Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

So you guys know I have a west facing array. The reason I didn't split East West was that I have really tall trees to my East
When the trees are in leaf (April - Oct really) virtually no direct sun hits the East side of my roof.

Well it seems the trees may be going. I am not sure yet if its all, or some or whether the ones most of the issue for me will be gone, but a couple of tree surgeons worked on an area near me last week and removed about 10-15 of the trees down to the ground.
They said to my neighbour that they were too tall and were going to be replaced with a set of smaller slower growing trees.

I need to wait and see and try to grab the guys myself to try to see exactly what they are upto. My neighbour says they told her its a 5 year plan to remove and replace (there are rows of these trees crossing the area I live planted around 60 years ago)

So I am waiting to see, but a nice 6kw array east facing could be on the cards!
I would probably the ditch the plans for a south facing 2.5kw or so array at that point and just max the East facing. It should basically double my generation so the absolute peak depths of winter would be bad still. But the intermittent winter days the east facing would actually be a bit better than my West since its actually clearer in that direction without the trees.

Watch this space!

Although I need to work out what options I could take. Current system due to the EPS functionality limits the options a little.
 
Key thing to note is panels and inverters aren't expensive any more, it is the one-off install costs, so put as much up as you can afford, especially now as it is zero rated for VAT - So if you have room, and get get the export going to 16 panels and a 5-6kW inverter will shorten the payback if you are exporting most of it. Also flip flopping between tariffs can work, e.g. Flux and IO, or Flux, Tracker/Agile.
Not sure on that, our gas and electric was minus £406 last year (the whole year), and the additional system and batteries were only connected up late February, and due to delays with non-working smart meters we didn't start getting paid for export until April.

My first array, installed in December 2015 paid for itself in 2021/22.

Would I recommend it, absolutely, the more panels the better, and definitely a bigger battery and inverter.
Thanks guys, my roof is quite small so will only fit 8x 440w panels. With a single 5.1kwh battery the peak discharge will be limited to 2.5kw and I can't take full advantage of the inverter (3.6kw) could get another battery so 10kwh with peak discharge of 3.6kw but worried that I won't have enough panels to make full use of it to charge it up (only 3.5kwp solar)
 
Thanks guys, my roof is quite small so will only fit 8x 440w panels. With a single 5.1kwh battery the peak discharge will be limited to 2.5kw and I can't take full advantage of the inverter (3.6kw) could get another battery so 10kwh with peak discharge of 3.6kw but worried that I won't have enough panels to make full use of it to charge it up (only 3.5kwp solar)

You can charge the battery up overnight on cheaper tariff, especially useful in winter, when solar does very little.
 
Would current solar PV owners recommend it?
Seriously considering installing an array + battery for my home.

Are jinko and sunsynk good brands?

I've got a quote for 8x 440w jinko panels, 3.6 KW sunsynk hybrid inverter and a sunsynk 5kwh battery for £7k all inclusive - good deal?
Absolutely. I'd also max out any available roof space now panels are pretty cheap.
 
I'm having problems with my givenergy battery/inverter.

Noticed the battery at 100%, was thinking blimey that's quick, checked and generation to battery 2.6khw, supposed to be a 5.2kwh battery. Check the graph it goes up to 60% as expected then jumps to 100%.

It's also discharged itself to 1% this evening, despite the 4% minimum, and then charged itself back up from the grid to 4%.

Couple of BMS over/under vault warnings in the log.

Wonderful......

Anyway I've messaged the installers.
 
Had a quote from Octopus Energy solar after filling out their form and supplying some photos of our roof.

Quote is:

19x JA Solar 435w panels
Giv-Energy 5.2kw Battery
A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter
Installation on a Dual Aspect roof
Bird-Netting as standard
All electrical components required to complete the install
All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs

£16,139.00 (there's January offer for a £1000 discount off the quoted price, have to pay £500 advance before the end of the month)

It doesn't say anything about anticipated generation figures.
 
Had a quote from Octopus Energy solar after filling out their form and supplying some photos of our roof.

Quote is:

19x JA Solar 435w panels
Giv-Energy 5.2kw Battery
A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter
Installation on a Dual Aspect roof
Bird-Netting as standard
All electrical components required to complete the install
All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs

£16,139.00 (there's January offer for a £1000 discount off the quoted price, have to pay £500 advance before the end of the month)

It doesn't say anything about anticipated generation figures.
Thats expensive. I'd be looking for under £10k for that at least. I've just had 11 panels and inverter for £5.9k installed. The extra panels, 5kWh battery etc should be less than £4k.
 
Had a quote from Octopus Energy solar after filling out their form and supplying some photos of our roof.

Quote is:

19x JA Solar 435w panels
Giv-Energy 5.2kw Battery
A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter
Installation on a Dual Aspect roof
Bird-Netting as standard
All electrical components required to complete the install
All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs

£16,139.00 (there's January offer for a £1000 discount off the quoted price, have to pay £500 advance before the end of the month)

It doesn't say anything about anticipated generation figures.
Too expensive.

A local installer to me is installing this tomorrow:
23 435w pannels
8kw inveter
13.5kwh giv energy all in one battery and gateway
Bird protection
East/west roof
Scaffolding paper work etc

£16,400.
 
Had a quote from Octopus Energy solar after filling out their form and supplying some photos of our roof.

Quote is:

19x JA Solar 435w panels
Giv-Energy 5.2kw Battery
A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter
Installation on a Dual Aspect roof
Bird-Netting as standard
All electrical components required to complete the install
All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs

£16,139.00 (there's January offer for a £1000 discount off the quoted price, have to pay £500 advance before the end of the month)

It doesn't say anything about anticipated generation figures.
Octopus are not competitive at all on solar quotes unfortunately. Worth thinking about how much battery you need, the 5.2 doesnt give you much on a winter day with its 80% depth of discharge.
 
Seems like a trend as here's another quote from Octopus Energy.
  • 5x JA Solar 405w panels
  • Giv-Energy 5.2kw Battery
  • A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter
  • Installation on a Single Aspect roof
  • Bird-Netting as standard
  • All electrical components required to complete the install
  • All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs

My electricity usage is relatively low so wanted to see how much it would be for a small install (could add a few more panels) with everything localised in/on the garage. £8,400 was what they came back with. :eek:
 
My electricity usage is relatively low so wanted to see how much it would be for a small install (could add a few more panels) with everything localised in/on the garage. £8,400 was what they came back with. :eek:
wow that's a lot more compared to mine lol
(not from octopus energy)
I've got a quote for 8x 440w jinko panels, 3.6 KW sunsynk hybrid inverter and a sunsynk 5kwh battery for £7k all inclusive
 
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