Solar panels and battery - any real world recommendations?

[Journey]

Because they've discovered that BS sells, it sounds good to those that have no understanding, so they pay the extra for what they think is a better system. The other thing with Heatable is they always use contractors (I'm not sue if they do local installs - they may), so that's two companies taking a profit, which means a higher price.

It's rife in the solar industry sadly, people are generally buying something they have no understanding of at all which is like shooting fish in a barrel when you have all these paid for reviews. Problem is honesty doesn't make money, and that is the crux of it they are taking their customers money so the rake in more profit, while the customer have massively overpaid for a system that likely could have been done for a significantly lower cost, and last the same length of time or longer.

I also wonder how many people don't bother fixing a single broken microinverter and just leave sat there with a panel doing nothing connected to it, as unless you get an alert it will not be noticed, and these are the people who won't micromanage a system, so will have overpaid in the first place and then have a system that is not running correctly. Will be interesting in 10 years to see what is happening with them, meanwhile string inverters will be available cheaper than ever, and plenty of spare parts with no roof access needed.

 

[Ron-ski]

There is some evidence micro inverters can outperform a string inverter.

This person has new 3 panels on a small string inverter and 3 on micro inverters. Both sets of panels get the same level of shading (fairly minor).



However, the heatable marketing (and margin) well over eggs any potential benefit and offer a lower ROI which is the main relevant measure.

Yes I've seen that, I watch quite a few of their videos, it's certainly interesting, but I think unless you really need micro inverters is it worth the risk if one fails years down the road and you need to pay for scaffolding then that extra 5% generation has gone.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I mean buying the micro inverters in the first place pretty much blows that 5% generation out of the water outside of a very small (e.g. 1-3 panels) deployment.

 

[Goberpiles316]

Anyone on the South Coast of England got anyone I should get quotes from that’s trusted? Was watching the heatable videos but seems they are one not to use.

 

[doodah]

Anyone on the South Coast of England got anyone I should get quotes from that’s trusted? Was watching the heatable videos but seems they are one not to use.

I'm courting Project Green who are based in Kent. They look good but are quite new with installations, I'm getting some questions answered on Monday. Little Green Energy are another one based on Tonbridge.

 

[rangor gubbins]

I'm courting Project Green who are based in Kent. They look good but are quite new with installations, I'm getting some questions answered on Monday. Little Green Energy are another one based on Tonbridge.

The little green energy company installed our solar panels in 2018 and convinced me that we needed solaredge inverter with optimisers [edited as had said micro inverters] . Our roof is south facing and has no shading. At the time I was doing a large house refurbishment and didn't have the time to investigate the details of solar, so just trusted the company's info. I now realise they over specified and over charged. The house already had scaffolding up and the roof was being replaced so it should have been an easy and cheap install. We should have had a string inverter with panels and strings on the south, east, and west roof, which would have been so much better for us. In my opinion TLGEC are not good designers and just try to over sell.

We're now planning to add a battery. I contacted TLGE company, but because we've got a solaredge inverter we'd need a solaredge battery if we want dc coupled. That will cost around £6k for 10kw!
We couldn't even swap to a different inverter because of the micro inverters.
So instead I'm going with another company and AC coupled.

 

[doodah]

The little green energy company installed our solar panels in 2018 and convinced me that we needed solaredge inverter with micro inverters. Our roof is south facing and has no shading. At the time I was doing a large house refurbishment and didn't have the time to investigate the details of solar, so just trusted the company's info. I now realise they over specified and over charged. The house already had scaffolding up and the roof was being replaced so it should have been an easy and cheap install. We should have had a string inverter with panels and strings on the south, east, and west roof, which would have been so much better for us. In my opinion TLGEC are not good designers and just try to over sell.

We're now planning to add a battery. I contacted TLGE company, but because we've got a solaredge inverter we'd need a solaredge battery if we want dc coupled. That will cost around £6k for 10kw!
We couldn't even swap to a different inverter because of the micro inverters.
So instead I'm going with another company and AC coupled.

Sorry to hear that, good to know. I really like the look of Project Green but waiting until my worries about being new to the block are dealt with.

 

[rangor gubbins]

Yes, I've watched a far bit of his stuff, a pretty good channel IIRC.

It is a minefield, which is why in the end for my second and third system I designed it myself, and with a willing electrician who did the AC work, and help fit the panels, I did my own additional systems, as no one wanted to install what I wanted.

