Solar panels

[Derekl]

38 minutes ago, hayfield said:

we have just started the 23 day of a 28 day month

Err, 29 day month this year.

[Ian Smeeton]

Likewise, I am in Lincolnshire, and checking the councils own website, only 2 solar companies were recommended, one in Southampton and the other in Mnachester. Both small companies and not prepared to travel to Lincolnshire.

 

I wish Solar Together, or a similar operation had been available to us.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[GrumpyPenguin]

We have had our installation for around 10 years & are relatively lucky insomuch that we get paid for what we generate if we use it or not.

 

With battery storage it was around £8k for a 4kW installation. Without taking into account what we saved on buying from the grid (we are quite heavy users) our payback time was around 7 years - all in all a good investment.

 

I looked at self install (I'm also an electrical engineer) but the costs of the materials alone approached 50% of the installed cost & then I would have had to get it signed off to be able to go on the FIT. The installation was not straight forward as the actual panels were to go on a flat roofed building 20m away from the house.

My professional qualifications enable me to weed out the unsuitable suppliers. However, after signing up with a company I nearly got caught out. When their installation tam turned up there was an inward sucking of air through the teeth - "we need to provide a new cable between the house and building, it will be about an extra £900 for the cable alone". My reply was that the surveyor should have noted that and they were shown the door.

The company that we used were local Trading Standards/Check a Trade approved. Their surveyor said they could use the existing supply cable (as did company #1). However, when their electrical contractor (NIC approved) turned up he refused to use the cable as it was "perfectly serviceable but in the old colours and he could not inspect all of it because most of it was underground". But the quotation was honoured.

 

It's no surprise that many people get caught out.

 

As someone else said - heat pumps will be the next "problem"area.

[Tony_S]

Today is one of those unexpected sunny days. We haven’t had lunch yet and have generated 7.8 kWh. The new battery is fully synchronised with the old ones now and they are all heading towards full charge. The new battery didn’t take up any extra space in my garage as it took up the empty slot in the existing rack. 

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Ian Smeeton said:

Likewise, I am in Lincolnshire, and checking the councils own website, only 2 solar companies were recommended, one in Southampton and the other in Mnachester. Both small companies and not prepared to travel to Lincolnshire.

 

I wish Solar Together, or a similar operation had been available to us.

 

Regards

 

Ian

 

Ian

 

At least two of us have used Greenscape  on here and only good reports

 

https://www.greenscapeenergy.co.uk/solar-panels-uk/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoeGuBhCBARIsAGfKY7w9bCltFbmbEbex3cmp6HzmoCccNLIHfD5VbnruzDz8lfT0doylxhAaAnluEALw_wcB

 

I guess a chat with them wont hurt and ask if they have any local presence if so could they quote for a system based on Solar Together (or better) requirements

[Metr0Land]

3 hours ago, hayfield said:

I have had an email from Greenscape (our installers) about adding a battery to our system, stating we could take advantage of cheaper overnight charging. They forget to say I would loose my export premium rates by changing tariff. 

 

 

 

I guess it's horses for courses and everyone needs to consider their own situation.  I inherited the solar panels with the house and for me I felt the best financial outcome over time would be to install a 13kWh storage battery (bear in mind I have a PHEV and smart charger with it) and not export anything.

 

After several dull days this morning the battery was charged to 91pct overnight at 7.5p - one of the few drawbacks of the Tesla battery pack is it can't read weather forecasts so a sudden cahnge from dull to bright or vice-versa can catch it out a bit.  As it happened I had a podiatrist appointment and the mileage 'emptied the electric tank' on the car*  As soon as I got home I put it on direct charge (but that comes from the powerwall not from mains) as the storage battery was full (though I'd only lost 1.1kWh to the grid).  I put 3.8kWh into the car and I've had 6.2kWh solar today up to 2pm.

 

I've only had the powerwall for 4 months (the worst of the 1 year cycle) so can't be sure but for me I'm projecting I'm better off juggling solar and storage pack rather than exporting. In high summer I'm expecting to go off-grid for significant periods and juggle solar and battery. However I fully admit that until I've been through a summer I can't be sure that's the best outcome.

