Jan was rubbish month for solar

[Everest]

Looks like we were 20% down on solar generation in Jan 2026 compared to last year Only made just over quarter of mega-watt hours this month, not much better than December - whereas Jan 2025 was over 320kWh.

Was it equally bad in other parts of the UK?

 

[GaryMG4]

Down about 5% on last January, but the same as December 2025 - equally bad.

 

[Bam Bam]

Looks like we were 20% down on solar generation in Jan 2026 compared to last year Only made just over quarter of mega-watt hours this month, not much better than December - whereas Jan 2025 was over 320kWh.

Was it equally bad in other parts of the UK?

A paltry 74.50 kWh for us in Oxfordshire.

However, looking at reports from Givenergy (if these are reliable, which I'm wondering about) we got:

• 57.06 kWh in 2025
• 141.39 kWh in 2024

I wonder if January has been particularly wet and mild.

Our heat pump has been getting great efficiency, though I don't have any comparison to other years.

 

[JohnV6]

10% down for me 126 vs 138.

 

[Gomev]

Looks like we were 20% down on solar generation in Jan 2026 compared to last year Only made just over quarter of mega-watt hours this month, not much better than December - whereas Jan 2025 was over 320kWh.

Was it equally bad in other parts of the UK?

Hard to know if we are in other parts of the UK since we don't know where you are, apart from in the UK

 

[Bam Bam]

Hard to know if we are in other parts of the UK since we don't know where you are, apart from in the UK

I seem to recall a comment about Norfolk, but it would be useful to have had it in the thread.

Nigel "EV Puzzle" will do his update with January stats from Norfolk at some point which will be a much more detailed point of comparison.

 

[Everest]

Yep - we're in East Anglia. Interesting that we're 20% down, yet @GaryMG4 & @JohnV6 were down 5% and 10% for same part of the country - guess its also down to amount of real sun vs. bright cloudiness combined with panel angles etc. Fingers crossed for the rest of the year

 

[GaryMG4]

Yep - we're in East Anglia. Interesting that we're 20% down, yet @GaryMG4 & @JohnV6 were down 5% and 10% for same part of the country - guess its also down to amount of real sun vs. bright cloudiness combined with panel angles etc. Fingers crossed for the rest of the year

Our 11 y/o 4 kW array faces 240 degrees (WSW ish) and around 30 degrees angle so do much better with afternoon sun so I guess it just depends how the day develops. Last winter Dec-Jan generated 51+90, this winter it was 87+87, hoping for a decent spring again.

 

[emmrecs]

Here, in southern Lincolnshire, figures are:
January 2025: 107.40 kWh
January 2026: 81.40 kWh

So a noticeable drop here also.

 

[Everest]

not just us then!

 

[MonkeyM]

Speaking from South Wales we have had a disappointing past 6-8 weeks with 2 anomalies.
First was Christmas Day. By far the brightest & sunniest of the whole month of December! And which is just 3 to 4 days after the shortest (ie-darkest) day of the year ! Was bitterly cold and windy outside though.
Then the first 6 days of January’26 were equally sunny/cloudless so was expecting a bumper solar January! But from the 6th onwards it has been depressingly grey,dark & rainy with just the odd half day of sun here and there.
That just sums up the UK weather. Unpredictable and very changeable.
12% down on solar generation compared to last January. And February has been sh**e so far!!

 

[rjhfandclf]

A paltry 74.50 kWh for us in Oxfordshire.

However, looking at reports from Givenergy (if these are reliable, which I'm wondering about) we got:

• 57.06 kWh in 2025
• 141.39 kWh in 2024

I wonder if January has been particularly wet and mild.

Our heat pump has been getting great efficiency, though I don't have any comparison to other years.

I think Givenergy caution somewhere that their figures are not totally accurate due to the way they collect their info from the inverter (?) - but can't remember where I saw it! Certainly. I've found they don't agree with either Octopus or MyEnergi (which do tend to be closer to each other); but GE is all that is available to me for PV generation stats.

We've had the same Jan here, with a fairly small 5.5kWh solar array and 9.5kWh battery, but with our usage (inc. two low mileage EVs) still managed a tiny amount of export in Jan after domestic use.

Gen: -46%; Exp: -36%. But Dec 24 : 25 were almost identical (but never more than 5% export!)

 

[GaryMG4]

I think Givenergy caution somewhere that their figures are not totally accurate due to the way they collect their info from the inverter (?) - but can't remember where I saw it! Certainly. I've found they don't agree with either Octopus or MyEnergi (which do tend to be closer to each other); but GE is all that is available to me for PV generation stats.

We've had the same Jan here, with a fairly small 5.5kWh solar array and 9.5kWh battery, but with our usage (inc. two low mileage EVs) still managed a tiny amount of export in Jan after domestic use.

Gen: -46%; Exp: -36%. But Dec 24 : 25 were almost identical (but never more than 5% export!)

The Myenergy app seems to correlate with my generation meter but then it uses the Harvi that came with the Zappi. As I'm on deemed export I don't take a lot of notice of amount exported unless I'm trying to get as much free solar into my car.