Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

father-ted said:
Got back onto Spectra Solar to amend the quote.
Asked for additional panels for the detatched garage, an extra battery, with the batteries etc all housed inside the garage.
This does mean I will have to dig a trench from the house to the garage 7m away (I will do that myself to save some cash).
The scaffold is more expensive as they have to run down the side of the house above an extension, then the same around the back.
They have come back with this quote:

Solar PV System Size: - 10.12kW
Battery Storage Size: - 15.96kWh
Total price for installation: - £14,996.00

23 X Jinko Tiger Neo 440W N-Type All Black Mono Panels
Price includes all cable & electrical sundries
(25yr Product Warranty- 30yr Linear Power Warranty)
1 Sunsynk 8kW ECCO Hybrid Inverter
(10yr Manufacturer warranty)
1 Emlite NET Gen meter
1 15.96kWh Sunsynk Battery Storage (90% Usable)
(NEW 2024 BATTERY)
(10yr Manufacturer warranty)
1 Renusol Roof Mounting Kit
1 Wi-Fi Dongle for Cloud Access/Mobile App
1 Consumer Unit + SPD
1 Bird Protection + Installation
1 4X Tigo Optimisers
1 Armoured Cable + Ducting
1 7kW MyEnergi Zappi Untethered Charger
1 Description of Services Qty Unit Price Total Price
Design, Installation & Setup
1 MCS Cert, DNO(G98/G99), Elec Cert (EIC), HIES Warranty IBG
1 Free Site Survey prior to Installation
1 Free Online Monitoring
1 24 Months defects “return to site” warranty
1 Goods & Services Sub Total: £14,016.00
Scaffolding: £980.00
GROUND WORKS TO BE CARRIED OUT BY CUSTOMER PRIOR TO INSTALLATION £0.00
VAT @ 0%: £0.00
Total: £14,996.00

Our average usage per month over the last 7 months is 865kw - the hot tub has been off since January, so that will be going back on again soon (which will increase this usage), as will the car charger.
All advice greatfully recieved.
Many thanks
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Getting the survey done for this tomorrow.
Would it be a worthwhile benefit to upgrade the batteries to 20kw for ROI, or am I good to go with this?

We registered weeks ago for a quote for Tesla - they only just contacted us yesterday (very poor call back effort).
Have given them the spec, very much doubt they will get anywhere near this quote tbh, but no harm looking - they said they will let us know tomorrow.


Thanks
 
Nathan said:
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Yarp..check out my face on that photo, ha. My brother walked some up the ladder to me but some were passed on the balcony. I managed to put 25 up there. Space for another 35 or so but probably won’t go any further, this is sufficient and it gets addictive!!
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Wow space for 60, I don't think I've seen that many panels on a roof before.

You're right, it is addictive, I'm even looking around, could put a few more in the garden :cry:

Let's see how it does over the next few months, hopefully I won't need to add more kit
 
father-ted said:
Getting the survey done for this tomorrow.
Would it be a worthwhile benefit to upgrade the batteries to 20kw for ROI, or am I good to go with this?
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It depends on how much power usage you can move to the cheap overnight period (typically 11:30 - 05:30), the more you can consume in that period, the less return you get from an additional battery.

Only you can really answer that.

father-ted said:
We registered weeks ago for a quote for Tesla - they only just contacted us yesterday (very poor call back effort).
Have given them the spec, very much doubt they will get anywhere near this quote tbh, but no harm looking - they said they will let us know tomorrow.


Thanks
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It will be more expensive but it will be a better system with more features. For a start it will be whole home back up, whether that has any value to you or not is another question. The battery/inverter combo can output 11kw, I'm not familiar with the Sunsync but typical hybrid systems can only do 3.6kw or 5kw from their batteries.

Premium product, premium price basically.
 
Had a quote for the Tesla package today, from 'Effective Home':

Quotation: Cash​

23 x JA Solar 435 Watt Panels (EH. JAM54D41-435/LB)
1 x EH. Tesla Powerwall 3 - with PV package (Tesla)
TESLA discount - Customer direct from Tesla £-750.00
SPECIALIST SCAFFOLDING REQUIREMENTS £2,000.00
Bird Guarding £410.00
Total System Price£17,035.00
Excluding £0.00 VAT
Standard System Price£15,375.00
Excluding £0.00 VAT
Payment Milestones
Deposit£500.00
Pre-Install£8,517.50
Final Payment£8,017.50
Total£17,035.00

Scaffold price looks ridiculous (I challeneged them on it and got a salesmans response, they say they may do it cheaper after a survey is done, that is the highest it will be (but need to pay £500 for the survey - refundable if we go with them).
No EV charger either, they tried telling me that I am better off charging via an extension lead overnight 11.30pm until 5.30am).

From Spectra Solar, the EV charger is included.
'Effective Home' did point out that the inverter with Spectra is only 8kw but we would have a 10kw system - so 2kwph wasted (not sure if Spectra do a bigger inverter, will have to ask).

Your thoughts please?
 
father-ted said:
From Spectra Solar, the EV charger is included.
'Effective Home' did point out that the inverter with Spectra is only 8kw but we would have a 10kw system - so 2kwph wasted (not sure if Spectra do a bigger inverter, will have to ask).

