Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Referral does work over the phone, but you might need their name as well.

Is it easy to move at the moment? I mean it does not seem like a good idea paying out £100 in referrals when profits right now from new residential customers are not exactly high.
 
Any decent tools out there for estimating output from multi-angle roofs throughout the year? My big bit is north facing, then I've got a mix of smaller bits facing east/south/west with gables messing up the space. I tried https://www.makemyhousegreen.com/ last night but it only takes a single orientation and won't break down expected generation by month.

Installers must have something when speccing a system - is it available online?
 
Guys,

Are these for real?

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It's about the right price (maybe slightly high) for 4.5kW of PV, and a 6.5kWh battery at todays prices. It's neither terrible or great. Lets not forget VAT on that is 0% and the battery is only £2, 900 installed. So in effect you are paying £7k for a 4.6Kw PV system installed.
 
Is it easy to move at the moment? I mean it does not seem like a good idea paying out £100 in referrals when profits right now from new residential customers are not exactly high.
Yes and no! I moved easy with a referral but it has taken a while to move over to Go as I they had problems connecting to the meter, all sorted now though.
 
It's about the right price (maybe slightly high) for 4.5kW of PV, and a 6.5kWh battery at todays prices. It's neither terrible or great. Lets not forget VAT on that is 0% and the battery is only £2, 900 installed. So in effect you are paying £7k for a 4.6Kw PV system installed.
Is there any guidance on sizing a system?

I have a 12m x 3m south facing pitched workshop roof; cement fibre. I was hoping to get panels the full length.
 
I have a 12m x 3m south facing pitched workshop roof; cement fibre. I was hoping to get panels the full length.

Awkward size roof, as it isn't very tall at 3m, most panels are 1600mm+ tall, so you might have to go land scape if you want to get 15+ panels on, but even then you might be pushing it as very few are below 1000mm in width now. Other option if to use something like the 595w Canadian Solar panels which are 2172x1303mm, you get 5x2 in landscape mode for a total of nearly 6kW of PV.

Any exact roof measurement would be a real help. As for guidance, best thing if paying for an end-to-end supply and install is find an installer who will fit to your requirements, not just what they want to sell you or have in stock. As I have said before it is a huge long term commitment, so best get the design right first time and go with a company you can communicate well with. It is the whole reason I designed and bought my own system, then found a competent installer, as I was fed up of people telling me what was good/bad/ugly, rather than listening to me.
 
Thanks - I'll get proper dimensions when we move in. We need the roof checked for weight bearing suitability as well. I imagine in snow it could be significant. I'll steer clear from these FB ads then.
 
So my first month of solar & battery storage done [Went live at 3pm on 1st July] I’m impressed with the generation outcome - it’s better than I thought it would be.
I’ve made a couple of errors along the way :
  • A few nights I charged the battery overnight when it was very sunny the next day, so ended up exporting a fair amount of solar power.
  • Also the opposite of the above - a couple of times I didn’t charge the battery overnight when it was cloudy the next day, and needed to import some power at the end of the next day.
All a learning process though :)
Huawei are launching a smart app soon which auto adjust the battery charge settings based on the weather & sunlight forecast.

July solar generation data
  • Generated : 531 kWh
  • Used : 471 kWh
  • Exported : 60 kWh
  • Imported : 277 kWh - mostly to charge my EV, with a little for house use, and nearly all at off-peak rate (7.5p)

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All a learning process though

Certainly is, and very few people appreciate that. You can get so much more for the system once you understand it and once you've analysed the data, and power usage. I find it funny that those who tend to complain about the costs of a solar install, tend to be also those that can't be bothered to learn how to be efficient or make the most of a system, 'cos effort.

It's a good graph, 750kWh used for July is pretty impressive, running hot tub as well as the EV? Or Aircon?
 
Best July we've ever had since the panels were installed in December 2015, 636kWh, in fact its the second best month overall, only May 2020 was better at 712kWh
 
Caught the end of countryfile there @Ron-ski as walked past the telly and it said it was one of the driest July's ever. Seems the recent heatwave especially your end of the country would mean it was a decent solar period.

Joining you guys late to the party but at least I have it running now. Day two complete and was quite sunny, hopefully we get an Indian summer too! :D
 
It's a good graph, 750kWh used for July is pretty impressive, running hot tub as well as the EV? Or Aircon?

Mostly EV with a small A/C unit. Will get split AC next summer to benefit from running it pretty much free.

@SDK^ shame the stats don't mention the battery directly, but I guess you've managed to use 88% of what you generated whether on demand or on battery?

I left the battery data off the above graph to keep it simple
This graph shows the Consumption, battery charge and discharge included. What it can’t show is the split between battery charge from solar or charge from the grid. You can clearly see the days I charged my EV.

Also some days I trickle charged my EV from solar power, when the solar was very good.

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Similar to @SDK^ I had mine installed on 30th June so apart from the first 2 hours of 1st July where the battery was force charging to 100% my stats are below.

Generated 999.93kwh, used 745kwh of those either through battery or directly, exported 255, which is more than I would have liked, but waiting on the EV to turn up which should utilise a big chunk of this although might need some sensible thinking for the summer months. Only pulled in 6kwh from the grid...

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Well, my simple setup doesn't get all this fancy pants graphs. :p

But, I do have basic generation records. My modest setup generated 521kwh in July. For a DIY setup it seems to be working pretty well.

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What's also really interesting about seeing your data - is that, like me - the 19th July wasn't a huge power generating day. Hottest day in UK history, but wasn't great for solar energy.

I was generating a lot better once the cooler air came back with clear skies.
 
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