How much for SolarPV?

michaelwr

Much debate on the freebie solution but what if you want to keep the feed in tariff yourself and how much should you expect to pay?

I've done a bit of searching and had one survey quote so far, I know each supplier will have different solutions or be complete cowboys but my 1st quote I recieved for 3kw install was £15k.

A bit steep as I was budgeting for £4k/kw.

I've also come across websites like segen co uk who are advertising 3.3kw solutions for £13k which is closer my scroogeness level.

And most annoying is a website renewabletech co uk who will let you register and visit the trade shop. There you can buy all the bits and pieces for a 3.36kw solution for just over £9k!!!!

They also sell MCS accreditation packs for £500 or you can attend a 4 day course which spends about 2 days on installing (2 on selling)

Anyone else had quote they are willing to divulge?

Poosmate

Thanks for this thread. It seems the 64million dollar question is how much these systems cost.

I haven't had any quotes yet but I've looked at http://www.homesun.com/our-products-and-services/buy-solar/. They are the latest "free solar panels" companies to join the party. The difference with these is that you can have a 2.5kw system installed for £500 plus £5pcm service charge and are able to purchase the system from Homesun at a later date.

I will post if/when I get any quotes and I hope this thread remains on topic with prices/systems posted rather than debating.

michaelwr, I hope you don't mind me posting this below (if you do, PM me I'll remove it).


If you want to debate free solar panels please use this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2072787 in Green & Ethical Moneysaving

or this one:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2637431 in Utilities, Gas & Electric.

Please keep this thread free for prices as so many people are asking this question.

Thanks

Poo

smitchy73

I've had one quote of just a tad over £15k for 3.7kwp, I'm in Ayrshire Scotland but have an east/west roof, so therefore I wanted mine's split over the two sides of the roof which means I should be generating most of the day from one side or the other. The price included two invertors, and full installation and an export meter also. I can get a discount if I was to sign up within the next couple of months. This system comes from China
I've had another ball part figure just waiting for it in writing though of around £14k for 3.6kw, again split over the two sides of the roof, two invertors and fully installed. This system comes from Germany.
I have another visit tomorrow from another company so we'll see how that goes.
I've spoken on the other thread, did get some bad news yesterday that I cant add it to the mortgage though, the index value for my property has fallen, and the banks ltv rate has also dropped so wont be able to go down that route, so I think this may be the main stumbling block for alot of people who would like to take the chance and add it to the mortgage but can't regardless of how much money can be recouped from the FITS payments, roll on the governments interest free loans.

liquidity_2

Best quote I've had to date is £13.46K for a fully installed system consisting of 16 Sharp 235w panels (so 3.76 kWp) and a Fronious inverter. Highest was circa £21K for a Schott system of similar kWp.

Doc_N

Tesco Energy are quoting £14,499 for a 3.96kWp system - a pretty fair price as things stand at the moment, though no doubt prices will fall a bit before the FIT rate takes its first drop.

liquidity_2

Here's my data so far.The format is: company name and website - value of quote or estimate, peak theoretical output (simply output per panel multiplied by number of panels), quoted kWh system will generate each year, £/kWp (simple division to compare relative purchase costs), kWp/kWh (again simple division to compare quoted real world efficiency), any available information on brand/spec of panels and inverter

The wildly varying kWp/kWh give some insight into a company's approach; are they conservative in selling their system or optimistic in stating its performance. I'll let you be the judge if any company is doing that.

green energy centre, http://www.caringforourworld.co.uk - £14.3K, 3 kWp, 2000 kWh/year, £4800, 0.67, 215 watt Sanyo panels and SMA Sunny Boy or Fronious inverter
green energy centre, http://www.caringforourworld.co.uk - £10K, 2.2 kWp, 1500 kWh/year, £4500, 0.68, 185 watt Sharp panels and SMA Sunny Boy or Fronious inverter
Sun Renewables, http://www.sunrenewables.com - £13.6K, 3.76 kWp, 3000 kWh/year, £3600, 0.8, 235 watt Sharp panels and Fronious inverter
PV Solar UK, http://www.pvsolaruk.co.uk - £18.6K, 3.75 kWp, 4620 kWh/year, £5000, 1.23, 175 watt panels (brand unknown) and Fronious inverter
Anglian, http://www.anglianhome.co.uk/ - £17.5K, 2.4 kWp, 1900 kWh/year, £7300, 0.79, look to be Mitsubishi panels and Diehl Inverter
Eco Life, http://www.ecolifesystem.co.uk - £21K, 4 kWp, no figure given, £5300, not enough data, Schott panels and inverter

PS. I can't find a way to embed a table in this forum - if anyone knows of a way please let me know.

George_Bray

I've just started to look into PV solar panels. I always get suspicious when I see that in order to get a grant you have to use an approved supplier. Jobs for the boys? I hope it will be cheaper for me to purchase the components myself and either fit them to the roof myself, or bring in a roofing contractor to do it. They can keep their grant.

