In today’s ever-changing energy landscape, taking control of your electricity supply is becoming a priority for many homeowners. RenewSolar is committed to making this a reality, bringing you high-performance solar solutions at an exceptional value. Our comprehensive kits combine cutting-edge technology with practical design, empowering you to generate, store, and manage your own clean energy.
The Heart of Your Home Energy System: RenewSolar’s 50kWh Battery Storage
Imagine having a substantial reservoir of power at your fingertips. RenewSolar’s 50kWh solar battery storage offers just that. For the average UK home, with an approximate daily electricity consumption of around 8-10 kWh, this battery provides significant energy security.
Benefits for the Average Home:
- Extended Off-Grid Capability: This impressive capacity means the battery could power your home for approximately 5 to 6 days without any additional input from solar or the grid, assuming moderate usage and typical loads. This offers unparalleled resilience during power outages or for maximizing self-sufficiency.
- Peak Shaving and Load Shifting: Store excess solar energy generated during the day or charge the battery from the grid during cheaper off-peak hours, then use this stored energy to power your home during expensive peak times. This dramatically reduces your reliance on high-cost grid electricity.
- Optimised Self-Consumption: Ensure that almost all the solar power you generate is used by your home, rather than being exported to the grid for a lower rate or simply lost.
Harvesting the Sun: RenewSolar’s 4kW Bi-facial Solar Panel System
Our system features 8 high-efficiency bi-facial solar panels, designed to capture sunlight from both their front and rear surfaces. This innovative technology can significantly increase energy yield compared to traditional mono-facial panels, particularly when installed over reflective surfaces or with sufficient spacing to allow light to reach the rear.
This panel configuration is ideally sized for a roof section with approximately 4.5-meter ridges and a width of 5 meters, providing a good coverage area for optimal power generation.
Estimated Annual and Daily Yields (for a 4kWp system in a typical UK location, South-facing):
The actual yields will vary depending on your specific location, roof pitch, shading, and weather conditions. However, here are estimated averages:
- Annual Yield: Approximately 3,600 kWh
- Daily Yields:
- Spring (March-May) & Autumn (Sept-Nov): Around 9.8 – 9.9 kWh/day
- Summer (June-August): Approximately 13.7 kWh/day
- Winter (Dec-Feb): Around 6.0 kWh/day
These figures highlight how your solar array will significantly reduce your reliance on grid electricity throughout the year, with peak generation occurring in the sunniest months.
The Complete RenewSolar Power Kit: Everything You Need
Our comprehensive solar kit is designed for seamless integration and maximum performance, providing you with all the core components to build a robust home energy system:
- High-Efficiency Solar Panels: 8 x 500Wp Bi-facial Solar Panels (creating a 4kWp system)
- Robust Roof Mounting Kit: All necessary rails, clamps, and fixings for secure rooftop installation.
- Sunsynk 5kW Hybrid Inverter: The intelligent core of your system.
- RenewSolar 50kWh Battery Storage: Your substantial energy reservoir.
The Intelligence Hub: Sunsynk 5kW Hybrid Inverter
The 5kW Sunsynk Hybrid Inverter is renowned for being feature-rich and offering exceptional flexibility, making it a cornerstone of any modern solar setup. Its capabilities include:
- Hybrid Functionality: Seamlessly manages power flow between your solar panels, battery bank, home loads, and the national grid.
- Multiple Operating Modes: Adapt your system to your needs, whether prioritising self-consumption, maximising export, or providing essential backup power.
- Advanced Monitoring: A user-friendly app provides real-time data on your energy generation, consumption, and battery status, empowering you to make informed decisions.
- Blackout Protection: Provides automatic switchover to battery power during grid outages, ensuring your essential appliances remain operational.
- Scalability: Many Sunsynk models allow for parallel connections, enabling you to expand your system’s capacity in the future if your energy needs grow.
- Smart Load Management: Can intelligently control certain appliances to optimise energy usage.
Smart Savings: Charging from Low-Rate Grid in Winter
One of the often-overlooked benefits of a large battery system like our 50kWh offering is its ability to take advantage of off-peak electricity rates. During winter months, when solar generation is lower, you can still achieve significant savings by charging your battery from the grid when electricity is cheapest.
With off-peak rates potentially as low as £0.07 per kWh, charging your entire 50kWh battery would only cost you: 50 kWh×£0.07/kWh=£3.50
Compare this to a standard peak rate of £0.265 per kWh. By discharging your 50kWh battery during peak times instead of drawing from the grid, you achieve a direct saving per charge cycle of: 50 kWh×(£0.265−£0.07)/kWh=50 kWh×£0.195/kWh=£9.75
This smart charging strategy allows you to significantly reduce your energy bills, even when solar generation is low, proving that RenewSolar’s kits offer comprehensive energy independence and financial savings year-round.
Winter in Review
Let’s break down how a 4kW solar system and a 50kWh battery would fare in a typical UK winter, considering an average household load:
Average Household Load in Winter
The average daily electricity consumption for a UK household is generally cited as 8-10 kWh per day. However, this average typically increases significantly in winter. During colder months, households tend to use more electricity for:
- Lighting: Shorter daylight hours mean lights are on for longer.
- Heating (if electric): Electric heaters, immersion heaters for hot water, or heat pumps will draw more power.
- Appliances: More time spent indoors often means increased use of entertainment systems, cooking appliances, etc.
It’s common for winter daily consumption to jump to 10-15 kWh or even higher, depending on the size of the home, insulation, and lifestyle.
