Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

So I have refined some of my options - One of the installers has come back and advised a battery would barely charge given my thermal battery has a capacity of 7kw so has suggested utilising a diverter instead, to charge that then export the small excess in the summer months and offset the unit rate, which will pay me back more than £1500 on a battery, giving a repay time of 4y 6m if I also put another 10 panels on my north facing roof and go for a standard string inverter. The north roof is showing as 2700kwh annual prodcution, the south 3900kwh



Options on 20 panel set up:

OPTION ONE
20 x Longi HiMo6 435w all black mono panels.
1 x Solis 6kW S6 Dual MPPT inverter
£8200

OPTION TWO
20x Aiko Energy 455w panels
7kw Fox inveter


Option on 10 panel set up:

OPTION ONE
10 x Longi HiMo6 435w all black mono panels.
1 x EcoFlow PowerOcean 3.68kW Hybrid inverter (-£380 if swapped for a standard)
£5885 / £5505

Awaiting option 2 quote from other installer minus the battery but looks like it would be a similar price using Aiko and Fox.


So my question no is - Longi Vs Aiko and Solis vs Fox, and then I guess I could also go back for a third quote from the place using SunSynk. Across these three brands, is there much of a difference, or am I best just looking at decisioning this on the costs alone?
 
BDEE said:
So I have refined some of my options - One of the installers has come back and advised a battery would barely charge given my thermal battery has a capacity of 7kw so has suggested utilising a diverter instead, to charge that then export the small excess in the summer months and offset the unit rate, which will pay me back more than £1500 on a battery, giving a repay time of 4y 6m if I also put another 10 panels on my north facing roof and go for a standard string inverter. The north roof is showing as 2700kwh annual prodcution, the south 3900kwh
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Not sure I agree, a time of use tariff completely blows that argument out of the water.

The whole benefit of thermal storage and battery storage is that you can time shift the consumption to times when it’s cheaper and get paid when the electricity is more expensive.

At the moment you can be paid 15p for the power you export and you can import electricity overnight for 7p. On agile, rates can even go negative. You’ll get better ROI of charging the when it’s cheap, and selling the electricity back to the grid.

Even without batteries, solar diverters make little sense at the moment.

Combining time of use tariffs, solar and batteries is usually the cheapest option by some margin.

In any case, the 20 pannel system is the one to go for but I’d definitely suggest some battery storage.

I’ve got 23 panels (split east west) which generate >7000kwh/year, I charge my 13.5kwh battery to 100% every day all year from the grid overnight.
 
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Usually, yes, but without battery storage covering my use for my electric heating in the winter, I haven't the ability to aheieve the storage and cover my usage 5pm-10pm for the 4 winter months without going all out 20 panels and 30kw of battery. It would make sense were I going to stay in this house for 20 years, but I'm not. If I was I would do it, but I need something paying an ROI over 4-5 years and that wont be achieved using night charging and day exporting. Putting my peak unit rate up to 30p+ isn't an option when that is going to be the time I will use the most energy over the year.
 
Ah yes, I’d forgotten about that.

I suppose you really need to understand what your objective is.

If you are actually going to move house, realistically you aren’t getting your money back. Solar might make the house easier to sell but I’m not convinced it will add cash value. However a lot of people say they are going to move house but don’t in the timescale they set out for whatever reason.

If it’s about making your property more appealing, another option is getting rid of your panel radiators. Those will be a major turn off because they cost so much to run.
 
Jonathan spectra said:
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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Hi Jonathan,
Yes, they have done that already.
Thanks again for all of your help, we would definitely have gone with Spectra had we not fallen lucky with the wife's cousin.
Your service was impeccable.
 
It won't be the best but you'd need to do some calculations first to determine if it is worth it or not. If you have an NE roof, do you not have a SW roof as well?
 
Jonathan spectra said:
Have they applied for the G99 application yet? Approval will be needed prior to installation(turning the system on)
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I'm a bit vague on this, but isn't there a fast track method that allows you to set the inverter to export a maximum of 3.68kW until full G99 approval is gained? Hence the PW3 could be commissioned prior to G99 being gained.
 
