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Rank 4
Cloudliner79
Rank 4
April 1, 2026
Solved

12 Panel Solar plus 5.2kWh battery plus 11kWh ASHP - Could we be off grid for 3 seasons?

  • April 1, 2026
  • 13 replies
  • 147 views

If I win the lottery and pay OVO £8700 for a 12 panel PV Solar array on my large 25 degree pitched south facing roof plus a 5.2kWh storage battery in my integral garage plus an estimated £5000 for an 11kWh ASHP (after £7500 govt grant) plus an estimated £5000 for new radiators and hot water cylinder, can I expect to be effectively self sufficient during 9 months of the year? 

    Best answer by juliamc

    At last an attempt to show how much of our solar covers our use. The legend isn’t very clear but the yellow area shows our export in kWh and the red area shows our import. As stated earlier we save solar to the battery, also the car during the summer months, then export the rest. We buy at the night rate of 7p per kWh and last year we’re selling at 15p. 
    This year we’ll get 12p per kWh. This will probably reduce over the next few years as solar becomes more prevalent (therefore in my opinion no reason to put solar farms on green belt farmland).

    However, I hope the graph is of interest. 

     

    13 replies

    Show previous replies
    juliamc
    Rank 20
    juliamc
    Rank 20
    April 15, 2026

    We just try to use as much as possible of the solar and anything we can export is a bonus. Quite a big bonus now but people do talk about a scenario of having to pay to export if there’s too much on the grid. Not the case yet but maybe one day !

    Peter E
    Super User
    Peter ESuper User
    Super User
    April 15, 2026

    You’ll never have to pay for export because the government says that you must be paid for solar export** but rates could drop. The other thing is fixed rates may go in favour of variable rates, dropping to low vaues during the solar peak but rising to high values in the peak. This will incentivise time shifting (with a battery) of solar into the peak where it would be in demand. More solar farms are incorporating battery storage for that very reason.

     

    Peter

     

    **The government states that SEG must be offered and a payment must be made (for suppliers over a certain size) although some suppliers only offer 1p/unit.

    Reducing my yearly fossil fuel usage with an EV (-900 litres petrol), A2AHP (-8,700 kWh gas) and Timed Immersion heater (-1,500 kWh gas)
      juliamc
      Rank 20
      juliamc
      Rank 20
      April 15, 2026

      Ah good - thanks 👍🏻 that’s a relief !! And if we all had batteries those peaks could be nicely ironed out. 

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