How can I find out (without a sales pitch) whether it’s worth me getting solar & battery installed - e.g. when will I likely break even?

About to get a quote for aircon and considering solar at the same time. My wife isn’t convinced on solar being worth it yet.
#solar #solarpanels

Over the last month, our #solar panels exported 459kWh of electricity - which earned us a handy little sum!

That's not to mention all the electricity we didn't buy during the day because it came directly from our roof.

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£55.12 of export credit.

All #solar panels temporarily switched off at 80 #Suffolk #schools following a number of #fires in roofspaces - whilst Suffolk #FireandRescue investigate.

Its not confirmed the fires occurred for the exact same reasons, but there's a lot of high current equipment involved which can get very hot indeed if things go wrong..

Alas, this has happened just as Reform have control of Suffolk County Council so might be used as an argument against solar energy (rather than ruthless capitalism and cost cutting which is more likely to have caused these issues)

https://archive.ph/qIr9z

Updated my #solar generation/consumption graphs to include how much of my generated energy I actually consume and how much it's saved me.

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A graph showing the electricity imported, generated, exported and consumed in a day for my house.

We installed our #solar panels around August of last year and it’s going well. We’re using zero kWh/month and have about 900 kWh banked with FPL. It’s very cool to know that the a/c and my pottery kiln are running on solar power.

If you’re thinking about it, especially if you’re in the Sunshine State, I highly recommend going solar 🌞 The panels can also act as shields for your roof during storms. #Florida

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A photo of our roof showing one solar panel attached to our metal roof, with a tree and blue sky in the background.

Anyone have recommendations for a small #solar setup? I'd like: regulated 5V 2A, doesn't have to be USB, but USB-C / PD would be a bonus. ~50Wh of battery, and something like 20-40W solar panel, less than 1m in length. If a folding panel, works ok if the panels don't all see the same amount of light. Must be able to charge battery and deliver power at same time. The more water resistant the better. Cheap is good. I'm trying to avoid buying something massively overkill.

So semi-successful test of switching our #solar / battery system off-grid this morning.

On the positive side it happily switched over and we ran with the grid disconnected for 5 minutes or so.

On the negative side, the system seemed to stop generating from the solar while off-grid (which isn't optimal).

Hey-ho, ticket already opened with supplier and manufacturer 🤨

New #blog post: Looking at performance over the third year of our #solar install

We've now had solar for 3 years, this short post takes a quick look at the system's performance over the past 12 months.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/third-year-of-solar.html

#electricity

This week's comic: The dangers of solar panels

#solar #energy #SolarPower

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The dangers of solar panels Conspiracy theories are stopping construction of solar farms (ProPublica 4/24/26) Conspiracy theorist wearing t-shirt reading Drill baby drill: Noise! Pollution! Electromagnetic energy! Here are some actual health concerns of solar power: Shock from lower energy bills Fainting man opening bill: I can’t believe it’s reasonable! Lightheadedness from all that sweet clean air Man sniffing: Sniff! Psychological disorientation from sudden energy independence Woman on psychiatrist’s couch: Humanity may have a future? I am lost.

RE: https://wandering.shop/@adapalmer/116602085281035534

#Solarpunk #solar #stewardship

New #blog post: Changing The Way I Track Solar Value

We originally invested in a #solar install in the hope that it'd reduce our energy bills.

Over the last few years I've tracked savings by using the real-time cost of our current #electricity tariff.

The problem is, we *wouldn't* be on that tariff if we didn't have a battery, so isn't a great expression of the savings we're deriving.

I've switched to using the average prices of a Fixed price tariff instead.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/changing-the-way-i-track-solar-breakeven.html

Much nerd excitement, this is day 7 of not importing any electricity from the grid.

100% our own solar generated power (including storing and using from the battery)

This includes multiple clothes washes, multiple dishwasher runs, cooking, and all our hot water (heat pump) for a family of 5.

I wonder how long we'll be able to keep this going?

#solar

Ah that point when a toot gets enough traction that people start replying to it, and then my notifications go even more bonkers.

I do love all the #Solar nerds here on fedi!

#SolarPunk

Trump’s war on Iran is driving up bills again.

But governments don’t have to choose between war profits and people’s lives.

Here are 4 ways to protect households and speed up a just transition

https://act.gp/3QKVdFL
#oil #gas #war #solar #renewables #rent #transport #food

Do you have an example of stealth solar?

I've been thinking a lot about 'stealth solar' where people attach #solarpanels to places in a subtle way to capture the sun's energy. It might be stealth as there are strict rules or just want to keep it low key. #balconysolar is sort of stealth gone mainstream.

