Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

[GinG]

So I've been in contact with another company...this time much more local.

This guy however has made me slightly concerned about the DNO and costs involved?

He states there could be no charge, a charge of around £650+Vat or even more.

Our house is on a newish build estate built in 2016...what is the likely hood of having some obscene charges?

Would it be worth me obtaining quotes for a DNO compliant system? Under 3.68kw I believe?

 

[Journey]

So I've been in contact with another company...this time much more local.

This guy however has made me slightly concerned about the DNO and costs involved?

He states there could be no charge, a charge of around £650+Vat or even more.

Our house is on a newish build estate built in 2016...what is the likely hood of having some obscene charges?

Would it be worth me obtaining quotes for a DNO compliant system? Under 3.68kw I believe?

I'd be inclined to just get the G99 application done with your DNO and they will tell you if anything needs to be done to enable a larger system, there isn't anyway the installer can tell you until the DNO does. I know someone who had to pay £3k but they lived in the middle of no where and had a huge install of 22kW.

 

[GinG]

I'd be inclined to just get the G99 application done with your DNO and they will tell you if anything needs to be done to enable a larger system, there isn't anyway the installer can tell you until the DNO does. I know someone who had to pay £3k but they lived in the middle of no where and had a huge install of 22kW.

Do you mean I just go through doing it now?

Is there any costs involved or does all this get put in as a no obligation quote?

 

[Journey]

Do you mean I just go through doing it now?

Is there any costs involved or does all this get put in as a no obligation quote?

I did mine with the DNO and got my electrician to complete his part of the form then send it in, once I had decided on the system size and a rough install date, total cost to me was nothing, and the wiring to my house was fine.

 

[GinG]

I did mine with the DNO and got my electrician to complete his part of the form then send it in, once I had decided on the system size and a rough install date, total cost to me was nothing, and the wiring to my house was fine.

So you didn't even have to pay a penny?

I have just called my network operator and they advised me to send in an email to their generation team. Hopefully see if they can give me n idea on costs.

 

[Journey]

So you didn't even have to pay a penny?

I have just called my network operator and they advised me to send in an email to their generation team. Hopefully see if they can give me n idea on costs.

Just gave some cash to the electrician for filling in the form.

The generation team should be able to send you the G99 form if you can't download it from their website, Solar companies make it sound like black magic, but it's not.

 

[GinG]

Just gave some cash to the electrician for filling in the form.

The generation team should be able to send you the G99 form if you can't download it from their website, Solar companies make it sound like black magic, but it's not.

Thanks for that. Will see what happens.

Having started putting the costs in to a spreadsheet the costs are somewhat reduced somewhat the more panels you put on as the battery costs are all very similar.

Financially it does make sense putting the biggest array on the roof...we have however decided to not borrow so much on the mortgage and as such our budget is now being squeezed if we want to convert the garage also.

Need to think long and hard about what we want from the setup...looking at my spreadsheet financially it works out cheaper per KWh the more we fit as the battery and inverter costs are fixed.

It may be we use some of the money for the garage conversion and just have to save the money back up to do it later in the year/early next year in order to get the solar panels which in theory would be saving us money in the long run...garage conversion is just a nice to have currently.

 

[SoliD]

This was brought up by the guy I spoke to the other day @GinG and he said for SSE where I am anything under 6.5kwh is fine so would be accepted, hopefully it'll be the same for you, but as Journey says the expensive bit is the labour and scaffolding to put up the panels so definitely seems prudent to invest mostly in that now rather than contemplating adding in future.

 

[GinG]

This was brought up by the guy I spoke to the other day @GinG and he said for SSE where I am anything under 6.5kwh is fine so would be accepted, hopefully it'll be the same for you, but as Journey says the expensive bit is the labour and scaffolding to put up the panels so definitely seems prudent to invest mostly in that now rather than contemplating adding in future.

To be honest not one other mentioned any concern for the DNO, it's only due to the fact the electrician had issues of his own. His house though is built in 1970's and needed a rewire anyway so was nowhere up to modern standards.

One company has said that deal with hundreds per month and very few get charged.

It's a lot of money to invest, I don't want to get it wrong.

 

[GinG]

This was brought up by the guy I spoke to the other day @GinG and he said for SSE where I am anything under 6.5kwh is fine so would be accepted, hopefully it'll be the same for you, but as Journey says the expensive bit is the labour and scaffolding to put up the panels so definitely seems prudent to invest mostly in that now rather than contemplating adding in future.

The only other consideration is go with a big array and reduce the battery from the 8.2 to 5.2.

Saves me around £750-£780 on the install and based on their calculations only reduces my independence by 5%.

 

[SoliD]

The only other consideration is go with a big array and reduce the battery from the 8.2 to 5.2.

Saves me around £750-£780 on the install and based on their calculations only reduces my independence by 5%.

Surely it'd make sense to just borrow the extra 1k on the mortgage with rates still as low as they are?

 

[GinG]

Surely it'd make sense to just borrow the extra 1k on the mortgage with rates still as low as they are?

It would push us over the 75% LTV and cost more in the long run.

 

[Journey]

The only other consideration is go with a big array and reduce the battery from the 8.2 to 5.2.