The main component is the PV solar panel. A good example is the Kyocera 135w panel. This can be found on various UK websites at prices between about £450 and £650. It would take 17 of these panels to produce 2.3Kw of power. If you pay £450 per panel, the cost would be 17 x £450 = £7650 so you can start to see where the £10K comes from, once labour and ancilliary components are allowed for. Incidentally, is VAT included in the £10K figure in liquidity's post? It is included in my figure of £450.

But is it necessary to pay £450 per panel? The Kyocera 135w panels are available on eBay from the USA for £216.85 but you'd need to add freight, duty and VAT to that. My hope is to somehow get them for £300 each (max). At that price, 17 panels would be £5100 and it starts to look more attractive. Are Kyocera the best value? Perhaps Sharp or Mitsubishi are cheaper per watt.

Doc_N

George_Bray wrote: »

I've just started to look into PV solar panels. I always get suspicious when I see that in order to get a grant you have to use an approved supplier. Jobs for the boys? I hope it will be cheaper for me to purchase the components myself and either fit them to the roof myself, or bring in a roofing contractor to do it. They can keep their grant.

I'm afraid you might lose out if you go down the diy route. There are very few, if any, grants around now, but there is a Feed In Tariff scheme:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Sell-your-own-energy/Feed-in-Tariff-scheme

You'll undoubtedly get a cheaper system if you do it yourself, but if you don't get an MCS certificate, you'll get no FIT payments - and that's likely to cost you many times more than the saving on the installation cost - unless, of course, you're planning to move on soon.

liquidity_2

George_Bray wrote: »

I've just started to look into PV solar panels. I always get suspicious when I see that in order to get a grant you have to use an approved supplier. Jobs for the boys? I hope it will be cheaper for me to purchase the components myself and either fit them to the roof myself, or bring in a roofing contractor to do it. They can keep their grant.

The main component is the PV solar panel. A good example is the Kyocera 135w panel. This can be found on various UK websites at prices between about £450 and £650. It would take 17 of these panels to produce 2.3Kw of power. If you pay £450 per panel, the cost would be 17 x £450 = £7650 so you can start to see where the £10K comes from, once labour and ancilliary components are allowed for. Incidentally, is VAT included in the £10K figure in liquidity's post? It is included in my figure of £450.

But is it necessary to pay £450 per panel? The Kyocera 135w panels are available on eBay from the USA for £216.85 but you'd need to add freight, duty and VAT to that. My hope is to somehow get them for £300 each (max). At that price, 17 panels would be £5100 and it starts to look more attractive. Are Kyocera the best value? Perhaps Sharp or Mitsubishi are cheaper per watt.

Yes, my figures are all-inclusive.

Have a look at the kWp per sq metre to ensure you have enough space for your desired total kWp.

Don't forget an inverter will cost you £1500-2000. You might be able to work a deal with an MCS installer who is just starting up to use your DIY install as the system he uses to get his certification as a PV Solar installer which would benefit both of you. But you need MCS certification for the install otherwise you get no FITs.

George_Bray

liquidity wrote: »

Don't forget an inverter will cost you £1500-2000. You might be able to work a deal with an MCS installer who is just starting up to use your DIY install as the system he uses to get his certification as a PV Solar installer which would benefit both of you. But you need MCS certification for the install otherwise you get no FITs.

The inverter is another component where it seems easy to pay more than it seems inherently worth. I bought an 80w inverter from Asda recently for £5, down from £15 and designed to be plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet in a car. It takes 12VDC up to 80w 250VAC. It might not be as robust as a £1500 inverter but I'm still suspicious.

Your idea of trying to find an MCS installer to certify a DIY job is a good one, as long as it doesn't threaten his professional status. Perhaps I could also look into what's involved to become a MCS installer myself, even short term? I wonder how many expensive courses you need to attend and what else might be involved. Does anyone know? presumably you'd only need a qualified electrician at the stage of connecting the circuit and new meter(s) up to the grid at the point where electricity comes into your home.

liquidity_2

George_Bray wrote: »

The inverter is another component where it seems easy to pay more than it seems inherently worth. I bought an 80w inverter from Asda recently for £5, down from £15 and designed to be plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet in a car. It takes 12VDC up to 80w 250VAC. It might not be as robust as a £1500 inverter but I'm still suspicious.

Your idea of trying to find an MCS installer to certify a DIY job is a good one, as long as it doesn't threaten his professional status. Perhaps I could also look into what's involved to become a MCS installer myself, even short term? I wonder how many expensive courses you need to attend and what else might be involved. Does anyone know? presumably you'd only need a qualified electrician at the stage of connecting the circuit and new meter(s) up to the grid at the point where electricity comes into your home.

I suspect that Asda inverter will give up the ghost pretty quickly if asked to run 24/7 for a few years. And I wonder how efficient they are: how much power goes in and then generates nothing but heat. There's surely profit in those figures I quoted but the inverters are well engineered pieces of kit designed to cope with 3-4000 watts of electricity, be 93+ % efficient, water and weatherproof, operate at ambient temps of up to 50 degrees (your loft in the summer) and do so 24/7 for many years.

The first post on this thread gives some info on MCS accreditation.