Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Sent out four requests for quotes this morning
1st is too busy to do it this month
2nd was clearly reading from a script and started trying to get all our info to do a full assessment of our heating etc
3rd suggested a time for a survey and hasn't come back after I asked for a different time
4th is the only one one seems normal :D
 
Journey said:
Plenty of IP65 rated batteries and inverters, which have you actually looked at so far?
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I did say mostly, I suspect its that most will opt for internal and as such the range carried/offered is low
Eg EON only showed in house (not fit for outside it noted)
I've mainly been flicking, I need to take a more structured approach though

My issue is probably I have been looking at installers sites, I need to try to find some kind of list of manufacturers sites I think

Priority still remains loft first anyway, so what temp does it actually get to compared to manufacturers listed operating temps.
 
Seems prices are creeping up at an alarming rate. Am looking at a 6.4kw solar setup, 3.2kw on east/west roof and 7kw worth of batteries. Roughly looks like it's going to be £10,000, which is just about in my budget. Would have been looking at £8k last year from what I can see. I can't see the price of solar coming down anytime soon.
 
Just got my quote this evening. £9.2k for a 6kw system, 5kwh inverter and 8.2kw givenergy battery. If I wanted another 8.2 battery they want another £2.7k all at 5% vat.
 
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Liquid_Entity said:
Haha of course, I shoudl ahev said with the velux windows on one side I'd have half the roof space plus my house faces east to west so think would need to have on both sides (end of terrace)
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I've seen some very neat installs with Velux windows, there is a house near me that has them on both sides, and they've gone with integrated solar on both sides of the roof, and it looks great. They only have a smallish roof so, probably under 5kW overall but still a good sized install. Best thing to do is work out the usable space on each side, looking at the sizes/space around the windows, most panels if fitted vertically at between 950mm-1150mm wide and 1600mm-18500mm tall. My panels are just off East/West on both sides.
 
casper_uk said:
Seems prices are creeping up at an alarming rate. Am looking at a 6.4kw solar setup, 3.2kw on east/west roof and 7kw worth of batteries. Roughly looks like it's going to be £10,000, which is just about in my budget. Would have been looking at £8k last year from what I can see. I can't see the price of solar coming down anytime soon.
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Most of the cost rises are in the batteries rather than panels themselves. They are difficult to get hold of at the moment with long lead times.

My approach might be to do panels now and prepare the system for batteries, but add them later in the year / in winter when the ROI on them is higher anyway. You lose the 5% VAT bonus, but I'm hoping that's offset with generally lower prices and availability.
 
For you guys looking at spending ~£10k what is your expected payback period ?
I have just started to research this topic now, and was hoping for payback in 5/6 years, is that feasible ?

I saw some quotes of 20 - 25 years payback, which seems insane to me.

FWIW we are using 25ish kwh per day
 
MassiveJim said:
For you guys looking at spending ~£10k what is your expected payback period ?
I have just started to research this topic now, and was hoping for payback in 5/6 years, is that feasible ?

I saw some quotes of 20 - 25 years payback, which seems insane to me.

FWIW we are using 25ish kwh per day
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It very much depends on what sort of usage profile you have and the generation you can create year round. I'm looking at around 6500kw generation per year which at c.20p a unit on my current tarriff is £1300 if I use it all, but obviously that unit cost is likely to go up so the payback comes down. 5-6 years is pretty much impossible unless you're paying 40p a kw currently.
 
MassiveJim said:
For you guys looking at spending ~£10k what is your expected payback period ?
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It's almost a pointless question, since there are way to many variables and future predictions that can't be pin pointed accurately. If you are looking to spend then you need to view it as a long term investment, if the cost is the main driver.

I bought my system with a view that it would eventually save me money, but that was of secondary concern.
 
SoliD said:
It very much depends on what sort of usage profile you have and the generation you can create year round. I'm looking at around 6500kw generation per year which at c.20p a unit on my current tarriff is £1300 if I use it all, but obviously that unit cost is likely to go up so the payback comes down. 5-6 years is pretty much impossible unless you're paying 40p a kw currently.
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Scottish Power are quoting a rise to 55p per kwh on 1st april, just done a quick price comparison and cheapest quote is 40p.
 
Firestar_3x said:
How much more out of interest, i thought it was "basically" the addition of an automatic transfer switch?
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Manual transfer switches are possible too, but I don't know how common something like that is. None of the "solutions" I've looked at seem to offer either automatic or manual transfer.
 
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