Most people associate solar power with gigantic arrays of panels that supply electricity to a whole city. But these days, you can buy solar panels for your home that can help reduce your energy costs and your dependence on fossil fuels.
These PV panels provide a clean and renewable source of electricity for your home.
The solar revolution is here, and it’s transforming the way people power their homes. Solar energy is more accessible and affordable than ever, and more homeowners across the country are installing solar panels to reduce their energy costs and their impact on the environment.
Can Houses Run On Solar Power Alone?
Today most homes are primarily powered by electricity. Most of this electricity comes from large power plants that burn coal, natural gas, or other fuels to generate electricity.
But in the last decade, more and more homes in the Ireland have been getting power from solar panels instead of traditional power plants.
Installing solar panels on your roof doesn’t mean that you’re off the grid. Most solar systems can’t consistently generate enough electricity to be a home’s only power source, which is why the vast majority of solar homeowners maintain a connection with their utility company.
Plus, solar only produces energy in daylight hours so you wouldn’t be producing any in winter evenings or at night – if you were to increase your output from the solar panels to say 100% of your usage, there would be a larger capital spend with longer payback period and a lot of the energy that you are producing would just go back to the grid unused
You can increase the efficiency of your panels by being smart about how you use your electricity though – i.e stagger high consumption household items like washing machines / showers
It is possible that in the future, we will be living in houses that use only solar power. This is possible because solar panels have become much more efficient in the past decade.
What About Batteries?
Batteries are an optional add on to store surplus energy, they are a great option to store energy for later use.
However, batteries are not suitable for all installations, we would only recommend a battery if you have a sizable system and are out of the home a lot, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough energy to charge the battery – batteries start at around €4,000-€5,000 so you need make sure it is viable for yourself – for those with smaller systems or those that are home a lot we would recommend a hot water diverter to use up your surplus.
There is also a micro generation scheme in the pipelines, it is due to be introduced in 2022. This will allow people to sell surplus energy back to the grid, We do not have any details on the rates or restrictions in relation to this yet. We are hoping to hear something by the government in the coming months. Keep an eye on our social, once we have anything concrete we will be posting there.
What about the crappy weather in Ireland?
Luckily, this is solar PV and it does not require direct sunlight to operate making it perfect for the Irish climate – it actually works off daylight. It is the photons and radiance levels in the sun as appose to direct rays meaning it will work on over cast and even rainy days.
Contrary to popular believe we do actually get sun every day in Ireland as if we didn’t it would be dark 27/4.
You will of course produce more in the summer month due to longer daylight hours and higher radiance levels but we aim to cover 50% of your electricity bills annual – don’t take our work – check out our reviews on Google.
How Can I Make My Home Even More Efficient?
Switch up your heating to an air to water heatpump!
Our products go hand in hand and are the ultimate duo to make running your home more efficient, low cost and better for the environment.
An air to water heat pump runs off electricity and takes approx 1KW of electricity to produce 4KW of energy to heat your home. This eliminates the need for fossil fuels to heat your home and water.
An air to water heat pump has an average running cost of €1-€3 per day making it up to 5 times more efficient than standard heating systems.
Solar PV absorbs energy from daylight and converts it to electricity to be used to run your appliances and air to water heat pump. A correctly sized solar PV installation can offset the cost of running your heat pump. Reducing your overall energy bills by over 50%.
Why Should You Do It?
Only one energy bill to pay and this is your electricity.
Savings of over 50% on your overall energy bills.
Protect yourself from rising energy costs and carbon taxes.
Increase your BER and the value of your home.
Increase the efficiency and comfort of your home.
