Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

HungryHippos said:
I don't see why they wouldn't, same as switching before October, all suppliers will have the variable plans as a minimum.
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When i switched on the 27th september, they wouldnt offer the variable plan to new customers. So i had to spend 2 days on a standard plan, before the october 1st price cap kicked in……official switch date was the 29th.

Whats on their website are all the plans current customers are on, but it doesnt mean they will offer you one of their plans…..
 
Hey - been told today that my DNO is capped at 4kw export due to 'voltage fluctuations' in our supply. I can pay to upgrade, but have no real ambition to export electricity (basically the game for me is to export nothing if possible and use every ounce to power the house, if not charge the batteries, if not charge the 2 X EVs, if not heat the hot water - so can't think of any situation where I'd be exporting more than 4kw anyway - does this pose any problems for me if I wanted to expand solar, add wind etc in future?

I'm hoping it's just something I could cap on the inverter or something?
 
katie279 said:
Hey - been told today that my DNO is capped at 4kw export due to 'voltage fluctuations' in our supply. I can pay to upgrade, but have no real ambition to export electricity (basically the game for me is to export nothing if possible and use every ounce to power the house, if not charge the batteries, if not charge the 2 X EVs, if not heat the hot water - so can't think of any situation where I'd be exporting more than 4kw anyway - does this pose any problems for me if I wanted to expand solar, add wind etc in future?

I'm hoping it's just something I could cap on the inverter or something?
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Yes it does pose problems, as you need to limit the export to 4kw, not a problem with your Givenergy Inverters as they are G100 compliant, which means they can limit the export.

Its not about situations where you may be exporting, its about the ability to export more than 4kw, regardless of what you are using.
 
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Ron-ski said:
Yes it does pose problems, as you need to limit the export to 4kw, not a problem with your Givenergy Inverters as they are G100 compliant, which means they can limit the export.

Its not about situations where you may be exporting, its about the ability to export more than 4kw, regardless of what you are using.
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Perfect - thanks Ron-ski - really useful advice, so just to check I've understood, basically I'll set the inverters to limit the max export to 4kw and that should resolve?

Genuinely not fussed about ever exporting more than that, I'll be more thinking about how I can use it up, rather than exporting more (esp given export rates are so poor)
 
gpuerrilla said:
Yeah in theory if your consuming and storing especially in the winter it should not be much of an issue. It may be a bit annoying in the summer if your blazing out the watts but your offset could be add another battery?
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Yeah exactly - remember it's basically:

A) power house -35kw a day
B) charge batteries - 19.5kwh
C) charge car - 24kwh
D) charge other car - 75kwh
E) heat water tank
F) export

It's basically almost inconceivable to get to that point where more than 4kw is being exported, so very comfortable with that - TBH I could just set up a mining rig to automatically mine crypto if it gets to the water tank anyway - and probably get more than the export amounts!

Just want to check there's no bureaucracy/ red tape etc
 
So I found a chap I like the sound of, just had quotes through from him. The only thing is he’s quoted 16 panels and might see if we can squeeze 18 on there.

Just wondering which system you guys would go with here? Givenergy obviously has its benefits, but the Solis has a higher power inverter and the Puredrive batteries are higher charge and discharge rate (1C)... also claim the ability for a seamless UPS function in case of power cuts with automatic islanding though I need to look into that more.. Would appreciate any thoughts?

I’m leaning toward the Solis for the higher power rating and the quicker charging/discharging of the batteries.



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I'm not expert on GivEnergy but I'm sure there is a V1 and V2 and V2 is impossible to get hold off at the moment. You don't want a V1 by all accounts.

PureDrive is a good piece of kit I believe.

Your pricing is reasonable in the current market IMO. If it's a V2 GivEnergy then both are good solutions.
 
I have a GivEnergy system but I also have a Solis inverter because of the number of panels I have and that's what was available (despite allocating stock earlier this year). I posted a picture of my installation (I'll post it again).



Really like the Givenergy app and setup - but I'm sure they're all much of a muchness? I've only seen them online and not in the flesh.
 
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Dunno if much of a muchness is true, depends how much development and improvements they add.

Givenergy I know can tie into smart options and tariffs to do some extra things which is one reason I like them.

If Solis and co can do the same then great, but not sure how the features compare.

I have Givenergy V1 battery, it seems OK, slightly less capacity but I paid £800 less than the V2 one, which I think is fine considering they are very similar.
 
HungryHippos said:
Dunno if much of a muchness is true, depends how much development and improvements they add.

Givenergy I know can tie into smart options and tariffs to do some extra things which is one reason I like them.

If Solis and co can do the same then great, but not sure how the features compare.

I have Givenergy V1 battery, it seems OK, slightly less capacity but I paid £800 less than the V2 one, which I think is fine considering they are very similar.
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Fair comment - the tieing into smart options is definitely something I can do on mine and you're right, if it didn't have that option I think I'd be disappointed.
 
Yeah that’s basically seemingly what it’s coming down to - the Solis doesn’t (currently anyway) have the option to use something like Agile.

However, I have an EV coming next year so will likely be on Go or similar anyway as it suits me to have a cheap period overnight for charging the car… the Solis of course can top up the batteries during the predefined period anyway.

From my currently fairly ignorant standpoint it seems like the Solis setup would be better - it can charge at 5kw (and the batteries can charge at 1C so no problem there) so when the panels are at peak power it should still capture most of it… The Givenergy tops out charge at 2600w so would take almost twice as long and leave a lot of energy potential unused during the peak times of the day with a 6-7kw array. If running only on battery the Givenergy is also down to only 2600w output while the Solis can output from battery at 5kw.

The Solis also claims a sub 20ms changeover for backup power - could be a consideration with our creaking energy infrastructure over the next decade!

So other than the ability to use a more dynamic tariff like agile, is there any major downside? On paper at least it seems the Solis/PureStorage is potentially the superior system?
 
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