Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

teknokid said:
To those with solar - are there winter days where you produce 0kwh? What would a typical winter day look like in terms of kWh production?
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4kw system with optimisers, this is last December, I think the worst December I've had, the lowest day was 0.274kwh on the 27.

Actually the 17 was 0.261kwh

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PureDrive batterys from what I can gather from various FB grounds and forums seem ok.

Finding it hard to find local companies that are any good to quote. I live in ibstock, Leicestershire but suppose very busy out there.
 
LordVader said:
PureDrive batterys from what I can gather from various FB grounds and forums seem ok.

Finding it hard to find local companies that are any good to quote. I live in ibstock, Leicestershire but suppose very busy out there.
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Same, annoyed we didn't pull the trigger earlier but now its almost impossible to get anyone to quote!
 
Any opinions/thoughts on this quote? We might be able to squeeze 2 more panels, a battery and different inverter (Fox Hybrid ESS inverter with a Fox Energy Cube 5.8kWh) would be £3k more, although not sure we can justify the extra expense for it, our usage is always during the day 7 days a week, about 4-5kWh per day during the hours of 9-6

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Some other quotes through (popped them in a spoiler as not on PC atm to resize them and they are big images)
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VaderDSL said:
Any opinions/thoughts on this quote? We might be able to squeeze 2 more panels, a battery and different inverter (Fox Hybrid ESS inverter with a Fox Energy Cube 5.8kWh) would be £3k more, although not sure we can justify the extra expense for it, our usage is always during the day 7 days a week, about 4-5kWh per day during the hours of 9-6

x5GzXth.png


Some other quotes through (popped them in a spoiler as not on PC atm to resize them and they are big images)
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The top quote looks okay to me. About in line with my quote from the end of March this year.
 
Cheers! Yeah they're the only ones who didn't just send through a generic quote, but asked for details, area etc. they have some decent looking reviews (although granted they can be faked). They are relatively local as well.

I used https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/ site to download all the solar data from 2020 (think they use some fancy mathematics to work out cloud cover/irradiance and threw it into Google Sheets with some assumptions about a 4kW array, correct slope/orientation and it gave some interesting generation results. The total generation in 2020 would have been 3700kWh (4kW array @ 10% system loss) or 3460kWh (4kW array @ 15% loss).

Was interesting seeing the difference between clear days and overcast days.

For example in January, I picked two random days with different generation (irradiance) rates and got : On the worst days, it doesn't seem to generate enough to even cover the background usage (TV's, lights, etc.)

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For June I took 2 random days with different generation (irradiance) rates :

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Just in case others were wondering about generation rates? Obviously the above are theoretical, based off satellite data and assumptions, but it seems to match up with other calculators in terms of annual production, but it is beginning to look more likely a battery could be useful, especially if able to combine cheaper night rates to charge a battery in winter, plus the excess generation in summer will be more useful than exporting at the meagre rates we currently get.
 
Today my installer completed fitting and setting up my Huawei battery storage (2x 5kWh), invertor and cabling for my panels arriving at the end of the month.
It’s sitting in the corner of my garage - I think it looks neat


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SDK^ said:
The cabling for the panels will run through to the outside wall and onto the roof (outer protected)
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Makes sense, you don't happen to have photos of the outside cabling by any chance? Just wanting to get an idea of how a decent company does it (your installer looks like they did a great job).
 
SDK^ said:
Today my installer completed fitting and setting up my Huawei battery storage (2x 5kWh), invertor and cabling for my panels arriving at the end of the month.
It’s sitting in the corner of my garage - I think it looks neat


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That’s tiny compared to mine. Very tidy install though.
 
LordVader said:
Another quote come back, this time from a big national, GlowGreensolar if anyone has any experience with them?

Q Cells 395W Mono Q Peak Duo ML G9 Black Frame MC4 solar panel 20
Solis Energy Storage 6kW Hybrid inverter 1
Emlite Hybrid Only Bi-directional Meter ECA2 1
Label sheet 1
DC cable warning sticker sheet 1
Solis Wif Stick DLS-W 1
AC isolator - KN 32A 3-pole 2
PureDrive PureStorage 2 10kw
DC isolator - KG20-4 2
Pair of MC4 connectors 4
50m reel of 4mm2 solar cable 1

This comes in at £13,577.48

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Got Quote for almost the same system. The difference 15 Panels instead of 20, 15 Togo Optimisers and Solar iBoost (for preheating water in tank) around 1K cheaper :) I found them the cheapest others are at least 1.5K higher in price. Hope that helps.
 
aurobindonaik said:
Got Quote for almost the same system. The difference 15 Panels instead of 20, 15 Togo Optimisers and Solar iBoost (for preheating water in tank) around 1K cheaper :) I found them the cheapest others are at least 1.5K higher in price. Hope that helps.
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How’ve your found the Tigos and do you have the TAP and monitoring setup?

I also have 15 Tigos and have been pleased with the output of my system, I can see they work as they vary the string voltage throughout the day and I get “good” power output levels throughout the day but I’m tempted to get the monitoring at a cost of about £260 for the equipment. They saved me £1500 ish vs SolarEdge and I really like having a hybrid inverter which isn’t possible with SolarEdge.

Ps I’m also very happy to recommend my installer in southern England.
 
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To everyone getting quotes - have you checked the company can source the panels and batteries?
Demand is massive across the globe and most stuff is sold out or on a long waiting list.
 
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