Woodley, Berkshire - 3.3 kWp (Sep '19)

In September 2019, Spirit installed a renewable energy system for Nick Mustoe, including solar PV and Tesla Powerwall 2 with backup. As part of renovation work, he opted for roof integrated GSE mounting, LG panels and SolarEdge optimisation.

Mr Mustoe gives an excellent account of his decision to go solar:

‘We have a 3 bed semi-detached 1950's house with no gas - our heating (and cooling) comes from air conditioning and water is heated using an ASHP.

We contacted three companies about installing solar panels at our property and Spirit Energy really stood head and shoulders above the competition. The technical engineer that came out to us was very knowledgeable and was able to explain our options about the size of the array, different types of inverter and answer most of my technical questions immediately.

The quotes that were produced accurately reflected our conversations and included an indication of how much of our annual consumption could be offset by installing that array. We also started to plan out a second array and battery once our building work had been completed.

During some fine tuning of our system the government removed the feed in tariff, so we brought our plans for the battery installation forward. Mark was fantastic in answering yet more technical questions (I have an engineering degree and an interest in renewables) and adapting the quotes accordingly.

The installation itself was smooth and painless - my partner works from home and wasn't disturbed at all. Prior to installation we had a site inspection and Justin left detailed instructions for our electrician to follow, so that all power and data cables were where they were supposed to be on the day.

Once commissioned, our electricity bill in November / December literally halved overnight - I compared a two week period of near identical usage before and after activation.

The Powerwall means that we can charge it overnight using cheap electricity, so that even in the cold dark months we're able to save money. Our electricity bill for Christmas day was 59p - that's a nice present.

Over the last 9 weeks, we've only paid around £2 in electricity due to the sunny weather and have been able to export a fair amount as well - this includes running the AC in the evenings. Although the government backed FiT has been stopped, there are some providers that offer their own and we're hoping that the amount we export will cover the running costs over winter in order to leave us with an annual electricity bill of £0, but time will tell.

We're so happy with Spirit Energy and the performance of the system that we're looking at expanding from 3.3kW to a 4.8kW array. This will allow us to produce an additional 40% and help to reduce our reliance on the grid in the winter months.’