Solar Powered Update! 16/6/23

Weaver Manor Goes Solar – a 12 month update by Shaun Davies (16 June 2023)

As a reminder on Monday 13th June 2022 we had a new solar system installed. The system is a 10 Panel 3.95KWh system with a 3.6KWh inverter that converts the Direct Current (DC) generated by the panels and converts this to Alternating Current (AC) that is used by every electrical appliance, including lighting, within the house.

During the last 12 months have generated over 4 Megawatt hours (MWh) since the system went live in June 2022; 4.237 MWh to be accurate.

As of the 6 month update we had used 802 kWh (36%) of the 2,200 kWh of electricity that we generated. This figure has improved after we installed a Solar Energy Diverter in January. This unit on its own has utilised 468 kWh of Solar energy to heat our hot water tank. I can honestly say I have never had so many showers and baths to make use of the free supply of hot water that we have!!!

In total during the last 12 months we have now used 1,948 kWh (46%) of the 4,237 kWh that we generated. This amount of electricity would have cost us just under £642.84 to buy on our current tariff and If we didn't have the Energy Price Guarantee that cost would have been £967.77! To give you a monthly perspective during May 2022 we used 315.8 kWh of electricity this year we have used 131.1 kWh in the same billing period, a reduction of 184.7 kWh. This has saved us £60.95 on our last bill which is certainly not to be sneezed at during a cost of living crisis! The usage for May 2022 would have been significantly higher if we hadn't been away until the 11th of that month

As mentioned in our 6 month update the savings in electricity usage are as much to do with mindset, sensible adjustments to living methods and using more energy efficient items and methods than they are to do with Solar generation and these continued changes, along with part of our generated electricity have continued to reduced our monthly usage.

(For a PDF version of the above article please  CLICK HERE)

Shaun Davies