Elon?
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
Any opinion on these batteries that plug into a socket (not integrated into the actual system I don't think)?
www.capture.energy
Plug-and-Play Battery
www.capture.energy
Soldato
Expensive, lacking power and storage capacity.
Case in point, you could get an electrician to install a suitable inverter and add this battery for under £4000.
www.fogstar.co.uk
It’s 15.5kwh gross capacity so closer to 13.5 usable.
Fogstar Energy 15.5Kwh 48V Battery15kWh 48V Battery without wall bracket
A high-performance 15.5kWh battery designed for UK conditions, featuring intelligent heating, plug-and-play inverter compatibility, an intuitive LCD touchscreen interface, premium Grade A EVE cells, scalable energy storage,
www.fogstar.co.uk
It’s 15.5kwh gross capacity so closer to 13.5 usable.
Case in point, you could get an electrician to install a suitable inverter and add this battery for under £4000.
Fogstar Energy 15.5Kwh 48V Battery15kWh 48V Battery without wall bracket
A high-performance 15.5kWh battery designed for UK conditions, featuring intelligent heating, plug-and-play inverter compatibility, an intuitive LCD touchscreen interface, premium Grade A EVE cells, scalable energy storage,
It’s 15.5kwh gross capacity so closer to 13.5 usable.
Anyone you recommend?
I already have 8 panels but no battery. I'd love the above but it's so hard getting a certified install of such a battery
When you say certified install, do you mean MCS? If so, it’s not needed.
Any electrician can install an inverter and issue you with a building regs certificate. You just need to get the relevant DNO paperwork in place (G99) to commission it. You can install the battery yourself.
Any electrician can install an inverter and issue you with a building regs certificate. You just need to get the relevant DNO paperwork in place (G99) to commission it. You can install the battery yourself.
Soldato
Inverter install booked for the 21st november………6kw and 7.2 panels here we come
Soldato
What inverter do you have?Anyone you recommend?
I already have 8 panels but no battery. I'd love the above but it's so hard getting a certified install of such a battery
PS If you want recommendations it would be a good idea to say your vegetarian area.
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Soldato
LOL, that should have been approximate area, I blame predictive text.- I have a puny Solis 2.4kw max Inverter
- I'm London area
- Am not a vegetarian
That is tiny, and unlikely to be a hybrid inverter. Do you know when the system was installed, basically is it a FITS system?
If it's not a FITS system then it would probably be best to replace the inverter with a hybrid one that you can connect a battery directly to.
If you've only got circa 2.4kWp of panels have you considered having more fitted?
1. I heard grants are available for home and business for solar and heat pumps is this true ? 2. I know the energy suppliers don't offer as much for energy as they did in the past so is it still work taking that aspect into account ? 3. what to be aware of when considering when you have no idea.
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Homes yes, business not sure.
No more grants for solar for home unless you're in receipt of benefits I think.
Heat pumps yes: https://www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme/what-you-can-get
Absolutely. You'll need to do your own maths to check your expected ROI.
For most of these, the ROI is about 10 years on average so you're playing the long game.
For solar you'd want as many panels as possible and a battery storage to smooth out the peaks and troughs of production and usage.
For heat pump systems you'll need a water tank as a heat store.
As far as solar panels go, you want to fit as many panels on your roof as possible. Most of the cost these days is in the installation and it’s largely fixed (labour scaffold etc) so you want to spread that over as many panels as possible to get the best return. This is worth it even if your system is oversized and export rates are currently quite good.
As far as inverters and batteries goes, it depends on your energy usage and if you have any specific wants/needs. There is absolutely a sweet spot when it comes to battery storage depending on how many kWh you use per day.
How much gas and electric do you use? What is your typical peak power draw*?
Do you have a smart meter?
Do you have an EV?
*e.g. when you turn your appliances on to cook dinner, how much in w or kw are you pulling per your smart meter display?
In terms of installers you are likely to get the best deal from someone local. The equipment is generally reliable and it really comes down to the quality of the general workmanship. You also need somewhere for a hot water cylinder, this can be a loft or garage if needed.
As for a heat pump, that is a separate thread but there are huge £7500 grants currently available. You will want to factor that into your sizing for solar and batteries. Take 1/4 of your gas kWh usage and that is roughly what a heat pump would use as electricity for the same amount of heat.
People say heat pumps are complicated but they are really not, the domestic heating industry in the U.K. have simply dropped the ball. The way we approach heat pumps should have been the way we approach gas heating ever since the condensing boiler was invented nearly two decades ago.
The key thing to know about a heat pump is that they want to work 24/7 to slowly trickle in the heat to your house using a system called weather compensation. The colder it is, the more heat your house is leaking so the more heat they trickle in to maintain the temperature. I’d suggest looking at youtube for some basic overviews of installations. If you really want to get your nerd on, look at the ‘heat geek’ channel.
In terms of heat pumps, the equipment is generally excellent all of the issues relate to installers who simply don’t have a clue. You need to find an installer that knows that they are doing.
All installers must undertake what’s called a heat loss survey (we should have been doing this with gas…) - you may have to pay for this due to the time it takes. This measures the heat loss, insulation levels, existing radiators and pipework of every single room in your house. They use this information to determine if any radiators or pipework needs swapping for larger ones due to the lower radiator temperatures used to maximise efficiency.
