PV Solar Uk Ltd / Free Electricity 4U Ltd

bugle1 · 30 November 2010 at 6:00PM

i also have had dealings with pvsolar uk ,i had 3 quotes from different companys and i signed a contract with pvsolar uk on the day the salesman came round ,the other companys came round the next day to give me quotes and i decided to go with a local company so i emailed pvsolar uk to cancel which they did and gave me my deposit back ,no quibbles ,a week went by and a manager rang me from pvsolar and asked why i wanted to cancel ,he then said he would beat the local quote by £1000 ,so i went with pvsolar who came and installed a 2.22 kwp system for £8500.00 ,its been installed exactly a month now and for a cloudy month of november in the midlands it has produced 93 kw ,well above what was predicted, i was very happy with the installation and have recomended them to a neibour who has signed a contract with them ,pvsolar sent me a cheque for £500 for the recomendation ,so all in all a very good experience with them.
hope this helps anybody who's thinking of having pv solar installed

Clydesider_2 · 1 December 2010 at 4:18PM

martinpyne01 wrote: »

Hi,

I have been watching this thread with interest, having signed up to PV Solar UK Ltd in early April, with some trepidation. The price was pretty good. Had some confusion over the number of pannels. Orignal surveyor suggested 10 pannels. Second surveyor suggested six. Guys on site during the install on Monday this week this week said I could accommodate 9 pannels. They changed the order on site and installed all 9 pannels. Total cost £7,875.

Yingli solar 175 w pannels.
Sunny boy inverter.

Average generation of 5.66Kwh per day since then and in the Midlands the weather has not been great (quite a bit of cloud and rain). House is a 3 bed semi (hence only 9 pannels).

Basicallly on track for 1200Kwh over 12 months
Neat and tidy install in around 4-5 hours.

Estimated payback 14-16 years, assuming static engergy prices as I'm having to borrow to finance it.

Could not make the numbers stack up with other potential suppliers who were all significantly more expensive.

Pretty happy with PV Solar UK Ltd, who, with a bit of prompting, got things sorted and got on with the work. Received the appropriate certification yesterday, and will be filling in the FIT application form over the weekend.

Hope this is useful to those thinking of taking the plunge. NB - I would definately do your own calcs on likely energy generation as PV suppliers do seem, in general, to be a bit optimistic especially in the early stages of discussions.

thanks,

Martin.

I had PV Solar UK Ltd install my system - on the whole they did a good job and and the price was the best quoted. The important thing for me in this new industry was their 10 year insurance backed guarantee. I checked the insurance company out and they seem sound.

Also had to reduce the amount of panels on installation due to the potential of shading on the system in winter when the sun is low, so they were not just after my money for a big system.

I am also on target to generate over what they predicted, have purchased a couple of timers so that I can use as much of the power generated as possible, and in doing so improve my return.

daytona600_2 · 2 December 2010 at 6:11PM

if you have shading issues and need more modules
for higher outputs and FITs
you could fit a micro string inverter to each panel
with mppt tracker for improved outputs
either behind yingli or other module or on rails from roof mounting system 200 to 280wp units are made

frh

Clydesider wrote: »

I had PV Solar UK Ltd install my system - on the whole they did a good job and and the price was the best quoted. The important thing for me in this new industry was their 10 year insurance backed guarantee. I checked the insurance company out and they seem sound.

Also had to reduce the amount of panels on installation due to the potential of shading on the system in winter when the sun is low, so they were not just after my money for a big system.

I am also on target to generate over what they predicted, have purchased a couple of timers so that I can use as much of the power generated as possible, and in doing so improve my return.

blackpoolsam · 2 December 2010 at 6:28PM

omdfan wrote: »

Hi, I have been browsing the posts on this forum and notice that some MoneySavers have been quoted a payback time of up to 16 years on solar PV.

From personal experience I have found that prices differ wildly amongst solar installation companies - in my case, the lowest price was half the highest (having obtained four quotes).

In the end I did go with the lowest, but not just because of the price. The guy I used was a one-man band, who came round in the late afternoon, having been out working all day. Two of the other three had sales offices.

He showed me in plain english what the expected yield would be, which in my case resulted in a payback time of 10 years and 1 month. The system is 1.95kW which should net me around £766 in cashback payments and savings. The cost installed (inc VAT) was £7730. (The next cheapest was over £9000!)

I can't post his website address because I'm new on this forum but his company is called Red Renewables (in Chorley) and his name is Stuart. Perhaps someone with history on here could post a link?

He is based in Lancashire but came to me in Cumbria so he must cover quite a large area.

