Interested to see the take up of plug in solar though and how much of a difference that may make to renters - but again, that up front investment is still a hurdle that a lot won’t be able to cross.
We did - at our new (high insulation) new build (air heat pump, no gas)..
Installed about 2 yrs ago - 9 panels on a steep, south-facing garage roof, with hybrid-inverter + 13.5kW / Hr battery. This charges overnight at 7p / kW (peak price is 29p) - as we have a PHEV car - Octopus is our provider.
For the last couple of days, the battery has survived on powering the house until the charge window of 2330 - 0530 hrs. Obviously, this has been topped up during the day by the bright light in the sky - with some limited output exported back to the grid - battery is fully charged now & the panels are pushing 3.0 kW to the grid. 
I do have the option to discharge the battery to the grid later each evening (15p / kW export) & then re-charge it at the 7p /kW = 8p / kW “profit” but that’s a faff to control - & also runs another full battery charge cycle. The export will hopefully pay the standing charges in the sunnier months & also give some credit towards our overall bill.
Mrs J has been “making hay while the sun shines” & thrown in several extra washing machine loads too (as with the dishwasher, we normally run this overnight = cheaper rate). We also have fitted air conditioning to our large kitchen / living room - the thermal efficiency of the house is too good! At least when it ‘s sunny / hot, the sun is “paying” for the AC to be run! 
For the last 2 yrs, I’ve run an an energy comparison with our next door neighbour (identical property & same occupancy of 3 adults); we have been about half their energy use. That include regular car charging of course - & separately, we save a fair bit on petrol with the PHEV car.
Octopus now do an separate air heat pump tariff, which might be useful to those who have such a pump & don’t have solar.
We originally calculated the pay-back period as about 8 yrs, but considering the “grey” savings (car fuel, etc), it might well drop to 6 yrs.
3 Likes
We really need to move the narrative from ‘green energy’ to ‘energy independence’. The right wing hate the idea of ‘green energy’ because it’s woke. Frankly the environment is only 1 benefit, and the independence/benefit that more solar, wind and battery storage would give us is massive.
A move away from fossil fuels isn’t just for the wider good of the planet, it’s for the economic benefit of the country too.
2 Likes
i am these people.
PV system, 9Kwh Battery and ASHP in place.
I also drove (my wife’s) EV to work this morning as she’s not using it today…
as i type this, i can look at my app and can see that
so far the PV system has generated 17kWh
my battery has been topped up having been use over night,
the PV system is generating 2.441kW
the house is using 0.539kW and so the remaining 1.9kW is being sent back to the grid with a cost advantage for me
ok so Octopus are only paying me £0.12/unit but today I have exported 12.06 kWh so that is £1.45 generated today (so far).
Sunday, with the sun shining and no need to use the car, rather than send excess to the grid, we plugged in the car and used the excess PV to the charge the EV - so my commute today is effectively “free”
but this is off topic of petrol and diesel
i am happy to continue this discussion in a new topic or via PM
edit to add:
likewise.
the PV system we have has reduced our energy bill by £50/month - or £600/year.
add on to that ~£350 we gain from selling excess back to the grid and that is £1000/year
basic maths shows a £10k investment is 10 year payback.
but there are “grey” savings too.
one of the two car fleet is EV - that saved me £50/month in petrol which hasn’t been transferred to the energy bill
while it can cost £2.50 to charge it overnight* now the orb is glowing in the sky again, if home we’ll be charging it via PV as and when we can.
We’ve only had our ASHP for 9 months, but of those 9 months, that includes the autumn and winter and have still been able to reduce our energy bill by £30/month
*and that is for 120miles range. As a comparison while its ~£1.70litre for petrol, £2.50 of petrol is 1.5litres for easy maths.
a car achieving 45mpg, using 1.5 litres will cover ~15miles
2 Likes
I’m looking seriously at car buying now. I’m super tempted by a Duster or Bigster, as they do a bi-fuel/hybrid petrol/LPG. The price of LPG seems to be incredibly stable, so will be pretty cheap to run on that! Plus you can fill the petrol and LPG tank and get a silly range using up both. Plus it’s decent 4x4. And cheap AF compared to other options!
I’ve been looking at bi-fuel options for replacing my beancan. Unfortunately, I’ve seen the number of places offering LPG slowly decline - only two available now in our local town; and one of them has put in a planning application to remove the LPG tanks and replace with more EV charging points (and a massive battery store by the look of the plans!!!).
There still seems to be a fair few places out here with LPG, and with Dacia pushing the LPG option if you want 4x4, and Dacia being so highly sold out here, I imagine the number might actually increase, not decline.
It’s certainly appealing given it’s literally half the price, and only about 10% more ‘inefficient’, so I great net-saving.
Plus I can buy a brand new top spec (by Dacia standards…) car for 30k instead of 60k.
I do worry what the little 1.2L engine is like on a long 8+ hour drive though?
Empty to full, I hit the £120 cap before I hit the pump shuts off
LPG is much more common abroad than here.