The first question that arises about whether or not to install some type of renewable energy at home is its amortization. We know that in many cases the initial investment is high and we do not want to spend money on something that does not provide us with savings on the electricity or gas bill. One of the keys to get the most out of renewable energies is to combine them with each other in order to fully cover our energy expenditure. In this case, we will show you how to reach almost zero heating costs with the combination of solar panels and an aerothermal heat pump.
Factors to take into account
For this combination to have the effect we want, the first thing we have to take into account is the type of home in which we want to install the solar panels and the annual energy consumption. Knowing this, we will get closer to the number of plates we need to fully cover the power supply.
If we imagine that our house needs 7 solar panels and that these will have about 2,500 effective hours of sunshine (this is the average number of hours of sunshine that we can have in Spain in most areas), we will obtain an approximate total energy production of 3,675 kWh. With these data on the table, the next thing we have to calculate is the energy consumption of our aerothermal heat pump.
If we take into account the established average consumption per single-family home, it can be concluded that the aerothermal heat pump consumes about 3000 kWh per year. This consumption fully covers the cost of both heating and air conditioning in an average family home in Spain.
In this way, if we calculate the energy production provided by 7 solar panels (3,675 kWh) together with the cost of the inverter heat pump (3,000 kWh), we would be covering the annual heating cost. This means a cost close to 0 thanks to the combination of both renewable energy sources.
Advantages of the combination
In addition to the advantage of having an almost complete reduction in our electricity bill for the use of heating. Combining both types of systems allows us to obtain more benefits when it comes to energy expenditure. For example, we could use the surplus energy in other home appliances or, even if we store a lot of energy, we could supply it to the electricity grid to get discounts on the electricity bill. Another advantage that this combined system provides us is its use to heat water. In this way, if we are not using the energy generated for heating, we can allocate it to the sanitary water of the house.
By way of conclusion, we can say that the investment in technology that manufacturers are making in their new devices brings us closer and closer to self-consumption. The only drawback we could take is that this depends on factors such as carrying out a good study of the area in which we want to install it, our type of home and the amount of money we want to invest in a good energy system, which is not always adapted to our pocket.