Thinking about combining a heat pump, solar PV system and battery storage in your home? At SolarTherm UK, we design renewable energy systems that are ready to be fully integrated with your heat pump, helping you reduce emissions, cut energy bills and future proof your home.
This guide covers everything you need to know, from installation order and system sizing, to smart tariffs and how to maximise efficiency year round.
What to Consider When Installing a Heat Pump, Solar Panels and Battery Storage
Should I Install Solar Panels or a Heat Pump first?
Homeowners often ask which technology they should install first: a heat pump, solar PV or battery storage. The truth is, any order works. Most customers will install the heat pump first because their existing boiler is unreliable, stops working or is inefficient.
However, if you have the choice, SolarTherm UK recommends installing solar panels with battery storage first. A solar PV system gives you valuable data about your home’s electricity generation and usage, helping you optimise the design for your heat pump.
When installing solar, make sure your installer knows you plan on adding a heat pump so they can design a system large enough. A hybrid inverter helps your solar and battery system work seamlessly with your future heat pump.
How Many Solar Panels Are Needed to Support a Heat Pump?
Heat pumps use around 80% of their annual energy between October and March, when temperatures drop and solar generation is naturally lower. Meanwhile, solar panels generate around 80% of their annual electricity between March and September, almost the opposite of heat pump demand. Due to this seasonal mismatch, even a large domestic solar array won’t fully cover winter heat pump usage on its own.
Our recommendation: Install as many solar panels as your roof and budget allows, supported by a high capacity battery such as the Voltsmile W1 (10.24kWh). The Voltsmile W1 batteries are modular and can be added to later if you need to increase your storage.
A heat pump will use around 24kWh per day to heat a 2 bedroom home when it’s 3°C outside, so matching your battery storage to your expected daily usage for your heat pump is critical to help save money on your bills.
What’s It Like Living With a Heat Pump Powered by Solar?
On warm, sunny days, your heat pump may only use around 2kWh to heat your hot water, while your solar panels could be generating up to 30kWh (depending on system size). The benefit of an integrated system is free hot water and ultra low running costs during the summer months and reduced running costs in the winter months.
Do I Need a Smart Tariff to Maximise Savings?
Smart tariffs significantly increase the savings from your integrated system. Export tariffs earn you money for every unit of excess solar energy you export to the grid, perfect to help build your credit over the summer months to offset winter heat pump usage.
Smart Tariffs, such as Octopus Energy’s Cosy Octopus tariff work perfectly with a heat pump, giving your three periods of cheap electricity throughout the day. A smart tariff lets you charge your battery on cheaper rates, then use it during peak hours when the electricity tariff is higher. Even a full battery won’t cover all winter heat pump demand, but it significantly helps to reduce running costs.
How to Schedule Your Heat Pump, Solar Panels and Battery for Maximum Savings
- If you have just a heat pump:
Use a heat pump smart tariff, like Cosy Octopus, with three off-peak windows, to schedule your hot water heating, legionella disinfection cycles and high demand appliances to run during the cheaper tariff window.
- If you have a heat pump and solar panels:
Solar generation will offset daytime usage, reducing running costs. Add in an export tariff to get paid for any surplus electricity that you export back to the grid. Adding in a hot water diverter can heat your cylinder using surplus solar electricity.
- If you have a heat pump, solar panels and battery storage:
You can choose between using an EV Smart tariff (like Octopus Go), which gives you 5 hours of off-peak charging every night or a heat pump tariff (like Cosy Octopus) that gives you three shorter off peak windows across 8 hours a day. Schedule your battery charging and hot water heating during the off peak windows and make use of the lower rates during the off peak windows to run high energy appliances (like washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers).
Make Your Home a Renewable Energy Powerhouse with SolarTherm UK
SolarTherm UK installs state of the art, high quality solar PV and battery storage systems, ready to be fully integrated with your heat pump. We are an MCS certified renewable energy installer, based in Essex, covering Essex, Kent, London and the wider south East.
If you’re ready to reduce your bills, cut your carbon footprint and future proof your home against future energy bill increases, SolarTherm UK can help. For over 15 years we have been the trusted face of solar installation in the South East.
Contact SolarTherm Uk today for a free, no obligation quote and design, tailored to your property, usage and future energy needs. No hard sell, just honest, expert advice.
Your home. Your energy. Your future.