 

*on other occasions I've put a load of washing on and the dishwasher when I hadn't necessarily got full loads as I hate dumping electricity to the grid!

[hayfield]

4 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

On a brighter note on the best day we produced 6.8kwh, not bad for a small system in early February, also shading stopped quite a few days ago, the sun is very high in the sky now (10am) and certainly the morning and lunchtime shading went days/weeks a go, late afternoon might still be affected if so to a very much lesser extent.

 

 

 

Update

 

No pm shading

Edited February 23 by hayfield

[Nick C]

3 hours ago, chiefpenguin said:

As someone else said - heat pumps will be the next "problem"area.

Apparently insulation is another one - with all sorts of falsehoods being told to get people to pay more than they need to...

[Tony_S]

29 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Apparently insulation is another one - with all sorts of falsehoods being told to get people to pay more than they need to...

Dodgy insulation methods and installers are everywhere but after I had the solar panels installed and the fitters had long departed I upgraded the loft insulation from 1990 as built specification to whatever was current a couple of years ago. It wasn’t the nicest DIY task but it has been a very noticeable improvement. House is cooler in summer too. Cleared a lot of “stuff” from the loft too .

Edited February 23 by Tony_S

[black and decker boy]

5 hours ago, Metr0Land said:

 

I guess it's horses for courses and everyone needs to consider their own situation.  I inherited the solar panels with the house and for me I felt the best financial outcome over time would be to install a 13kWh storage battery (bear in mind I have a PHEV and smart charger with it) and not export anything.

 

After several dull days this morning the battery was charged to 91pct overnight at 7.5p - one of the few drawbacks of the Tesla battery pack is it can't read weather forecasts so a sudden cahnge from dull to bright or vice-versa can catch it out a bit.  As it happened I had a podiatrist appointment and the mileage 'emptied the electric tank' on the car*  As soon as I got home I put it on direct charge (but that comes from the powerwall not from mains) as the storage battery was full (though I'd only lost 1.1kWh to the grid).  I put 3.8kWh into the car and I've had 6.2kWh solar today up to 2pm.

 

I've only had the powerwall for 4 months (the worst of the 1 year cycle) so can't be sure but for me I'm projecting I'm better off juggling solar and storage pack rather than exporting. In high summer I'm expecting to go off-grid for significant periods and juggle solar and battery. However I fully admit that until I've been through a summer I can't be sure that's the best outcome.

 

*on other occasions I've put a load of washing on and the dishwasher when I hadn't necessarily got full loads as I hate dumping electricity to the grid!

I have a BEV. With Intelligent Octopus, my best earning is to export 100% as I get 15p/kwh.

 

charging my car only happens overnight and costs 7.5p/kwh.

 

i also fully charge my 8kwh battery storage overnight at 7.5p/kwh.

 

since we fathomed all that out, our daytime imports are practically zero and through winter, we have not really eroded our credit with Octopus.

[hayfield]

4 hours ago, Nick C said:

Apparently insulation is another one - with all sorts of falsehoods being told to get people to pay more than they need to...

 

The last time I paid for insulation it cost me £50 fitted, and I got a certificate. When we moved to our current house they had the same scheme. Both when we sold our previous house and when buying this one both added to the energy efficiency report. !!!  I thought I got a great deal !!! and I think it was from a leaflet drop sponsored by the energy companies 

 

I have just remembered, we had an extension built and I had to but a few rolls to go in the void in the extension roof

[hayfield]

We have had a couple of good days, and though no wall to wall sunshine days its surprising how fast the clock ticks over when the sun comes out,

 

Now we just need some good weather, not only for solar power production, but my allotment is looking very sad

 

 

[Metr0Land]

Very sunny today, easily the best day of 2024 so far.  As it happens I had full loads for the dishwasher and washing machine, and put 4 kWh into the PHEV.  Unfortunately had to dump 3.8kWh to the grid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[big jim]

I’ve just had a quote from OVO energy for solar panels, not got all the info to hand yet but it’s an 11 panel system and a 5.2kw battery installed for £9800

 

they recon I should save about £825-875 a year on my current useage so it would pay for itself in just over 11 years 

 

their sell back to the grid price is 20p per whatever 

 

it’s the first quote I’ve had but it’s about the figure I thought it would be, the question is will we still be living here in 11 years to justify the outlay, I’ve not no plans on moving but my wife keeps hinting about wanting to a few years down the line  

[sjp23480]

Jim, 

 

I  prefer to calculate the return on investment.  Based on the lowest quoted return (£825) and assuming you have £9800 of capital to "invest", you will get a return of 8.4%.