With cheaper MPPT devices you can now accept slightly poorer efficiency due to placement and with microinverters don't need to make long strings. I particularly think that there is no point having a solar panel in storage, best get it out there and generating even if it's in a temporary place!

So I thought I'd start a small website that documents different stealth setups, so if you have cheeky solar panels and would be willing to share a little info (but not too much if it would get you in trouble) get in touch.

#stealth #solar #solarpunk #balkonsolar #hiddensolar

we can have a better world

we literally just have to TRY

#climatechange #solar #rewilding

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A solar farm in Minnesota planted native wildflowers between its panel rows. Five years later, total insect populations tripled. Native bees increased 20-fold. Not only did insect populations boom, soybean fields next to the solar arrays got twice as many bee visits as fields farther away. Two of the things we usually think of as competing turned out to reinforce each other. One study, published in Environmental Research Letters in late 2024, tracked two utility-scale solar sites built on retired farmland in southern Minnesota, where the developer seeded native prairie species between rows of panels in 2018. By 2022, the sites looked less like industrial energy infrastructure and more like remnant prairie. Goldenrod soldier beetles colonized the goldenrod stands. Bumblebees nested in the soil. Monarch butterflies passed through during migration. The wildflower diversity grew sevenfold; insect diversity grew eightfold. This matters because, like it or not, utility-scale solar is going to take up real space. The US is on track to cover roughly six million acres in panels by 2050. The default approach is turfgrass, gravel, or herbicide-maintained bare ground, which is ecologically dead. The Argonne study shows the alternative isn't more expensive or harder to maintain. It's just a different seed mix.

I’ve been experimenting with my newish solar battery

Represented here is the end of the charge cycle yesterday at about the same time the sun started to set

I’ve been powering the freezer with this 2 kWh battery, and every morning there is ~50% charge left, and so far every day I get it up to 90% (by choice) from solar alone

I can also do a load of laundry or two, and some vacuuming, without being even connected to the grid (if I get the timing right)

Of course this is clear summer weather, so this won’t be the same all year

(This is far from sufficient to power the entire house, it’s just an experiment)

Essentially, 1-2 kWh that aren’t drawn from the grid on a daily basis

#solar

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Photo of the battery display panel. The numbers read: Charging time 29 min 90% capacity Input 320 W Output 0 W

Dear #lazyWeb, what's the most cost effective way to buy batteries for my #solar panels? Ideally I'd like to be able to take them with me easily if I move house.

#solar #PV I need to make a call on buying a battery for our solar system, but I don’t know what info is important and how to size it — it’s quite an expensive decision.

Anybody got some advice or useful links 🔗 ?

EDIT All sorted now, thanks Fedi friends!

Aleppo, Syria. #Solar #solarpunk
Got this sent to me

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Eine Luftaufnahme eines dichten Stadtgebiets mit zahlreichen Gebäuden mit Sonnenkollektoren auf den Dächern. Die Straßen sind sichtbar, mit Fahrzeugen gefüllt, und zwischen den Gebäuden ist Grün zu sehen. Der Ort ist als Aleppo gekennzeichnet.

To the people who think #wind #turbines and #solar #farms spoil the #natural #landscape; it's worth remembering that some of that landscape (the patchwork of rolling green fields, for example) is itself the visible outcome of #technological advance and they're anything but natural. What about the charming old watermills and windmills that are so symbolic of Olde #England and the #Netherlands? The vineyards of #France and #Italy, the olive groves of the #Mediterranean, or the magnificent hills and glens of #Scotland, that were once the ancient #Caledonian forests, subsequently cleared for sheep and cattle grazing. These too symbolise earlier technological advance. Canals, railways, castles, churches, lighthouses and hedgerows are the same. Once upon a time these too may have been considered a blight on the landscape and yet nowadays they are often viewed as part of our cultural heritage, to be preserved and managed for posterity. A sense of perspective is surely required? Take a closer look at the #rural landscape you think is being spoiled.

#energy #renewableenergy #renewables #renewable #fossilFuels #green #GreenEnergy #WindTurbines #SolarFarms

The U.S. and Israel's war on Iran has left developing countries using Chinese tech and trade, like solar panels and EVs, better able to weather fallout than those relying on American-backed supply chains. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/04/08/world/trump-lost-asia-to-china/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #donaldtrump #china #supplychains #iran #us #israel #trade #evs #solar #cleanenergy

The UK avoided the need for gas imports worth £1bn in March 2026 thanks to record electricity generation from wind and solar.

Wind generation hit a new record for the month of March on the island of Great Britain, up 38% year-on-year, while solar nearly matched the output of last year’s exceptionally sunny spring.

Reform UK is so out of touch.

#Wind #Solar #EnergyCrisis

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-record-wind-and-solar-saved-uk-from-gas-imports-worth-1bn-in-march-2026/