costly up front.
@gerry it’s not a mistake but without solar and batteries it may not save you a lot of money. it will however keep your home warm all day long and it’s much more comfortable than heating it in bursts with gas.
@ thank you for commenting, I was hoping you would.
The decision about how much to spend and on what is a bit perplexing and the more research I do the more confusing it gets.
I’m on the brink of retirement trying to decide how much of my tax free cash to spend on renewables and how much to keep for future income. Of course without a crystal ball it’s impossible for anyone to be sure about future needs!
Based on what I’m hearing, it might make sense to take a closer look at solar.
obviously for every person the decision is going to be different. I’m a few years away from retirement myself, but my plan has always been to be as energy independent as I can at the point of retirement. That way my pension is not controlled by global energy prices. The simplest way I could come up with to do this was enough solar to cover my energy needs. Now this could be quite an expensive proposition but even if you could mitigate half of your energy use with solar and maybe a small battery it would extend your pension pot significantly in later years.
Surely the main saving with battery isn't import vs export but cheap rate imported vs peak rate not used?
It’s a combination of both, but neither will way will pay for the battery quickly
@@JonathanTracey Agreed. I was just slightly puzzled that you seemed to emphasise export at 7.5p in and 15p out (7.5p in the bank) rather than self use 7.5p in and avoid 27p peak rate (saving 19.5p). Exporting rather than using is essentially spending 19.5p to get 7.5p back, unless the export is surplus you don't need for the house of course - the phrasing implies that export was the preferred option? Using IOG rates for my area here. Apologies if I've missed something, happy to be educated.
A great video which I have saved for a neighbour who is looking into a smart meter, solar etc.
Yeah, I just went back and looked at the video and I could’ve explained it a little better. Still learning how to do this TH-cam thing.😂
That was an excellent presentation. I am quite a way down this journey, still to get an EV, but this video will be so helpful to many people who are just about to embark on this journey. Lovely, clear presentation.
Thank you, I was trying to keep it short but it ran away from me 😂
I've just pulled the trigger on the install. Waiting on my G99 approval, going straight for 22 panels 10KW and a hybrid inverter with a 10KWh battery, don't have an EV yet but since they're disturbing the wiring I am getting a charge point installed at the same time, that way there's a small VAT saving on getting it done later and only one lot of faff with getting cables etc. through the house.
Sounds great, I wish I had just done as you have and installed the 10kw upfront, would have saved me a lot of money in the long run (Lessons Learned). I hear you with the cabling its quite substantial for a 10kw but once its done you won't ever have to think about it again
Thanks, this was really helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Good video with plenty of info , i went with the ecoflow powerstream and delta 2 max with 1.2kw of solar on shed roof and fence panels.
Thanks for the support, love the power stream, have mine hooked to the fence panels
My solar (no battery) was £5674. Over the past two years it has generated 8200 kWh. Some of that energy has been exported; some of it has been used. At current rates, the energy that is exported raises 15p. The energy that I use offsets energy that I would otherwise be buying from the grid at 26.27p/kWh. If we assume that 50% of the energy is used by me, the electricity it's making for me is worth £846.03. This represents an annual ROI of 14.9%, and that's tax free, and it's pretty much risk free too. That means I don't have to work as much to maintain my same standard of living. I am predicting that at some time the green levy will be moved from electricity to gas and the price of electricity will come down a bit, so the payback may turn out to be a bit longer than seven years but probably not much. Also I don't really spend a great deal of time thinking about it!
i don’t either i only think about it twice a day, once for 8 hours and once for 16 hours 😂😂😂
We would like to extend our number of solar PV panels but our current system is FiT funded for another 10 years. Is it possible to extend without losing the FiT?
Yes I have just done this but its a little complicated. You have two options. Install a new system alongside the old one, just keep it running or Get permission from you FIT provider to extend. They will then ask for a final meter reading, you install the new system - get your MCS certificate and send it to them. They will then pro rate the new system based on the capacity of your FIT. eg: if you had 2kw FIT and you rip it out and install a 10kw system. You will get 1/5 of the capacity of the new system. This process took about 3 months to get all the approvals but eventually I got it done
Really good video and info you done here.
One think is that one was illegal... Needs planning and cant be 1 meter from the boundry.
Plug in solar isnt legal in the uk for balcony solar.
You also didnt mention registered inverters that are safe/legal.
and lastly we have batteries with a very short roi. And you should compare cheap rate to standard rate saving. Not export as that would take longer. Our figures worked out about 3.5 years on a avg 23kwh battery.
