So one of the first questions we're often
asked is, how many solar panels do I need
or really what size solar system should I be looking at?
Well, this of course depends.
It depends on your usage, your lifestyle, your future plans,
what you're looking to achieve
and whether or not you're going to get
either now or in the future, a solar battery.
So what we're going to do is run through a bit of this,
I'm not going to give you enough to make a hard decision,
but at least give you enough information
so that you know where to start
and at the end of the video
I'm going to give you a quick formula that you can
at least get to the next step with.
So the first thing to look at is how much energy you use?
You know, and there are limits,
if you only use a tiny bit of energy every day,
then really solar may not be financially worth it for you.
You also need to look at whether you use
a lot of your energy in the day time
or simply at night time and factor this in.
You also need to look at whether your system
is going to be battery ready,
because it is likely that at some point in the future
you will put a battery onto your solar system.
You also need to look at your lifestyle.
Are you working from home
and will you continue to work from home?
Do you have kids?
How old are they?
For example, many of us know
that teenagers just eat electricity all day,
every day until they move out of home.
Or are you retired?
You also need to look at what your future plans are.
Are you going to retire in the future?
What age are kids at, are you going to have more kids?
This is a really important one.
It is likely the whole world is moving
towards electric vehicles.
It is likely that either your next car
or the car after that, even a secondhand one,
is going to be an electric vehicle
and do you want solar to help charge that for you?
The next thing to look at is what are you trying to achieve?
Are you really just interested in financial savings
and don't care about anything else?
Lots of people are that.
Are you looking to achieve grid independence
or what we call grid interdependence?
Are you looking for backup in case the power goes out?
Do you often have power outages at your home?
Are you looking at solar for environmental reasons?
Again, solar is one of the most powerful ways
an individual can help with climate change.
Or are you looking for smart energy management?
A solar system is usually a core part
of how you manage your energy at home.
So let's look at a quick formula just to help you to get
to the next stage.
The really simple way to look at the solar system
these days is to take your average daily usage
which will be on your electricity bill
and it will be in kilowatt hours.
So you look at your average daily usage
and divide that by four.
For example, if on your bill it says
you use 40 kilowatt hours of energy per day,
then your solar system is likely to be the right size
solar system is likely to be around 10 kilowatts for you.
If you use 25, it's likely to be around six, and so on.
Some years ago, we would size the solar system
so that it matched the daytime energy usage.
But today we really just get your 24 hour usage pattern
again, because it is likely during the life
of the solar system, that you will get a solar battery,
so you want to maximize the benefit you get today.
The second way of working out this right size solar system
is, and a lot of people do this,
is really just maximize your roof space.
The reason people are doing this is because it doesn't,
it's not a lot more expensive to put
on a large system than a small system.
There's not a huge cost difference.
So you might as well put on as much as you can.
You'll get feed in tariffs
for any excess energy you generate today,
and if and when you do buy an electric vehicle
you really will help reduce the cost of running that.
The third factor is of course budget,
what you can afford to spend, what you want to spend.
But again, just a word there, it is worth
if you have a limited budget,
getting a better quality system that might be smaller,
than one of these larger systems that
isn't such good quality.
The smaller system will generally deliver more savings
over the longterm.
So I hope that's helped with,
what size solar system should I get.
As you can see, it depends on you
and depends on what you're trying to achieve.
We've given you a quick formula, but as a general rule
it is worth discussing all those options through
with one of our team.
Please give us a call if we can help.