Three years on we have a system that works. Throughout the year we have enough solar power to provide all the energy we need and the generator has only come on if we forget ourselves and have the microwave, fridge, coffee machine and possibly the well pump all on at the same time, or if we have had a few cloudy days and are using a lot of energy. This shows that the system works however because the generator is supposed to come on in that situation. The solar water heating is also working well providing us with plenty of hot water all the time.

We have however added a little luxury. The house had been built with underfloor heating provided by pipes under the floor through which hot water was pumped. The old diesel boiler that provided the hot water kept breaking down so we now have a new one with an integral pump for the underfloor heating which comes on automatically if the temperature in the house falls below a pre-set level.The boiler has been remarkably economical on diesel (which we collect from the petrol station as we go) and we now only have the wood burning stoves on for extra comfort and cheerfulness.

We also have a small solar panel to keep the generator battery fully charged all the time. Our well has also worked remarkably well. As it is spring fed it has water all the year whereas the wells in the valley, which use ground water, have failed when the water table has fallen below the bottom of the wells.