😊
as I said in the video, if you want to install balcony solar then you do need to install it via a fused spur rather than the plug-in version. I fully expect this to change as this is just down to our antiquated electrical code. What kind of batteries do you have? That’s quite a significant amount and such a short payback period
@JonathanTracey I did hear that bit, but that's also incorrect . You have to add protection, if you head to the website I wrote a full article (3 of them) which covers the code and install (hedged away for legal reasons :) )
The code isn't out of date as such, it's actually old, so old that most people never saw the details and the revisions seem to have 'translated' it to confuse today's reader of the newer versions.
We get our batteries direct and from like minded manufacturers. Most of the UK is supplied by a supply chain (many hands to feed) which bumps up the price of batteries, inverters and panels.
A few years back we smashed the market with the same batteries at 70% less.
It causes more problems than you think, as that 'too good to be true' kicks in.
I am on the annual battery shake down, and we do have great suppliers but we look for best budget batteries, as well as decent quality batteries and cases. As I have many years of trade, I know the prices and mark ups and costs, so I can drill down for great prices.
We get the same EVE,CATL, BYD cells and the same BMS as any other batteries, but we also get non exports. That's High quality batteries that are usually behind closed doors as it were.
We rebrand as some of these manufacturers names are fullkings laps
Fireebattery and all sorts, some aren't, but you get the idea.lol.
Also the business is not for profit. That helps too :)
I'm fortunate to have a bit of land to ground mount the panels. I'll need planning permission, which shouldn't be a problem, but how big should I go? I'm sure the local DNO will limit what I can export as I'm in a rural area and the power network is made up of bits of wet string.
@david I would go as big as you can afford, your DNO will impose an export restriction but depending on how the local area is setup it could be small say 3.6kw and could be large around 10-20kw. Mine started out at 3.6 and since then I have increased it to 10kw.
If you're doing a ground mount, which I highly recommend if possible, definitely look at Bifacial panels, they might cost a little more, but you'll definitely generate a lot more power, especially in overcast days.
Great video JT, simple, concise introduction to the subject where you could easily talk for hours!
Solar, battery and Cosy 6 heat pump all installed and running well.
Charging the house Tesla Powerwall 3 battery overnight on Intelligent Octopus Go at the same time as the Model Y.
I'm looking at a 5 to 6 year payback and free energy for years to come.
The gas got disconnected last Friday, new induction hob installed at the weekend. With the new pans needed, payback will be 7 years on the standing charge only.
Very happy with it all!
sounds good, love to hear more about the cosy6, how’s it been performing.
@JonathanTracey it's pretty much as expected, COP of 3.11 since commissioning on the 15th of November. That masks the below 5⁰C outside temp COP of circa 2.8 and above 5⁰C COP of 3.8.
I did see an overall COP of 3.25 just before the last cold snap, so I'm anticipating a SCOP of 3.4. Which is fine by me.
The main thermostat is in the hall, away from the outside doors. We run the house temperature at 16⁰C overnight and increase to 18⁰C during the day and 20⁰C in the evening.
Hot water is heated to 45⁰C 6 nights per week during the Intelligent Octopus Go period and 60⁰C once per week to kill any legionella.
We have a 12 year old house with additional cavity wall insulation and we're about to increase our loft insulation to 400mm.
All in all, perfectly warm and with the solar and battery, the costs have plummeted.
Sounds brilliant, I think you’ll see that rise with a few more months under your belt. I’m coming up on three months and I’m already starting to see the SCP rise. Like you, I took a spot measurement on the really cold days and you can see the difference. The biggest difference we’ve noticed is just how consistently warm the house is.
I wonder if you're better off getting batteries, rather than PV. Counter intuitive perhaps, but there's some good maths to support it.
the outlay for batteries of sufficient size is quite large, but for a small outlay you can get a 4-6kw array that will pay for itself a lot quicker
We do these as a normal for a lot of homes, even call it the energy trader.
Our 23kWh battery only costs £1500 on 'the budget range' adding a decent inverter will cost about the same, but 'token solar' helps if it's cost effective to do so. Thats more a longer term..
You can save £3.00 a day so over priced batteries are not going to work.
@@JonathanTraceyinteresting.
Cost wise, how does the solar install work out?
I was doing our battery (only battery) and roi was 1.5 years, a smaller battery was .89 year.
With some of the install charges/cost being about the same or more.
