Are solar panels & heat pumps worth installing? Here's what I've learnt after several years of use.
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- I installed 12kW of solar panels to help power our farm house that's heated by a ground source heat pump. Was it all worth the effort and what did it cost and did it save us any money?
My main takeaway from this is what a fabulous property Harry has! An underfloor heated garage has become my new measure of whether I 'make it' in life 😅
I thought he'd be in London today moaning about being over taxed.
I thought heated garages were crazy when I heard of them in the USA. But then I realised they're in the snow belt and it means the car is ready to go, with oils etc. warmed up a tad too.
I can see why he needs a tax break.
Considering how much time he spends in his garage he requires underfloor heating!
Yeh, poor Harry the hobby farmer.
You got it in one. Balance. A combination of solar, wind and battery. Here in Australia we need the energy to run our aircon in summer. You would think that with all our sun we would have excess energy, but unfortunately as the panels heat up and the ambient temps reach 30 plus C the panel efficiency falls off. The panels don't like a huge amount of heat. Bottom line, it is our houses that are the main users of energy, we need to get our homes better insulated. Our vehicles do not use the amount of energy our houses do. We use trees and hedges and climber vines on the outside to stop the heat and the shade from the trees to protect the home. My friends at Lightning Ridge have their homes underground and experience a stable temp all year round while the outside temps in summer get into the 40C plus. Great video Harry and so different from what we experience in Oz.
Classic pic of Stanley sunbathing on his lilo.
I watch other farm channels and I find they're always somewhat 'cagey' when it comes to numbers (especially £££ or $$$ for the US channels I watch). By far one of the best things about Harry - both for his Farm and Garage channels - is that he's totally transparent about his numbers. This gives what is already such an enjoyable and informative channel(s) so much credibility.
Harry, you don't have to 'open the kimono', but it's just one of those things which makes your channel(s) the best in their field on RUclips. Thank you.
I wait for this review every year. We are currently going through the ASHP/Solar/Wind Turbine/Battery journey. We have a small 18th Century cottage on the flat fields in Lincolnshire, no neighbours and high winds. Last year we obtained a grant to get internal wall insulation and an air source heat pump. The insulation made one heck of a difference - before this we only had a log burner!
They installed 8KW of solar, we upgraded the inverter to a 12KW, 3-phase hybrid so we can do batteries too. I bought 6 batteries giving 30KW/h of storage. We also have another 10KW of panels waiting to go up on the barn (delayed due to asbestos on the roof). I upgraded my supply from the grid to 300KW 3-phase and the DNO has granted 20KW/h export, with 30KW PV.
Batteries - we got these because the main use is to charge them up at night on 7p KW/h and then to replay this energy the next day so we don't use peak electric at 25p KW/h.
Wind turbine not fitted yet but it is a 2KW and will be very busy, charging the batteries at night when there is no solar.
What we found so far: December, the 16KW ASHP was killing us for electric use. Barely heats the house and the bill for December alone was £350. The newly installed batteries only worked for two weeks as I didn't realise they stop working at less than 5 degrees C so we lost their benefit for half of December. I will build an enclosure for next year with a frost heater to remedy this!
Our plan is to export really heavy in the summer months, then bank that credit and use it in the winter months. The air source heat pump is VERY EXPENSIVE to run so we are depending on making as much export as we can when the sun is shining. Really enjoyed this report Harry. Look forwards to seeing how you get on next year and I hope to update this if it is useful to your subscribers.
Two things:
The proportions and details on the house are just superb. It really is beautiful.
Solar: I have a tiddly little 2.7KW system together with 15KWh of Pylontech storage. In the summer the system pretty much covers all of my local driving, and all house use (inc hot water) for one person.
Winter output is as quoted: sod all, often not enough to run the inverter. However, because of the storage element I still buy all
of my winter power off-peak (12p) and use it through the day.
I also have power-cut protection so the house can run pretty normally (lights, TV, freezer, WiFi) for a day or so just as long as I don't use it for heat: fan heaters / hot water etc. As I have a wood burner, this isn't an issue.
Yeh, farm subsidies suck don't they?
Always worth watching, thank you. The best thing is that you always provide clear evidence of what you are talking about, thank you.
Then why are the panels mounted at such a low angle
Fascinating! This architect would love a video on the building of your house - but I concede that's likely outside the interest of your core viewers. I really appreciate your data-driven analysis balanced with a healthy dose of reality (electric range offsetting the heat pump, etc.) Well done!
LOL Stanley chillin in the pool.... "Hazza get that pool heating sorted for the summer!" 🐕😂
Am pretty impressed that Harry really was quite an early adopter of these technologies, certainly by UK standards. 🎉
Useful video. We put 10kw solar on the roof and are very happy with it. One thing I’d add - at 15p / kWh feed in from octopus over summer we are being paid to generate, and this can be used to pay winter bills. Over a year we generate more than we use - including running 2 electric cars.
