Here is my monthly report on how our solar panel system did in January 2026. We have:
The house is in the UK at about 52° north. The system was installed in February 2024.
This is the year so far, all in kWh:
| Month | Generated | Used | Exported | Imported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 110 | 518 | 106 | 522 |
January may have been sunnier than last year. We exported a lot more this time, but I think I made the change to charge the battery on Octopus Go tariff cheap rate and to export some of what was left at the end of the day since then. How much we use will depend a lot on how many times the electric car (MG4) gets charged, but most of that is on cheap rate (00:30-05:30) which is about a quarter of the price of the rest of the day. Our export rate is constant at half the price of peak rate import so we can make a profit on exporting any power we put in the battery when it was cheap.
It is fairly obvious when the car was charged. Our heating and hot water are on gas, so do not show up here.
You can see that the cost chart is different as it will depend on when we used the power during the day. So it may have cost about £8 to charge the car, but that would keep it going for perhaps 200 miles. The cost per mile can be a lot less than petrol. Our exports only cover a fraction of what we import, but then we will pay less due to storing the cheap rate power.
The generation will vary a lot depending on the weather and this is the second worst month after December when the days are short. Our account may dip into debit in the next couple of months as we pay a constant amount each month. As mentioned previously I have had to raise that slightly to avoid going too far into the red.
I watched this long, and interesting, video the other day. He dispels various myths about solar and renewables in general. I think a lot of those are encouraged by the fossil fuel industry who fear losing business. They want you to stay addicted to their products. As the man says, if you buy $100 in fuel you can burn it just once, but $100 in solar panels will generate free power for decades and easily pay for themselves. Batteries will save you money too with a similar lifespan and both are made of fairly easily recycleable materials. A solar panel is mostly made of glass and aluminium which we use masses of as disposable containers for food and drink.
He talks about how if the land currently growing crops for biofuels were covered in solar it could supply all the electricity the country needs, including running electric cars. The land for solar farms can also be used for crops and animals. These is a lot of rubbish talked about renewables, but some people have worked out the actual numbers involved.
I will warn you that the video gets very political in the final third. He is in the USA where the current regime is heavily promoting fossil fuels and reducing incentives for renewables. Meanwhile other countries are investing in solar and wind to reduce their dependence on imported oil, gas and coal. The UK no longer generates electricity from coal. This site shows current UK energy sources. Renewables generated 40% of our electricity last year and fossil fuels only 28%.
I think that domestic solar is at least partly a political decision for many people. Of course they will save money in the long run, but they may also want to be part of making a better world for all. Each of us makes a tiny difference, but it adds up.
Just today I heard on this podcast how Ethiopia is looking to bad petrol and diesel cars as they have an energy surplus, mostly from hydropower. Solar and wind should be good there too and could power remote locations. The show talked about a battery lease service for electric motorbikes.
We are seeing the evolution of energy production and the economics are pushing it.
