Trelech, Carmarthenshire — Ground-Mount Solar, ASHP & Battery Backup
A complete renewable system on a rural Carmarthenshire smallholding — large ground-mount solar PV, an air source heat pump replacing oil heating, and battery backup for grid-outage resilience. Detailed MCS heat-loss survey, full BUS grant claim handled, and the customer reports the heat pump is significantly quieter than expected.
The challenge
The customers were sceptical about air source heat pumps — they'd been told they would be noisy, expensive to run, and unsuitable for an off-gas-grid Carmarthenshire smallholding. They were heating with oil, paying high running costs, and wanted to combine renewable heat, electricity and grid-outage resilience without compromising the rural setting. The roof orientation wasn't ideal for solar.
The solution
We did a full MCS 3005 heat-loss survey to size the heat pump correctly, then specified a ground-mounted solar array on a south-facing field — escaping the roof-orientation problem entirely. Battery storage was added for both daily self-consumption and full system backup during grid outages (a real risk on rural Carmarthenshire feeders). The £7,500 BUS grant in force at the time was claimed in full (the figure is now £9,000 for oil/LPG homes for applications from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027) and applied directly to the heat pump cost.
Results
- Large ground-mount solar PV array (south-facing, 30° pitch)
- Air source heat pump replacing oil — quieter than the customer expected
- Full system battery backup providing grid-outage resilience
- MCS-certified install with detailed heat-loss survey
- £7,500 BUS grant claimed and applied to project cost (the figure is now £9,000 for oil/LPG homes for applications from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027)
- Significant ongoing running cost savings vs oil heating
System specification
- Property
- Rural Carmarthenshire smallholding
- Solar mounting
- Ground-mount, south-facing field
- Heat pump
- Air source heat pump (oil replacement)
- Battery
- Full system backup with grid-outage support
- Heating standard
- MCS 3005 heat-loss survey + room-by-room sizing
- Grant claimed
- £7,500 BUS (now £9,000 for oil/LPG, 21 Jul 2026–31 Mar 2027)
- Install date
- August 2025
Installation gallery
So impressed! Tom, Simon and the team are absolutely brilliant. We have had a large ground-mounted solar array, an air source heat pump and a full system backup. We were very sceptical about air source but were assured by their knowledge and a detailed heat survey. The quote we got was very detailed and specific to us, and installation of both went smoothly. We have been up and running for a few weeks and are so impressed with the efficiency, cost savings and lovely constant temperature from the air source heating, and the solar is great and saving us plenty of pennies. Contrary to what we were led to believe by others, the air source is very quiet. They are always available and happy to answer questions — I can't recommend them enough.
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