I'd love to design and install our own battery system but just don't have the time (due to work and having young children).
But I will see if I can find a knowledgeable electrician who can install battery systems using victron and pylon tech or something

 

[montymint]

Looking at solar again, hoping the price is a little cheaper now. I'm after 12 panels, 5kw inverter and maybe a 10kw battery. Any idea what sort of price I'd be paying? Any recommendations?

I'm having a 10 panel, 5Kw inverter + 10Kw batteries done in October for 8.6k all in

Spoiler

 

[200sols]

Anyone on the South Coast of England got anyone I should get quotes from that’s trusted? Was watching the heatable videos but seems they are one not to use.

South Coast is pretty big, where exactly?

 

[Ron-ski]

@Goberpiles316

TLGE did ours back in late 2015, I can't remember if they pushed us towards SolarEdge but I do remember I liked the panel level monitoring, and that's what we ended up with. To be fair installers often push a preferred system and many push SolarEdge, They do Sigenenery and Tesla so still worth getting a quote.

You're near Portsmouth, we have a few members down there but I can never remember who they used @SoliD @HungryHippos

@200sols Near Portsmouth

 

[rangor gubbins]

Anyone know of or used Degeesolar in Kent?

 

[Ron-ski]

@Goberpiles316 Dorset Solar Solutions are supposed to be pretty good, I watch a lot of Upside Down Forks content and he appears genuine.

Dorset Solar Solutions - MCS Accredited Solar PV Installers Covering Dorset & Surrounding Areas

Discover Dorset Solar Solutions for reliable, efficient, and affordable solar panel and battery storage installations. Power home or business with clean energy and save on your electricity bills. Contact us today for a free quote!

www.dorsetsolarsolutions.co.uk

 

[Ron-ski]

Anyone know of or used Degeesolar in Kent?

I've heard of them, but only on here as I believe @Journey mentioned them as they will install Fogstar batteries.

 

[Journey]

I've heard of them, but only on here as I believe @Journey mentioned them as they will install Fogstar batteries.

They aren't the cheapest on their web page like for like, but they are decent and the two people who I know used them had good service and their had quotes matched/bettered. I know that they were bought out by Upvolt earlier in the year so unsure if that has any on going or incoming affect to potential customers.

 

[Goberpiles316]

South Coast is pretty big, where exactly?

Near Chichester which sits between Portsmouth and Brighton.

 

[Ron-ski]

I also wonder how many people don't bother fixing a single broken microinverter and just leave sat there with a panel doing nothing connected to it, as unless you get an alert it will not be noticed,

This just made me think to check mine, and guess what, one panel isn't working, it appears to have stopped working on 16th July, its about 40 kWh down on the adjacent panels for the year

Got the app on my phone, and no notifications, but then there isn't anything in the app to suggest a fault unless you go into panel production and look, even the system status has a green tick.

There is a notification in the web dashboard when looking on the panel layout, "No communication with Power Optimizer".

At least its one of the more accessible panels (still possibly need scaffolding), need to check the warranty, its been installed just under 10 years.

There is also a procedure document linked to for testing the panel and optimiser.

Edit: Whilst the optimiser and the panel is covered, no other costs are covered.

 

[200sols]

Near Chichester which sits between Portsmouth and Brighton.

I used these https://www.infinity-energy.co.uk/

 

[200sols]

This just made me think to check mine, and guess what, one panel isn't working, it appears to have stopped working on 16th July, its about 40 kWh down on the adjacent panels for the year

Got the app on my phone, and no notifications, but then there isn't anything in the app to suggest a fault unless you go into panel production and look, even the system status has a green tick.

There is a notification in the web dashboard when looking on the panel layout, "No communication with Power Optimizer".

At least its one of the more accessible panels (still possibly need scaffolding), need to check the warranty, its been installed just under 10 years.

There is also a procedure document linked to for testing the panel and optimiser.

Edit: Whilst the optimiser and the panel is covered, no other costs are covered.

That's the problem if they need scaffolding, a lot of money for 1 optimiser.

 

[Ron-ski]

May be doable without scaffolding, but not ideal, at least I know a couple of scaffolding companies, but still likely not cost effective, even with FITS payments that one panel is worth about £85 a year

I could in theory test and replace it myself, but then won't have access to the required installer App to pair the new optimiser, or it could be a panel fault, which would be fun to replace, considering panel sizes have got bigger.