Solar Panels?

[Mr Penguin]

soupdragon1 said:

£2.5k for a 15kwh battery is great value but I doubt I would be able to get it into my loft, due to the enormous weight. So probably go for smaller batteries and join them up.

15kwh is huge, why do you want such a big storage? That's more than a full day's usage for a typical large family.

[No ideas for a name]

soupdragon1 said:

Mr Penguin said:

Where do you buy the panels and batteries etc if you buy them yourself?

Trade spark seems to be a popular site.

https://www.tradesparky.com/solarsparky/solar-pane...

If not tradesparky, I might buy my batteries from here:

https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/solar-batter...

£2.5k for a 15kwh battery is great value but I doubt I would be able to get it into my loft, due to the enormous weight. So probably go for smaller batteries and join them up.

My go to is https://www.solartradesales.co.uk/

Just to note... don't put them in the loft.

Ref latest (free) publication from BSI
PAS 63100:2024Electrical installations – Protection against fire of battery energy storage systems for use in dwellings – SpecificationDepartment

6.5.5.g

[cayman-black]

thecopster said:

So I’ll start by saying i don’t really know anything about solar!

My situation is fairly typical though:

-EV car
-4 bed house with 3 teenagers so high consumption ~1200kwh per month
-gas central heating

I asked my energy supplier Octopus for a quote and they came back with this:





I have no idea if it’s what I need/any good!

I am based in Bristol so anyone who has had a local install done in my area I would be grateful to receive recommendations!

Thanks

I had a similar set up and have been quoted by two uk wide suppliers one was £14k the other £11k. Devon.

[Gareth79]

Mr Penguin said:

Where do you buy the panels and batteries etc if you buy them yourself?

City Plumbing has very low prices, eg. Longi 410W £60.52 each inc VAT, AND free delivery:

https://www.cityplumbing.co.uk/c/product/renewable...

[Ken Figenus]

thecopster said:

So I’ll start by saying i don’t really know anything about solar!

My situation is fairly typical though:

-EV car
-4 bed house with 3 teenagers so high consumption ~1200kwh per month
-gas central heating

I asked my energy supplier Octopus for a quote and they came back with this:





I have no idea if it’s what I need/any good!

I am based in Bristol so anyone who has had a local install done in my area I would be grateful to receive recommendations!

Thanks

I wouldn't take that as they put an exclamation mark after the price!!! Also its too heavy and the batteries way too small for your level of consumption.

I paid £8200 a year ago for exactly that type of system on my garage (no scaff, long run to house CU) but soon realised batteries were half of what I needed. So I bought 2 x 2.6kWh batteries for £1800 and added them myself as installer wanted a ridic £2800k. You use much more than me. Also component prices are prob 20% lower by now...

Check the smallprint on all branded kit warranties - hardware warranty is more important than generation warranty on PV etc. Make sure the battery throughput warranty cap isn't too low - sorry minefield - refer back!

DM me if you want a referral for my installers who I took months to decide on!

[OutInTheShed]

One thing to bear in mind is warranty.
If a panel fails in 10 years' time, will you get your warranty honoured?

Will an install company be around to change the panel for you?
Including the labour of changing it?

[Jurgen100]

We have 17 panels on a virtually south facing roof in Hampshire. 10kwh battery and an Eddi as well. Financial benefit after 12 months was just over £1800. If every year was the same as this then payback would be just under 8yrs but obviously energy prices could change. If they go up then payback will be quicker and vice versa.

I didn't decide to get solar purely for financial reasons but I'm happy enough with the economics of it.

[Road2Ruin]

Jurgen100 said:

We have 17 panels on a virtually south facing roof in Hampshire. 10kwh battery and an Eddi as well. Financial benefit after 12 months was just over £1800. If every year was the same as this then payback would be just under 8yrs but obviously energy prices could change. If they go up then payback will be quicker and vice versa.

I didn't decide to get solar purely for financial reasons but I'm happy enough with the economics of it.

It will be similar, if not less, for us. We have an EV, which helps, and we needed to do the roof as well, so incorporated that at the same time.

[soupdragon1]

Mr Penguin said:

soupdragon1 said:

£2.5k for a 15kwh battery is great value but I doubt I would be able to get it into my loft, due to the enormous weight. So probably go for smaller batteries and join them up.

15kwh is huge, why do you want such a big storage? That's more than a full day's usage for a typical large family.

10kw is probably enough but for just a few hundred £ extra, you get 50% more capacity, so you can afford to lose 33% degradation and you're still at 10kwh many years later.

It's a non starter for me anyway, due to weight.

