Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

[Malpaso]

I'm in Southampton , anyone kindly got and recommendations on companies /fitters on the south coast

It's worth getting at least 2-3 quotes in, but I'm going with https://www.solarpowerful.co.uk as is @SoliD

Install scheduled for about 6 weeks away so can't speak for the end product yet, but pricing was keen on the kit.

Thanks Hippo, I'm going to get as many as I can, now to this so all advice is welcome

 

[Doobedoo]

Except the standing charges

Of course we all have to pay that as we all use the grid and it’s infrastructure in some way or another.

Their are or were tariffs with zero standing charge but I pay about 28p a day. I’ve topped my meter up twice since February at £49 a time, I still have £54 on my meter.

 

[gpuerrilla]

We don't have an issue paying standing charges or proportional maintenance to invest into the 'grid'.

Its propping up these companies that go bust that's the issue. This should not be completely footed by the customers and another point to press that rather than things like windfall tax, just make the generators/distributors/suppliers et al to divert some of their profits and focus on scrutinising these ones that clearly have no quality business model from popping up in the first place.

 

[Doobedoo]

The banks got away with it. Ultimately it’s down to regulatory bodies to make sure it doesn’t happen.

 

[SBo]

With regards to folk planning to get solar but not getting batteries yet - have you run the numbers as I found they brough the breakeven forward by a few years.

 

[john_smith]

If you can get a cheap period of electric then batteries make extremely good sense.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Geeees can you all please stop filling a really useful thread with petty arguments.

My install (full spec in my last post) went in a week ago and the results have been great so far. Produced 22kwh yesterday, daily draw from the grid has dropped from ~13kwh a day to 0-1kwh per day depending on how cloudy is has been.

I’m planning to add another battery to take me from 7 to 10kwh to get me through cloudier days.

during the summer times its fine and most of us could easily use very little energy from the grid but when its winter and we get less light as days are much shorter

 

[jonneymendoza]

With regards to folk planning to get solar but not getting batteries yet - have you run the numbers as I found they brough the breakeven forward by a few years.

Yes if i was going solar panel i would get a battery hands down.

Has anyone built a summerhouse outter buulding at the back of their garden and put solar panels on the roof of that to help power up whatever they use it for such as a office and/or gaming place?

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Yes if i was going solar panel i would get a battery hands down.

Has anyone built a summerhouse outter buulding at the back of their garden and put solar panels on the roof of that to help power up whatever they use it for such as a office and/or gaming place?

Funny I have a log cabin (virtually flat roofed version) and i was kind of thinking one of them diy"ish" plug into the grid type versions may work well out there. (Its wired to the house so excess would be usable in main house).
Just typing this its potentially a good spot for a battery as well as I would prefer it outside the house.

Im not sure I can persuade the other half on this though. But i may try

 

[jonneymendoza]

Funny I have a log cabin (virtually flat roofed version) and i was kind of thinking one of them diy"ish" plug into the grid type versions may work well out there. (Its wired to the house so excess would be usable in main house).
Just typing this its potentially a good spot for a battery as well as I would prefer it outside the house.

Im not sure I can persuade the other half on this though. But i may try

ah nice. worth investigating it!

 

[silversurfer]

Except the standing charges

Can someone discontinue service for the summer months if they feel like opting out of the 1 quid standing charge (I presume it goes up again in Oct) and they are fine with their setup

 

[Pottsey]

With regards to folk planning to get solar but not getting batteries yet - have you run the numbers as I found they brough the breakeven forward by a few years.

Last time I ran the numbers which was before the current reduced vat rule batteries never broke even and there was no point in getting them for most setups as they made break even worse or no better most of the time. Every 6 months or so I look at adding batteries to my current setup and I just cannot get the numbers to add up to make batteries worth it. It didn't help that the last batteries suppler I contacted a long time ago gave me way overinflated battery saving numbers.

I love the idea of a battery setup just struggling to justify the cost to benefit ratio.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Last time I ran the numbers which was before the current reduced vat rule batteries never broke even and there was no point in getting them for most setups as they made break even worse or no better most of the time. Every 6 months or so I look at adding batteries to my current setup and I just cannot get the numbers to add up to make batteries worth it. It didn't help that the last batteries suppler I contacted a long time ago gave me way overinflated battery saving numbers.

I love the idea of a battery setup just struggling to justify the cost to benefit ratio.

