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A question about solar panels and battery storage

ChrisB said:
We've replaced our kettle with a boiling tap (a cheap one, not a Quooker). The reservoir is well insulated so it means we're not boiling extra water in the kettle that cools before the next use. I use it for smaller amounts of washing up in preference to the combi boiler. It's probably fairly neutral on electricity use, to be fair, but it's very convenient for cups of tea, boiling veg, rinsing cat dishes, etc.
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Wat not Quooker? For me the best investment in our new kitchen😀 but go all in so also with chilled spalking water. We are drinking almost no soda’s anymore. Also cooking goes a lot faster with the boiling water from the tap.
 
And the final result for 2025 is in.

Some stats:
49,25% of our energy was self produced
92,85% of our produced energy we used ourselfs thanks to the 10kw battery.

If we had the room to add 2 or 4 more panels it would have been better 😀 but we are not complaining
 

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Ian Ball said:
Not that much room to improve 92%!
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With 2 or 4 more panels our usage coverage can be improved (now 50%). The usage % of our produced energy will drop then a few percent.

But as mentioned, no more place on our roof to add extra panels.
 
Space for a small wind turbine? ;-)

I suppose as the battery usage continues, the battery performance will degrade and you will find an increase in external energy need?

You could try to use less energy too?
 
Ian Ball said:
Space for a small wind turbine? ;-)

I suppose as the battery usage continues, the battery performance will degrade and you will find an increase in external energy need?

You could try to use less energy too?
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in 2025 we used 300kw less. And the coming years our usage will drop even more because our kids are leaving the house. And each kid uses around 750 - 1000kw / year. The eldest left the house since 1/9/2025 and we saw that directly in our usage.

12/2025: 525kw vs 12/2024: 596kw
11/2025: 472kw vs 11/2024: 542kw
10/2025: 465kw vs 10/2024: 500kw
09/2025: 370kw vs 09/2024: 508kw
 
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