[silentbrown]

Ken Figenus said:

I paid £8200 a year ago for exactly that type of system on my garage (no scaff, long run to house CU) but soon realised batteries were half of what I needed.

Scaffolding seems to be a big cost. Anyone who quotes without actually coming to see the roof will assume scaffolding is needed.

FWIW, the Givenergy system we put in last year cost £11K. 4.6KW (11 x 425W panels), 9.2kWH battery, no scaffolding. A local SolarEdge vendor quoted us £15.5K for a 4.1KW system...

Prices have definitely dropped since then, but your figure doesn't seem unreasonable.

[Mr Penguin]

soupdragon1 said:

10kw is probably enough but for just a few hundred £ extra, you get 50% more capacity, so you can afford to lose 33% degradation and you're still at 10kwh many years later.

It's a non starter for me anyway, due to weight.

10kwh is still a huge amount for most people to store enough to last throughout the night. Do you live somewhere remote with regular long power cuts?

[cayman-black]

Mr Penguin said:

10kwh is still a huge amount for most people to store enough to last throughout the night. Do you live somewhere remote with regular long power cuts?

For the system to work with a power cut I believe you need an EPS switch and this adds to the costs at installation.

[KTF]

Mr Penguin said:

10kwh is still a huge amount for most people to store enough to last throughout the night. Do you live somewhere remote with regular long power cuts?

That would also give you a buffer for poor Solar days in winter, etc.

Plus some of the bigger batteries have a bigger ac out so the oven, etc doesn’t trigger a draw from the grid.

[Ken Figenus]

silentbrown said:

Scaffolding seems to be a big cost. Anyone who quotes without actually coming to see the roof will assume scaffolding is needed.

FWIW, the Givenergy system we put in last year cost £11K. 4.6KW (11 x 425W panels), 9.2kWH battery, no scaffolding. A local SolarEdge vendor quoted us £15.5K for a 4.1KW system...

Prices have definitely dropped since then, but your figure doesn't seem unreasonable.

Scaff for a 3 bed semi seems to be about a grand these days - more the closer to France you get in UK! Good business.

[Ken Figenus]

cayman-black said:

For the system to work with a power cut I believe you need an EPS switch and this adds to the costs at installation.

They gave me a proprietary plug to go in the bottom of the inverter which I wired to give 13A into an extension reel. TBF we don't even own a candle and haven't needed one as no power cuts in 25 years... Might be an idea to invest in a more pro solution if you do get power cuts though.

[KTF]

Ken Figenus said:

Scaff for a 3 bed semi seems to be about a grand these days - more the closer to France you get in UK! Good business.

Scaff front and back including a bridge for a conservatory on a 4 bed detached came in at 1k for me.

[Mr Penguin]

cayman-black said:

For the system to work with a power cut I believe you need an EPS switch and this adds to the costs at installation.

EPS should only be a few hundred pounds so not a big problem if you want/need it to cover power cuts.
I know of someone who lives in the middle of nowhere and can go without power for 2-3 days after storms so does have these massive batteries. It's an unusual use case but something that some people have to deal with. Someone with electric heating or running a server for crypto mining or something may also warrant it but for most people it is far more than necessary.

[ZX10R NIN]

Ken Figenus said:

silentbrown said:

Scaffolding seems to be a big cost. Anyone who quotes without actually coming to see the roof will assume scaffolding is needed.

FWIW, the Givenergy system we put in last year cost £11K. 4.6KW (11 x 425W panels), 9.2kWH battery, no scaffolding. A local SolarEdge vendor quoted us £15.5K for a 4.1KW system...

Prices have definitely dropped since then, but your figure doesn't seem unreasonable.

Scaff for a 3 bed semi seems to be about a grand these days - more the closer to France you get in UK! Good business.

We've had our 18 panel system (with micro inverters Solax 6.3kw battery with a 4.3kw inverter) in for just over a year now & so far the saving is £2100.

We're a family of four, I bought my battery & inverter separately from Trade Sparky.

I have a friend do the scaffolding so the price wasn't reflective of the market rate.

But I have to say its been faultless & I don't really think about it.

[Ken Figenus]

That is a huge saving over grid import - must include an EV right?

My Taycan is filling up nicely today (at last) even with a HP tumble dryer on!

[Cheib]

Mr Penguin said:

soupdragon1 said:

£2.5k for a 15kwh battery is great value but I doubt I would be able to get it into my loft, due to the enormous weight. So probably go for smaller batteries and join them up.

15kwh is huge, why do you want such a big storage? That's more than a full day's usage for a typical large family.

Combine that with a cheap overnight tariff and PV and you might not need to draw on the grid too much at “normal” prices.