You may have spotted Ed Miliband announcing on TV earlier this year that plug in solar would be available in UK supermarkets “by the summer”.

As it turns out “by the summer” means 27 August, which is a bit of a pity as it means three very sunny months will be in the rear view mirror for Brits by that point.

However, if you’re willing and able to pay an electrician to do the connection (and you’ll still have to do that anyway if you want a battery with your mini solar setup) then you have been free to dip a toe in this eco-friendly water for quite some time.

So, back in June, I ordered an Ecoflow Stream Ultra and a couple of JA Solar 460W panels:

Two solar panels laid out on the patio

No, having them propped up occupying half of my new patio is not the long term plan, but while I work out whether to pay a roofer to put them on the garage, or to build a pergola to host them, it will do.

Ecoflow have of course been selling the same kit to the European mainland for years, so this is well tested stuff with a few minor software updates for the UK.

The panels are generating just over 4kWh daily for me, which means 88p I don’t have to pay Octopus Energy. Assuming, of course, that I can use or store that juice - which I can thanks to the 2kWh battery in the unit, and my house’s base load.

For a Sunday at home working through a few loads of washing and some stuff on the computer, this is quite the result:

Smart meter in-home display showing 98p of electricity used today

And a 3/4 charged battery to see me through the evening too.

Admittedly, the total set-up so far has cost just under £1,000 which means a 4-5 year payback (and that’s before we talk about mounting those panels properly). But it’s not just about money, it’s about the planet.

If you’ve got some south facing ground (or even a wall/fence) you don’t mind the panels being mounted on permanently, you should definitely take a look at this.