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Can Solar do it all

seannash · 2022-02-23 12:43:23

Hi, We will soon be starting a complete renovation of an old Georgian house and it got me thinking about a Solar set up. From what I understand I can have the panels potentially generate electricity for the house, fill up a battery and charge a car. All sounds great but I cant figure out how/if it could potentially heat a…

Comments

#32 02-03-2022 05:39PM

Coltrane

Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 106 ✭✭

Join Date: February 2019

Posts: 102

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058234391/can-solar-do-it-all

I did something similar with an old house, lots of solar PV and a heat pump.

We're getting closer and closer to the point where the solar/batteries will - as you say - cover everything. Now down to about 3mWh/annum in power imported from the grid. That's for a five bedroom house from circa 1900 and includes the power consumed by our EV.

Contrary to warnings from SEAI etc, our heat pump worked reasonably well when our house was still relatively poorly insulated. Usage charges were comparable to what gas would have cost, although the capital cost was of course much higher than a gas boiler. As our insulation improved, the heat pump became more and more efficient.

Solar PV is more or less bulletproof with close to no maintenance, clear environmental benefits and in today's markets even a respectable financial return.

If your house is large and largely uninsulated consider an upgrade to three phase so as to be able to safely import and export (from your large solar array) more.

It helped us to live in the house for a while pre-renovation to understand its character/how the light played through the days and seasons.

Good luck with the job!

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