All people that install solarpanels makes the price for electricity cheaper for the rest of us - Thank you!
Not sure i follow your logic, The number of people installing solar is increasing every day, can't say I have noticed the price of power going down
@@JonathanTracey That depends on the supply and demand and the situation on the market. When many install solarpanels it will have a impact for sure.
But the market would say otherwise, thousands of panels are installed every week, prices for electricity are going up not down
@ th-cam.com/video/8sWQG68wAZ4/w-d-xo.html
Batteries aren't necessarily going to be compatible with earlier models, and biggest proportional cost of solar installs are labour and scaffolding. If you can afford it, better to go all in in one go.
that’s true but not everyone can afford it, i certainly could not hence why doing it over a few years worked for me.
Haha. Im. A solar solar installer, scaffold cost our client £65. 😊
They saved 70% on their batteries too..
The install is fairly expensive around 30% of the total cost.
Its a bit unfair as it costs more for smaller systems
Batteries must be the better option in a rental property. You can easily dismantle when moving. Not a huge amount of rewiring needed.
Yes if your landlord will allow you to wire them in in the first place
Latest generation EVs will increasingly have vehicle-to-grid V2G capability.
I'm keen to know how this will integrate with a solar & battery setup.
Its something I am looking at now but the worry is will a car vendor allow its battery to be used for V2G with third party systems, if it kills the battery who is responsible? I suspect the first gen systems will require you to have the car vendors kit in your home.
@@JonathanTracey Here in the U.S. both Ford and General Motors offer expensive proprietary systems for vehicle to home power not compatible with anyone else's solar system or EV. My home solar/battery system is from Enphase and my EV is a Kia EV9. Both manufacturers are awaiting final approval of the ISO 15118 standard before releasing their V2G capable products -- a bidirectional charger in the case of Enphase and a software upgrade in the case of my Kia. This standard will allow any ISO 15118 compatible EV to work with any ISO 15118 compatible bidirectional charger, thus preventing vendor lock in.
My Kia has a 99.8 kWh battery, which, in conjunction with my solar output during the daytime, could run my home for the better part of the week. This is important because I live in hurricane country (Florida) where it is not uncommon to lose power for a week or so following a big storm.
I think that as long as the battery discharge rate is low and constant, there shouldn't be a problem with the warranty etcétera. My BYD discharges at 1.6kw V2L so this is peanuts for the battery, which will regularly hit 30/40 in normal driving situations. I only use my car battery as an emergency backup, primarily to heat the hot water tank. She who must be obeyed, must also have plenty of hot water! Lol
Surely there is no benefit in charging a car during excess solar when you would export that solar at 15p then just charge at the 7p overnight? Essentially being paid to charge the car
in most cases no, but not everyone has an export tariff.
I'm totally off grid so for me solar is a necessity. I have 8kw of panels, 10kwh of lithium batteries and a 6kw inverter so there is no roi when I compare what I use vs what would that have cost me if I was grid connected. But, I have all mod cons I'm not living like a caveman.
@matt where are you located, so you get enough sun in winter to keep you running or do you have backup generators?
you missed out hobby and interest as a reason to have solar....
doesn’t that come after you get solar 😂
for me my solar system installed in 2013, although the headline price for a 4kw system was £7200 i had a nice tax rebate which took my out of pocket cost down to £2800 which equated to about a 3 year payback time, in 2015 i installed triple glazed windows on the majority of the house @ the average cost of £350 per window, two years later i built a rear single storey extension, which i automatically triple glazed & a year later i triple glazed the porch, the intial triple glazed windows cut down the cost of gas c/h dropped by 68% in the first year, the only window in my house that is not triple glazed is the d/g velux loft window, the main part of my house is solid stone 2 foot plus thick walls, the already existing 2 storey extension (circa 1988) is cavity wall insulated done on a grant 15 years ago £0 cost, my current annual gas/electricity is circa about £900 which is covered by my FITs payments, i am currently saving for a pw3 and newer more powerful & more solar panels of 700w each on 3 different aspects south facing roof/north facing roof & east facing vertical on the gable end, i am expecting this install to be roughly £8-10k which i aim to pay for in full for cash, then it will a heat pump followed by a EV
Sounds like a great plan, I haven’t seen 700w panels before, they must be massive. I don’t envy the installer that’s got to carry those up onto the roof.
