Not if you are on agile and getting paid the wholesale rate, rather than the fixed rate. I can see a time not long in the future, where exporting in to the grid becomes more popular and worth while.
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
Associate
I’m not entirely convinced agile is that profitable in the whole. It’s odd at the moment as the standing charge is very low and the cap is also not that high.
Come winter you will probably be paying a lot to import with zero export.
Yes if you have masive solar arrays with no or little storage it should work out
But I'm guessing most will swap to Go for Winter and back to Agile for the Spring to Autumn?
Soldato
And there is no exit/switching fee to do that? Interesting
Associate
Yes this is what people are planing, but it’s the only product like this on the market. Octopus are free to change the rules at anytime.
Where as EV tariffs are related wide spread now.
Your making a multi year investment, like 8-10 years so you have to make an assessment that can I use it like this in 10 years.
For me the go charging the battery was a bonus not the reason I went with Solar.
Soldato
Added extra battery capacity and dropped down to 12 panels on one provider has netted the bill at £14200.
That’s a 4.8kwh system with 9.2kwh battery I believe and full warranty inc labour for a decade. I can add more battery storage later on and can also add more panels if needed as I have the roof space for 36 in total if I absolutely cover it lol.
That sound like a better more rounded deal?
That’s a 4.8kwh system with 9.2kwh battery I believe and full warranty inc labour for a decade. I can add more battery storage later on and can also add more panels if needed as I have the roof space for 36 in total if I absolutely cover it lol.
That sound like a better more rounded deal?
Commissario
I got the full contract through to look at, and it turns out I was wrong about the price (I'd got confused between the cost of adding bird protection later), the final contract has it down as £500, so the whole cost is £11.4k
They look like they can potentially install within the next couple of weeks as apparently they've got everything in stock (the guy I was speaking to mentioned they'd bought a load last month because they were fed up of the delays they'd had).
I also got the details through from the local council "auction" for our area, which looks like it's ~£12k for the same sort of wattage in panels, a slightly smaller battery and no bird proofing.
Crikey prices are climbing rapidly !! Back in March, two inverters, two 9.5kW batteries, 18 panels and Tigo optimisers 14k total. Unfortunately I don't have a time machine.
Soldato
Have you both had quotes that have fully broken everything thing down, especially the materials and what each item is their suppling (brand / rating) and costs? If so can you post it up and we can take a look, as all I'm doing is speccing up components, systems and looking at loads of quotes people are posting.
Andrew, knokcing down to 12 panels is a bad idea. Like I said whilst they're installing the stuff you should fill the roof with what you can get on there. An extra few panels at £200 each are an obvious choice!!!!!
Soldato
Doesn't sit right with me either, more panels the better, and will really help in autumn/winter time. More panels may need a bigger inverter, so not just the cost of the extra panels.
https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-agile-outgoing-export-west-midlands/ Good money in it if you can fill your battery and offload the extra. If you are not a huge user, I reckon April - October (ish) it should be possible. That's my plan at the moment anyway, time will tell!
Soldato
I'd be concerned that you're spending more than you'll save over the useable lifetime of the PV system.
Solar panels will last for 20+ years, you'll most likely need to replace the inverter at some point but that's not too expensive. If you can afford it and your house is suitable turn it should be a no brainer.
The battery payback over its lifetime is still TBD.
I'm averaging 22 kWh per day since I had it installed and just passed the 1MWh generated a few days back.
This in part as people are FOMOing in and paying the ridiculous prices, hence increasing their payback by years.
Installers are making money hand over foot with these 1-2 days installs and seemingly charging £4k+ just for the fitting, then of course they seem to be makring up the main ticket items by 20-25% when it's VAT free. So it would be cheaper to buy the products yourself, even with the 20% VAT added on.
This is madness..... Not Sparta!
Soldato
Yeah, its really interesting/horrific to watch some people make some of the decisions. I was recommending the E.on 12 panel package a while ago (4.68kW), which was £5.8k full installed with 3 years 0% free, at least the monthly payment would have been offset by the drop in electricity bill, the same package is now £8,992!
All the panels plus inverter are under £3k inc VAT, and the rest of the kit is ~£500, so that is nearly £5.5k for the install, scaffold and MCS registration and safety checks etc. Obviously if they are still doing the 3 years 0% then you are now actually paying for that as well. It's pretty disgusting really that they are profiteering from people trying to do the right thing by installing solar, especially huge businesses, not your small independent where some leeway can be offered.
Soldato
Nice, now my inverter is dead.
Literally nothing no read out, tried turning it off and on again, meter downstairs is showing no display either.
Literally nothing no read out, tried turning it off and on again, meter downstairs is showing no display either.
Soldato
Have you checked the MCB/RCBO in the consumer unit?
Soldato
Yea it's tripped it
Soldato
Well at least thats a quick fix, unless it does it again.