Tesco offer on PV panels

prowla

The financial projections do rely upon the govenment of the day continuing the tax breaks, which has been shown to be not necessarily the case.

ecoguy

I think the topic has been well addressed here so far. The only thing I'd like to add is that the FiT payment is based on the the current 21p/kWh. This is dropping to 16p on August 1st. Moreover, the payback period will drop from 25 years to 20. I think it seems like a reasonable deal and is in the ballpark of other similar systems.

The thing to consider is that if you want solar panels, it pays to make a decision sooner rather than later.

Equaliser123

prowla wrote: »

The financial projections do rely upon the govenment of the day continuing the tax breaks, which has been shown to be not necessarily the case.

I don't think there has been any suggestion of a retrospective removal of tax breaks has there?

prowla

Equaliser123 wrote: »

I don't think there has been any suggestion of a retrospective removal of tax breaks has there?

Not as far as I know, but any projection based on current allowancess/incentives/breaks continuing is exposed to the possibility of them changing.

It's the same with electric cars - if everybody got them tomorrow, then the government incentives would soon disappear.

beany

opinions please

Solar Direct Savings
14 panels NSI 250w Mono silver
need solar edge for shading (chimney)
inverter SMA sunnyboy
includes ECP, scaffolding (£500) and VAT
£11,753.25
say they can instal before 1st August if we order within a day or two

Waiting for Tesco to come but say they no way can they be installed before 1st August

Martyn1981

Evening Beany.

That price is eye watering. For a 3.5kWp system you probably want to aim for less than £7k, and the lower the better.

Not sure about the reference to SolarEdge, regarding chimney, do they suggest using SE power optimisers on each of the panels, if so, then whilst they can use a non SE inverter such as the SMA range, they'll need to include a SE power management box too, so it would be easier just to use a SE3500 inverter.

I appreciate that 1/8/12 is looming large, but I think the order now bit, combined with that price is pushy, possibly even a hard sell.

Do you have anything else lined up?

Edit: If you don't mind giving approx location and roof orientation, I can estimate annual generation? Did the sales bod give you any numbers?

Mart.

EricMears

beany wrote: »

£11,753.25
say they can instal before 1st August if we order within a day or two

That's more than I paid for a 4.00 kW system last August ! I thought prices were supposed to be dropping.

Look for more quotes - bound to be someone offering a far better price than that and able to offer a 3 week completion.

Kernel_Sanders

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Evening Beany.
That price is eye watering. For a 3.5kWp system you probably want to aim for less than £7k, and the lower the better.

Agreed. I think they have ascertained that you are 'green' in more sense than one; they've been 'trying it on', so don't be surprised if they suddenly decide they can match Tesco's price. My installer was very fair on price, even did existing roof repairs for free. Where is the property?

beany

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Evening Beany.

That price is eye watering. For a 3.5kWp system you probably want to aim for less than £7k, and the lower the better.

Not sure about the reference to SolarEdge, regarding chimney, do they suggest using SE power optimisers on each of the panels, if so, then whilst they can use a non SE inverter such as the SMA range, they'll need to include a SE power management box too, so it would be easier just to use a SE3500 inverter.

I appreciate that 1/8/12 is looming large, but I think the order now bit, combined with that price is pushy, possibly even a hard sell.

Do you have anything else lined

Edit: If you don't mind giving approx location and roof orientation, I can estimate annual generation? Did the sales bod give you any numbers?

Mart.

Thank you for all your help, being more mature (in years) than most our knowledge is very limited.
The system will be on both the rear and side roof, 7 panels on each, with solar edge on each panel. At first he said 12 panels and then decided he could get 2 more by putting them sideways.
Feed in tariff income £690.14
import savings £221.83
export income £52.58

total annual benefit £964.56

break even 10yrs 3 months equivalent return 9.5%

also reading small print cost of export meter NOT included in this estimate and may not be requested by your energy provider

We are in S E Kent I think he said with south and south east roof orientation

Still waiting for Tescos but they say no way before 1st August

Martyn1981

Morning beany, is your head hurting yet? It will be in 5 mins!

Right, where to start:

Income, using the ever popular PVGIS site to estimate generation, I slapped in a 3.5kWp system in Ashford, with the whole system facing SE (-45 deg azimuth (before south)). I'm assuming your 2 roofs are roughly south and east, let me know if they aren't.

That suggests a generation figure of 3,400kWh's pa. Income ...

generation tariff 21p * 3400 = £714
export tariff 3.2p * 1700 (50% deemed) = £54
leccy savings (£70 to £150) = £100 (could be more could be less)

Total £868. Nice system, and if E & S will give a nice generation for most of the day.

SolarEdge - as it's a split system, and there is some shading issues (you mentioned a chimney) I can understand the reason for fitting a SE system, with SE power optimisers (PO's) on each panel, but PO's cost approx £46 each, so 14 will add £700 to the cost. Another option is a dual MPPT inverter (think 2 inverters in one) that treats the 2 roofs as separate systems. A SMA SB3600TL springs to mind. It'll cost a bit more than a SE inverter, but less than the cost of the SE inverter and PO's. Probably similar efficiencies.

Cost - it's way too high, even allowing some leeway for the PO's and presumably 2 lots of scaffolding you want to be under £8k, and ideally chasing £7k or better.

If you went for the SB3600TL and the extra scaffolding only added £200, then sub £7k seems a perfectly reasonable target.

Export meter - you don't need one as export is simply assumed to be 50%, though it will probably be a little higher, but if you can get one for free from your energy supplier great, but they'll probably want you to pay £50 or more, and that could take forever to pay for itself. Plus if we ever get to see these fabled 'smart meters' then they will (should) monitor export.

I've been working on my own project recently, and have used several multi-quote sites, and spoken to lots of suppliers, would you like me to PM you some details and suggestions?

I'm wary of posting on thread as I can't recommend anyone, and don't want to advertise any companies or sites, but I can probably suggest some starting points if you like?

Mart.