There is no way you run your electric cars from your solar panels, as much as you kid yourself.
@@stanleyplankWhy not? You haven't asked how many miles they average in the cars each day. If it's the UK average they'd easily do it
I have a 8.8kw solar system that on average produces 7.7kwh and my EV has a 77kwh battery so “if” it was on 0 which I never go below 20% or over 80% as a rule it would take 10 hours on a level 2“to go from 0% to 100%
Harry's installation has panels set at a very low angle, which maximizes summer output but lowers winter output. A typical roof installation will result in panels set at a higher angle. A good system installer should communicate the angle tradeoffs to the customer before installaton.
Just what I was thinking. Very poor of the installer not explain that with such a shallow angle there will be very low production in the winter. Of course if you had a steeper angle then you would need them further apart. But this should have been explained to Harry when he ordered the system.
I have two insulations of solar panels, the one you saw in the video and the other installation is on a roof up at the farm, which are at a much steeper angle. There is very little difference in output between the two, they are just as bad in the winter as the ground installed panels.
Shame the ground mounted panels weren’t mounted on a simple manually adjustable frame to change the angle during the year. Also I assume the installer recommended optimisers due to the shading issue?
Some larger field installations are mounted on stands that change the angle automatically using motors on their stands. They use solar light sensors to detect the most efficient angle for the current time, and they are able to go to a steep angle during snow storms and such to prevent snow build-up automatically as well.
Pretty cool tech, but in the end, like Harry mentioned, the sun just doesn't have the output during the winter months (even if the panels are directly facing the sun) for it to make much sense farther away from the equator.
Tilt doesnt make as much difference as you might expect. Even at 45 degree off from optimum incidence the panel will still deliver about 90%
Batteries would save you a fortune!
Depending on your tariff and system sizing, in summer you could charge from solar and run off the batteries overnight, reducing your grid draw to zero for half the year. In winter you fill the battery on cheap rate electricity overnight at 7p/kWh and run the house in it during the day, reducing your peak rate grid demand to zero.
We have an all-electric 147sqm Passivhaus with 13.8kWp of solar and 27kWh of batteries, EV (12k miles/year), etc and the system generates a monthly income of about £50 or £600 per year. So both net-zero and cash positive 🌞💰
That income is going to stop soon with the cuts in capacity that the Net Zero targets are implementing. Oh well there's your subsidy gone!
More battery contamination
It's a big investment to save 10p/kwh, vs exporting at 15p/kwh. I'm not sure the maths are as clear as you suggest, particularly if you're already making use of solar by putting into an EV
Well said. If you cant sell some of your power to the grid, the whole system will never pay back itself. In Greece where I am you practically can't sell to the grid.
Also it pays to do this on a vacation or weekend home.
@@edc1569 The system isn't export, it's generation, unless the rules have changed? My FIT doesn't care how much I use, I'm deemed to have expoerted my generation.
Back in the day, our old and draughty house (ice inside the winows in the depth of winter) depended very heavily on a phurnacite-fuelled Aga. It served us well during the power strikes in the 70s and provided a supply of hot water and ash for de-icing the path. It was turned off in summer.
I hadn't realised your house was a relatively new build, as it blends in well with the surroundings due to the traditional stone cladding.
Absolutely brilliant ! I have been watching £Harry,s Garage for years in a house I built with passiv haus standards , 11.2kw off grid solar so we must be related ! Being Off grid meant zero limitations and POCO scrutiny , we live entirely on solar power using 3x 10kw lifepo4 batteries . There is no grid so we run the house to maximise the solar output . I looked at wind generation and was put off by the opinions of sailors who complained about the noise and vibration and of course running down wind produces very low output . Well done Harry for getting into this in its early days , as you say technology has improved dramatically since your install in 2006 , particularly battery tech . A current installation would produce more power at a lower cost . I hope this video inspires those who have been interested is solar and furthers its use .
You cant be off grid, at best you'll generate 94-95% of your needs and there will be 2-3 days a year when you'll run out. For the missing 5-6%, you need a diesel generator (powered by winter fuel) and you can have a hybrid heat pump/diesel burner to heat your home.
I own a solar and renewables business in the south west- 89w is much lower than it should be for a 12kw system in daylight.
Either there’s a fault in the system (how far away is the inverter?) or more likely, the whole system is being brought down by the back row.
You may be able to improve generation by having someone do proper shade calculations and adjusting the string layout (the order in which panels are joined together). Or even removing the back row from the system during low sun angle months.
Excellent overview of the technology and practicalities. Great job, thank you.
