Homeowner Blog

"Can I go off-grid with solar?" is a question we are asked at least once a week. When the Big 6 hike electricity prices, make that once a day.

It's a particularly enticing proposition, especially if you are 'self-building' your dream home and aiming for PassivHaus standards and Grand Design prizes.

The short answer is "Yes you can go off-grid with solar."

A better answer is "Don't do it unless your grid connection is really expensive." Instead, make the grid work for you by taking full advantage of time-of-use tariffs (off-peak charging).

To illustrate our better answer, we've modelled an off-grid residential property with an annual electricity consumption of 5,000 kWh.

Tesla recently confirmed that their eagerly anticipated Time-Based Control feature for Powerwall 2 is being rolled out to existing systems. 

We are now able to reveal the functionality available (and to confirm that as expected it's pretty comprehensive)...

Our Tesla rep Jerry came to our office this week to update us on the latest Powerwall 2 developments.

The most exciting thing? Timed charging and discharging is due to go live in January or Feburary 2018.

Last summer I installed a 14kWh battery system alongside my existing 7kWp home solar PV system. All went to plan until one day we had a letter from SSE saying they would be turning off our power one Saturday for 'routine maintenance', or something like that.

Anyone thinking about getting battery storage for solar panels, should monitor their electricity usage for at least 3 months using a specialist energy monitoring device.