I haven't considered this option - Assume this is looking at a separate purchse and install through an indi rather than the company doing the rest of it? ALthough I have yet to get a quote as low as £5k for just the 10 panels
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
Soldato
Check a company called The Energy Box, they are based in Stafford but I am sure lots of other companies will match given how low the component costs are now. They have offers on from £4,750 for a 4kWp system, and £7,600 for one with 8.7kWh battery, which seems high for the extra cost.
Soldato
Given you've got a decent amount of data on how you use your power, could you build a little spreadsheet/table hour by hour and graph your usage profile both as it is now and what you could reasonably shift around? I think that'll be quite helpful for you to see when the power is getting used vs a generation curve estimate for an average day in each month. That way you'll get an idea of ROI for your specific profile. Combine that with the split rate E.on tariff as mentioned and Option 1 probably will cost out as the winner.
Soldato
Absolutely, yes. Needs that analysis for sure.
This is my dilemma and as DRZ initially pointed out to me, the basic 5.3kwh battery isn't going to touch the sides and seems like a waste of £1500. My biggest problem is the cost of the rads which can't move on time, coupled with the size of battery needed to power them if going that route.
By the time it gets to the time they will come on, the chances are most of whatever I charge up will be drained in winter, without spending a fortune on the batteries.
I think I might go solar only, stick with the 22p rate tariff. This should save about £70 a month, 7 year ROI, meaning I might break even with the value on sale of the house, or near as damn it, but get the EPC up, get the average bills down (and stripping out the reptiles that brings in average at about £150 per month) - I dont think £150 a month for total energy spend would be that unreasonable to someone buying the place. They could then choose to add their own batteries if they wanted and I've kept my investment at the bottom end (having already invested in the thermal battery and replaced the rads from the 1980s storage heaters....).
The upheaval of having to install a full wet heating system almost seems worth it now, but we are too far in with the other bits changed already to back track. Cheers to Mr Putin and his war I guess.............
Soldato
What about batteries that you can take with you? A rack of Fogstar batteries, AC coupled wouldn't be that huge an investment and you'd benefit from them in the next place. Just make it clear that the solar system stays but the batteries don't form a part of that.
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Install air conditioning aka an air to air heat pump, fraction of the cost to run compared to electric panel heaters and you can also stay cool in the summer.
You wouldn’t need to do every room, just the main ones to cut your heating costs substantially.
you'll need to see what your power usage is like.
even if you're on the standard (non-EV) tariffs, the advantage of having a token battery for your PV system is that it helps smooth out the peaks and troughs in production/usage
(you'll need to run your own calcs to see if it'll help with a faster ROI though)
30kwh rack is £5k.
I have never heard of these before. Could I charge that rack on a night time rate and permanantly power the rest of the house from it all day? Because that would be a ROI of 4 years going from 22p to 7.5p and would more or less cover all usage. I don't know what sort of requirements there are for installing something like this and what cost that would add. But if that were the case then just this and binning off the solar would make an awesome alternative! It is only 48v though?
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I agree a small battery is still probably worth it, particularly in the ‘shoulder’ months between summer and winter. Generation can fluctuate dramatically from basically nothing to full sun blasting your panels every 5 minutes. It will help fill in the gaps and maximise self consumption.
Ideally you’d go bigger but something is better than nothing and you’ll be maximising its return. Batteries are one of those thing where the more you add, the more you hit diminishing returns on the ROI.
The sweet spot will be higher for you but that doesn’t mean a smaller battery will lower the ROI, it will give the max any battery can offer.
48V is a common standard for batteries, they need to be paired with a suitable inverter, both the battery and the inverter need to be capable of ‘speaking the same language’ so they can talk to each other.
Ideally you’d go bigger but something is better than nothing and you’ll be maximising its return. Batteries are one of those thing where the more you add, the more you hit diminishing returns on the ROI.
The sweet spot will be higher for you but that doesn’t mean a smaller battery will lower the ROI, it will give the max any battery can offer.
48V is a common standard for batteries, they need to be paired with a suitable inverter, both the battery and the inverter need to be capable of ‘speaking the same language’ so they can talk to each other.
Soldato
They are referring to these batteries https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collectio...e/products/fogstar-energy-15-5kwh-48v-battery
Would be great paired with one of these https://www.bimblesolar.com/Victron-Quattro-15Kw You need a some other bits, as well.
Obviously there are far cheaper inverters, but one thing you need to be mindful of his how fast you can charge the batteries. I have a 8kW inverter and 29kWh of batteries, but in the 3 hour cheap rate window I can only charge a theoretical 24kWh.
Not strictly true, my batteries don't communicate with the inverter, I use a shunt to measure the SOC, but most do, but they generally speak a lot of languages.
Associate
Quick couple of quick questions guys:
My Powerwall3 may be getting delivered to the supplier this week, if that happens then there is a possibility of a very quick install.
We are currently on a standard tarif with Octopus (no solar or battery).
What tarif do I need to ask Octopus for?
When do I need to tell them / how long does it take (how much notice do they need)?
Thanks
My Powerwall3 may be getting delivered to the supplier this week, if that happens then there is a possibility of a very quick install.
We are currently on a standard tarif with Octopus (no solar or battery).
What tarif do I need to ask Octopus for?
When do I need to tell them / how long does it take (how much notice do they need)?
Thanks
Associate
I have a hybrid company car (don't currently charge it at home) and am getting an EV installed for future proofing (company is going full electric in the next 2 years, so I wont have a choice).
We are not currently on smart meters.
We had them previously with EDF.
Then we changed to 'Simplicity' who went bust = they never worked at that point.
We messaged Octopus last week about smart meters and sent them the details fo what we currently have (not working).
Just waiting for them to get back to us about it.
We are not currently on smart meters.
We had them previously with EDF.
Then we changed to 'Simplicity' who went bust = they never worked at that point.
We messaged Octopus last week about smart meters and sent them the details fo what we currently have (not working).
Just waiting for them to get back to us about it.
There is nothing you can do until you have a working smart meter.
With no EV you may be better off on flux or intelligent flux for another month or two. After that, either Octopus Go or Agile depending on your risk appetite and how much you want to manage it.
You can use 3rd party controls like home assistant to automate a lot of the management around agile.
But as mentioned, it’s all elementary until you’ve got smart meters sorted. Until then you just need to maximise self consumption, any exports will be going to the gros for free.
With no EV you may be better off on flux or intelligent flux for another month or two. After that, either Octopus Go or Agile depending on your risk appetite and how much you want to manage it.
You can use 3rd party controls like home assistant to automate a lot of the management around agile.
But as mentioned, it’s all elementary until you’ve got smart meters sorted. Until then you just need to maximise self consumption, any exports will be going to the gros for free.
Associate
Ok thanks will keep chasing Octopus then
Associate
Have they applied for the G99 application yet? Approval will be needed prior to installation(turning the system on)
P.s
Thanks to the people referring our company (spectra solar ltd) to others on here we appreciate it.
I'll try to comment on here in my spare time to help others with technical questions.
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@Jonathan spectra
Hahaha the man himself!
No worries mate, I've been very pleased with spectra so will always recommend
Hahaha the man himself!
No worries mate, I've been very pleased with spectra so will always recommend
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If you want to go full nerd, watch this video as to which tariff may be the best for you, it includes some rule of thumbs which you could follow.