🤖 Replicate this at home

The Norney system was designed around a single principle: the battery is not an add-on — it is the core of the system. Solar panels charge the battery; the battery runs the house. The grid is a backup, not a primary source.

The Norney specification

• Solar charger: Victron SmartSolar MPPT VE.Can 250/100 rev2 — handles up to 7,000W of panels, 100A charge current. This is oversized for most homes but provides headroom for expansion.
• Inverter/charger: Victron MultiPlus-II 48/5000/70-50 — 5,000W continuous output, 48V DC bus. Can pass through grid power and charge battery simultaneously.
• Battery: Pylontech US2000 LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) — 2.4kWh per module, typically stacked to 9.6–14.4kWh. LFP chemistry is safer and longer-lived than Li-NMC.
• Gateway: Victron Cerbo GX MK2 — the brain. Connects all devices via VE.Can and CAN bus, uploads data to Victron VRM cloud, enables remote monitoring.
• Grid meter: Victron Energy Meter VM-3P75CT — clamp-on current transformers measure grid import/export accurately.

Why Victron

Victron Energy is a Dutch company that dominates the marine and off-grid market. Their components are modular, well-documented, and designed to work together. The VRM (Victron Remote Management) API is open — which is how this dashboard was built. Victron equipment is more expensive than consumer solar inverters but significantly more capable and repairable.

Key decisions and trade-offs

• 48V DC bus: Higher voltage = lower current = thinner cables and less heat loss. 48V is the right choice for anything above 3kW.
• LFP vs Li-NMC: LFP is heavier and slightly less energy-dense but tolerates 100% charge, partial state of charge, and lasts 3,000–6,000 cycles vs 500–1,000 for Li-NMC.
• ESS (Energy Storage System) mode: Victron's ESS software controls how the system prioritises solar, battery, and grid. The Norney system runs in "Keep batteries charged" mode with a 25W ESS setpoint — it imports a tiny standby current for stability but otherwise runs off solar and battery.
• Panels: South or south-west facing, 30–40° pitch, ideally no shading. Each panel adds roughly 400–450W at peak. 8–12 panels is typical for a domestic system.

Having solar and a battery is only half the equation. The other half is when you import from and export to the grid. A smart time-of-use tariff turns your battery from passive storage into an active financial instrument.

What Octopus Flux does

Octopus Flux (and its predecessor Agile Octopus) is a UK electricity tariff where the unit rate changes every 30 minutes based on wholesale electricity prices. Rates can range from negative (they pay you to use electricity) to 80p/kWh at peak times. The strategy is simple: charge the battery when rates are cheap (typically 2am–6am), discharge it when rates are expensive (4pm–7pm).

• Agile Octopus: Variable 30-min rates, set the day before. Rates published via API. Works with automation — Victron's ESS can be set to charge only below a threshold rate.
• Octopus Flux: Simplified version with three fixed bands — cheap, standard, peak. Better for people who want less complexity.
• Outgoing tariff: Octopus pays for exported solar via the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). Rates vary by tariff. Agile Outgoing pays variable rates like import — potentially very high at peak.

The Norney operating logic

• Solar generation → battery first, then house loads, then export
• Off-peak (night) → import small amount to top up battery if low
• Peak hours → run entirely from battery, export surplus at high rates
• Victron ESS handles the switching automatically once configured

What this actually saves

A well-optimised system with a 10kWh battery, 3–4kW of solar, and Octopus Agile can reasonably expect to pay £0–£30/month for electricity in summer, and £50–£80/month in winter (vs £150–£200 on a flat rate tariff). The economics depend heavily on your usage pattern and willingness to run high-consumption appliances (dishwasher, washing machine) during cheap periods.

The Norney dashboard — the site you are on right now — is a set of static HTML files that talk directly to the Victron VRM API and Octopus API. There is no backend database, no server-side code (beyond a simple proxy), and no framework. It deploys to Netlify for free.