I'll second the endorsement for Stuart at RED Renewables. I'm the proud owner of a brand new 3.9kw system, which after seven days has already produced 55kw (worth about £28, not bad for a week in December). I paid £15500 for it, but I'm in a bungalow so there was no scaffolding.

The roof on my house dips in the middle and the lads really took their time to ensure that the panels were all sitting perfectly level. They said that any unevenness would really show when the light was reflecting off them.

I found Stuart and his colleague Dave to be absolutely meticulous. They put carpet protectors down everywhere they were working inside and even wore disposable overshoes to keep everything clean. When they left it my house was cleaner than before they arrived!

They even put in a remote display to monitor the output, which now has pride of place on my coffee table. Incidentally, the payback period on my installation has been calculated at 9 years and 8 months!

The reason I chose RED is that they are actually an electrical contractor. Many of the solar companies I came across in my pre-order research were actually window companies, or (in one case) a fast food company! Both the lads that worked at my house were qualified electricians and the finished job really does look like the example pictures on their website!

The system is more or less maintenance free but Stuart even offers a complimentary two year service (they go up on the roof and check everything's sound, and inspect all the electrics too).

To summarise, I can't recommend RED Renewables enough. Not often that you can't find fault with a service these days!

Almost forgot - their number's 01772 311016.

bugle1 · 3 December 2010 at 1:24PM

blackpoolsam wrote: »

I'll second the endorsement for Stuart at RED Renewables. I'm the proud owner of a brand new 3.9kw system, which after seven days has already produced 55kw (worth about £28, not bad for a week in December). I paid £15500 for it, but I'm in a bungalow so there was no scaffolding.

The roof on my house dips in the middle and the lads really took their time to ensure that the panels were all sitting perfectly level. They said that any unevenness would really show when the light was reflecting off them.

I found Stuart and his colleague Dave to be absolutely meticulous. They put carpet protectors down everywhere they were working inside and even wore disposable overshoes to keep everything clean. When they left it my house was cleaner than before they arrived!

They even put in a remote display to monitor the output, which now has pride of place on my coffee table. Incidentally, the payback period on my installation has been calculated at 9 years and 8 months!

The reason I chose RED is that they are actually an electrical contractor. Many of the solar companies I came across in my pre-order research were actually window companies, or (in one case) a fast food company! Both the lads that worked at my house were qualified electricians and the finished job really does look like the example pictures on their website!

The system is more or less maintenance free but Stuart even offers a complimentary two year service (they go up on the roof and check everything's sound, and inspect all the electrics too).

To summarise, I can't recommend RED Renewables enough. Not often that you can't find fault with a service these days!

Almost forgot - their number's 01772 311016.

i think you must be living in tenerife to produce that much power? with snow covering the panels i am lucky to produce a kw a day!
just done a calculation for a 3.9 system in gibraltra and that only produces 10 kw per day ,think this ones a salesman for red !!!
if you live in blackpool the calc for the month is 73.7 ,so 55 kw for a week is total b****cks , think the salesman needs to use a pv estimation calculator !!,mines produced 14.71 in the last week and mine is a 2.22 kwp system over half the size so if i doubled it ,it would only produce 29 kw ,all i can say is do your research and don't be tempted about the miracle system that produces more power than the rest as all solar panels must be mcs approved for efficency and produce about the same output

blackpoolsam · 4 December 2010 at 10:20AM

bugle1 wrote: »

i think you must be living in tenerife to produce that much power? with snow covering the panels i am lucky to produce a kw a day!
just done a calculation for a 3.9 system in gibraltra and that only produces 10 kw per day ,think this ones a salesman for red !!!
if you live in blackpool the calc for the month is 73.7 ,so 55 kw for a week is total b****cks , think the salesman needs to use a pv estimation calculator !!,mines produced 14.71 in the last week and mine is a 2.22 kwp system over half the size so if i doubled it ,it would only produce 29 kw ,all i can say is do your research and don't be tempted about the miracle system that produces more power than the rest as all solar panels must be mcs approved for efficency and produce about the same output

Of course the trouble with anonymous forums is that people like to say things that they wouldn't dare say to your face. I'm not a salesman for RED, just a very satisfied customer. I'm not a liar and I don't live in Blackpool.

My system was commissioned on 23 November but too late for anything to be generated that day. OK, so that was actually 9 days as I had read the 55kw on the meter on 2 December - my mistake.

The SAP calculation suggests 3000kw per year, but the figure from the Eversol solar PV software that he also gave me says if would be more like 2890kw. Divided by 52, that actually does give 55kw per week. Granted that doesn't take into account the shorter days in winter.

