Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Mrs Nathan has finally given the support for a solar install having seen our most recent bill.

I have between 10 to 13k to spend.

We use approximately 800 to 1000KW a month, mainly because of EV and hot tub.

We have a good sized double garage with a south west slate roof. Next to the garage we also have an outbuilding with a south facing metal pitched roof. I can get around 12 panels on the garage roof (doesn’t need scaffold) and around 5 on the outbuilding.

I would like at least one 9.5KW battery - I do like the Givenergy stuff. However, I am going to make contact with them to see when they plan on releasing their 13.5kw all in one which looks brilliant. If that is imminent (within 3 months) I can wait.

So 17 400 watt ish panels
9.5kw battery

Achievable we think for the money? Will we need optimisers on the panels? Hopefully not.
 
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Ron-ski said:
If you have no shading issues then you will not need optimisers, just two separate strings.
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Brilliant, thank you. No shading thankfully. I already have trunking connecting the two buildings. Is it possible just to continue the string so it it is effectively one string? If not, is it ok to use just the one hybrid inverter for two strings?

The battery/inverter can live in the roof space of the garage which is already boarded. The consumer units and mains are also in the garage, so should be relatively straight forward to fit.
 
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No, as the roof's face different directions they need to be on two separate strings (unless you had optimisers), a lot of inverters have inputs for two strings so shouldn't be a problem, what you, or you're installer will need to check is the starting voltage of the inverter, only 5 panels may not be enough on one string.
 
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Lovely, cheers Ron ski, some good deals floating about now.

I am confident I can fit them but having no access to the VAT incentive makes it pretty pointless. No scaffolding will help keep the costs down too, hopefully.
 
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Bug One said:
My only conclusion here, is to follow the advice of the professional electrician. Just saying, there's plenty of reasons, from my meagre understanding, not to try to wing it. :p
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Well I've been doing that since this was discussed. Two quotes. One for £700, and another for £1100. The differences I can see is new tails on the higher quote and earthing to gas pipework (which we have already).

He's mentioned surge protection, but that's a mandatory requirement now from what I understand so I assume the £700 quote would include that (albeit not stated).

Anyway, enough AC back to DC. My dirty deeds are not done dirt cheap.
 
Nathan said:
Mrs Nathan has finally given the support for a solar install having seen our most recent bill.

I have between 10 to 13k to spend.
So 17 400 watt ish panels
9.5kw battery

Achievable we think for the money? Will we need optimisers on the panels? Hopefully not.
Click to expand...

Get some quotes in but you’ll be over the 13k budget I think.

Slate roof adds extra cost.

I can’t see that new giv energy all in one unit being cheap either.
 
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Ron-ski said:
No, as the roof's face different directions they need to be on two separate strings (unless you had optimisers), a lot of inverters have inputs for two strings so shouldn't be a problem, what you, or you're installer will need to check is the starting voltage of the inverter, only 5 panels may not be enough on one string.
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I think 5 panels without shading be alright. My south facing set is 6 panels and my west is 7. More of an issue with only 2-3 panels I reckon.
 
Nathan said:
Brilliant, thank you. No shading thankfully. I already have trunking connecting the two buildings. Is it possible just to continue the string so it it is effectively one string? If not, is it ok to use just the one hybrid inverter for two strings?

The battery/inverter can live in the roof space of the garage which is already boarded. The consumer units and mains are also in the garage, so should be relatively straight forward to fit.
Click to expand...
Please bear in mind that I am not good technically, but as I understand it panels are wired up so that the voltage is increased with each panel (just like a torch with 2 AA batteries). We have panels that produce about 40 volts each. Stringing 2 together gives you 80 volts etc. Inverters work between min and max voltage normally around 500 volts max. Assuming I am correct then the max number of panels in 1 string is 12 and not sure what the minimum is but this will be on the spec of the inverter. The panels will also have a spec which you should be able to find. Most people end up with 2 sets of strings per inverter. As far as I know all inverters are made to handle 2 strings.
 
We've been provided with a solar panel quote for our offices.

20x 405w Longi Black Solar PV Panels
SolaX x1-9.0 Smart Single Phase Dual MPPT

Mounting kit
AC Isolater
Generation Meter
Solar Cable

Fitted at £11,754

SolaX Triple Power 11.6kWh Battery - £8,209 (can be fitted later)

Does this sound reasonable?

From our bills they've worked out our annual consumption as 13 MWh and the total production from the panels will be 8.32MWh.

Ours bills are horrific. The unit prices and standing charge is very high. Our E7 heaters are terribly expensive and inefficient. These will be replaced as part of the program.

S/C is 112.77
D/U is 65.24 Jan/Feb 255kWh
N/U is 44.62 Jan/Feb 1975KWh (Aug/Sept 22 night useage was 42KWh)
 
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EddScott said:
We've been provided with a solar panel quote for our offices.

20x 405w Longi Black Solar PV Panels
SolaX x1-9.0 Smart Single Phase Dual MPPT

Mounting kit
AC Isolater
Generation Meter
Solar Cable

Fitted at £11,754

SolaX Triple Power 11.6kWh Battery - £8,209 (can be fitted later)

Does this sound reasonable?

From our bills they've worked out our annual consumption as 13 MWh and the total production from the panels will be 8.32MWh.

Ours bills are horrific. The unit prices and standing charge is very high. Our E7 heaters are terribly expensive and inefficient. These will be replaced as part of the program.

S/C is 112.77
D/U is 65.24 Jan/Feb 255kWh
N/U is 44.62 Jan/Feb 1975KWh (Aug/Sept 22 night useage was 42KWh)
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Seems expensive to me tbh. For that price there should be at least small battery included.
 
So I finally got the board back from our electronics guy. Seems the damage was greater than first thought.


05936-DC4-D44-B-4155-AB86-64-A60435-B3-DE.jpg


He did his best to repair the burnt out relay and traces, he had to cut back a fair bit.

ECB78-A19-80-F2-4-A32-A1-C5-D34732-A4176-E.jpg


Sadly the repair was not successful. Upon firing it up it momentarily worked but failed completely. As we inherited this system anyway we decided to splash the cash on a brand new inverter. Installed it after work today, just need the sun to appear tomorrow to confirm we have a fully functioning system again.

C3796814-588-E-449-E-B2-BA-2-F025-C07-B65-F.jpg
 
alexakasloth said:
Just received an email from Ripple saying that their third project will be a solar farm as opposed to a wind farm. They've stated that the upfront costs are higher however the benefit is that a solar farm generally lasts longer than a wind farm - 40 years instead of 25 years.
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Be interesting to see the new pricing model...
 
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