My well insulated and newly renovated Southeast Virginia home (2900 SF) uses about 11,500 KWH annually. Everything is electric, with the exception of a gas-driven tankless water heater. In 2022, I installed a grid-connected, roof-top system consisting of twenty seven 400 watt Q-cell panels, each with its own micro-inverter to optimize output in the face of shading issues present on the property. Yes, shading will negatively impact output and, yes, production levels fall way back in winter months. That said, and despite those problems, the solar array covered about 75% of my annual electrical usage. When I add additional credits provided by the local power company, my annual cost for electricity runs about $500 total. There are many variables that go into projecting the feasibility of a solar array. For me, it was a definite yes.
This picture of your house in winter has been very impressive too - no heat leaks whatsever at roof, walls windows as far as I can see, thank you for showing us this too! (It looks to me you did a phantastic job with the house as well!)
Great content and explanation Harry, I’ve learned the same lesson last year regards the solar on the shading and also the winter output.
By the way, excellent video and thank you for sharing. This is pretty much my dream scenario of how I would have my house setup, and you just talked me through it, in detail, and it is working well for you, to boot! Good on you, sir!
Fascinating and because you just do the facts really worthwhile.
Absolutely fascinating and the key point is that you are able to find ways to use what you generate in the round. I have a modest SW facing roof unit established in late 2022 with a 3.6kW rectifier and there is no doubt if you have panels the way you use electricity changes automatically. A neighbour who has the old FIT told be beforehand you almost sub-consciously put the washing machine on when it is sunny and it is true.! Also I have a 900W electric kettle that makes best use of any generation going. I export what I don't use and in summer this can be 25-28 times what I use off the grid and that is energy that does not have to be generated by gas. One point to note associated with the shading comments is that convective cloud can really knock generation on the head and the "best" output in the round can be in later Spring when the air can still be crystal clear. A good clear day in winter can generate a worthwhile output but you really have to use it if you can.
Great Video Mr M. It would be very interesting to see what The Heat Geek, Adam has to say about your installation...Hope you can get in touch with him, and make a further video. Cheers
Thank you Mr. Metcalfe, your insight and analysis is, yet again, very interesting and informative… see you at the garage!
🇨🇦♥️🇬🇧
Thank you Harry for testing this stuff out so that we poor people don't have to.... 👍😎
Very interesting to hear your real-world experience, thank you! Another + of your ground installation is that you can orientate the panels any way you need to and aren't constrained by the orientation of an existing roof, etc.
Great vid full of info and 18 years of experience! I always appreciate that you go into real numbers, this time it's kWh and pounds and pennies but also all the detail on the farm and garage vids.
One comment on the AGA: The AGA will use straight electricity, a CoP of 1, whereas the heatpump will be at >3. So it can never be as efficient as a heat pump for heating, but the kitchen will certaintly be warmer as your underfloor heating can't pump out high temperatures. I get it though, it's a luxury and your cotswold farmhouse wouldn't be the same without, but no chance it saves you any money or energy.
Good insight to the variable ways to power and heat your Dwelling. Lovely House ,and loved to see the dark lama in the background, Its a pity the sky's are so hazy these days.
Straight to the comments on this one, and wasn't disappointed 😂
Hat's off Harry. I also have a big Cotswold's house. Mine's old and has single glazed windows which we're not allowed to change. It costs a fortune for gas, electricity and wood-burner firewood each year.
You could suggest mounting a modern low transmission glass on the inside.
I realise that it would take much more space due to shading but in winter the panel output would be much greater if the panels were perpendicular to the low sun angle. Some people adjust the panel angle to maximise output depending on the sun's angle throughout the year.
Then you need more space to space the panels out due to shade of the panels.
Agreed. Though it doesn't look like Harry is short of space
Such an interesting video. I thought you were bonkers trying to heat that old house of yours solely with an air source heat pump! You'd never know that it's a new build.
I was faced with the dilemma of if to move only to electricity and also fit solar four years ago when my gas boiler was at end of life. My neighbour had moved away from gas and installed solar & batteries on his identical 1970 house a couple of years previously. He had been disappointed with its performance despite the house being perfectly south facing and unshaded as he was still using significant electricity from the grid in winter. He had it checked by an independent energy consultancy and they confirmed that the system was competently designed and installed. Because of this and due to an inherent fear of the unknown, I decided to update my system more conventionally and install a modern, slightly smaller gas boiler, fit treble glazed windows and add more insulation. The cost was about 10% more than my neighbour spent. In the three years since the work was done my gas consumption has fallen by an average of 64-66% per year, which is way better than I expected and my combined gas/electricity bills are slightly less than my neighbours electricity bill. I am happy that I didn't go for the solar.
@Pesmog exactly right, a lot of people fit solar, etc, but forget the basics. My own property is or rather was a draughty 1950s cottage. Timber double glazed windows that did not seal well.
