“At no stage have I ever heard anyone say ‘I wish I didn’t put so many solar panels up.’ It’s usually ‘I wish I put a bigger battery in,’” says Garrett Fox.
The landscaper from Co Galway shares his journey from having a home so cold that his bedroom curtains froze shut, to one that’s warm and toasty, with low heating bills.
Having added insulation and solar panels, the ’80s bungalow now only costs €2,500 a year to power. That’s an average of €208 per month.
As a solar power enthusiast, he’s tracked his home’s performance since first installing panels in 2017, at a time when the burgeoning technology was far costlier than today.
In this episode of Better with Money he explains why, though expensive, he believes the technology is worth the initial outlay.
Fox describes retrofitting his home after the 2018 snowstorm known as the “Beast from the East”. Since then he’s added insulation, an air-to-water heating system and two electric cars – all of which he powers from the solar power generated on his roof.
During last year’s catastrophic Storm Éowyn, he was able to power the house using his EV battery when the electricity went down for two days in his area.
”It could run three electric heaters. You could do the cooking off a little induction hob and we had obviously kettles and stuff like that.”
Once he was back up and running, he loaned his car to an employee whose 80-year-old father was still without heating.
“It [was] parked outside his house for five days, and he did not drain the battery.”
If you’ve been wondering what kind of starter solar system you would need for your home, how much it might cost and how long it could take to pay for itself, this episode will give you a solid grounding for your research.
Fox also breaks down appliance costs by tariff, the key system parts such as the panels, inverter and battery, and recommends taking a “Three Whats” approach: what’s your usage, what are your future plans for your home, and what’s your goal?
For a typical three-bed semi, he estimates it would cost about €7,000 for eight to 10 panels, plus €4,000 to €5,000 for a 10kW battery.
He believes you could potentially break even around five years later without a battery, and six to seven with one installed, plus there’s benefits from microgeneration credits, and you can potentially lower your mortgage interest rate if your improved Ber rating qualifies you for a “green mortgage”.
Save money? Be part of the carbon transition? General bragging rights? Ding! Ding! Ding!
This episode is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
For information on what grants and energy supports are available to purchase solar panels, go to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
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