I am back again. I think I have hit on something which I feel I have totally mis-understood about the battery storage options and possibly been confused by some of the people trying to get me to choose them for the install.

So - If I go for battery storage - Fox ESS are the ones on a quote I am looking at. If I charged these on the night time on Octous Flex (along with my thermal battery), is there something where I can tell the batteries that I do not want to use that charge until 17:00 (for example) then continue to utilise my day time generation for daily usage (and top-up the batteries if in excess and then export)? Because if that is the case then it does seem to make more sense to me to take battery storage to utilise on the night. I didn't realise that batteries could be programmed to allow use in this way, but it is being suggested to me that it is. I could also make more back in summer when the electric heating is not in use by charging at night, force discharging at peak export time for excess generation in the summer too....? Does this seem right?
 
BDEE said:
I am back again. I think I have hit on something which I feel I have totally mis-understood about the battery storage options and possibly been confused by some of the people trying to get me to choose them for the install.

So - If I go for battery storage - Fox ESS are the ones on a quote I am looking at. If I charged these on the night time on Octous Flex (along with my thermal battery), is there something where I can tell the batteries that I do not want to use that charge until 17:00 (for example) then continue to utilise my day time generation for daily usage (and top-up the batteries if in excess and then export)? Because if that is the case then it does seem to make more sense to me to take battery storage to utilise on the night. I didn't realise that batteries could be programmed to allow use in this way, but it is being suggested to me that it is. I could also make more back in summer when the electric heating is not in use by charging at night, force discharging at peak export time for excess generation in the summer too....? Does this seem right?
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Yes you can. I have a Fox system, you can set it to keep the batteries for as long as you like at 100% using a schedule. You would just set a minimum SOC of 100% for as long as you need and it will keep them there.

I charge mine from 2-5am and then force export at 4-7pm down to a level of 55% SOC. I've set the export rate lower than the maximum (5kW) as it prolongs the time they send out as it will also export any solar during this period.
 
Righty, so, I have it confirmed that the Fox batteries can be charged and scheduled for when you wish to use that charge. So I have gone 360 and looking to go with the following quote:

  • 10 x Aiko 455W panels
  • Fox H1 Hybrid 5kW inverter
  • 3 x 4300 Fox ESS batteries (total capacity 12.9kWh)
  • All mounting equipment (Fastensol)
  • Scaffold
  • MCS Certification
  • G99 application and notification
  • HIES (IBG)
  • Electrical Certification and Building Regulations
  • Bird Mesh
Total cost £8865

With a move onto Octopus Flux - Charge batteries and thermal battery at night. Utilise solar / export in the day and then use the batteries on the night, covering the majority of what I would use (and actually going to look at adjusting the timers and thermostats to try and make the heating use neutral to the battery storage in winter, and force discharge the batteries back to the grid in summer).

I think I can get this to wipe it's face within a few years, IF it gives a perceived value add to the home, which of course will be in the eye of the buyer. I can get my EPC from an F to a C with this and a couple of other cheap jobs to do.

Does this sound like a decent price for the setup? Company has some decent reviews and wants 10% deposit, full payment on installation.
 
x23 panels plus Powerwall3 installed and commissioned yesterday....still waiting for Octopus to sort out my smart meters (that never worked from new) and new tariff ffs.
Panels produced 35kw fairly quickly yesterday afternoon (sunny day).
Only generated 23.3kw so far today, but been dull and miserable.

Impressed with it so far......even cleaned the hot tub out and put that back on lol
 
We signed up to a Wiltshire council "Solar together" scheme. Basically they auction off batches of people interested to get a low bid for the work.

We've been offered:

12 Panels "Canadian Solar". 1.7m x 1.1m 435W with a 10 year guarentee
Fox ESS F series invertor 10 year warrenty
4.7kWh battery storage Fox ESS EP5 (90 % discharge)
Myenergi Zappi EV charger

Total: £7922 including installation and scaffolding.

Thoughts as to brands and overall value?

They are suggesting a 8 year payback period.
 
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