Here is my monthly report on how our solar panel system did in May 2026. We have:
- 20x400W panels = 8kW, facing west
- 5kW GivEnergy inverter
- 9.5kWh GivEnergy battery
The house is in the UK at about 52° north. The system was installed in February 2024. The system was installed by Octopus who also supply our power and gas.
This is the year so far, all in kWh:
| Month | Generated | Used | Exported | Imported | Cost import | Paid export | Axle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 110 | 518 | 106 | 522 | £88.53 | £14.91 | £0 |
| February | 237 | 592 | 226 | 580 | £79.08 | £33.97 | £0 |
| March | 590 | 484 | 599 | 507 | £74.47 | £68.30 | £0 |
| April | 937 | 283 | 927 | 326 | £37.71 | £112.71 | £0 |
| May | 1001 | 315 | 950 | 312 | £45.14 | £113.99 | £0 |
| June | 1009 | 465 | 954 | 405 | £60.83 | £112.05 | £12.02 |
| July | 1213 | 408 | 1209 | 414 | £57.47 | £140.16 | £10.00 |
| August | 918 | 549 | 818 | 452 | £75.09 | £95.88 | £14.14 |
| Totals | 6015 | 3614 | 5789 | 3518 | £518.32 | £691.97 | £36.16 |
2025 figures here.
As of August I am splitting out the Axle payments I get for letting them export from my battery. That happens a few times each month when I get £1/kWh with a guarantee of £10 over the month.
I got a bonus from Axle last month as they did a two hour export during the solar eclipse. That would have had a major impact on solar generation for a while. They did a video presentation recently where they said that they have 19,000 customers with about 30MW capacity. They are aiming for gigawatts. They operate as a virtual power station and I assume they can command premium prices like the gas plants that fire up in times of high demand. Wind and solar are variable, but all these batteries can help to smooth that out and reduce the need for fossil fuel generation.
We were just in Scotland where I saw a big wind farm that appeared to have some associated battery storage. I know some will object to these large structures, but in a large landscape I do not see them as doing much harm, especially compared to fossil fuel installations. We are likely to need much more power if all the planned data centres get built. A fair few of those are in Scotland where they have lots of wind power.
Late August saw the legalisation of plug-in solar in the UK. That has been a thing in other countries for a while, but it needed changes to electrical regulations. There are some systems available already, but they seem expensive. Competition should drive prices down. You are limited to an inverter of up to 800W, but you can have panels that generate more as that can give you peak power for more of the time, as I have with my system. Pay-back times should be just a few years. Of course you really need an outdoor socket, but a lot of people have those. I have seen some comments about risks of overloading the circuits, but it will only be putting in about 3A, which is not much. If your wiring can not handle that then you have other issues.
Production is noticeably decreasing as summer ends. We had it really dry here over summer so there were few clouds. We are getting some rain now and the days are shorter. We have built up some credit with the utility company that could get us through the winter with our reduced payments. They increased the payments when we got into debt, but I hope they can be adjusted down again next year. I just need to keep enough credit in there.
 |
The man behind: | @tenkminnows: Helping good Hivers level up @proofofbrian: A bot that checks for tag typos #BritList: A monthly list of Hivers in the UK |
I am going round in circles about what to do about energy:
Those are good questions and I don't have all the answers. We moved to Octopus from British Gas years ago. They provide good tariffs if you have an EV and/or solar. Over hthe winter I charge my battery on cheap rate and that can run the house all day, so it is worth it. The battery is not huge and can be outdoors, as ours is with a small shed over it.
Most EV chargers can have a schedule set or you can do it on the car itself. You can also add timers on appliances. I keep meaning to look again at Home Assistant to give me more control options. There are lots of automation options these days. We tried to automate some things when we built our house over 20 years ago, but things have moved on a lot.
I would hope that the plug-in solutions will get cheaper. I am not sure if you can just buy the inverter and add whatever panels you can find. The panels can be quite big so you need to consider where you can mount them.
My EV charger is too old (I was an early adopter). The car's app is confusing: "Set charging locations in the infotainment system, then you can set a departure time for when the car will start charging." I'll try looking into this, thanks.
One of the kids has the EV so I never actually charge it. They do it mostly on cheap rate. I have the charger app, but don't use it. Home charging will mostly be much cheaper than public ones.
Looks like you did really well over the summer months. Your virtual power station plan appears better than what we have here. I am still waiting for a full quarterly bill to see if the one I am with is any good. I have heard of these small plug set ups for people who rent but I have not seen any out here yet.
I am hoping we will see a big boom in solar in the next few years. I track mine to see how I am doing, but it will be a few years before it pays for itself. That should be quicker in Australia though.
We have a lot of windmills to the southwest of where I live. It's pretty amazing to see them at night. The warning lights for aircraft all light up in unison across the horizon.
I saw a lot in the north of England and Scotland. I quite like them. There are a few near us too, but they generally work better by the coast.
Feelings on them are mixed here. There are a lot of people who say they have detrimental side effects, but I think it is probably exaggerated.
All human activity has effects. Would they rather have chimneys belching out noxious gases? Such pollution used to be far worse and killed lots of people, but we soon forget. We need sustainable energy.
Oh and I don't believe that some of these people are too concerned about birds being killed.
I think it was more about the sound and magnetic fields, but I don't quite know for sure. A lot of it has to do with property value too. I know my uncle who owns a lot of farmland was really hoping to get some on his property, but it never happened.
Update: @steevc, I paid out 13.311 HIVE and 0.000 HBD to reward 9 comments in this discussion thread.
The new legalization of plug-in solar systems in the UK is a massive step forward for accessible renewable energy
I think energy storage will become just as important as renewable generation itself as more people and businesses move away from fossil fuels.
Excelente reporte ..🥇
!BEER