Replacing the window catches and custom-made secondry glazing with thermal glass made a huge difference, as did extra loft insulation.
I have a 20 year old inefficient oil combi boiler boiler and two log burners.
Depending on oil prices, despite the old boiler my heating cost is usually around £600 a year. The house is 2 bedroom but large rooms and high ceilings.
House needs good thermal insulation - at least 10 cm of styrofoam or mineral wool and triple glazed windows.
This South facing fixation is rubbish - you actually get a better result from East South & West. That allows you to capture ANY sunshine during the day. We have 11 panels on 3 facings - friends have 10 on the South only. We get double the power they do.
Would be interesting to know if he got all of the insulation done that you did. I've heard heat pumps do not like poorly insulated houses at all; the equivalent to leaving your freezer door open then complaining everything has melted.
Very, very interesting Harry and beautifully explained as always.
Thanks for the great review and for persisting when its not easy. Here in the USA my two year old building has 444 solar panels on the roof. We are on a net billing plan whereby we sell all of the power we generate to our utility and buy what we consume from them. We have two meters. In summer we produce about five times what we use and bank that for use in winter where we fall short. Overall we are producing in excess on an annual basis and earning a cash credit. So no batteries expense or needed.
Interesting, I have an old 4Kw system on the roof of my barn conversion - same latitude as you. In Dec I got 70 KWh and in June 445 KWh. I think the steeper angle of my panels makes a big difference over winter.
@@CharlesT83 good point, now you mention it the panels here seem too flat for efficient winter usage. Maybe it’s better to maximise the angle for winter and accept a trade off in summer when there’s an excess.
Steeper angle means more shading unless the panels are widely spaced (so less panels). Also watch out for wind which can damage steep panels. Those supports on Harry's panels don't look as though they will be OK in wind.
I have a 5,5kw system in the Netherlands so to the south a little bit. It did 45kwh in December and 821 in June. The angle is pretty steep so it should be good for winter.
@@andrewhurstcars He can not afford that steeper angle at that side cause that would throw shadows on the other rows behind the first one. Nothing would have been won. You need a much bigger or deeper field for that if you wanna harvest more from a steeper angle. If I remember right we are talking about 3,5 the depth to avoid a shadow.
Great video, I like most really struggle to heat our swimming pool and garage
Yes, I too find it dastardly difficult to heat my swimming pool.
Learnt a lot from your excellent explanation.
Your heat pump is clever.You have your own digger so you dug up the soil to put extra tubing underground and it heats up the house and the garages via underfloor heating.I like the idea of having windmills and solar panels as the windmills work during the night,they do not require light just wind.Harry has it down to a tee,if too much energy is made it is syphoned off to heat the outdoor swimming pool so there is minimum wastage and in the future electricity can be sold to the electicity company at .15 pence a kilowatt.Very sensible.
Thanks Harry, you did it so we don't have to. Hope it won't be to excessive when it all has to be replaced.
Very interesting. Thank you for the video, Harry.
Thank you Mr. Harry, this tells a lot learnt so much.
Harry, those panels need to be raised up onto a frame / pergola. Significantly reduced shading and you'll get early and late sun, which you clearly don't get at the moment. It will also create a nice space below the panels. Ideally you should also make the panels tiltable, to get the best possible output in the winter.
It's the Cotswolds, I very much doubt they would get permission.
on two solar farms near me the leading edge of the panels are 600mm from the field surface
@@ogribiker8535would they need PP for a ‘temporary’ structure?
Absolutely lovely! Thank-you!
The economic income differerntial aspect of this is clea. Again, thank-you!
agreed Harry,The Winter months is where battery storage comes into its own,charge your battery’s over night for 7 Pence per kWh and use the power in the day time when Solar production is low.
What is the daytime rate per kWh? Curious on the inverter efficiency/losses going from AC to DC while charging overnight then conversion back to AC for use. (assuming that's what your setup is doing).
@@tomd1544I’m sure Harry just said he was paying 23 Pence per KWH peak rate,so there is definitely a big saving to be had if you buy your electricity off peak and store it for when you need it,again depending on usage the payback on batteries would be 5-6 years,batteries have a life expectancy of 10-15 years,Solar panels have a 25 year guarantee,hope that helps fella.
If you can find electricity anywhere in UK for 7p per kWh can you tell me where because I haven't seen a price like that since the 90's even off peak.
@@Wildeheart79 that's exactly what I get overnight for guaranteed 6 hours with octopus. Get more than the 6 hours if I plug my car in and there's surplus energy so they charge the car earlier. I'm in Hampshire.
@@drmexicoii Does it require a smart meter?