Your thoughts please
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You're going for panels on different roofs (can't remember the specifics), I would think it very rare you'd get over 8kW from the panels, peaks yes, sustained for a useful length of time unlikely.

Is there anyone else that could quote on the Tesla system?
 
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father-ted said:
Had a quote for the Tesla package today, from 'Effective Home':

​


Scaffold price looks ridiculous (I challeneged them on it and got a salesmans response, they say they may do it cheaper after a survey is done, that is the highest it will be (but need to pay £500 for the survey - refundable if we go with them).
No EV charger either, they tried telling me that I am better off charging via an extension lead overnight 11.30pm until 5.30am).

From Spectra Solar, the EV charger is included.
'Effective Home' did point out that the inverter with Spectra is only 8kw but we would have a 10kw system - so 2kwph wasted (not sure if Spectra do a bigger inverter, will have to ask).

Your thoughts please?
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The 8kw inverter is fine for an easy-west set up.

You may get a tiny bit of clipping on those cloudy days and the sun comes out from behind a cloud onto cool panels. However when it’s clear skies and sunny you’ll be well off 8kw with only 23 panels as performance drops off when they get hot.

The scaffolding costs are nuts, that should be about £900-£1000. However, if you get that sorted it’s about the same as I paid for my 23 panel system with a givenergy AIO at the start of the year. The power wall 3 is better than what I have.

The Tesla system is a lot better than the sun sync system on the other offer as I mentioned in my previous post but you do pay for it.

Personally, I wouldn’t agree to a non-refundable survey to correct a scaffolding quote. They either want the job or they don’t.
 
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Ron-ski said:
You're going for panels on different roofs (can't remember the specifics), I would think it very rare you'd get over 8kW from the panels, peaks yes, sustained for a useful length of time unlikely.

Is there anyone else that could quote on the Tesla system?
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x17 on the house roof / x6 on the double garage.
Not come across anybody else to quote on the Tesla - we asked for this quote 3+ weeks ago and they only just got back to us.
 
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father-ted said:
It is all fully-south facing
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Ah, that does change things a bit and you will get some clipping on cool sunny days. However it also makes the £2k scaffolding costs utterly ridiculous, one side should be more like £500-£600 unless you have some specific obstacles to get over.

I think 8kw tends to be the biggest hybrid inverter you'll get on single phase from a mainstream brand, the Tesla Power Wall is a bit of an exception there. Doing a dual inverter setup might not be worth it though due to the additional install cost.

EDIT: I meant a dual inverter setup might not be worth it!!
 
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We have an extension on the side, so that is why Spectra Solar quoted £950 for the scaffold.
£2k is just taking the p*ss.
If I decide to go with them, then I definitely aint paying that.
Will ask if I can get the scaffold installed myself locally.

Is it worth paying an extra £2k for the Tesla - with no EV either?
 
Ron-ski said:
@b0rn2sk8 Do you mean wouldn't be worth it??
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Yes, see my ninja edit!

I had a quote to which had 2 more panels to my west facing span (16 total) which would have required going to a dual dual inverter and while it would have bumped me up to 11kwp, the ROI basically didn't move and it added complexity to the install. I'm not sure it would have actually fitted now I have my 14 panels on my west array anyway.

father-ted said:
We have an extension on the side, so that is why Spectra Solar quoted £950 for the scaffold.
£2k is just taking the p*ss.
If I decide to go with them, then I definitely aint paying that.
Will ask if I can get the scaffold installed myself locally.

Is it worth paying an extra £2k for the Tesla - with no EV either?
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It's a better battery system but whether you value its additional features/power output is totally up to you. Premium system, premium cost and all that.

Also I'd say the price difference is more like £3k given there is no EV charger included.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
I'm not familiar with the Sunsync but typical hybrid systems can only do 3.6kw or 5kw from their batteries.
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The sunsynk hybrid inverters can output up to it's rated capacity (ie the 8kw can do 8kw from the solar, from the battery or a combination of both).
The limiting factor is the battery output.
The sunsynk battery can output 2.5kw per battery so for @father-ted s case. 3x batteries = continuous power output of 7.5kw from the batteries, which will be below his rated inverter capacity.
If he were to get 4x batteries then he'd max out the 8k inverter (10kw continuous from the batteries).


father-ted said:
'Effective Home' did point out that the inverter with Spectra is only 8kw but we would have a 10kw system - so 2kwph wasted (not sure if Spectra do a bigger inverter, will have to ask).
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8kw is the maximum for the sunsynk ECCO series.
Also, they're being a bit disingenuous as most systems will have a larger kwp PV system relative to the inverter because of efficiency purposes (though that being said, 2kwp is a lot to lose. Mines a 4.4kwp on a 3.6kw inverter)
 
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@alphaomega16 So as not to keep derailing the other thread.

You just need something like this. Very easy to build.

Toledo – Solar Powered Timber Pergola – Solar Structures Ireland

solarstructures.ie solarstructures.ie

IMG-20230408-WA0000-Copy.jpg
 
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If only I had the room, but if you have the space it would make a nice shaded area to sit in the summer, and using bifacial panels would also let some light through, as well as generating on both sides.

You can get rubber strips that go between the panels, so it effectively becomes a sealed roof.
 
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