Oh dear. Your thoughts and advice re EVs seems somewhat 'dated'. Missing a LOT of the downsides. Then you're 'saving the environment' but taking foreign holidays? Sure, you offer some really good advice but there are glaring inconsistencies. Despite some 'errors' your own opinions were valuable advice, thanks.
I said these are my opinions. You can take them or leave them.😂
The EV market is still in its infancy, much like the smartphone market in 2007.
Processes, production, products and recycle programs for EVs will inevitably follow the same path as smartphones.
@@JASONEAVIS The difference being that everyone wanted a smartphone and no Government offered subsidies to help them sell. The current decline in interest for EVs will further stifle side-product manufacturers from taking part and eventually add to the demise of EVs for the foreseeable future.
@@kellyeye7224 I'll have to agree to disagree on that one... The Model Y was the best selling car in the world in 2023 and the 2nd best selling car in 2024 (behind the Corolla, which is less than half the price of a Model Y). The price bracket where we see the Model Y accounts for around 10% of global car sales, guess what will happen when we see Tesla reach a £30k price tag...
@@JASONEAVIS Tesla sold 1.75m cars in 2023 against a global sales market of 92 million so ~2% of global sales. Big woo hoo. The next 10 best selling cars were all ICE. Then another Tesla then another 10 ICE types. I'll tell you what happens when Tesla reaches the £30k bracket - they go bust - like all other EV manufacturers that aren't Chinese will.
I am looking forward to my next car being an EV. Not because we may save much as we don’t travel much, but I want the ability to put that massive car battery back into the house. It would be very handy in the winter.
The only problem is, I’m not seeing any of the car manufacturers rushing to get vehicle to grid into their cars. I suspect they’re worrying about the impact that it might have on the battery pack.
@@JonathanTracey Strangely Octopus have a tariff, Octopus Power Pack: the UK’s first Vehicle-to-Grid tariff. As you say, they have no compatible cars. Is it a hard limitation on cars or can software make them compatible?
It definitely needs the car manufacturers to turn it on, and it will require some hardware in the car to make it work. But I suspect they’re going to be very careful. Imagine in my case I’ve got solaredge inverter and batteries and a myenergi car charger and a Tesla car. Let’s say something ends up damaging the battery pack in the car. Who’s going to pay for it?
@@JonathanTracey Probably you! Seriously, with the size of battery packs in cars, cycling 10 or 20% of the pack would be all that's needed for it to be very useful and (I expect) wouldn't have any real world impact on its longevity. We just need standardisation and a will to get there. We already connect all sorts of chargers to cars and there are very few problems -- if there's something wrong, generally either the car or the charger says no.
Not spending thousands on solar with a battery at my age 75.I can live with my combi gas boiler and 8 radiators.Solar should be free if governments are that keen saving the planet.
I fully understand in your position its a different set of calculations you need to make, however i disagree the government should pay for solar, even if they did everyone would complain that others got it before them. However you could make an argument if they took the cost of a nuclear power station and spent it putting solar on every single council house in the UK you would still have billions left and take a huge strain off the grid.
Each to his/her own of course and you and I, we're the same age, might not live long enough to see our investment get into profit but at least we won't be adding to the horrendous climate change problem that our grandchildren will be facing. Have a think because we cannot take it with us and you may find, as I've found, that green technology e.g. heat pump, has given us a thermally comfortable house day and night, great for old bones, for less than we were paying for central heating oil and boiler servicing. The solar panels and house batteries are helpful too. If you can, try it first. Good luck.
@steve thats something we have noticed, both my wife and I are mid 50s with mild arthritis and its been so much better this year with a constantly warm house
I'm 78 and in the San Francisco area. My 1903 house was renovated adding solar, heat pump heating/cooling, heat pump water heating and, most importantly, insulation. My electricity and gas bill went negative. I still have a gas clothes dryer, but I have never owned a car or needed one. Oh, and I don't (yet) have batteries as I am under NEM 2.0 which allows me to use the grid as my battery. This will eventually go away and batteries keep getting better and cheaper. I can wait. It also helps that I am at the latitude of southern Portugal.
@daniel is the NEM 2.0 a symetrical tariff? basically you get paid the same for power you generate as it costs to buy?
People should ask themselves..”When will I get my money back from that 2 week holiday to Florida?”……( spoiler alert…..NEVER)
“When will I get benefit from my £5k of solar?”……EVERY DAY…FOREVER👍
with our common sense hats on that's absolutely what shoudl happen, but it never does, no ROI calculations on a new kitchen or a boat purchase