Solar Power Report: September 2025
Here is my monthly report on how our solar panel system did in September. We have:
- 20x400W panels = 8kW
- 5kW inverter
- 9.5kWh battery
This is the year so far:
| Month | Generated | Used | Exported |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78kWh | 468kWh | 38kWh |
| February | 192kWh | 554kWh | 146kWh |
| March | 619kWh | 503kWh | 535kWh |
| April | 927kWh | 288kWh | 790kWh |
| May | 967kWh | 292kWh | 845kWh |
| June | 1044kWh | 332kWh | 1037kWh |
| July | 878kWh | 309kWh | 858kWh |
| August | 769kWh | 424kWh | 810kWh |
| September | 560kWh | 421kWh | 576kWh |
This is when you really notice the days are getting shorter as it gets dark so early. That means less time to collect solar energy, but we are still generating more than we use, but you may also notice that we exported about as much as we generated. That is down to charging the battery up on cheap rate every morning so we can export all day, but now there may not be enough sun some days to keep the battery charged. I think the EV got charged up less this month, but we will be using more lights.
The breaker for the solar panels has not tripped out all month, so we did not lose any time from that. I did have to sort out getting the inverter connected to our new router as we have switched from Virgin Media to youfibre to save us a significant amount each month. This was a fiddly job as you have to connect to the wifi of the inverter itself and log in to change settings. I had to contact the installers to check what password they set. I have made some changes now to make it more secure. There was an issue getting the inverter online to do with the wifi encryption it uses, but I managed to figure it out in the end.
What we got paid for exporting by Octopus was not quite enough to cover our electricity and gas prices, but as I still pay them a little each month we still built up more credit that I hope will carry us through the winter. I think we are saving well over £1000 per year compared with before we had the solar, but we only got the electric car just before then as so we will be using more power than before. Our tariff lets us charge that off peak for just a few pounds. That is a lot less than filling up with petrol.
I will happily tell people that solar is a good investment. How quickly it pays for itself depends on what deals you can get. Octopus are very pro-solar and pay a decent rate for what you export. Getting a battery was a good idea for us as it means we hardly use any peak time electricity.
Switching internet providers is also saving us money. That is an essential service these days, but Virgin put the price up after the last deal I got from them expired and so it got really expensive. We did not want their basic TV service that gave us much the same as Freeview and get plenty of other shows from Netflix and Disney+.
I see Elon Musk is trying to get people off Netflix as they had a trans character in a show for kids. He has real issues since his child transitioned, but kids need to be aware that sexuality is not as simple as some would like it to be. They probably watch shows like Drag Race anyway. I would worry more about those who try to encourage distrust of people who are 'different'.
We have other Hivers enjoying the benefits of solar around the world. See the updates from:
- @cryptoandcoffee in South Africa has a report on September.
- @holoz0r in Australia on a year of solar.
- @solominer had good results last month in Virginia.
Shine on!
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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 |
It is just great how much energy you are getting from the sun. I wonder whether it can be used for generating hot water during winter.
You can use it how you like, but with what we generate in winter we could not heat much water. We use gas for that anyway for now, but may consider a heat pump at some point.
Hey, a small bill is still better than a big bill. That is pretty cool. I know what you mean about the sun not being out as much. I think that is my biggest concern about rolling out solar at my house. I think I would only have about two or three months of prime collection time through the year.
We are on a similar latitude to Calgary, so a fair bit north of you. It may be better than you think. Of course if they get covered in snow then you get nothing, but in some cases that will just slide off.
Okay, that is true. I always forget how much further north than us you guys are.
You generate power even on overcast days which has surprised me as it has been quite significant. You are only really screwed when it gets dark but if you can charge your batteries in off peak hours then there are good savings.
Ah, good to know! Thanks for that! I'm probably going to wait for our next house to actually implement something.
I think where you benefit is you do not use much electricity in the house where my house is non stop all day long. The agreement I had with my family was that their lifestyle does not change and I kind of get that even though I am constantly turning lights off and air conditioners when no one is even around.
I think it is great that what you generate you can sell back to the grid and subsidize your winter use with credit built up. I think we all want to generate more power, but this is also weather related and not necessarily having more equipment. I am looking forward to one of these days coming back to Europe and going large seeing if I can go off the grid and also sell back to the power companies.
We don't have a/c so we could run all day off the battery most days. It helps that all the lights are low energy now. The situation will vary around the world, but solar could benefit most who can get it. As I said to bozz we are on the latitude of Calgary, but will not get as cold as them.
I see that places like Pakistan are buying a lot of solar panels to get reliable power as their grid is not great. It is the fastest growing source of power just about everywhere and keeps getting cheaper.
can't you convert everything to electric and drop gas?
It's not so simple. We can't generate enough electricity to heat the house in winter and gas is cheaper.
Out of curiosity, what's the gas price per m³ there?
I get charged in kWh, but from my readings I think that's equivalent to about £0.70/m³. Gas is cheaper for the energy you get compared to electricity. We use it for cooking, heating and hot water, but a heat pump may be an option if we switch to an electric hob.
Been always wanting to ask: is there any difference in the quality of power that solar panels offer from the regular hydro Powered electricity?
I'm not sure how you measure 'quality' of power. I would expect that the inverter gives a fairly clean supply. We do not notice any issues with our appliances.
That's great
Please tell your friends to leave me alone what they are doing is classed as cyber bullying and it also feels like a racist attack 🙏🏾
Thanks for sharing your data. I'm looking at your numbers, but is it not a little too low for 8kw installed power? I just started with a micro setup, and got 1.28kW in the first day, with a 610W panel positioned sub-optimal...
Where are you based? Our panels face west, so do not do as much in the morning. We were getting nearly 30kWh some days last month. It will be less this month as the days get shorter. Our panels can generate more than the inverter can handle, but it means we get more power when it is less sunny.
I'm located in the south of Romania (latitude 44° 26' north). I've just started, and I need some further optimisations. But that's true... every watt collected from the sun is already a win. I'll definitely keep an eye on my values, and I'll write my own solar reports to share with the community.
We are up around 51° north, so that will make a difference. It is still viable here and a lot of homes have panels these days.
The sun is our friend, our most powerful battery. Its rays are life.