Excellent video Harry thank you for sharing your experiences with these systems really interesting how you implemented absolutely fascinating and super informative Stanley rocks too thank you again look forward to more Farming videos soon 😎👍
Thanks Harry. As ever, very informative, particularly when considering use of available land. Keep up the good work. Kind Regards.
Another excellent video - thank you.
I learn more about rural affairs from your channel than any other. Well done.
Yeah, angled more to the sun would certainly help. Adjustable can be changed during the change of seasons. Microinverters on the panels avoids the shading issue. Excess power to electric car or back to the grid. Great details.
ANNUAL OUTPUT VARIATION: Harry, you could mitigate by having movable panel settings that allow for a higher angle in winter. For example, have a high angle set in November and then a lower angle set in April. You could also go for a solar tracker system that optimises by direction and angle as appropriate for every day of the year. You are in an ideal position to do this.
You could also mitigate for lower solar PV in winter by adding a larger wind turbine when wind is greater. Again you are in a position to do this. I accepted that most UK domestic installations a wind turbine on site is not possible, but a part share in a shared ownership of a commercial wind turbine/farm is an alternative.
We run both horizontal ‘slinky’ ground source and boreholes, so experience with both. Each 60m horizontal trench with 400m of 40mm pipe is good for 1.3kW 24/7. On the other site, two 115m deep boreholes just 125mm wide supply a 12Kw heat pump. The difference is that the horizontal array covers 3.5 acres and will deliver 53kW 24/7. The two boreholes supply 12kW but are on a tiny patch of lawn. The excavation and drilling costs were about equal at £12,000. At the end of the day heat from oil or heat from ground source costs the same; about 6p/kWh.
such a wonderful informative interesting video Harry, youve got a beautiful home, im very jealous in my 3 bed cottage but youve done well. well done. love these videos
Interesting project. Key takeaways for me are:
1 Property was designed and built accordingly, retrofitting a system will be expensive.
2 Is there any selling surplus from the wind turbine to the grid?
3 Taking advantage of available space makes sense
4 ROI - be interesting to see how many years.
5 Presume there is electric over ride for hot water
Relay good video. 400 a month is not bad to heat your place. I have the same turbine as you, and it produces 15 000kw/h, but i am in Orkney.
It is terrible, I heat my property on £600 of oil per annum.
Best explanation ever ❤thanks . I’ve been thinking of using air conditioning units I’ve worked with installers who say it’s made for it ..air con in summer and heating in winter just like duel air on in cars .
And even more efficient than Air-to-Water Heatpumps, - although they don't qualify for the £7,500 Government Grant, and you need a separate system to heat your hot water.
Thanks for posting such a useful video. Many of your farming issues are similar to ours in upstate NY, though we have more sunshine hours but it's also colder.
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I can’t afford to heat my home!! Let alone the bloody garage!! It’s them and us!! Always will be!!. Harry you have done the farming community no favers on this upload my friend!! We the people want to back the farmers but this upload has taken the pxxx!!!
I live in Rancho Mirage California. We have 32 panels on our tile roof. Works great for us normally the winter months are like you the low months. We generate 20k mw per year enough to fully run our home.
As usual, Harry's done it properly. Best thing for a battery: cheap overnight tariff. charge up 12-20 kWh overnight for 6p a kWh and use it during the day.
Hooray! A Stanley video, with some other stuff mentioned as well!
Nice to see the complementary way solar and wind power can combine. For a national-scale approach, floating solar arrays on our reservoirs could be a better option than land-based - reduces evaporation losses, also it's more difficult for crims to cut and steal cables, etc. From an urban point of view, however, solar PV and solar thermal is pretty much the only option available, unless someone knows of a turbine solution (possibly one of the compact vertical ones) that doesn't need to traverse the higher level intricacies of local planning requirements.
I do like the sound of a heated garage, though... Well done on going there nearly 2 decades ago, Harry, and showing that this sort of combined heat pump system isn't either impossible or indeed new.
Thanks for sharing Harry.
You asked a (rhetorical) question about the use of batteries if you don't have any solar (during the winter). I have both Solar and Batteries and during the winter, the batteries are the main system for reducing my electricity bill. I load shift so most of my grid usage is cheap rate and until recently I also exported during high value times. So essentially I buy the electricity at 14p/kWh and sell it at 25p/kWh so they very much help. In the summer, I still charge overnight but then just export most of the solar. We just added an EV though so currently using batteries to extend the cheap rate period (as the 7kWh charger hasn't been fitted yet). When I have HPs fitted, I may add another battery to help control costs (looking at Air to Air by the way).
Love the pics of Stanley
The biggest mistake people make installing solar panels is suboptimal orientations. Installers get paid to install more panels, they don't get paid by system output efficiency or your return on investment.
