Homeowner Blog

This time last year we were celebrating Spirit’s 10th birthday. Little did we know how soon everything would change.

Despite the extraordinary challenges of 2020, we are pleased to report that Spirit is still going strong and our team is as dedicated as ever to making our world a cleaner, greener, more sustainable place to live.

With all the recent talk of innovative green technologies, we thought we’d take a look at some of the most ingenious - and eccentric - ideas being explored for solar PV.

We’re facing a winter like no other.

Likely confined to our homes, many of us will be concerned about rising bills from extra heating and electricity usage. But it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve put together some practical tips for how to save on your energy bills over winter and investigated the impact of on site renewables in the colder months.

As the UK settles in for another lockdown, we want to take the opportunity to reassure you about all the measures we’ve taken at Spirit so we can continue the drive to sustainable energy during this challenging time.

We’re entering a period of dramatic change for the energy sector. From smaller independents breaking the hold of the Big 6 and consumers generating their own solar power to dynamic pricing plans and smart homes.

The latest innovation is one that combines all of these: Octopus’s Tesla Energy Plan. Previously this was only available to Tesla vehicle owners, but now it’s open to everyone with solar PV and Powerwall battery storage.

We’re very excited to announce that Spirit will be hosting a talk at Reading Climate Festival, a week of events this November to inspire climate action.

In what’s been an extremely tough year, there have been glimmers of hope in the sustainability world, from China’s surprise pledge to the UK’s expansion of wind power and protected areas of nature. Hopefully this festival will help our local community find ways to live more sustainably.

The majority of our domestic solar PV systems are retrofits - panels installed on top of an existing roof. If you’re curious to see how the process works, read on to get a look behind the scenes of one of our recent installs.

The rollout of smart meters is an important part of the energy revolution and transition to a clean electricity network. But if you’re generating your own electricity, how do smart meters and solar panels interact? Can you have smart meters with solar PV? You can - and it may make your life even easier.

We are often asked about installing solar panels on residential flat roofs. Sadly, most of the time it’s not practical - at least for retrofits. For extensions, new builds and commercial flat roofs, solar PV is still worth considering.

Let’s delve into the reasons behind this.

We are often asked ‘what is the best solar PV panel for me?’. Unfortunately, it is hard to give one definitive answer to this question as each customer has different views on what the most important factors are and their motivation for investing in solar PV can have a significant impact on our response.