New legislation has dictated that all new-build homes in California must have solar panels installed before being handed over to the buyer. Dylan Hearn, head of product management at Heatrae Sadia, explores whether this system could be implemented successfully in the UK.
Recent headlines around pollution and the impact that humans are having on the natural environment have inspired both businesses and homeowners to do their bit to help.
One such example has seen construction workers in California integrate solar PV arrays into all new homes, in a bid to reach their goal of creating at least 40 per cent of their electricity output from renewable sources by 2030. The trade-off has seen a rise in house prices by around $8,000-12,000, though Californian officials have been quick to point out that the technology will help householders to reduce their energy bills - which should see them better off in the long run.
How much better off they will be will depend on the uses they find for the excess electricity that has been generated. It is this challenge that puts some UK homeowners off solar as they feel they cannot use the power during the day, when the panels are most active.
On these shores, recent changes to the Feed-in-Tariff scheme have seen households receive less money for any energy that is exported to the National Grid. Despite these drawbacks, the number of solar PV panels being installed in the UK is still rising, with 924,130 homes in the UK now having them installed.
In new build developments with access to solar panels, homeowners can benefit from specially-designed hot water storage cylinders that are optimised for use with solar PV arrays, such as Heatrae Sadia’s Megaflo Eco Solar PV Ready.
Here, any power that is generated and surplus to the home’s energy demand is diverted to the cylinder, instead of being sent to the grid. This allows the cylinder to then heat the water to the desired temperature, set by the thermostat, ready for the household to use. This water will remain hot for hours after too, providing the cylinder has high-quality and high-performance insulation.
As the cylinder only diverts the excess power created by the solar PV panels, the everyday power requirements of the household are not affected. However, homeowners do need to understand that if electricity usage is higher than what the solar PV panels can generate, electricity bills will increase rather than reduce.
In order to avoid any draw from the grid, there needs to be a ‘buffer’ of energy. For example, if there is 2.2kW of export energy, a controller will divert 2kW into the hot water cylinders immersion heater. There for an array that has a 2kW surplus and a 200 litre PC cylinder, after five hours the hot water temperature can increase from 20oC to 60oC.
While Britain doesn’t quite get the same levels of sun as locations such as California, solar panels can represent an excellent option for homeowners, providing technology is put in place to store the power that has been generated. To this end, hot water cylinders that have been specially designed to work with solar panels represent an excellent option – and can help householders to save on their energy bills.
For more information please visit www.heatraesadia.co.uk