If your installer hasn’t gone around every room, measures every door, window etc. to measure the heat loss before installing, cut them loose.
You can get an entry level install from the likes of Octopus, British Gas or Eon, it will be good enough to match or beat the running costs of a good gas boiler. The downside of these companies is that they are ‘big box installers’ and they will only install what they install and there is limited flexibility.
If your property is more complex or you want something more bespoke, you may be better off with an installer affiliated with Heat Geek. It will cost more but they sell a better product which will perform slightly better overall and therefore use less energy.
Thats enough heat pump talk for this thread, there is a big thread in home and garden where I can pick up any questions.
P.S. I’ve got a heat pump, solar, battery and EV so can cover all of these.
As far as inverters and batteries goes, it depends on your energy usage and if you have any specific wants/needs. There is absolutely a sweet spot when it comes to battery storage depending on how many kWh you use per day.
How much gas and electric do you use? What is your typical peak power draw*?
Do you have a smart meter?
Do you have an EV?
*e.g. when you turn your appliances on to cook dinner, how much in w or kw are you pulling per your smart meter display?
In terms of installers you are likely to get the best deal from someone local. The equipment is generally reliable and it really comes down to the quality of the general workmanship. You also need somewhere for a hot water cylinder, this can be a loft or garage if needed.
As for a heat pump, that is a separate thread but there are huge £7500 grants currently available. You will want to factor that into your sizing for solar and batteries. Take 1/4 of your gas kWh usage and that is roughly what a heat pump would use as electricity for the same amount of heat.
People say heat pumps are complicated but they are really not, the domestic heating industry in the U.K. have simply dropped the ball. The way we approach heat pumps should have been the way we approach gas heating ever since the condensing boiler was invented nearly two decades ago.
The key thing to know about a heat pump is that they want to work 24/7 to slowly trickle in the heat to your house using a system called weather compensation. The colder it is, the more heat your house is leaking so the more heat they trickle in to maintain the temperature. I’d suggest looking at youtube for some basic overviews of installations. If you really want to get your nerd on, look at the ‘heat geek’ channel.
In terms of heat pumps, the equipment is generally excellent all of the issues relate to installers who simply don’t have a clue. You need to find an installer that knows that they are doing.
All installers must undertake what’s called a heat loss survey (we should have been doing this with gas…) - you may have to pay for this due to the time it takes. This measures the heat loss, insulation levels, existing radiators and pipework of every single room in your house. They use this information to determine if any radiators or pipework needs swapping for larger ones due to the lower radiator temperatures used to maximise efficiency.
If your installer hasn’t gone around every room, measures every door, window etc. to measure the heat loss before installing, cut them loose.
You can get an entry level install from the likes of Octopus, British Gas or Eon, it will be good enough to match or beat the running costs of a good gas boiler. The downside of these companies is that they are ‘big box installers’ and they will only install what they install and there is limited flexibility.
If your property is more complex or you want something more bespoke, you may be better off with an installer affiliated with Heat Geek. It will cost more but they sell a better product which will perform slightly better overall and therefore use less energy.
Thats enough heat pump talk for this thread, there is a big thread in home and garden where I can pick up any questions.
P.S. I’ve got a heat pump, solar, battery and EV so can cover all of these.
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It was installed in 2018 in a new build. I have 8x250w panels giving approx 2kw. It's not a huge install more like something the builders did to get council permission.
I could upgrade the panels (they are Trina Solar Honey 200w) BUT I get the feeling the more powerful panels are larger and so wont fit.
This is my roof, so not a lot of space:
So i'd need the battery, a new inverter and possibly other things so it goes from simple install to a bit more complex and a lot of installers wont touch it. I did get some quotes for the givenergy all in one battery and inverter but they were all like £8000-10000 for just that. Hard to bother when I see people getting full installs for batteries, 24 panels, inverters, etc for £10k-12k with a lot of work!
Edit: I'm signed up to the FIT scheme yes, so I do have it I guess
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Soldato
@Vanilla I suspect you could fit the same amount of bigger panels on there, my 2015 250w panels are 1675 x 1001, most common residential panels now are 1722 x 1134, so not much bigger but does depend on the size of yours, newer panels would be 435w possibly more.
You can update a FITS system, the generation payments would be based pro-rata on the old size v the new size, say you went from 2kWp to 4kWp, then your payments would be based on 50% generation. You would need an MCS installer that knows how to do this, I don't think all are even aware you can.
Other option, just replace and not worry about the FITS, its probably negligible given the size and that it was installed in 2018.
Pretty sure I've seen that picture before on here.
You can update a FITS system, the generation payments would be based pro-rata on the old size v the new size, say you went from 2kWp to 4kWp, then your payments would be based on 50% generation. You would need an MCS installer that knows how to do this, I don't think all are even aware you can.
Other option, just replace and not worry about the FITS, its probably negligible given the size and that it was installed in 2018.
Pretty sure I've seen that picture before on here.
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Unless what you asked for was a very complex install, 8k-10k for a GivEnergy all in one is extortionate. I’m pretty sure the hardware is under £5.5k these days and it’s an easy one day install for 2 people. You could probably do it solo in a day if needed as the battery modules pull out to make it a one man lift.
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Same although not sure that comes with a gateway or not.
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