Which Company for Solar in Cambridge?

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Judy_Brunton
Judy_Brunton Posts: 8 Forumite
edited 23 January 2018 at 9:59AM in Green & ethical MoneySaving
I recently had a visit from a very nice sales person for Project Solar UK.
Now that I have their quote I want to compare to get the best deal and also to get the best Installers. The only negative reviews I have read for Project Solar relate to the installation and I am quite fearful of getting damage to not only my roof but the neighbours conservatory below!
I live in Cambridge and have requested a call from Cambridge Solar and Greenscape Energy Ltd. Any comments re any of these companys? Any other recommendations?

Details of the quote:
12 Evolution Max life panels;
1 Solax single track inverter;
1 Volt Doctor (I know, I read the post that says these are a gimmick)
Annual generation 3285.94 KWh; System size 3.43 KWp
Total cost inc VAT £8924
«13

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  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,794 Forumite
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    Hiya Judy, and welcome.

    Straight to the point, the price is insane. For 3.43kWp you'd want to aim for closer to £5k.

    Here is a thread on project solar, and their 'prices'.

    Project Solar panels quote.

    Have a read of the FAQs (see my autosig) and a chat with PV'ers on here, and shop around for a while getting quotes and discussing them on here, perhaps. I wouldn't reward project solar by even going back and haggling over the price, they have tried to rip you off with that quote.

    All the best.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • rustyg
    rustyg Posts: 331 Forumite
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    Complete rip-off. Bin it and get more quotes.
  • edwink
    edwink Posts: 2,973 Forumite
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    edited 23 January 2018 at 1:57PM
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    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    Straight to the point, the price is insane. For 3.43kWp you'd want to aim for closer to £5k.


    Martyn1981 is right Judy the price you have been given is insane and they are definitely trying to rip you off. Id look elsewhere if I were you :)

    You will find a wealth of experience from the guys on here that already have solar panels :) So please do come back on here and take a look at the FAQs as has been suggested.

    Edwink
    **3.36 kWp solar panel system, 10 x Ultima & 4 x Panasonic solar panels, Solaredge Inverter **Biomass boiler stove for cooking, hot water & heating **2000ltr Rainwater harvesting system for loo flushing - **Hybrid Toyota Auris car **1 ex-battery hen - RIP Pingu, Hoppy & Ginger ****Hens & Ducks**** chat thread. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5282209
  • Judy_Brunton
    Judy_Brunton Posts: 8 Forumite
    edited 24 January 2018 at 12:23PM
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    I'm continuing to read around and now have two other companies booked to do a survey and quote. (Cambridge Solar and Eco Green Energy).
    Big problem for us might be the financing. Cambridge Solar don't offer financing but I don't yet know what the total will be so I'm going ahead with the visit anyway.
    The financing offered by Project Solar is excellent so even if it is an inflated price it could be the only way we could go ahead with this at this time. apr is only 9.9% and it is possible to pay off lump sums at any time to reduce the interest. (reducing balance calculation)
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    Judy_Brunton wrote: »
    ... 1 Volt Doctor (I know, I read the post that says these are a gimmick)
    ...
    Total cost inc VAT £8924
    Hi

    I've come to a pretty straightforward way of looking at quotes like this ... if they're quoting for 'voltage' or 'generation' optimisation technologies to a consumer it say's something about their business ethics, so file the quote in the bin & move on!

    If they contact you about the quote & look to haggle, tell them that as £9k is their opening offer, you'll counter with £0 and hope to meet them about half-way! ... oh, and tell them to forget the 'gimmick'!

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    Judy_Brunton wrote: »
    I'm continuing to read around and now have two other companies booked to do a survey and quote. (Cambridge Solar and Eco Green Energy).
    Big problem for us might be the financing. Cambridge Solar don't offer financing but I don't yet know what the total will be so I'm going ahead with the visit anyway.
    The financing offered by Project Solar is excellent so even if it is an inflated price it could be the only way we could go ahead with this at this time. apr is only 9.9% and it is possible to pay off lump sums at any time to reduce the interest. (reducing balance calculation)
    Hi

    What's your driver on this, saving money or being environmentally green? .... if you need finance at anywhere near that %APR there's no chance that it'll make financial sense even at half the cost mentioned! ... of course, 'green' is also a term related to lack of experience, something which salesmen tend to try to take advantage of ... so don't fall for any claims without questioning their validity ...

    You've made a good head-start asking on here!

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • Judy_Brunton
    Judy_Brunton Posts: 8 Forumite
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    Being green is my primary 'driver'. Hopefully saving money in the future - creating a green home to pass on to the kids.
  • Judy_Brunton
    Judy_Brunton Posts: 8 Forumite
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    Next set of questions as I prepare for the next set of surveys from 3 or 4 different companies.

    String Inverter. / Micro inverter / Solar Edge.
    Our roof is south facing. As a mid- terrace the slope is uniform and there is no shade. However, there appear to be other features re monitoring and maintenance that make the solar edge attractive. What are your thoughts?
    Make of the actual solar panels doesn't appear to be an issue - are they all the same? any makes to beware of?
  • Merlin139
    Merlin139 Posts: 6,871 Forumite
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    Not much point in paying for SolarEdge if you do not have shading. I do and I am glad I had it installed. I would say that in under 4 years it has given me about 2 MWh's that I would not have had.

    The monitoring side of things can be done very easily for less than £100 Others will be able to provide details. I would say the SE may add around £750 to £1000 to the cost for little gain apart from having a nice display to look at on your computer.

    You may want to think about something like an Iboost fitted to your hotwater tank to heat your water with any generation not being used from your panels during the sunny times. For about 8 months of the year we get water heated in the tank for free.
    3.795 kWp Solar PV System. Capital of the Wolds

  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    edited 24 January 2018 at 5:04PM
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    Judy_Brunton wrote: »
    Next set of questions as I prepare for the next set of surveys from 3 or 4 different companies.

    String Inverter. / Micro inverter / Solar Edge.
    Our roof is south facing. As a mid- terrace the slope is uniform and there is no shade. However, there appear to be other features re monitoring and maintenance that make the solar edge attractive. What are your thoughts?
    Make of the actual solar panels doesn't appear to be an issue - are they all the same? any makes to beware of?
    Hi

    Okay, in order ...

    No shade, south facing - standard string inverter is probably the right choice - you need to keep the price down so don't spend on unnecessary kit!

    Roof / to set a target monitor against ... check out the following sources, as posted recently ..
    zeupater wrote: »
    ... If you're looking to monitor your system performance you should look at PVGIS ... there's information of how to use it & a links in the FAQ thread here (*section 5) on a useful blog site here, or if you're happy to just jump in at the deep end, via direct access at http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php# ... most of us use the site to generate a monthly target/forecast to measure performance against ...
    ... on monitoring, many inverters have their own systems, for example, SMA provide free software you can use to interrogate generation and the option to upload to their site for comparison ... you could also use PVOutput (https://pvoutput.org), either loading data manually or automatically (if inverter has ability!)

    Panels ... monocrystalline has always seemed to be the preference for higher performing units, but this comes at a price ... there's plenty of manufacturers but it's probably best to go for one that someone's heard of ... something to think about is whether you want panels which look all black or standard etc ...

    Maybe you should also double-check the financing ... some options we've seen in the past have some pretty nasty early payment clauses etc ...

    If opting for finance, you really do need to get a pretty keen price & even then it probably wouldn't make sense! ... unless you're really certain that you want to opt for finance, look for an alternative (delay&save/extend mortgage option?), but don't jump in & grab the easy option of paying double for the system & then pay a standard interest rate on top just for convenience ...

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
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