1. In England it is crucial to have your panels at a steep angle. At least your geographic latitude in degrees from the ground. These panels are about 10-15 degrees and they should be ~50 degrees to optimize for year round output. Further more since day lengths are shorter in the winter and energy demand is also usually higher, it is more important to optimize for winter months than summer. The sun oscillates 23.5 degrees for the seasons. The sun's angle is exactly your geographic latitude on the spring and fall solstice (march and September 21st). But to optimize for winter months, in my opinion the SOLAR PANELS SHOULD BE INSTALLED GEOGRAPHIC LATTIDUE+12 DEGREES. This does not optimize for total output but optimizes for output on ~Novermber 1st and Feburary 1st, centered on the winter months. This will also helps to keep snow off the panels.
2. Shade should be avoided at all costs, if your panels are shaded for more than 1 hour per day in any capacity they will almost never be profitable.
3. Panels should be oriented due south +- 10 degree's, optionally slightly west as afternoon power consumption is usually higher, but no more than 10 degrees off south.
4. If your live at latitudes above 50 degrees (All of England) it is unlikely to ever make sense to install solar panels when a grid connection is available.
5. In locations above 45 degree's latitude, if installing solar, I think it is only ever cost effective to install 3 axis ground tracking panels in a very open area. These track the sun's direction perfectly and will produce peak power for about 90% of the time the sun is up, regardless of time of year. This is especially crucial for the winter months.
I would estimate that less than 25% of residential solar panels will ever be cost effective baseed on their installation conditions.
Edit: ABOUT THAT OVEN.... heating with electricity is 100% efficient, depending on your heatpump system it will be 300-400% efficient per unit of electricity consumed.. 15Kw per day would be 45-60 kw of heating potential. About a gallon of diesel in energy lost by using that oven. PER DAY! In other words, a heat pump would only need to consume 4kw of electricity to equal that oven at 15kw. ~2$+ per day
In 2010 ( southern Ontario Canada} our guy came, took a scan with his iPhone app of the horizon to help select the best ground mount location and how much solar energy could be harvested based on the radiation estimates from a local weather station and maximum yield based on size of installation . We had to move the spot north to avoid trees low on the horizon, which in the winter with no leaves, don't block much on the winter days. I think they installed Harry's where they could do it. No surprise there is shading. He could clip or remove the hedge for a minor yield increase. Up to him. 😊
The panel angle can't be optimised unless they are moveable. If harry has a swimming pool to dump excess summer generation into, his 15 degree panel angle could very well be the most financially optimal for his situation.
He should definitely take your advice
very interesting Harry thanks
Thank you Harry, this was very interesting and informative. As it happens I have been advising a friend with a similar property, thus similar considerations.
However, it would have been interesting to extend the logic and practical application of localised energy production to take in micro hydro as well. Of course I realise that the applications are scarce, but, the low running costs and ideal match of anticipated to probable consumption give incredible cost efficiency.
Recent research indicates that over the centuries there were as many as 50,000 small and micro hydro power installations in the UK from small local waterwheels powering occasional use flour mills, mechanical hydro powered mill factories in the textile industry to a few relatively large (and sometimes quite modern) installations supplying large country estates and the areas used by them for the local populations.
I’m sure that with even a fraction of the capital and effort investment that has poured into solar power, the renovation of a large number of abandoned water mills could have been undertaken, more quickly and at a fraction of the cost.
Of course, it wouldn’t work so well in the Cotswold farmlands, sorry!
I like Stanley relaxing at the pool.
Ground source heat pump installed in 2019, new idea if you have the space is to minimise turns in the pipes so we have 4 350m trenches (in a field like Harry’s) to make the flow efficient. I get nearly 5kw’s of heat for each kw of electric. Lots of underfloor pipes running just 3 -4 degrees above the room temp. It just means the house is always 21 degrees, it’s a lovely system. It has a big thermal store so heats tap water to 60 degrees. You do need a lot of space to install it. Was going to get solar but not sure how I’d use it in summer. Will investigate a turbine.
You could add in some cheap storage heaters to use when you have excess power, maybe for the gym or your big outbuilding for the car collection. Infrared in the roof is now very cheap to use for instant body heat which also warms furnishings. Batteries are now much cheaper consider a large battery excellent for buying cheap rate overnight and in winter.
... Or Bitcoin mining. That's been done on an industrial scale in more forward thinking countries, using excess energy generation to balance the electrical grid and incentivise further build out of infrastructure without requiring tax payer funded subsidies. Grid balancing renewables due to uneven supply is a major problem for electrical grids. Bitcoin fixes this.
Great vid Harry very informative
Add on Harry the installation, capital costs of all your solar panels, heat pumps, ground works, plus replacement costs when they eventually need replacing.