Solar Performance in UK Winter (4kW System in Basingstoke)
As noted in the previous article, a 4kW solar system in the UK (south-facing, optimally pitched) is estimated to produce around 6.0 kWh per day in winter (December-February).
Here’s how that compares to your potential winter load:
- Average Winter Load: 10-15 kWh/day
- Average Winter Solar Generation: 6.0 kWh/day
As you can see, your solar panels alone would likely cover less than half of your daily electricity needs during the depths of winter. This is a fundamental challenge for solar in higher latitudes due to shorter daylight hours and a lower sun angle.
The Need for Grid Charging in Winter
Given the significant gap between winter generation and consumption, there would almost certainly be a strong need for grid charging with this setup, especially in the winter months.
Here’s why:
- Insufficient Solar Generation: The 6 kWh/day generated by solar is unlikely to meet your 10-15+ kWh/day consumption.
- Battery Depletion: While your 50kWh battery is substantial, it would quickly deplete if it were solely relying on solar and faced typical winter loads. Even with minimal loads, if your home uses 10kWh per day and your solar only generates 6kWh, you’re drawing 4kWh from the battery. Over a few cloudy days, this deficit adds up.
- Maximising Savings: To avoid buying expensive electricity from the grid at standard rates, your Sunsynk inverter’s “charge from low-rate grid” feature becomes invaluable. You can schedule the battery to top itself up overnight using cheap off-peak electricity (at £0.07/kWh). This stored, low-cost energy can then power your home during the more expensive daytime hours, essentially using your battery as a giant “time-shifter” for electricity.
Therefore, for most UK homes with a 4kW solar array, grid charging the 50kWh battery during winter off-peak hours would be a crucial strategy to maintain energy independence, keep electricity bills low, and ensure continuous power without relying solely on limited winter solar production. Can you fit more panels to benefit more?
How Well Solar Performs in Winter: A Nuanced View
While solar panels generate less in winter due to less direct sunlight and shorter days, it’s important to understand:
- Temperature Efficiency: Solar panels actually perform more efficiently in colder temperatures. The cold helps the photovoltaic cells convert light to electricity more effectively than in extreme heat. So, on a bright, crisp winter day, the panels are working at their peak efficiency for the light they receive.
- Diffused Light: Even on cloudy or overcast days (common in UK winters), solar panels still generate electricity from diffused light. They don’t need direct sunshine to produce power.
- Snow: While heavy snow can temporarily cover panels and stop production, in the UK, significant prolonged snowfall is rare. Panels are typically angled to allow snow to slide off, and their dark surface can absorb enough weak sunlight to melt light snow.
In summary, your 4kW solar system will absolutely perform in winter, contributing valuable kWh to your home. However, due to the UK’s climate, it won’t be enough to fully power an average home’s winter loads independently. This is precisely where the large 50kWh battery and the strategic use of off-peak grid charging come into their own, turning a seasonal challenge into a year-round energy solution.
Cost:
The system hardware cost is around £6,805.00 installation costs vary and it is important to value the installation and options that are available.
Calculating Annual Financial Benefits:
This involves three main components:
- Savings from Self-Consumption (using your own solar power):
- Assume a significant portion of the 3,600 kWh generated annually is used directly by the home. A common self-consumption rate with a battery can be as high as 70-90% if well-managed. Let’s assume 80% self-consumption for a house with a 50kWh battery.
- Solar used directly = 3,600 kWh/year * 80% = 2,880 kWh/year
- Savings from self-consumption = 2,880 kWh * £0.265/kWh = £763.20 per year
- Income from Exporting Excess Solar Power (SEG):
- Excess solar exported = 3,600 kWh/year – 2,880 kWh/year = 720 kWh/year
- Export income = 720 kWh * £0.15/kWh = £108.00 per year
- Savings from Off-Peak Battery Charging (Arbitrage):
- Even if you don’t use all 50kWh daily from off-peak, a significant portion can be shifted. Let’s assume you effectively shift 30kWh per day from peak to off-peak using your battery, especially in winter or on cloudy days when solar generation is low.
- Daily saving from arbitrage = 30 kWh * (£0.265 – £0.07) = 30 kWh * £0.195 = £5.85
- Annual saving from arbitrage = £5.85/day * 365 days = £2,135.25 per year
- Note: This is a powerful benefit of having such a large battery, even without solar. It assumes you consistently manage your charging to take advantage of the rate difference.
Total Estimated Annual Financial Benefit:
- Total Annual Benefit = Self-Consumption Savings + Export Income + Arbitrage Savings
- Total Annual Benefit = £763.20 + £108.00 + £2,135.25 = £3,006.45 per year
Return on Investment (ROI) Time Periods (Payback Period)
Now we can calculate the simple payback period:
Simple Payback Period (Years)=£3,006.45/year£6,805.00
So, the estimated simple payback period for your RenewSolar system is approximately 2 years and 3.2 months.
This is a very attractive payback period, driven significantly by the large battery’s ability to take advantage of off-peak grid charging rates in addition to solar self-consumption and export.
Important Considerations:
- These calculations are estimates and depend on your actual electricity usage patterns, the exact export/import rates, and the real-world performance of your solar array and battery.
- Electricity prices could change, potentially impacting savings and ROI.
- System efficiency might degrade slightly over time (though usually minimal within the first few years).
- Installation costs are not added to the calculations.
RenewSolar offers a wide range of “Solar Kits” and Project Management services, as a Not for Profit business, RenewSolar can source and install systems taking away any concerns and providing a wide range of solutions that exceeds offers from other companies in the UK and Europe.
Contact RenewSolar (best by Email), leave a comment below, or take a look in the shop.
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