How it works

• Victron VRM API: Victron provides a REST API at vrmapi.victronenergy.com/v2. Authenticate with a Bearer token. Returns live data (solar watts, battery %, grid power, AC load) and historical stats (daily yield, consumption).
• Octopus API: Octopus provides a REST API at api.octopus.energy/v1. Authenticate with an API key (Basic auth). Returns unit rates, consumption data per 30-min slot.
• Open-Meteo: Free, no-auth weather API at api.open-meteo.com. Returns current conditions, 7-day forecast, and 2 years of hourly historical weather (ERA5 reanalysis). No API key required.
• Netlify Functions: Two serverless functions (api.js, octopus.js) act as a proxy, adding auth headers server-side so keys aren't exposed in browser code.
• Chart.js 4.4: All charts are rendered with Chart.js via CDN. No build step required.

The tech stack

• Frontend: Vanilla HTML, CSS, JavaScript. No React, no build tools, no dependencies beyond Chart.js and Leaflet (for the map).
• Hosting: Netlify free tier — deploys automatically from GitHub on every push.
• Code: Open source at github.com/TimHopkin/norneyfarmbungalow. Fork it and adapt.
• Cost: £0/month to run. Netlify free tier covers all traffic for a personal site.

Adapting it for your system

The only things you need to change to make it work for your home are: your Victron site ID (found in VRM portal URL), your Octopus API key (in account settings), your MPAN meter number, and your tariff code. Everything else — the charts, the layout, the weather — works automatically.

No-dig gardening is not a new idea — it is a return to how soil actually works. The principle: soil is a living ecosystem. Digging disrupts fungal networks, exposes weed seeds, and destroys structure. Instead, suppress weeds with a cardboard mulch, add compost on top, and let worms do the cultivation.

The core method

1. Cardboard suppression: Lay thick cardboard (remove any tape/staples) directly over grass or weeds. Overlap edges by 15cm. Water thoroughly. This smothers existing growth and breaks down into the soil within 12 months.
2. Compost layer: Add 10–15cm of well-rotted compost on top of the cardboard. This is where plants grow. The cardboard rots beneath and worms pull the compost down.
3. No turning: Leave the soil structure intact. Add fresh compost to the surface each autumn. That's the entire maintenance system.
4. Permanent beds: Work from defined paths — never stand on growing areas. 1.2m wide beds are ideal — reachable from both sides without stepping in.

Why it works

Undisturbed soil develops mycorrhizal fungal networks that extend plant root systems and transfer nutrients. A teaspoon of healthy undisturbed soil contains more organisms than there are people on earth. Digging collapses these networks. No-dig preserves them and results in measurably higher yields for less labour after the first year.

Getting started at Norney

• The Norney kitchen garden was established on rough grass using the cardboard method
• Free cardboard from local supermarkets, appliance shops, or delivery boxes
• Compost sources: local council green waste scheme, farm suppliers, or start your own hot compost heap
• First year crops: potatoes, courgettes, and squash are ideal — they suppress weeds and the harvest justifies the initial compost cost

Empty beds are a problem: rain leaches nutrients, weeds colonise, and soil structure degrades. Green manures solve this — they are crops you grow not to eat, but to improve the ground for whatever comes next.

The Norney green manure rotation

• Winter rye + winter vetch (sow Sep–Oct): The most useful combination. Rye's deep roots break up compaction and suppress weeds; vetch fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil. Dig in or cut and mulch in March before they flower.
• Buckwheat (sow May–Aug): Summer green manure for gaps between crops. Fast-growing, weed-suppressing, and its white flowers are a magnet for hoverflies and pollinators. Dig in before it sets seed.
• Red clover (sow Mar–Sep): Nitrogen-fixing. Leaves the soil measurably richer in available nitrogen for the crop that follows. Particularly useful before brassicas, which are hungry feeders.
• White clover: Lower growing than red — can be used as a living mulch between brassica plants.

How nitrogen fixation works

Leguminous plants (clovers, vetches, beans) host rhizobium bacteria in root nodules. These bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen (78% of air) into ammonium — plant-available nitrogen. When you dig in the plant or it decomposes, that nitrogen becomes available to the next crop. This is free fertiliser from the air.

The no-dig adaptation

In a no-dig system, you don't dig in the green manure — you cut it at ground level and leave the roots to rot. The roots release their nitrogen as they decompose. You can then plant through the mulch of cut material, or compost it and top-dress.

