Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Journey said:
Some decent options out there, but the prices have sky rocketed since the start of 2022. I only know of one installed locally to me on a 'Eco' house and the gent who owns it doesn't really know much about it sadly, as I think it was build and designed by an architect then he just moved in.
I looked at some of the very small ~300w variants as I am 142m above sea level on a hill, so could easily take advantage but do have some wind shading due to a large tree line, £1500 plus fitting, and inverter was the best I found, but I suppose on days like today 300w continuous over 24 hours is still 7.2kWh generated, they do peak at higher than 300w AFAIK.

Not generation, but more storage/heating have you looked at Sunamp thermal storage/heating?
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Hmm that's interesting - not really looked at storage heating.

I've got an Eddi fitted, so would this only do hot water or would it do radiators etc too?
 
katie279 said:
Hmm that's interesting - not really looked at storage heating.

I've got an Eddi fitted, so would this only do hot water or would it do radiators etc too?
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It can do radiators as well with certain models, but the big draw is for the hot water not having to be pre-heated, so if using a cylinder you can move away from that and have a more in demand type system, while storing excess energy or using cheaper greener energy to charge it.
The other aspect is it is completely environmentally friendly with regards to recycling and no harmful chemicals, it can also be linked to to a heat pump if you went that way in the future with one of the high temp models.
 
Hmm very interesting indeed - also there's basically no moving parts unlike the mess of gas/oil boilers which need servicing etc.

Sorry, just being stupid here, but how does it work (their website neglects to explain beyond buzzwords!)? Is it basically using electricity to heat some thermal mass, which then gives off heat slowly?
 
katie279 said:
Hmm very interesting indeed - also there's basically no moving parts unlike the mess of gas/oil boilers which need servicing etc.

Sorry, just being stupid here, but how does it work (their website neglects to explain beyond buzzwords!)? Is it basically using electricity to heat some thermal mass, which then gives off heat slowly?
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It is phase change solution, using Sodium acetate trihydrate, so yes it converts the electrical/heat and stores it for release at a later time, but you can fit a lot of it in a very small area compared to water so it works well in homes where space can be at a premium for some.

Also with regards to no moving parts or stored water, no legionella risk etc as well, which is a huge bonus as no need to heat the water beyond the temp you will be using it at.
 
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Hmm very interesting - so how does it stack up cost-wise to gas, oil etc? I guess one challenge would be it's going to be offset to seasonal use - ie solar strong in summer when heating is less required.

Also I wonder how easy to retrofit - I guess you need to run wires where pipes were under the floors?

Finally I'm trying to work out how this then stacks with a battery and a high temp heat pump, ie the battery is obviously storing energy too, so is there any advantage to then storing that energy in this Vs just turning the heat pump on....?
 
katie279 said:
Hmm very interesting - so how does it stack up cost-wise to gas, oil etc? I guess one challenge would be it's going to be offset to seasonal use - ie solar strong in summer when heating is less required.

Also I wonder how easy to retrofit - I guess you need to run wires where pipes were under the floors?

Finally I'm trying to work out how this then stacks with a battery and a high temp heat pump, ie the battery is obviously storing energy too, so is there any advantage to then storing that energy in this Vs just turning the heat pump on....?
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From my point of view, I currently have a hot water cylinder that needs to be replaced by a new one or alternative, when my ASHP is installed. However I'd like instant hot water like a combi (but better) and not be wasting energy by heating a whole water tank in advance, and as I mentioned earlier it takes up way less space.

As for installation you do need to hook it in to your water system, so there is some work that need to be done.

Well if used with a heat pump you could run the heat pump when the air is warmer so you get a higher COP, so during the day when you have spare Watts coming from the solar, so if you use 2kWh, into a COP of 3.5, then you put ~7kWh of heat energy (less losses) into your Sunamp storage, so kind of double dipping, vs just dumping 2kW directly into hot water.
 
flea.rider said:
would it be worth just getting a battery and charging it at night from the mains .. now we have cheap night electric .. just a thought .. it's nearly half the price .. yes it would take a while to cover cost of battery but still how long will this go on for ?
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Yes it covers you for poor solar days. And if you have a good solar day then you can basically use your high power applications during the day and the battery will stay topped up. And you'd be exporting for some cash via SEG.

Then at night when you use your oven or other applications you know it's not being drawn from the grid excessively and at night you're charging them for cheap. Well planned you'll reduce you bills notably.
 
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Getting an update next week from our installers about supply of a second Givenergy 5kw Gen 2 Hybrid inverter. Conscious there's crazy demand and delays, so mulling backup options.

Can anyone tell me if there'd be any issue fitting a different inverter to my Givenergy batteries?

Eg something like this, could probably do the job of my proposed two hybrid inverters:

SolarEdge 10,000W 1ph Home-Wave Inverter (Net Inverter)

SolarEdge 10,000W Single Phase inverter with HD-Wave technology and SetApp configuration. Contains an extra 'plug-in slot' for both the E-NET card and either ZigBee or GSM.
midsummerwholesale.co.uk midsummerwholesale.co.uk

I've no idea if this is a stupid question like 'can I swap my Seagate hard disk for a Western digital or whether it's more like can I put an Intel CPU in my and motherboard.....!

I'm just wanting to know what back up options I might have!
 
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I think the only difference is the software connectivity, surely from a hardware perspective other than proprietary leads potentially the physics of it is the same? I think the Max loads would be the only thing to be aware of.
 
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Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
There are some compatability issues my installer said
So there will be other controllers that work with givenergy but not all will
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I guess that's going to be the whole betamax/VHS thing... Or Google/apple - but I hope you don't have to choose an ecosystem and that they can interact with each other in the future as it makes upgrading and improving much more difficult!
 
flea.rider said:
would it be worth just getting a battery and charging it at night from the mains .. now we have cheap night electric .. just a thought .. it's nearly half the price .. yes it would take a while to cover cost of battery but still how long will this go on for ?
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That's the gamble you take, and it's why I got the battery with the solar, I can always use both, but battery on it's own is 100% reliant on there being cheap time of use tariffs around to take advantage of it.

Battery without solar also incurs some extra VAT as you don't get 0%.
 
Freefaller said:
I guess that's going to be the whole betamax/VHS thing... Or Google/apple - but I hope you don't have to choose an ecosystem and that they can interact with each other in the future as it makes upgrading and improving much more difficult!
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I assume the key is the BMS being compatible somehow, its about the only active thing the battery should be doing from what I can tell.
But then maybe they do more than that
But at the end of the day it should just be software, although could be as simple as cables and adaptors not being available they are somewhat proprietry from what i can tell
 
Journey said:
I looked at some of the very small ~300w variants as I am 142m above sea level on a hill, so could easily take advantage but do have some wind shading due to a large tree line, £1500 plus fitting, and inverter was the best I found, but I suppose on days like today 300w continuous over 24 hours is still 7.2kWh generated, they do peak at higher than 300w AFAIK.

Not generation, but more storage/heating have you looked at Sunamp thermal storage/heating?
Click to expand...

Any links or further information on these please Mr. J? It sounds ideal for taking care of background "noise" on non solar days.

Thank you.
 
john_smith said:
Any links or further information on these please Mr. J? It sounds ideal for taking care of background "noise" on non solar days.

Thank you.
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I'll drop a link for the smaller one later, but the one I am trying to look at is the AirForce 1kW model. Obviously it is more expensive, and needs a proper tower for installation. Here is the product and here is a video of one being erected on a pole and installed. Looking at over £3.5k now due to price increase across the year, but its a very long term investment.
 
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