Spring is round the corner, but three days of sun do not make it spring
The UK news channels are all extolling the arrival of spring. Yes, we have finally have had sunny days and today the temperature did rise above 6°C, in fact it is a barmy 16°C.
But with a low front through the early part of next week, it’s short lived and all the flowers triggered by warm temperatures are resisting put on a show at the moment.
But from a solar generation point of view, sunny but cool is your ideal conditions. For the heat pump, early morning sun warming the air feed to the heat pump are your friends too.
Indeed, Friday 7th March 2025 was the first day most of our used energy came from the sun and our battery. The usage was helped by the fact solar gain in our rooms meant we did not need to warm our house…
From 9am Friday morning, we were off the grid. Our battery got up to a full 100% full – it finally discharged at 5:30am Saturday morning.
This time of year, the UK mornings can be bitter. The past week, it has not been unusual to be below 0°C until 8am. So it will be a few weeks before we can be 100% off grid.
A full break down saw half of all our generation powering the house, the rest going to the battery. Discharge then started at 15:45. Our heating, cooking, and hot water, all came from our battery! The tesla app reported 30% of our power came from the battery, 31% from our solar panels, and 39% from the grid.
It will be a while before we’re at 100% self-generated, but the hope is there!
Posted: March 9th, 2025 under Driving off the grid.