Don’t miss out on solar energy

NailsworthCAN member Richard shares his experience of using solar energy to power his home and electric car.

If you can afford it in these straightened times - and if you’ve got a suitable site at your home - get some solar panels. They are brilliant. You can do so much more with them now than just running your appliances and lights when the sun shines.

Now is the right time to think about it because demand is high and you’ll probably have to wait a few months to get them fitted. You don’t have to put them on your roof either. If you’ve got an open, sunlit bank or space you can mount them on a metal frame – we hung 10 panels off the front of our garden terrace and you wouldn’t know they are there from the house.

You can heat your water as well as run utilities and these days, if you’ve got an electric car, well you are just quids in. You can plug in and use it as a battery store, soak up all the excess and put sunshine in your tank. This really is a win-win for your pocket and for the environment.

We signed up for the Octopus Go dual energy tariff, designed specifically to reward electric car use. They offer cheap electricity between 12.30 and 4.30am to charge the battery at a much cheaper rate.

To do this we had a Zappi electric vehicle charger installed which means we can leave the car connected and it only charges either during sunny spells or during the cheap rate period at night. This also helps spread the load away from peak grid times. You get an app for your phone that allows you to prioritise where the power goes during the day: to your utilities, your hot water or your car. Once your first priority is topped up the power will automatically switch to the next, and then the next. You can juggle these priorities simply on your phone from anywhere in the country to get optimum use during the day.

The only real gap in our coverage is the early evening round of cooking and family use - quite heavy on energy just as the levels are dropping from the panels.

The answer to this is a battery store. Still quite expensive, but like everything solar, will become cheaper as production increases.  Using a battery you can save energy from peak production during the day and use it in the evening and at night.  You can also fill the battery on a cheap night rate and use it during the day when energy costs would be high. If you get the battery installed as part of the initial fit, VAT does not apply.

Some car models now allow you to use the car battery itself as a store, meaning you can fuel your home in the same way from energy stored from the sun or at a cheap night rate. Some energy companies are also pioneering this usage to help spread energy consumption across the grid. Called V2H and V2G, both these technologies are still in their infancy.

There is so much potential for solar power so why not take the first steps?

I’m no expert, but happy to talk to anyone who’s thinking of giving it a go.

Just send an email to Richard.burt54@gmail.com or text me on 07970 713032. I’m always happy to talk.

Richard Burt
Theescombe Hill