We are doing some serious renovations to part of our house next year and I'm looking at the alternatives for heating and hot water.

The part we will renovate currently has a warm air system powered by a diesel boiler with the hot water system shared with the rest of the house using a traditional cylinder.

I'm considering installing a ground source heat pump for both the heating and hot water and to possibly heat an exercise pool outside if we can afford it. We have the ground available to install the necessary plumbing.

I'd also like to drive the heat pump using solar panels so that after the installation the whole system runs effectively for free. I do understand that I'm personally not likely to recover the costs of installation (unless I live to a record old age) but it would make the renovation more interesting and we would hopefully end up with a reliable system that is not reliant on external factors such as the power grid.

So I was wondering if any GZ'ers have tried anything similar and if they had any advice.