Growing food in the UK requires accepting the climate rather than fighting it. The winners are the crops that suit cool, damp conditions — not the ones that look exciting in seed catalogues but sulk in British summers. These are the crops that consistently perform at Norney (GU8, Surrey, last frost mid-April, sandy loam).

Reliable performers for cool temperate climates

• Kale: The most reliable winter vegetable in the UK. Harvest November–March when little else is growing. Frost genuinely improves flavour. Varieties: Cavolo Nero (Italian), Red Russian (cold-hardy).
• Leeks: Extremely frost-hardy. Autumn Giant or Musselburgh for winter harvest. Dibber-planted, virtually no care needed once established.
• Garlic: Plant in October, harvest in June. Solent Wight softneck stores 6–9 months. Almost no work involved.
• Broad beans: Overwinter as autumn-sown seedlings, crop in May–June. The earliest meaningful harvest of the year. Aquadulce Claudia is the standard overwintering variety.
• Courgettes: Prolific in British summers. One plant produces abundantly from June–September. Pick when finger-sized for best flavour.
• Squash: Crown Prince and Uchiki Kuri store well through winter. One plant can produce 4–8 fruits that keep until February.
• Peas: Short season but worth it. Sow in guttering indoors January–February for the earliest harvest. Pick daily once cropping starts.
• Salad leaves: Year-round with a cold frame. Bolt-resistant varieties in summer; winter lettuce in the frame. Little Gem is almost indestructible.

What to avoid (or be cautious about)

• Tomatoes: Possible outdoors in a warm summer but need a south-facing wall or cold frame. Expect variable results.
• Sweetcorn: Needs a hot summer and a large block (minimum 4×4) for wind pollination. Possible but marginal in Surrey.
• Aubergines/melons: Need a polytunnel in the UK. Don't attempt outdoors.

The succession principle

Never sow an entire packet at once. Sow a short row every 2–3 weeks (lettuce, radish, rocket, French beans, carrots). This gives a continuous harvest instead of a glut and a gap.

Understanding your microclimate is one of the highest-leverage things you can do as a grower. The Norney weather dashboard shows 2 years of daily temperature history, frost days per month, wind patterns, and solar radiation — all free, all derived from the same point location.

Open-Meteo: a free weather data API

Open-Meteo provides free access to global weather forecast and historical data. No API key required. Key endpoints:

• api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast — 7-day hourly forecast, current conditions
• archive-api.open-meteo.com/v1/archive — daily historical data back to 1940 (ERA5 reanalysis model)
• Variables include: temperature max/min, precipitation, wind speed, sunshine duration, cloud cover, UV index

What the Norney weather data reveals

• Frost days: GU8 typically has last frost in mid-April. The dashboard tracks monthly frost days (days where minimum temperature drops below 0°C) over 2 years — useful for planning planting-out dates.
• Windy days: Days where daily maximum wind speed exceeds 40 km/h, shown by month. Autumn and early winter are the windiest periods — relevant for staking tall crops and protecting polytunnels.
• Solar radiation: Monthly sunshine hours directly correlate with solar panel output. This data validates the solar system's performance — comparing actual generation against expected from sunshine hours.
• Historical min/max temperature: Monthly absolute extremes show the real risk profile — not just averages, but what actually happened.

Building your own microclimate record

The Open-Meteo archive uses ERA5 reanalysis (model-derived, not actual measurements) at roughly 9km resolution. For your specific garden, a local weather station adds accuracy. The Met Office WOW (Weather Observations Website) accepts data from amateur stations and adds it to the national record.

The Norney dashboard is hosted on Netlify's free tier and deployed automatically from GitHub. Every time a change is pushed to the GitHub repository, Netlify rebuilds and redeploys the site within 30 seconds. The total hosting cost is £0/month.