 

Only you will know if that is good value, based on what that your £9800 has been earning for the last few years.

 

The cost of installation sounds quite good value, but the returns seem a little conservative - which is not unusual - they prefer to under-sell/over-deliver.

 

I have a 3.5KWH system with 7 panels and a 3KWH battery that cost £7100 in 2022.  In the first 12 months the return was £930, or 12.8%.  

 

It wasn't the largest system we could have had installed, but the survey reasoned that this was the best size of installation based on our consumption needs.  

 

It would appear that bigger is not necessarily better.  Some houses round me with 16-20 panels, once you have a production surplus and start feeding it into the grid the returns are a lot less attractive.

 

Steve

 

[Derekl]

I agree hat sounds like a lot of panels - I have 6 with a 4.5 kWh battery - on a dull day produces about enough to charge a toothbrush, but today which was quite bright it has done 4.4 kWh, which covers my consumption. My concern with 11 is that you are going to be making quite a lot to pump into the system at not a great rate of recompense (we, 20p to sell, 31p or so to buy). I paid £8,000 June last year for the set up, so the price quoted seems to be what you would expect.

If you are selling, I am not sure that you would recover the cost of the installation, but it may have an influence on buyers.

[big jim]

Octopus have come back with £9599 with just 8 panels…….

 

8x JA Solar 435W panels

A Giv-Energy 5.2kWh Battery

A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter

Installation on a Single Aspect roof

Bird-Netting as standard

All electrical components required to complete the install

All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs

 

or £11099 with the bigger 9.5kWh battery 

 

their buy back price is 30p 

[Kris]

I would suggest going for the larger battery you will end up using it more than you may expect. We have a pair of 5.2kWh Giv-Energy and their inverter. The webpage to run it is not perfect but it does work. I would recommend Octopus as the energy provider (no idea about them as installers however). 

[sjp23480]

4 hours ago, big jim said:

their buy back price is 30p 

Are you sure?  

That means their buy back rate is more than the current unit price (~28p per unit). 

Remember, the unit rate will also come down ~15% from April 1st, which will dilute the returns/benefits further. 

[Phil Himsworth]

3 minutes ago, sjp23480 said:

That means their buy back rate is more than the current unit price (~28p per unit). 

Octopus have a few funny tariffs to suit different kinds of systems. Intelligent Go or Intelligent Flux have higher export than import costs at certain times; if you can run from a battery then on Intelligent Go you can import at 7.5p and export at 16p, so it is more lucrative to use night time import and export as much of your own generation as possible.

 

I don't think I've ever heard anybody say they wish they got a smaller battery. We have a 9.5kwh one but I'm tempted to get more. The PV system earns the money in summer, but the battery probably saves more in winter from running on cheap rate electricity all day at a fraction of the cost.

[Kris]

1 hour ago, sjp23480 said:

Are you sure?  

That means their buy back rate is more than the current unit price (~28p per unit). 

Remember, the unit rate will also come down ~15% from April 1st, which will dilute the returns/benefits further. 

Our peak export on Octopus is 28.79p per unit.

[hayfield]

10 hours ago, Kris said:

Our peak export on Octopus is 28.79p per unit.

 

How often do you get peak prices?

[Kris]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

How often do you get peak prices?

Daily between 4pm and 7pm. 

[hayfield]

3 hours ago, Kris said:

Daily between 4pm and 7pm. 

 

Draining your battery?  What's the standard tariff please

[Kris]

3 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Draining your battery?  What's the standard tariff please

Sometimes draining the battery but we are now getting to the point where the sun is also still providing some export between 16:00 and 17:00. The standard export rate is 127.426p per kWh. Between 02:00 and 05:00 we can charge the battery at 17.054p per kWh so exporting from the battery is still profitable.