Electric hot water and heat pumps with solar

Why hot water is special

Water heating is commonly 20-30% of household energy use, and unlike most loads it's storable: the tank itself is a thermal battery. Heat the water when energy is cheap or free, use the hot water whenever you like. That makes hot water the single most solar-friendly major load in the house.

Two upgrade paths exist: keep a conventional electric element but shift its timing into solar hours, or replace the unit with a heat pump.

Heat pumps in one paragraph

A heat-pump water heater moves heat from the air into the tank rather than generating it directly, typically using around a quarter to a third of the electricity of a conventional element for the same hot water. Pair that efficiency with solar-hour operation and the running cost of hot water collapses. Heat pumps also attract their own incentives under energy-saving schemes, which shift the upgrade economics further - current values confirmed at quote time.

Considerations: upfront cost, placement and noise (they hum like a quiet aircon unit), and recovery speed for very large households.

Getting the timing right

Whichever unit heats your water, the win is scheduling it into your generation window - via a timer, a smart controller, or a diverter that sends surplus solar to the element. It's the cheapest 'battery' you'll ever configure, and we set it up as part of system commissioning where the hardware allows.

If you're designing solar now with an old gas or resistive unit nearing end of life, tell us - sizing the array with the future hot water plan in mind costs nothing today and saves a retrofit later.