I think it vastly depends, I think the larger the system you can have and the more productive (eg how close to South facing) the more it makes sense to have a battery.

But not every roof (or budget) can accommodate, if you can only fit a smaller system, not perfect south and you work from home etc, you might not benefit.

 

[crazyDAJT]

Last time I ran the numbers which was before the current reduced vat rule batteries never broke even and there was no point in getting them for most setups as they made break even worse or no better most of the time. Every 6 months or so I look at adding batteries to my current setup and I just cannot get the numbers to add up to make batteries worth it. It didn't help that the last batteries suppler I contacted a long time ago gave me way overinflated battery saving numbers.

I love the idea of a battery setup just struggling to justify the cost to benefit ratio.

I disagree with this, however it is application specific. I can’t divert Solar to hot water or a full EV (only a PHEV) so I can only use 40is % of my generation without it.

Installed at same time is 0% vat so makes payback easier.

Two factors help battery storage.

1. Higher generation usage I think I can get up to around 80% with one.
2. Rate shifting during winter months (this should save around £500 / year at current rates.

My battery adds about £2.5k to the installation cost (for around 9kwh) so payback on the battery could be around 4 years.

I’m estimating payback of around 8 years for the full system.

Just want the battery to actually turn up now…

Edit: obviously everyone needed to do their own calculations and assessment of the situation. Just battery storage doesn’t make much sense, adding battery to a existing install is 20% more expensive.

I made an assessment at the end of last year it was going to get much worse and did my maths based on 30p/kWh. I think we will be all paying 40ish within 12 months if the world doesn’t cool down a bit

 

[Journey]

See there is some negative pricing on Octopus Agile for 4 hours again tomorrow peaking at -4.65p, first time I've seen such a big amount in a while, average price looks to be about 13ppkWh for the day without that period included. Obviously that isn't great for export pricing, but you can sell back at peak hours from your battery.

 

[Pottsey]

The math's I am using is a 8kwh ish battery will save £50 ish a month so £600 a year saving. Install costs for me look to be around £5000 to £7000 so a 8.3 to 11.6 year return rate only after 10 years the battery are end of life and need replacing. Don't battery system get less efficient as they age and save less money over time? The main problem is I have an old solar panel system with a FIT payment. It looks like the math's now plays out very differently for new installs with the new rules compared to adding to an old system with an old inverter.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I think it vastly depends, I think the larger the system you can have and the more productive (eg how close to South facing) the more it makes sense to have a battery.

But not every roof (or budget) can accommodate, if you can only fit a smaller system, not perfect south and you work from home etc, you might not benefit.

There is also a cap on some installations where you cannot export more than 3.68kW.

 

[gpuerrilla]

The math's I am using is a 8kwh ish battery will save £50 ish a month so £600 a year saving. Install costs for me look to be around £5000 to £7000 so a 8.3 to 11.6 year return rate only after 10 years the battery are end of life and need replacing. Don't battery system get less efficient as they age and save less money over time? The main problem is I have an old solar panel system with a FIT payment. It looks like the math's now plays out very differently for new installs with the new rules compared to adding to an old system with an old inverter.

Well you are right to observe lifespan and for example laptops the batteries no matter how good they state they are rarely perform that well for long. However some guarantees might stand over them so it depends on the offer you get but I agree with your outlook in principle.

 

[crazyDAJT]

The math's I am using is a 8kwh ish battery will save £50 ish a month so £600 a year saving. Install costs for me look to be around £5000 to £7000 so a 8.3 to 11.6 year return rate only after 10 years the battery are end of life and need replacing. Don't battery system get less efficient as they age and save less money over time? The main problem is I have an old solar panel system with a FIT payment. It looks like the math's now plays out very differently for new installs with the new rules compared to adding to an old system with an old inverter.

So I am paying £8k for 4.5kw of solar and a 8.2kwh battery with a hybrid inverter. I clearly got in just before the demand went though the roof.

Battery capacity is guaranteed at 90% for 10 years. So 7.4KWH, by that time I will need to replace it I will probably putting another 4.5kw on another roof and a load more battery’s.

 

[SDK^]

Some of my solar kit arrived today, which is being installed next week

• 10 kWh battery
• 5kw hybrid inverter
• MyEnergi Eddi diverter and Harvi

The panels (14x 400) and optimiser are delayed until the end of the month.