I think for a country house in the U.K. you need a mixed system. Solar, wind, oil, wood burner, with a modern battery system - together with an efficient house. For those with an excess of logs or wood chip, a wood-fired boiler (either log or chip) can be a smart option too, either as a main system or as a backup.
No. Oil is just a massively expensive and massively polluting relic that also happens to be killing the Planet.
There are better ways of creating heat than simply 'setting fire to stuff'.
Great looking garden
Very interesting. It all seems worth it (if you have enough land).
If you have an intelligent battery like a Tesla Power Wall it can charge on cheap electricity at night to use during the day, so even when the solar isn't producing excess during the winter the batter will be reducing your electricity cost and giving you some resilience against power cuts.
Sounds like good advice.
@@prolapsed5104 good point, which Harry doesn’t seem to consider.
Cheap electricity at off peak for now, but what happens when more, and more people start doing this?
@@xlandros Off peak electricity has been around for well over 50 years. A huge number of people do not care enough to take advantage of it. Maybe your grandchildren may have issues but not for a very long time indeed.
Agreed, but the Tesla 13kw battery pack is c. £10,000 + so not quite so competitive .
Lots of good, real world info here….thanks!
Very informative Harry.
Thanks Harry, really interesting. As others have mentioned, the big change since you installed is how cheap household LFP batteries have got - if you were installing today then they would be in consideration. They both store your solar/wind for when you need it, plus in winter you can (if available) take advantage of cheap overnight tariffs to power the house during the day.
An intriguing crossover with Harry's Garage might be to investigate the feasibility of incorporating a used EV battery into your household setup with a high-end inverter. A couple of Nissan leaf batteries / one high-end Tesla battery might pay for itself reasonably quickly and show one possible future for EV batteries once the car has been scrapped.
Air to air heat pumps have the best efficiency, are much cheaper than air to water systems (no radiators to install), and can sometimes double up as air conditioning units during the summer. I have one, would recommend.
Hi Harry - i just checked mine (south of Belgium) in June 1237 and in december 166.85 - for the full year i generated 8.69 Mw. I m waiting to see how 2025 goes as i ve just gone for the 5 Series hybrid which is taking 18 KW a day.
(I have 11 Mw installed)
Love the videos!
Harry, this was a very interesting video. I am in Nova Scotia, Canada on the Atlantic coast which moderates the climate somewhat but our winters are still much colder than yours. This morning the outside temp was -15 when I woke up. Over the time I have lived here I have migrated my home from oil heat to natural gas and just this past year, to a full-home air source ducted heat pump from Fujitsu. I did that with considerable trepidation but so far it has worked wonderfully with just a slight amount of supplemental electric resistance heating needed on the coldest days. The new heat pumps are miles ahead of what you appear to have. I am surprised your ground source system is apparently somewhat of a challenge since my understanding was that being 6 feet below ground it would provide a consistent usable temperature to the water tubing. Maybe it is also a case of needing a newer, more advanced unit. I have considered solar as well but do not have much southern exposure on my roof and not enough lot size for a ground array like yours. The idea of a windmill would be appealing if I lived in the country. Best regards!
We have 4kw of solar , south facing in Hertfordshire. Very good in the summer coming on at 6am sometimes and connected to this is a dimplex e solar heater that heats our water in a multi outlet tank through the immersion.
This also works well in the winter when the sun is out. But amazing setup Harry, my partners parents were told it was too radical to have a ground source heat pump in the 70s and were refused planning by the narrow minded council 🤷
Great video Harry, re battery keep in mind the option to optimise there use to buy in cheap electric at night and use in the day. Eg windy winter overnight energy excess in grid that gets sold out by octopus at cheaper rates. Also this system with decent automation can be worth considering to focus underfloor heating boost at night (on cheap electric) so you use less during the day almost like using the house floors as a energy battery - hopefully from solar weather permitting. The approach of intelligent inverting and use of thinga like fogstar 15kwh home batteries which are a quarter the cost of a powerwall maybe worth considering. Keep up the great videos.
For a domestic dwelling then I would recommend using large polytunnels with wicking IBC's as a heat sink and place that over your ground source heat area and somehow use a heat recovery system to funnel warm CO2 house air back into the polytunnel. Air source heat pumps then use a heat exchanger in a polytunnel with heat sinks and pull refresh air from outside the tunnel and warm the air up before reaching the pump. Again return the warm CO2 house air back to inside the polytunnel. Solar is only good for non heating devices such as electronics and lights. Summer excess sell to the electrical supplier. A cold storage room is as good as a fridge and just have a freezer or learn to preserve food.
Very interesting post. Thank you for sharing.
I'm going to dig up all my neighbours gardens in my street to install my heat pump. I've not asked them yet.