Saves me around £750-£780 on the install and based on their calculations only reduces my independence by 5%.

Does it though? As in winter when generation is low and you'll be charging the pack from the grid (cheaply) to use later in the day, those extra 3kWh could be 75p per day or more. Plus it means you are able to avoid using the grid during peak time if you use a lot of power, 90% of 5.2kWh is 4.68kWh, so can you see how many kW you will use for the last 8 hours of the day in winter, it it is low then a 5.2 pack may be enough.

EDIT: You really need to examine your daytime/nighttime usage split as well, find out how many kWh you are using and when, in every season.

 

[SoliD]

It would push us over the 75% LTV and cost more in the long run.

Ah right makes sense, think in my head i'd pay more now, although batteries are in short supply so I wouldn't expect you to be paying for it all upfront so gives you a few months to save up at least.

 

[GinG]

Does it though? As in winter when generation is low and you'll be charging the pack from the grid (cheaply) to use later in the day, those extra 3kWh could be 75p per day or more. Plus it means you are able to avoid using the grid during peak time if you use a lot of power, 90% of 5.2kWh is 4.68kWh, so can you see how many kW you will use for the last 8 hours of the day in winter, it it is low then a 5.2 pack may be enough.

EDIT: You really need to examine your daytime/nighttime usage split as well, find out how many kWh you are using and when, in every season.

I can shift the usage whenever really.

For example as I type the house is only pulling 180W.

I can set the dishwasher and washer to run on a timer so even when we are at work they can run at say 11am or whatever the peak time is for daylight.

The issue is on an evening when we use the 2kwh oven but that's fan assisted so I think only pulls around 1kwh ish.

On a morning we have a 10.5kwh shower so we'd be pulling most off the grid anyway for that short time.

Our appliances are quote old, the washer is 11 years old so will be replaced soon with a much more efficient one anyway.

The more I think about it I wonder if an 8.2kwh is overkill and maybe add an additional 5.2kwh in future if prices come down in the battery tech, or if we replace the current EV in a couple of years time with one which allows discharge when connected to the house?

 

[GinG]

Ah right makes sense, think in my head i'd pay more now, although batteries are in short supply so I wouldn't expect you to be paying for it all upfront so gives you a few months to save up at least.

Yeah we were looking at maybe 80% but with everything going through the roof price wise thought we would be sensible.

There is the consideration of 2-3 months of extra saving but then again that then allows us to put money into the garage conversion which would have a massive improvement in our lifestyle.

 

[GinG]

I've now been introduced to Pylon batteries and Sofar Inverters.

The GivEnergy inverters only provide 2.6mwh supply from the battery which may prove an issue on an evening when cooking, making a brew and microwave for example.

The Sofar Inverters provide exactly what they say on the tin and though Pylon batteries are only 90% DOD or even 80% DOD for an extended lifespan the modular system makes adding more storage much easier.

The system will be fitted in our loftspace so it doesn't need to look pretty, I'm wondering if this may be a better system for our requirements.

 

[Journey]

The GivEnergy inverters only provide 2.6mwh supply from the battery which may prove an issue on an evening when cooking, making a brew and microwave for example.

Yes, I mentioned this earlier, if you are drawing or want to draw only from the battery then they aren't great for running many things at once, you can run the back ground house tasks and maybe a fan oven at best. I opted for them due to integration with time of use tariffs and the software on offer, and I very rarely use 2.6kW+ for sustained periods of time at night. I will be looking at adding second pack in the near future, and nearly opted for 2x 5.2kW for this reason.

I've now been introduced to Pylon batteries and Sofar Inverters.

The Pylon tech batteries are ok, SunSynk also offer a really nice solution with a similar style but offer an 8kW inverter as well, and the packs are 5.12kW (CATL LiFePo4), price seems to be quite competitive.

The system will be fitted in our loftspace so it doesn't need to look pretty, I'm wondering if this may be a better system for our requirements.

Looking pretty was not a concern here either, I just went with what I though offered the best solution and the best price. There is a huge amount of research you can do for batteries alone, it can be quite overwhelming, especially when you have different installers telling you different things.

 

[GinG]

Yes, I mentioned this earlier, if you are drawing or want to draw only from the battery then they aren't great for running many things at once, you can run the back ground house tasks and maybe a fan oven at best. I opted for them due to integration with time of use tariffs and the software on offer, and I very rarely use 2.6kW+ for sustained periods of time at night. I will be looking at adding second pack in the near future, and nearly opted for 2x 5.2kW for this reason.


The Pylon tech batteries are ok, SunSynk also offer a really nice solution with a similar style but offer an 8kW inverter as well, and the packs are 5.12kW (CATL LiFePo4), price seems to be quite competitive.



Looking pretty was not a concern here either, I just went with what I though offered the best solution and the best price. There is a huge amount of research you can do for batteries alone, it can be quite overwhelming, especially when you have different installers telling you different things.

Yeah you absolutely did and I must admit now I've thought about it more I think the GivEnergy is going to be too restrictive and may need to look elsewhere now.

I'll have a look at the Sunsynk. Thanks again mate!

 

[SoliD]

@Journey have you got any pictures of your setup? It's one thing I haven't considered yet.