Solar panels: a comprehensive guide – Energy Saving Trust
Most people aren’t at home in the middle of the day to take advantage of the solar energy generated by their solar panels. When you don’t use the energy from your solar panels it’s sent back into the electricity grid
If you work from home, you’ll naturally use some of the energy yourself. If you’re away during the day, you’re less likely to use this energy, unless you set timers for your dishwasher and washing machine to run during this time.
Typically, you ‘ll get around 12p for every unit that you don’t use yourself through the Smart Export Guarantee. But since you’d normally buy electricity at around 28p a unit, it makes more sense to use the energy yourself instead of selling it.
Adding a battery
Adding a battery to your solar panel system allows you to store any unused solar energy in the day and use it at night instead. For every unit of electricity stored in a battery and used at night, it will save you around 14p.
Time of use tariffs
Some energy providers also offer time of use tariffs, which encourage you to use electricity outside of peak hours when electricity is cheaper. If you have a battery and a time of use tariff it allows you to:
- Store excess solar electricity in the day that you would have otherwise lost.
- Use this stored energy to avoid more expensive tariff periods.
- Sell electricity from your battery at some periods of the day, if you’re using one of the more innovative tariffs.
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