Heat pumps are great, and I would have loved a ground source one if I had a (much) bigger garden. We charge our battery from the roof from about March to October, but during the winter we charge it at night and use it during the expensive dinner time.
13kW system here in Switzerland. 1940kWh in June 24, 291kWh in Dec.24. Total 2024: 15MWh, a bad year, but still break-even; renovated house with electrical car charging, heat pump and AC
The best solution for everyone is cheap clean energy at source, generated at scale. Which only really leaves nuclear and small nuclear reactors. Every time I see any of this at the consumer end, it looks like a massive green scam as well. A lot of materials and resources also go into these technologies which have a limited shelf life. Governments need to prioritise cheap, reliable energy and forget renewables, it doesn't work at a small scale or a large scale for our bleak unpredictable climate. The information was very helpful in confirming this personal analysis.
Events in Ukraine suggest dwelling level micro-generation is a must from an energy security standpoint. I've nothing against nuclear, other than where we source the U235.
I’m in Australia. My 11kw system cost me $7k, and I produce way more electricity than I use. It’s a no brainer for me
What you can do with a battery system, is have a time of day tariff. We are on the EON next drive tariff, which charges 6.9p kWh between 12am and 7am. During the winter we charge both the car and the house battery during this time. Just checked our January bill and 98% of our usage was at the 6.9p kWh rate.
I like that idea. 👍
Great Video!
Fascinating report. Quite clever use of green technology to manage a large operation efficiently.
I see that 50% of UK electricity generation is from non carbon sources, so using all electric on this operation is good for the future.
UK rates are about double what I pay in Ontario Canada. We use less than 30% carbon (gas) for generation. My residential home is a balance of gas and electric and with a large heated pool and air conditioning, I spend less than $6k CAD in energy per year. I do not have the space for solar. A battery storage would be good to shift grid consumption to night time when the power is darned near free.
Another great video has always harry mrs m and Charlie 👍
With the panels on a Cornish mount you could optimise the angle for the winter months (they are designed to be adjusted summer/winter). I reckon you'd double your winter generation. Although 2x not much is still not much.
Interesting video. It shows how much of a challenge it would be to run a major economy such as ours on just wind and solar energy. A dull day in February without a breath of wind and our friend is reliant on a grid powered largely by gas. Unfortunately as a country we would never be able to afford all the infrastructure needed to collect enough intermittent wind and solar energy, then store it, in order to be able to deliver a continuous, controllable stream of power in the many tens of gigawatts. We also don’t have the necessary workforce available to install at that infrastructure. Our efforts to date have failed to reduce net anthropogenic carbon emissions while delivering the most expensive commercial electricity in the world.
the grid is way cleaner in the UK than it was 10 years ago, so I'm not sure where you are getting your figures from, admittedly we've done the easy bit now, from here on out it gets harder. Edit to clarify by cleaner I mean lower co2 emissions per kwh.
@ Our grid is far cleaner than it was 30 years ago. We’ve halved our emissions since then, more than any other G20 country. Unfortunately, this costly reduction has been cancelled out many times over by far larger increases elsewhere. Net manmade emissions are still rising and show little sign of decreasing any time soon. We have spent a fortune making sure things are very slightly less bad as they might have been. But a situation than isn’t quite as bad as it might have been isn’t a situation that has improved.
I live in the south of Vietnam and sat down to evaluate should I install solar panels for electricity, we have solar heated hot water though the screen does need a good cleaning. My house is built in three floors with AC's in three of the six bedrooms, only three are used as bedrooms. A large AC cooling the ground floor at present our power costs are about GBP 50. We pump our water supply from 27m below ground to tanks in the loft area.
Pricing the solar installation to cover enough generated power in the 12hr day and enough batteries to cover the 12 night, made the system more expensive than buying power. The power supplier does not accept any excess power from the solar system. Then the cost of replacing the batteries a regular intervals knocked solar out of contention. Now this amazed me with all the sun that Vietnam gets but it's the 12 hr. nights and AC use and the allowable roof space for panels that cripples the system.
I do feel for the poor farmers
You and me both!!
I've gone into wind and Solar in depth and it's quite hard to justify the outlay.
But what I came here to say is it's become quite useful to get a BEV with biodirectional charging, that way you don't need a standalone battery sitting about doing nothing in the winter, you can use the capacity in your car battery as a storage facility.
For example i can charge the EV battery at 6.7p per KW for 7 hours over night on a cheap tariff, then use that electricity during the day instead of paying peak rate.
It works very well if like many people you use far less per day than your cars range.
You basically run your house with electricity at a quarter of the price.
Our spare Electricity goes into our hot water cylinder which works out well.
I am currently insulating like mad and have used £2.17 all day minus 64 pence standing charge.
Ours is a 4 KW system and 12 years old so is payed for.
David and Lily.