Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

[MrBo]

Hi all,
Firstly, great thread, so informative...
...for any of you in the Cheshire East area - did you have to go through planning permission? Regular house, no conservation area, not listed?
I believe its permitted development but have phoned the council but they wont answer my question!!!

 

[SoliD]

Octopus Agile pricing is starting to look reasonable again. You can make good money at peak rates exporting your excess, even applies in the summer as the peak is still the peak. Average import pricing for the last couple of days has been sub 20ppkWh for my region, with lows in the 6p range.

Hoping that some better plans come available as I'm on a fairly favourable 20 standing charge 20p unit for electric and 4p for gas (approx) for the next year and a bit, but will obviously move when the time is right. will need to look to see who is best for export only when it's eventually installed.

 

[Ron-ski]

Hi all,
Firstly, great thread, so informative...
...for any of you in the Cheshire East area - did you have to go through planning permission? Regular house, no conservation area, not listed?
I believe its permitted development but have phoned the council but they wont answer my question!!!

So long as the panels protrude no more than 200mm it's permitted development. Our existing panels on the main roof didn't need planning, currently looking at putting panels on a flat roofed garage and still trying to figure that one out, as they will be higher than 200mm I think they'd need planning.

 

[HungryHippos]

So long as the panels protrude no more than 200mm it's permitted development. Our existing panels on the main roof didn't need planning, currently looking at putting panels on a flat roofed garage and still trying to figure that one out, as they will be higher than 200mm I think they'd need planning.

I took it to mean protude over the edge, could be wrong though. If it's a flat roof and they are themselves mounted 200mm higher than the roof I am not sure!

 

[Ron-ski]

As I understand, it is 200mm above the roof (protrude in an upward direction), but information seems hard to find, and of course the council is yet to reply. If the flat roof is part of a house, and other parts of the roof are higher it may well be covered by permitted development, but in the case of a detached garage/out building then I think it's up to 200mm above it. I'm still trying to clarify, and the solar companies don't seem to know either, and when you consider its their job to know, thats just bizarre.

I did find this https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/solar-energy/solar-panels/flat-roof-solar-panels

Flat Roofs​

You'll need planning permission if you want to put solar panels on a flat roof. As you know, solar panels on a flat roof are put in frames to provide an angle towards the sun. This usually necessitates a protrusion of more than 0.2 meters above the roof slope, which is against the "permitted development" rules.

Insurance Company Puts Safety First: NFU Mutual Partners With Ineco Energy to Install Rooftop Solar on its HQ | News | Ineco Energy

Leading rural insurer NFU Mutual has taken a significant step forward in its mission to achieve net zero operation by 2050 with the successful installation of a solar PV (photovoltaic) installation at its headquarters in Stratford-upon-Avon. Designed and installed by Warwickshire-based...

www.inecoenergy.com

• On a flat roof the highest part of the solar PV array must be less than 1m higher than the highest part of the roof (excluding any chimney)

 

[HungryHippos]

Ah yes, makes sense if you need to angle them of course.

 

[Ron-ski]

You could put them flat, but they don't self clean, so will eventually get rather mucky, and produce even less as not at the ideal angle.

 

[Werewolf]

Can anyone recommend any companies in/around Bedfordshire/Bucks/MK that do solar panels?

I'm being asked to look into them for my fathers house

 

[Phoenix211]

Will send you a pm

 

[simonsjj]

I'm in Cornwall and had two quotes for ~ 6.5kW panels / 5kW Inverter / 9.5kWh battery. One is £13k and the other £15k. Reading through this thread these sound a tad high - any recommendations please?

 

[gpuerrilla]

Prices do seem variable but will differ as not everyone has the same supply chain and their labour costs come into play. Get a couple more quotes, your only going to compare fairer if they have a similar system spec.

 

[simonsjj]

Thanks, my two quotes are similar spec but using different systems - Jinko/Givenergy vs JA/Victron/Leoch. Anyone able to recommend an installer who supplies the South West?

 

[casper_uk]

Am hearing rumours that suppliers are putting up prices 25% as equipment and manufacturing costs have increased. Anyone else heard anything?

 

[Phoenix211]

Each of my 3 x pylontech batteries due for install had a £100 increase overnight last week I think. (although my installer hasn't passed that onto me)

 

[gpuerrilla]

Wasnt sure if it was a regular ploy by any seller but I heard this too just over a week ago. I ordered my installation anyway just as the local supplier is upping 27%, I mean if it goes up again in autumn you need to offset as best you can.

 

[rangor gubbins]

For those comparing, we are paying £9,900 in South Bucks for:

15 x Hyundai 410w Solar Panel + 15 Tigo Optimiser
LUX 5kw Hybrid Inverter + 7.2kw Battery [2x Pylontech US3000C]
Emlite Generation Meter
Electrical Equipment + Cabling + MC4 Connectors
Roof Mounting Kit + Scaffold
Bird Protection Meshing
Installation & Commissioning of Solar PV + Battery
Register Installation with HiES & MCS

The panels are split over 4 aspects; east, south 1, south 2 and west so will need a lot of scaffold.

Being installed at the end of May.

This is a great price.
It seems that prices for installation and parts have decreased quite a bit since our panels were installed in 2018. or maybe we overpaid!!

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Am hearing rumours that suppliers are putting up prices 25% as equipment and manufacturing costs have increased. Anyone else heard anything?

just enough to cover the VAT drop yeah?oh wait

 

[SoliD]

Was only 5% before.

 

[BUDFORCE]

I wouldn't surprise me if prices go up for the short term, I mean say a year of so, demand for solar panels in the UK right now must be huge, with these energy prices.

 

[a1ex2001]

I've been thinking about Solar panels (who hasn't with current energy prices!) it seems complicated/difficult to have over 4KW of panels that are hooked into the grid and I was wandering is it possible to have additional panels beyond 4KW that just charge your battery bank and don't feed into the grid? I have loads of roof space and obviously in the winter in particular the more panels you can hook up to a battery bank the better!