The deployment pipeline

1. GitHub repository: All code lives at github.com/TimHopkin/norneyfarmbungalow. This is the single source of truth.
2. Netlify: Connected to the GitHub repo. On every push to main, Netlify fetches the latest code and serves it globally via CDN.
3. Netlify Functions: Two small JavaScript functions (netlify/functions/api.js and octopus.js) act as API proxies. They run serverlessly — no server to maintain. API keys are stored in Netlify environment variables (encrypted, not in code).
4. Custom domain: Optional but easy — add your domain in Netlify and it handles SSL automatically via Let's Encrypt.

Step-by-step: deploy your own fork

1. Fork the GitHub repo
2. Create a free Netlify account
3. In Netlify: New site → Import from GitHub → select your fork
4. In Netlify site settings → Environment variables: add VICTRON_KEY and OCTOPUS_KEY
5. Update config.js with your own site ID and tariff details
6. Push to GitHub — site deploys automatically

What you don't need

No Node.js runtime. No Docker. No servers to maintain. No databases. No subscription services. The entire stack runs on free tiers of GitHub and Netlify with no expiry.

Norney Farm Bungalow is not a purpose-built eco-home. It is a 1970s bungalow — a very ordinary building type, of which there are millions in the UK. The principle is that any such building can be transformed incrementally, with each improvement making the next one easier and more affordable.

The sequencing that works

1. Understand your baseline first. Before spending anything, measure your consumption for 3 months. A smart meter and the Octopus API give you half-hourly data. Know where your electricity actually goes (heating, hot water, lighting, appliances).
2. Reduce demand before generating supply. LED lighting, A+++ appliances, draught sealing, and loft insulation cost far less per unit of energy saved than solar costs per unit generated. A well-insulated home is a much more efficient host for a solar system.
3. Add solar. Size the system for your actual consumption, not an aspirational future usage. A 3–4kW system with 10kWh storage is appropriate for most UK households. Larger is not always better — the economics of export are less attractive than self-consumption.
4. Add a smart tariff. Octopus Agile or Flux unlocks the battery's financial potential. Without a smart tariff, a battery primarily provides backup power — valuable but limited return on investment.
5. Automate. Victron ESS, smart plugs, and time-of-use scheduling gradually shift consumption into cheap windows without any daily attention required.
6. Monitor and iterate. This dashboard exists because visibility changes behaviour. When you can see in real time that you're importing at peak rates, you defer the dishwasher. Data makes the invisible visible.

The realistic timeline

• Year 1: Smart meter, LED upgrade, loft insulation, Octopus tariff switch — saves 20–40% on bills with minimal capital
• Year 2–3: Solar + battery installation — the major capital event, payback 7–12 years depending on usage
• Year 3+: Heat pump (replacing gas boiler), EV charger, rainwater harvesting — each step reduces dependence further

Open Norney is the idea that a home can be a gift — not just to its occupants, but to anyone who wants to learn from it. Everything about Norney Farm Bungalow is documented and shared: the energy system specification, the garden planting notes, the dashboard code, the deployment process. All of it is forkable.

What "forking" means for a home

In software, forking means taking someone else's code, copying it, and adapting it for your own purposes. The same principle applies here. You don't have to start from scratch — you start from Norney, change what's different about your situation, and build from there. Your home becomes its own version. If you document and share it, someone else can fork yours.

What you can take right now

• The dashboard code: Fork github.com/TimHopkin/norneyfarmbungalow. Change the site ID, API keys, and location coordinates. Deploy to Netlify. You have a working energy dashboard within an hour.
• The garden data: The crop notes, sowing calendars, and variety recommendations in the Garden page are all specific to GU8 conditions. Use them as a starting point and adjust for your soil, climate, and space.
• The principles: Battery-first energy thinking. No-dig soil management. Data as teacher. Making the invisible visible. These don't depend on having Victron hardware or living in Surrey.
• The LLM approach: Every guide on this page is written to be fed into an AI assistant. Paste the URL, describe your situation, ask for adaptation. This is the fastest way to go from curiosity to action.

How to contribute back

• Fork the GitHub repo and submit pull requests with improvements or new features
• Document your own home adaptations and share the URL — we will link to forks
• If you are a grower in a different climate, contribute crop notes for your conditions
• If you have a different solar inverter, contribute an API adapter

The framing line

"Norney is not a private project. It is a working demonstration that anyone can learn from and adapt for their own home, their own land."