Solar PV support an Air Source Heat Pump?

[Nickfromwales]

32 minutes ago, ashthekid said:

So going back to my original question of 1 Solar PV not being enough to generate a usable amount for a ASHP, would 2 or 3 be enough or still not worth it?

Out of curiosity, would a slate tile PV be of any use if a large enough area could be used to generate electricity?

Get a quote for Ergosun solar tiles / slates and have some toilet roll ready  

Just try and buy some cheap panel system off EBay and I wouldn’t bother with less than 4 panels. 
You get 25% PV in winter ( if you’re lucky ) so when you need the ASHP the most you’ll have the least amount of PV. 
Forget the correlation between the PV and any one given device, as that is just a wasteful endeavour. Instead, use the PV to nibble away at the vampire / base load of the house and simplify the equation. It matters not one jot where the electricity goes, so adjust your thinking here and use that new perspective to plan your attack against your annual electricity bills.   

[SteamyTea]

9 hours ago, ashthekid said:

So going back to my original question of 1 Solar PV not being enough to generate a usable amount for a ASHP, would 2 or 3 be enough or still not worth it?

Out of curiosity, would a slate tile PV be of any use if a large enough area could be used to generate electricity?

It is not often that a PV system will generate enough power to start an induction load like a heat pump compressor.

You could fit a battery, and an over size inverter, then hope there is enough energy stored in the batter to start the ASHP while the PV is generating enough to run the ASHP and charge the battery.

If an ASHP takes 5 amps to run (1.15 kW), and you have 5, 250W PV modules, the numbers seem, on the face of it, to match once inverter efficiency is taken into account.  The problem is that the modules only deliver that 250W when the sun is allowing 1000W.m^-2 of insolation to hit those modules, which is a rare day in the UK, and then they have to be facing the sun directly.

 

Solar slates are very nice, hardly noticeable on a roof, but they cost a lot more and have lower output per unit area.  And a lot more work to install.