Our client’s path to solar starts from an usual position – with the purchase of an electric vehicle. We suspect this story will be repeated time and time again as sales of EVs increase.

Wishing to fuel the car for free, Tony looked at how much solar pv would be needed and asked Solarkinetics to advise. “I have an older property with dormer windows so instead of installing the solar on my roof, I wanted to have the PV ground mounted in a field adjacent to the house. This required planning permission, and thankfully Solarkinetics helped and guided me through the planning process.

In 2021, Solarkinetics installed 30 x 370Wp REC Twin Peak 4 solar modules on a ground mount nearby with a SolarEdge 10kW single phase inverter and a SolarEdge Smart Energy 3kW Hot Water heater in the house.

Tony’s main motivation is to do the right thing for the planet, reducing his carbon footprint but also for it to make financial sense. With this installation, our client can charge the car, heat water, provide power for house load and export back to the grid.

Then a year later, 2 x 10kWh SolarEdge Energy Bank batteries were added. Tony says “These were transformative” – he estimates the pay-back time has reduced from around 8 to 5 years.

Here’s why. Not only can the batteries store excess power, for use in the evenings, they can also store imported power overnight. On the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff electricity costs 7.5p/kWh over a 6-hour window, while exporting during the day is 15p/kWh. “I can charge the car, heat water and store power during the night and then maximise export from the panels and battery the following day.

The batteries also provide additional financial benefit and help to balance national grid loading through being able to participate in the National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) – this can be achieved by joining Octopus Energy’s ‘Savings Sessions’ or through SolarEdge’s own scheme.

Wishing to significantly reduce oil consumption for heating the house, our client is now seeking to install an air source heat pump to heat frequently used rooms in the winter. This will require additional solar, battery and the SolarEdge Home Hub inverter to provide back-up functionality in the case of a power cut.

When our client moved into a new build off Leadon Way, Ledbury, he saw the potential of using the south facing roof on the house for solar panels. “I wanted to make a good eco friendly investment and realised that solar panels could also bring long term savings on our electricity bill,” said Martin.

Our client chose Solarkinetics preferring to use a local solar installer rather than a national one and could see from the customer reviews, home owners were very satisfied with the service they had received from this family owned company.

“I found the team at Solakinetics friendly and polite, there wasn’t any hint of a hard sell. They were patient and informative in answering my many questions!” continued Martin. “I wanted solar panels that were reliable sourced and not made in a factory where child labour is prevalent.”

In spring 2023, Solarkinetics installed 14 x 365Wp REC Twin Peak 4 black solar panels, 1 x 10kWh SolarEdge Energy Bank battery and 1 x SolarEdge 5kW single phase inverter. Martin finds the battery provides ‘free’ power to use on days when it’s cloudy or raining and solar charging is reduced.

“We are selling power back to British Gas and our monthly electricity changes have decrease dramatically. Before we have the solar installed our monthly costs were in excess of £75, now the charges are around £30 and we’re getting £100+ back every 3 months from British Gas,” said Martin.

The installation proceeded on the day promised, with the work carried out without fuss and everything left in a clean and tidy manner on completion. “We love the installation,” concluded Martin. “With the app we can monitor usage and battery storage allowing us to utilise stored battery power on days when solar generated power is not so high.”

Seeing that the technology behind solar power generation had matured over the past 20 years, Dr Steve Hall, himself a technologist, decided to explore which were the best products on the market.  After much research, Steve selected SolarEdge based on advanced monitoring and optimisation capabilities.

Then came the electricity price rise of 2022 with ensuing volatility so Steve decided to find a solar installer with SolarEdge expertise and one that was local to him in Shropshire. Solarkinetics based in Hereford fitted the bill being a SolarEdge Advanced Installer with many years’ experience.

“I checked out the reviews on the company and that gave me the reassurance I needed. They weren’t cowboys but were a professional outfit who cared about their customers. Having a 5 year warranty on workmanship was a definite plus too,” said Steve.

After an initial quote, Gordon Yule from Solarkinetics did an on-site survey and as part of the solar system recommended battery storage with a SolarEdge 9.7kWh Energy Bank. “I wanted to maximise self-usage so being able to store the power we’d generated during the day for use later on made perfect sense,” continued Steve.

The system Solarkinetics installed comprised 12 x 405W REC Twin Peak 5 solar panels, a SolarEdge 3.68kW Home Hub Inverter plus the battery bank. “My experience with Solarkinetics has been very positive, from Gordon who was informative to the installation team who were friendly and a pleasure to have on-site. The fact that the install was brought forward so I could have it up and running before Christmas was an added bonus.”

Steadily increasing electricity prices in the first half of 2022 were a wake up call to consider reviewing the way electricity was being used in the home, the use of more energy efficient appliances and ultimately the generation of power. It was the installation of solar panels on a neighbour’s property that was the catalyst for considering a solar installation, especially after realising that a Southwest facing roof would be appropriate.

“After some initial research into solar energy systems I decided to approach a number of installers to get quotations for a suitable domestic installation and Solarkinetics was subsequently chosen,” commented our client. “I felt that the personnel from Solarkinetics were professional, knowledgeable and helpful in designing an installation that was wholly adequate for the property using quality equipment. Whilst not essential it was good to know that the REC solar panels were not made in China!”

The installation mainly comprised 16 x 405W REC Twinpeak black solar panels, a SolarEdge 5Kw inverter and a SolarEdge Energy Bank 10kW battery.

“Scaffolding was required to ensure the panels could be installed on the southwest facing slate roof. Installation was completed with the least amount of disruption; the necessary cabling being installed to be as unobtrusive as possible.”

“All the calculations indicated a significantly better return by way of reduced electricity costs compared to a fixed investment return from a Building Society. Whilst the initial installer’s calculations indicated a payback in 11 years this was based on a very modest rate for export of surplus energy to the Grid. On the basis of current actual rates offered by Octopus Energy payback is expected to be sooner.”