Solar panels and battery - any real world recommendations?

reef said:
That's disappointing, but I expected as much. Northern Power are notoriously stingy on export limits. 3.68kW and 5kW seem to be regular numbers that people get. Of the installers I spoke to recently in the local area when looking into my garage install, most said 5 or 6kW is usually the maximum, with the odd very rare case of 8kW or 10kW. I don't think it's necessarily a case of the local grid not being able to cope, but rather a blanket figure they grant.

Still, at 5kW I would charge overnight to 50% or so and then force discharge at a constant 5kW all day. Any excess will go into the batteries and you shouldn't lose much. You can also move loads to do the day or trickle excess into an EV if you have one.

As for F.P.S. This is the issue when they install before getting the G99. They've installed and had their money so there is no impetus for them to act quickly.
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Yeah I'm not very happy with F.P.S currently as it seems on the surface they just want the job, get in the cash and then not following up as well as they make out they will, leaving it to the customer to chase stuff. The less savvy would be left in limbo for ages.
I'm just hoping we can increase the export a little, but as you've said reef, it seems a very blanket reply which I suspect is par for the course to process applications more quickly perhaps.
 
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I’m projected 4kwh of solar which I can export for 60p and as I am on IOG, my saving is really only 7p/kwh as I wouldn’t be using and peak rate units regardless.

I’d need to consume 8.5kwh on top of the 4kwh I am generating just to break even.

Could I? Sure if I really planned it but it’s not worth the 14p in free electricity I might get.
 
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f666 said:
Zero cost for any extra electric today at 1400 to 1500 if you are with octopus and eligible
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See below thread.

Octopus Power Ups and Free Energy Sessions

Changes to free electricity sessions for intelligent customers. Got an email yesterday from Octopus, seems we are now getting an hours free electricity (doesn't include car charging or IOF battery charging) as well. You don't have to plug your car in, but if you do you'll get an hours free...
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk
 
In Germany they have the 800W balcony power stations for only 175GBP on sale, something like that can become very popular in UK.

https://www.mydealz.de/deals/ecoflo...ziale-solarmodule-800w-wechselrichter-2578233

Interesting that Tesla used to sell the Powerwall 3 only with Gateway 2, but now that's optional. Heatable has the pure Powerwall for £6,695.

The price with Gateway has gone down as well, one can get 12 solar panels, Powerwall 3 and a Gateway for under 11,000 (need just to ask for price reduction) - https://www.ecorenewablesgroup.co.uk/ . I guess Sigenergy with their bi-directional DC charger and cheaper batteries is really putting pressure on Tesla to lower the prices.
 
doodah said:
Bit the bullet, got a free site survey coming soon from The Little Green Energy Company. Better get the lube ready.
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They did a solar panel install for us back in 2018. They were quite good, but definitely room for improvement. I think they overcharged us a bit. Plus it took months for them to come and sort out an issue we had with the inverter so the system stopped generating for quite a long period. That was during Covid though so lock-downs and general chaos were causing problems. Eventually they replaced the inverter with a newer model, so it turned out ok in the end.
 
rangor gubbins said:
They did a solar panel install for us back in 2018. They were quite good, but definitely room for improvement. I think they overcharged us a bit. Plus it took months for them to come and sort out an issue we had with the inverter so the system stopped generating for quite a long period. That was during Covid though so lock-downs and general chaos were causing problems. Eventually they replaced the inverter with a newer model, so it turned out ok in the end.
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Thank you and how are you finding it day to day? I'm worried about the London/SE tax. I also did a deep dive into our gas and electricity usage, electricity wasn't as much as I thought meaning any potential ROI will take a longer period of time.



 
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What’s that in KWH?

Don’t forget, you get paid for actual export so anything you don’t use will build up credit which can be used to offset your gas bill or be returned to you.

your energy costs are ~£2k per year, there is plenty to offset there.
 
Given how much install costs have fallen solar is easily worth it with that energy use. Remember you don't need a battery if it isn't financially viable.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
What’s that in KWH?

Don’t forget, you get paid for actual export so anything you don’t use will build up credit which can be used to offset your gas bill or be returned to you.

your energy costs are ~£2k per year, there is plenty to offset there.
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Ah yeah, good point. Yes in kWh, previous post updated with kWh usage graph.
200sols said:
Given how much install costs have fallen solar is easily worth it with that energy use. Remember you don't need a battery if it isn't financially viable.
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Fair, didn't consider this as I assumed most people go with a battery as well.
 
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Yup agreed, totally worth it at that usage.

The other thing you need to factor in is that install costs are not linear, a lot of them are fixed so the marginal cost of adding extra panels is relatively small and not proportional to the system cost. The more you add, the more money you save/make.

Batteries are the opposite, most of the cost is in the battery itself. Once you have enough batteries, the savings from adding more are negligible and the cost of the additional battery can outweigh the savings in some circumstances.
 
doodah said:
Thank you and how are you finding it day to day? I'm worried about the London/SE tax. I also did a deep dive into our gas and electricity usage, electricity wasn't as much as I thought meaning any potential ROI will take a longer period of time.
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Our solaredge inverter and 4kw panel array have been great. We have quite high electric consumption as we're not on mains gas and everything is electric (apart from our cars). I don't have the figures in front of me but we save something like 1.5 Mw per year from the solar direct, plus receive about £350 in Fit payments.
We're hopefully installing 15 kwh of batteries in a couple of months, which by my calculation will half our energy costs again.
Only thing I'd change is getting east and western panels. All our panels are south facing, so generate lots but it would have been good to spread production over the day especially morning and evening.
 
rangor gubbins said:
Only thing I'd change is getting east and western panels. All our panels are south facing, so generate lots but it would have been good to spread production over the day especially morning and evening.
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You can always add more panels, if altering the FITS system make sure you use someone who knows exactly what they are doing, you don't want to lose those FITS payments, you can alter and extend a FITS system but needs to be done properly and officially.
 
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doodah said:
Fair, didn't consider this as I assumed most people go with a battery as well.
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Most probably do but it doesn't mean it makes financial sense. The ROI of solar and battery happens at different times of the year anyway, you just need yo do the sums if charging at cheap rates in winter will save you enough money over the batteries life. Tariffs are not guaranteed either so there is also an element of risk.
 
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