Following a special Area Based Schemes project carried out alongside East Lothian Council, monitoring by Changeworks’ Impact Evaluation team revealed the benefits of installing solar technology for both the grid and householders.
The results found that solar technology can reduce pressure on the national grid whilst maintaining a comfortable home environment, creating positive financial benefits for householders.
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Project brief
In September 2022, solar panels and batteries were installed into 12 homes in Prestonpans, three in Bolton, one in Morham, and one in Dunbar as part of an East Lothian Council Area Based Scheme, a Scottish Government funded energy efficiency project.
The aims of this special project were to enable householders to generate and store their own renewable energy and to become less dependent on the National Grid.
In collaboration with East Lothian Council, Changeworks’ Impact Evaluation team monitored the energy consumption of these homes for an entire year post-install to determine if these technologies would reduce energy consumption from the National Grid whilst benefitting the householders.
After the first year, ten of the total seventeen homes had produced enough data to be analysed and included in the final report.
Our findings
Energy consumption
East Lothian Council’s aims for the installation were achieved as all ten households were able to generate, use and store their own renewable energy to become less dependent on the National Grid.
Across all ten households there was a 32% decrease in average daily energy consumption from the National Grid, equating to a total annual energy saving of 31,112 kW/h.
This energy saving is more than double the annual energy use of a typical UK household, according to Ofgem data. It was then worked out that householder solar generation accounted for 28,747 kWh of that total reduction in consumption
The energy produced by solar generation supported the households throughout the entire year, even during the winter months. In fact, eight out of ten households were producing an excess of solar energy beyond that which they could use or store in their batteries.
Benefits to householders
Financial – Households saved an average of £600 per year on their energy bills as a result of the reduced grid energy consumption, with one household saving over £1,000.
For the households producing excess solar energy, exporting this energy back to the grid has the potential to earn them an average of £83 per year via Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariffs.
Environmental – The total CO2 emissions saving across the ten households was 6,174 kg. This is a saving equivalent to the emissions of a typical car driving 27,000 miles – 45 times the length of the United Kingdom.
Comfort – Average healthy indoor temperatures and humidity levels were maintained for all households across the year showing that solar technology use doesn’t compromise on householder comfort.
This meant that Changeworks’ Impact Evaluation team also met their project objectives as energy consumption from the National Grid was shown to reduce, not only without effecting householder comfort, but also creating financial and environmental benefits.
Conclusions and next steps
These findings reveal that domestic solar panel and battery storage systems can support a household’s energy consumption whilst resulting in positive financial and environmental benefits without compromising on home comfort.
The data also suggests that solar energy generated by householders has the potential to support the National Grid by reducing energy demand and increasing overall renewable energy supply. With increased education and engagement around Smart Export Guarantee tariffs, this could bring further financial benefit to householders who can sell excess solar energy back to the grid.
Maximising the financial benefit to householders is especially significant in the context of government-backed energy efficiency schemes which are aimed at those living in fuel poverty.
A second iteration of this project is currently underway which will gather additional qualitative feedback from householders. This will help provide a more holistic insight into the impacts and potential of solar technology.
Click below to read the full report.
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