Solar Power Report: March 2025
March has been a good month for solar. We had a lot of sun and the days are getting longer. It is actually a while since it really rained here and we could do with some on the garden, but things are pretty green around here. I checked in our solar cabinet and it all looks okay in there. I did find a small, empty wasp nest on the floor, but they do no harm.
The solar setup has been working well apart from a breaker tripping one morning. I still have an open ticket for the supplier for them to investigate further.
Last month we had a total of 228kWh of solar and we tripled that. Very little is going to the battery as I charge that up each night on cheap rate and the sun is up earlier now. I earn best if I export as much power as possible and that was up x4 compared to February. Last month there would be days when we did not export anything, but we did much better in March.
Our spending on electricity went from from £71 to $59. I can see we used some peak rate and I suspect that is sometimes when the car is being charged as we do not generally draw power at 'day rate' times.
We went from £22 to £78 income from exporting. We spent about that much on gas for heating and cooking, so it cancels that out at least. Even without the panels we would be saving money as the battery means we use mostly cheaper power.
As we go into summer we should make even more and the gas usage will drop as it warms up. I am hoping to build up some credit to keep us going through winter without increasing our monthly payments.
Shine on!
Hopefully you get a lot of production this summer and things go well. I hope that I can have a nice solar system one day.
Maybe your crypto can pay for it :)
I think every house will need it in the near future due to the increasing electric bill.
It ought to be standard as it's getting cheaper.
This is one thing I am praying and hoping I will have the means to buy one day
Hi Steve, thanks for sharing this information. It puts the case for solar beyond doubt.
I recall there were plans to ensure that all new buildings were to have solar power?
I wonder what happened to that ides?
I think they retreated on that with pressure from the builders, but people will save money in the long run for some initial investment and it is cheaper to install during building. I see some new places with a couple of panels, but that seems like a token effort. Instead people seem hung up on having a house that looks like it was built 100 years ago.
I know what you mean. Nostalgia for the so called 'good old days' when most of them and their kids were working down the mines or in factories for 12 hours a day.
You know... like Trump is trying to bring back to the USA! 😂🤦♂️
Don't mention the 'T' word!
The 'good old days' were not so great when your house was cold and you had to go outside for the toilet. I've lived in a few old houses and they have their quirks. They did tend to be pretty sturdy, but modern ones just have the looks and even nail on fake beams. The house we built looks modern. No fake chimney here.
Ha ha the T word. Another reason to be on Hive where censorship isn't a thing! 😂😂👍
Must be fun tracking this when you have a solar setup. Have several collegues at work who happily talked about their setup and that they start to see some power generation now in March :)
I am still in the thinking phase, not sure if its worth extending my house loan yet. Next step is to get an offer
I can check the state of the system from my phone and I do :)
I would check it so many times a day on a sunny day 😄
The gamification and potential earning power of your setup is intriguing. We have plenty of sun most of the year so having a solar setup also makes sense.
We live out in the countryside and out here being as self-sufficient as possible is definitely top of mind for many. I saw a post about someone in a surrounding area who has an 11,000 gallon rainwater catchment system that means he never has to worry about his well running dry. He uses solar panels to power the water pumps that move the rainwater from the containment area to the house.
The hardware prices have fallen, so it seems to make sense in most places now. We are really limited to having it on the roof, but see what @solominer has. I think even a small system of a few kW and a small battery could give savings. Those will depend on what tariffs the power company provide. Mine is quite generous for exporting.
I would't expect March in Britain that good for solar plants :)
The sun can shine here at any time of year, but I don't think this has been a typical March. Even when there is cloud we can still generate power.
I'd say the panels are doing their jobs well. Tripling the power from last month is awesome. Night power for the battery, smart... Summer will be even better
You have a cool installation ready for all the sun available in summer.
It is good to have a second source of electricity in the house.
Thanks
The power of the brightest star is immeasurable.
This solar power system seems quite interesting and economical. Oman is a hot and temperate country but we don't see such system here; we see solar panels every rarely!
Thanks for the report!
!ALIVE
You could benefit much more from solar. I'm surprised it's not common there.
That is a really clean setup
The guys did a neat job. I couldn't have done it that well myself :)
Energía solar una ventana al futuro ..
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