Solar Panels?

[boyse7en]

Is it possible to DIY remove and refit some solar panels? I need to do some work on the chimney of my house and the solar panels are blocking access. Thinking of getting the scaffolding half installed, remove the panels, and then get the rest of the scaffolding done.

[SoliD]

Gazzab said:

How do you use this self generated (and stored in batteries) electricity to heat your home? If you have a traditional gas boiler and rads that is. ??

You can't, need air source heatpump or AC.

[Condi]

boyse7en said:

Is it possible to DIY remove and refit some solar panels? I need to do some work on the chimney of my house and the solar panels are blocking access. Thinking of getting the scaffolding half installed, remove the panels, and then get the rest of the scaffolding done.

No reason why not, they just unbolt and undo the connections. Just be aware that they'll have been put together (daisy chained) in a specific way, so if you're trying to remove some from the middle of the system it might be near enough impossible without starting at one end and working back. Probably best get the advice of an electrician who understands it, or the installer to find out how they're connected up.

[86]

SoliD said:

Gazzab said:

How do you use this self generated (and stored in batteries) electricity to heat your home? If you have a traditional gas boiler and rads that is. ??

You can't, need air source heatpump or AC.

Although you can use the battery or something like an Eddi to heat the hot water which could be a useful saving

[silentbrown]

Just starting to look into this for the garage roof.

Had a quote for 10 x REC Twinpeak 5 panels ( so 4.15kW), SolarEdge optimizers, inverter, power mgmt. No battery or immersion control.

£7.2K all fitted - does that seem a bit high?

[C70R]

86 said:

SoliD said:

Gazzab said:

How do you use this self generated (and stored in batteries) electricity to heat your home? If you have a traditional gas boiler and rads that is. ??

You can't, need air source heatpump or AC.

Although you can use the battery or something like an Eddi to heat the hot water which could be a useful saving

Or even something as simple as a bunch of oil-filled radiators.

[dmsims]

C70R said:

86 said:

SoliD said:

Gazzab said:

How do you use this self generated (and stored in batteries) electricity to heat your home? If you have a traditional gas boiler and rads that is. ??

You can't, need air source heatpump or AC.

Although you can use the battery or something like an Eddi to heat the hot water which could be a useful saving

Or even something as simple as a bunch of oil-filled radiators.

Or a fan heater or

[Jambo85]

86 said:

SoliD said:

Gazzab said:

How do you use this self generated (and stored in batteries) electricity to heat your home? If you have a traditional gas boiler and rads that is. ??

You can't, need air source heatpump or AC.

Although you can use the battery or something like an Eddi to heat the hot water which could be a useful saving

If you have a heating system with a thermal store (typically a heat pump but not always), you could use an Eddi to store energy in it via immersion heaters which can then be circulated around the heating loop. As ever though, you’ll fine it’s very little use when you need it most, and vice versa.

[C70R]

silentbrown said:

Just starting to look into this for the garage roof.

Had a quote for 10 x REC Twinpeak 5 panels ( so 4.15kW), SolarEdge optimizers, inverter, power mgmt. No battery or immersion control.

£7.2K all fitted - does that seem a bit high?

Seems in-line with my quote that I shared recently. Any reason why you decided to go without batteries?

[silentbrown]

C70R said:

Seems in-line with my quote that I shared recently.

Any reason why you decided to go without batteries?

The economics, primarily. Although I'm still open to persuasion!

[Arnold Cunningham]

I’ve found the batteries to be a game changer. We last consumed any grid power on Sunday night. Since then it’s all been solar charge to the batteries. Can see we’ll pull in maybe 3 or 4 kWh in to the batteries during the off peak period tonight as todays sun was poor, though. But having a good chunk of battery really does help smooth out the peaks and troughs.

If I could rely on the weather forecast, I could adjust how much charge to pull in overnight based on tomorrows likely solar generation. But I find the weather forecast is still a bit unreliable, plus I have better things to do - I might be able to pull in a couple of kWh less from the grid if I know tomorrow is going to be good - but I have other things to do with my time, it’d only save me about 25p!

Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Tuesday 28th March 20:15

[pingu393]

Arnold Cunningham said:

I’ve found the batteries to be a game changer. We last consumed any grid power on Sunday night. Since then it’s all been solar charge to the batteries. Can see we’ll pull in maybe 3 or 4 kWh in to the batteries during the off peak period tonight as todays sun was poor, though. But having a good chunk of battery really does help smooth out the peaks and troughs.

If I could rely on the weather forecast, I could adjust how much charge to pull in overnight based on tomorrows likely solar generation. But I find the weather forecast is still a bit unreliable, plus I have better things to do - I might be able to pull in a couple of kWh less from the grid if I know tomorrow is going to be good - but I have other things to do with my time, it’d only save me about 25p!

Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Tuesday 28th March 20:15

I have to agree on that - batteries are the biggest game-changer. I think I may have gone OTT by using Tesla. £8.5k will take for ever to recoup, but we are now almost off the grid, so they can do what they like with the price of leccy.

