Should I invest in solar PV panels, a home energy storage battery... or both?

@Jeffus loop looks impressive but expectations may need to be tempered because in reality production is very lumpy and may not match the generic power calculations.

Two successive days in July ie mid summer show very different stories.

Our 5th January had heavy cloud with the sun suddenly breaking through in the morning. 

Our 6th January had almost nothing generated. 

Good thread this one, I feel like storage+solar needs more consideration though... @Transparent @dnshorto @malc_smith @Graham110011 @Sean T @JoeC @f0rtune and @osborner have this green tech combo. Would any of you ever recommend one without the other? 

We’re running (or we’re about to start) a trial in the Manchester area involving compatible heat pumps with a type of use tariff. Please note that for any future trial or proposition, your heat pump will need to be IoT enabled. Robin Abraham referenced this in our last online event, the transcript of which we hope to publish in the coming weeks.

We don’t have much information about this trial yet, @hydrosam but I’ll make sure to share anything with you when I see it!    

It’s a shame the heat pumps installed last year under our trial weren’t IoT enabled, seems like another trick missed there. 

Has OVO published a list of compatible IoT heat pump configurations/equipment ?

Or is this a specific piece of equipment that OVO will provide or sell?

@Tim_OVO 

What does IoT mean please ?

IoT - Internet of Things. It's connecting stuff that isn't a "computer" to other things via the internet. Think of internet connected fridges that order more cheese when you've eaten it all.

Or a heat pump that feeds data to your electricity provider.

Keep in mind that you also need an extra inverter to charge the battery. There are some batteries that have their own inverter integrated, but you might be better off buying several modular batteries (how many depends on how much storage capacity you need) and a single charger. In most cases, this is the cheaper option. Also, having one inverter for each battery means more devices that are prone to failure.

Hi I have just had Tesla storage battery fitted.. How it work you have 13.5 kWh battery. You can charge from solar or the grid. Grid charging can be set to charge at cheap times. If you have power cut battery still run house. You can fit up to 10 batteries 135kwh.  The only problem is cost my single powerwall 2 cost £9800 to fit.

Another thread find and I feel the option of another debrief to be penned. 
We have had solar PV since 2009 which paid back in 9 years (without counting lower energy costs). Last year we added battery storage and I’ve been experimenting with various uses to maximise the benefit and also test the reduction of peak time use. 
It works well, once you’ve got over a few niggles as there are very few people who seem to be fully conversant with an install, setup and operational control, coupled with the difference with active, reactive power and flows into and out of the grid as needed. We’re also looking into an input from a community wind farm to add another feed - although once in place I might have to move to a wind farm partner supply. 

I forgot I'd started this thread.

We now have solar PV and a battery, and I'm very pleased with our choices so far.

We have 5.2kW of panels split east/west. They give a good spread of generation during the day and I'm expecting that to improve a lot during the summer as we should get electricity produced well into the evenings. They run into a hybrid inverter which also connects to a 6.5kWh battery. I pondered over the size of battery for some time because they're expensive and there's a point at which the cost can't be justified. So far the battery capacity seems okay. Even in the sunny days at the end of September the battery allowed us to use almost 100% of our generated electricity, although that will change in the summer.

Having seen how much other people have been paying for solar panels recently, our system was a complete bargain. The solar PV market has gone crazy with high demand and rising prices. It's made it a lot harder to recommend them to friends and family.