How Much Solar Does a Retford Roof Make in January? The PVGIS Figures, Month by Month
ElectriFusion Solutions · 15 October 2026
January is the month that decides whether a home battery in Retford earns its keep from the roof or from the tariff. Below is every month for a south-facing Retford roof, from the European Commission's PVGIS model, and what each one means for a 5 kWh and a 10 kWh battery.
A 4.85 kW array in Retford, every month
| Month | Output | Average per day |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 171 kWh | 5.5 kWh |
| Feb | 257 kWh | 9.2 kWh |
| Mar | 419 kWh | 13.5 kWh |
| Apr | 535 kWh | 17.8 kWh |
| May | 602 kWh | 19.4 kWh |
| Jun | 564 kWh | 18.8 kWh |
| Jul | 586 kWh | 18.9 kWh |
| Aug | 542 kWh | 17.5 kWh |
| Sep | 456 kWh | 15.2 kWh |
| Oct | 311 kWh | 10.0 kWh |
| Nov | 216 kWh | 7.2 kWh |
| Dec | 167 kWh | 5.4 kWh |
PVGIS 5.2, SARAH2 radiation database, Retford town-centre coordinates, south-facing at 35°, 14% system losses, fetched 15 October 2026. Annual total 4,826 kWh (995 kWh per kW), about 1.5% more than Doncaster. Modelled averages, not a guarantee for any particular roof.
The best month here is May at 602 kWh (19.4 kWh a day) and the worst is Dec at 167 kWh (5.4 kWh a day), a ratio of 3.6 to one; that ratio, not the annual total, is what a battery has to live with.
For scale: PVGIS puts the in-plane irradiation on that roof at about 1,222 kWh per square metre a year, and the array converts it to 995 kWh per installed kilowatt; a Retford household with the regional average evening load would see the battery cycle fully on about 245 days a year on these figures.
What that means for the battery
Rule of thumb: a 5 kWh battery fills from the roof on a 10 kWh day, a 10 kWh battery on a 16 kWh day, once the house has used its daytime share. For Retford the first is true on average in Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct and the second in Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug.
From November to January the average is 6.0 kWh a day. A house that runs a fridge, a router, a kettle and some lighting through the day uses most of that as it arrives, so the battery sees a few hundred watt-hours of surplus, not five kilowatt-hours. That is not a fault with the battery or the panels; it is the latitude.
That something else is the grid
Winter battery value in Retford comes from the tariff: charge at the overnight rate, run the house through the 4pm to 7pm peak, and the roof's contribution is a bonus. In summer the roles reverse. Either way the arithmetic is the difference between the two rates multiplied by what the battery shifts in a day, which is why the tariff is the first thing we ask about.
Count each day once. A battery that filled overnight has no room for the morning's solar surplus, so on a summer day the saving is the solar or the tariff, not both added together.
So what size for a Retford home?
The evening load decides it. Pull a week of half-hourly smart-meter data: if the house uses 4 to 6 kWh between dusk and midnight, 5 kWh is the size; an EV or heat pump pushes it to 10 kWh, and in Retford that larger unit is working for the overnight tariff more than for the roof. Registration with the network, standalone options and the models we fit are on battery storage Retford; the solar side is on solar panels in Retford.
Questions
Does a home battery work in winter in Retford?
It works, but from the tariff rather than the roof: PVGIS gives a 4.85 kW array in Retford about 6.0 kWh a day across November to January, most of which the house uses as it is generated. On a time-of-use tariff the battery charges overnight and runs the evening peak all winter.
Which months will a 5 kWh battery fill from solar in Retford?
On the PVGIS monthly averages, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, when the roof makes 10 kWh or more a day after daytime use. A 10 kWh battery fills from solar alone in Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug.