Solar Panels

[canofcoke]

I wanted to find out more information about the possibility of using solar panels in my home in London to reduce energy costs and be more sustainable.

I have a garden flat, with a long garden and a garden studio that has a flat roof two areas that solar panels can sit on, one half is about 2.2 by 2.2m and the other about 1.2m by 2.2m. The roof gets sun for most of the day when it isn't cloudy and the the roof is not overshadowed by anything.

The garden studio is supplied it's electricity by an armour flex cable that runs from the distribution board in the flat and into a smaller distribution board in the garden office.

I wanted to know if there is a system that could be used to power the studio alone (would this require severing the cabled connection to the house?), or if there is a system that could be used to provide some electricity to be used within the flat as well. In the studio with have a couple of small electric radiators, lighting, and run hi-fi's and laptops off the plug sockets etc, the flat is a 2bedroom home so has a much higher demand in electricity use.

If anyone has any knowledge or experience of how this can be done that would be amazing, or similarly can recommend any helpful companies that can advise on this that would also be amazing.

Thanks

CoC

 

[big-all]

havent got a clue
but to get your expectations to a sensible level forget heating or even a kettle and with enough battery storage you may average perhaps 150w an hour over a typical day??

 

[flameport]

1 - Forget about powering electric heaters, 7m² is far too small to be anywhere near that, even in the summer.

2 - It's possible to have an 'off grid' arrangement where the panels and battery storage can power a building with no connection to anything else, but that's entirely pointless in your location.

3 - The more usual arrangement is to have the panels connected to the electricity supply, so that anything generated can be used, and the rest goes back into the grid. It's likely that the existing cable to the studio can be used, although some alterations to the protective devices and connection may be needed. Anything generated by the panels can then be used by the studio, flat or both.

4 - If you can use the electricity as it's being generated, then there can be substantial savings. If not, then it just goes in the grid and you get little to no benefit. The alternative is to also install battery storage, so the batteries charge during the day from the panels, and they are used to provide electricity in the evening or at night. That can be the batteries providing all of the electricity, or just some of it with the rest from the grid.

 

[StephenStephen]

Something else to throw into the equation - TOU (time of use) outgoing tariffs. Octopus agile outgoing, for example, is paying between 19p and 44p per kWh for export today.
One of the practical implications of this can be that it's worth looking at whether west facing arrays are more useful than south facing - they generate less electricity, but generate it when it is more valuable.
For interest, you can find the current rates here: http://mysmartenergy.uk/Prices/South-West-England#OutgoingGraph