Knowing what I know, TODAY, I would just be on Octopus Tracker only. The savings on that tariff make the ROI on solar and batteries well over a decade. If you are on 32ppkWh (or higher), then the ROI should be less than a decade.

Solar + Battery means FREE power until the battery is empty. I never use the grid to fill the battery.

Solar only means some free power while the sun shines. Lots of things use more power than the panels are providing when you use them. We bought a cheap 850W kettle, because the 2.2kW kettle used more power than the solar was usually providing.

Solar only is good for exporting to the grid (at 15ppkWh), as 90% of the time you are not using what is generated. If you are at home when the sun is shining, solar can run your house, but when you run any heat appliances, you will still need to draw from the grid (at 32ppkWh)


In the last 12 days, the house has used 114kWh. It has cost us £2.57.

[gazapc]

silentbrown said:

Just starting to look into this for the garage roof.

Had a quote for 10 x REC Twinpeak 5 panels ( so 4.15kW), SolarEdge optimizers, inverter, power mgmt. No battery or immersion control.

£7.2K all fitted - does that seem a bit high?

Do you actually need solaredge? That will be adding a chunk

[C70R]

silentbrown said:

C70R said:

Seems in-line with my quote that I shared recently.

Any reason why you decided to go without batteries?

The economics, primarily. Although I'm still open to persuasion!

Batteries added around 50% to the quotes I got, but the payback period was shorter on account of the ability to use more energy stored from cheaper night rates.

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

[silentbrown]

gazapc said:

silentbrown said:

Just starting to look into this for the garage roof.

Had a quote for 10 x REC Twinpeak 5 panels ( so 4.15kW), SolarEdge optimizers, inverter, power mgmt. No battery or immersion control.

£7.2K all fitted - does that seem a bit high?

Do you actually need solaredge? That will be adding a chunk

Do you mean the optimizers, or the SolarEdge brand in general? I'm not sure the optimizers are essential - the roof is west-facing, single aspect with no shading, but they're on the quote...

[Gazzab]

Jambo85 said:

86 said:

SoliD said:

Gazzab said:

How do you use this self generated (and stored in batteries) electricity to heat your home? If you have a traditional gas boiler and rads that is. ??

You can't, need air source heatpump or AC.

Although you can use the battery or something like an Eddi to heat the hot water which could be a useful saving

If you have a heating system with a thermal store (typically a heat pump but not always), you could use an Eddi to store energy in it via immersion heaters which can then be circulated around the heating loop. As ever though, you’ll fine it’s very little use when you need it most, and vice versa.

It’s a shame as my electricity is only £200 to £300 a month. My gas is at least twice this. I may look at the heated wallpaper for some rooms.

[Thebaggers]

silentbrown said:

Just starting to look into this for the garage roof.

Had a quote for 10 x REC Twinpeak 5 panels ( so 4.15kW), SolarEdge optimizers, inverter, power mgmt. No battery or immersion control.

£7.2K all fitted - does that seem a bit high?

I had a 3 phase Solaredge 20 panel individually optimised system and inverter installed on a garage recently for £7.4k, no battery but all the monitoring gubbins on in roof trays.

[gazapc]

silentbrown said:

gazapc said:

silentbrown said:

Just starting to look into this for the garage roof.

Had a quote for 10 x REC Twinpeak 5 panels ( so 4.15kW), SolarEdge optimizers, inverter, power mgmt. No battery or immersion control.

£7.2K all fitted - does that seem a bit high?

Do you actually need solaredge? That will be adding a chunk

Do you mean the optimizers, or the SolarEdge brand in general? I'm not sure the optimizers are essential - the roof is west-facing, single aspect with no shading, but they're on the quote...

Well, both.

Eitherway it will be adding cost. Ask the installer why they think you need it. There is little benefit (other than geeky curiosity from being able to monitor down to panel level) when you have single aspect and no complex shading.

[gareth h]

Gazzab said:

Jambo85 said:

86 said:

SoliD said:

Gazzab said:

How do you use this self generated (and stored in batteries) electricity to heat your home? If you have a traditional gas boiler and rads that is. ??

You can't, need air source heatpump or AC.

Although you can use the battery or something like an Eddi to heat the hot water which could be a useful saving

If you have a heating system with a thermal store (typically a heat pump but not always), you could use an Eddi to store energy in it via immersion heaters which can then be circulated around the heating loop. As ever though, you’ll fine it’s very little use when you need it most, and vice versa.

It’s a shame as my electricity is only £200 to £300 a month. My gas is at least twice this. I may look at the heated wallpaper for some rooms.

I guess you could put an electric boiler in series with your gas boiler and allow it to run whenever you have excess leccy, it might overheat the house a little (although that would be taken care of by the TRVs) , it would need a little control mod so the circ pump runs when either the gas or leccy boilers was running.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Quick question - do any of you have an old style mechanical meter with a spinning disc? my Wife's friend has 20 panes and hers "goes backwards" when the Solar panels generate more electricity that she uses.

Is that an issue with suppliers?