Solar diverter - maybe not the best financial investment - better for the planet?

Petriix

andyg9053 said:

I read last year that making electric from gas was not as efficient as making heat from your boiler. The article went on that it was greener to put your excess solar back in to the grid and use gas to make hot water. With octopus rates of 15 p for electric export and 4p for gas import it is also more cost effective 

This was previously true but less so these days now the grid is greener. 

ecraig

Netexporter said:

There is an argument that home batteries are largely redundant, as you can use the grid as a virtual battery. However, batteries do give you some security against power cuts, which may be relevant, particularly in more rural areas.

But batteries only work in power cut situations if the emergency power supply function is wired up by the installer, or if the specific battery has an islanding function. 

I believe the EPS is basically a wire to a separate fuse board for lower energy essentials; an oven or electric kettle isn’t really on the list.
We’ve had a couple power cuts and we are in no advantage over our neighbours in these circumstances, despite having a battery pack fitted.

Netexporter

ecraig said:

Netexporter said:

There is an argument that home batteries are largely redundant, as you can use the grid as a virtual battery. However, batteries do give you some security against power cuts, which may be relevant, particularly in more rural areas.

But batteries only work in power cut situations if the emergency power supply function is wired up by the installer, or if the specific battery has an islanding function. 

I believe the EPS is basically a wire to a separate fuse board for lower energy essentials; an oven or electric kettle isn’t really on the list.
We’ve had a couple power cuts and we are in no advantage over our neighbours in these circumstances, despite having a battery pack fitted.

That's why I said "some". I suppose I should have "can" rather than "do", though.

Waywardmike

We're on an old FIT system and our iBoost was £200 (fitted it myself) so ours has probably paid for itself several times over.  It died within two years but was replaced under warranty, but I'm not sure I'd replace it if it broke now.

Not much more I can add other than over the winter I've been using it to heat the water overnight during the cheap period, this is the first year we've been on this kind of tariff (Octopus Go).  it's cheaper than using Gas, not because leccy is cheaper, but because when using gas it heats the entire cylinder, whereas the immersion only heats the top and it turns out that's plenty of hot water for our daily use.  There's not much in it, but I've checked it several times on the smart meter and it's definitely cheaper.

Of course, as the sun starts shining more it will become 'free' again.