I telephoned RED this morning when I saw the reply to my post - Stuart said he was pleasantly surprised by the output, but that but we've had a nice sunny couple of weeks (with no snow on the panels), so it's probably as good as I could expect at this time of year.

He also said he'd have a look at the forum and give me a figure for a 3.9kw system in Gibraltar and see how it stacks up against 10kw per day.

stureid · 4 December 2010 at 11:03AM

Hi

I have to be careful here as I don't want to breach the forum rules re advertising. I don't have the data for Gibraltar (non-UK data is sparse on my software), but I've produced the inverter manufacturers' software report for Lanzarote, and for Preston where the actual system in question is.

Unfortunately as a user with few posts, I can't link to them, but they are available if you go to my website:
www redrenewables co uk/misc/lanzarote.pdf
www redrenewables co uk/misc/preston.pdf

You'll have to but the dots in, hopefully that'll work.

Lanzarote - 5771kWh p.a. = mean average 15.8kWh per day
Preston - 2878kWh p.a. = mean average 7.9kWh per day

55kWh over nine days is good but the weather has been kind(ish) in Preston and the roof is 40deg so snow tends to run off (unfortunately I have a customer in Colne with a 30deg roof who hasn't had anything over the last few days because the snow's been bad over there).

Gizmosmum_2 · 4 December 2010 at 10:21PM

It's nice to see someone supporting small, local businesses instead of insisting on years of experience which very few contractors have as a result of the market being so small for so many years. Not all small firms are cowboys and out to rip people off - I always recommend local tradesmen, you'll always know where they are!

One word of caution just because the system is the cheapest doesn't mean everyone else is being ripped off. Many installers use cheap roof mounting systems, cheap inverters and the cheapest panels they can source. I'm not suggesting that anyone mentioned on this forum would do this but there's a huge difference between the BMW's of the industry and the Hyundai.

My suggestion is research, research, research and if possible look at some of the mounting systems - the look and security of the panels (in exposed areas) is very different and if you're only given one option ask what others are available. I paid a premium for my mounting kit, it was almost double that of others available BUT I live in a really exposed area and my solar array is not only secure but looks a hundred times better than the arrays with gaps between each of the panels.

Btw - I'm generating about 4kwh/day at the minute off a Sharp 3.9kwp system. I'm chuffed to bits!

daytona600_2 · 5 December 2010 at 11:31AM

£15.5k for a system , and they supplied a unknown
chinese inverter , you can get a 100% european system
you where overcharged

blackpoolsam wrote: »

I'll second the endorsement for Stuart at RED Renewables. I'm the proud owner of a brand new 3.9kw system, which after seven days has already produced 55kw (worth about £28, not bad for a week in December). I paid £15500 for it, but I'm in a bungalow so there was no scaffolding.

The roof on my house dips in the middle and the lads really took their time to ensure that the panels were all sitting perfectly level. They said that any unevenness would really show when the light was reflecting off them.

I found Stuart and his colleague Dave to be absolutely meticulous. They put carpet protectors down everywhere they were working inside and even wore disposable overshoes to keep everything clean. When they left it my house was cleaner than before they arrived!

They even put in a remote display to monitor the output, which now has pride of place on my coffee table. Incidentally, the payback period on my installation has been calculated at 9 years and 8 months!

The reason I chose RED is that they are actually an electrical contractor. Many of the solar companies I came across in my pre-order research were actually window companies, or (in one case) a fast food company! Both the lads that worked at my house were qualified electricians and the finished job really does look like the example pictures on their website!

The system is more or less maintenance free but Stuart even offers a complimentary two year service (they go up on the roof and check everything's sound, and inspect all the electrics too).

To summarise, I can't recommend RED Renewables enough. Not often that you can't find fault with a service these days!

Almost forgot - their number's 01772 311016.

Gizmosmum_2 · 5 December 2010 at 11:41AM

blackpoolsam wrote: »

I paid £15500 for it, but I'm in a bungalow so there was no scaffolding.

The roof on my house dips in the middle and the lads really took their time to ensure that the panels were all sitting perfectly level. They said that any unevenness would really show when the light was reflecting off them.

I'd be a bit concerned about not having scaffolding on a bungalow - I'd like to have seen the risk assessment that said that hoisting 20kg panels onto the roof without scaffolding wasn't a health safety issue.

Just a quick query - as the roof dips did your installation company include the cost of a structural survey or did you sort that out yourself?

PV Solar Uk Ltd / Free Electricity 4U Ltd

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