Just been quoted for a Solar Panels system - does this sound ok/right

silverwhistle

Hi Samtoby. Bournemouth generation figures should be even slightly better than my east Hampshire coastal location.:-) We're not a cheap part of the country but I've just had my 4kw system installed with an Owl monitor and iboost to get hot water and I paid 6.1k. 3k difference or 50% more is rather a lot eh?

Martyn1981

samtoby wrote: »

Thank you so much. I am so happy I asked the question here. I am not sure what heating is best. I was hoping in the winter to pump the house in the day of heating and turn it off on thermostat when it starts to get dark and then have it on using the electric first thing when we get up. We go to bed about 9pm but generally read / watch tv/ internet in bed until say 10:30 and we are early risers about half six. I am all over trying to work out how I will maximise what we get but fear we won't produce enough in the winter with how bleak it is. Mind you I might be totally wrong.

Going back to PVGIS, the table will give you monthly estimates as well as an annual total. I suspect here:

samtoby wrote: »

It has come out at 1390 but I just put South on the roof but we have a Southwest roof.

that you read the 'H' column which is around 1,300 and relates to irradiation per meter, rather than the 'E' column which should be around 4,000 (varies depending on where I stick the pin) which relates to kWh's generated.

If you try again, and just pop 45 (or +45) in the 'azimuth' box, you'll get a good idea of annual gen, but also monthly figures.

My rough try suggests 530ish for June, but 'only' 120 for December (164 Nov, 130 Jan & 192 Feb). In those months, daytime leccy use and hot water heating will swallow all of that up, so you'll see your bills drop a bit, but there won't be anything left over to dent your heating. Possibly in Sept, Oct, Mch & Apr you'll be able to provide (on average) for a lot of daytime use, water heating, and still have some spare for helping with daytime heating.

The Immersun (and possibly others?) have a secondary diversion, so they can be set up to divert to an alternative, such as a heater, when the water tank is up to temp and the immersion switches off - but you still have spare leccy.

Time of use/generation is also important, whilst you may be generating from 6am to 9pm in June, in December the PV window will only be from around 9am to 3.30pm ish (all weather dependent). Also generation will vary as the sun moves in front of the panels, so it won't be nearly as high first thing as mid day, and will steadily trail off towards the evening.

Mart.

samtoby

Thanks Mart. I must ask about this Immersun diversion. I am guessing we could direct this to one major heater in the house (say the lounge/ kitchen diner which is all open plan. At least it will take the edge off everything. We have a very large water heater and none of us are bath people we would only use hot water for washing hands, washing up the odd pan (we have a dishwasher) - we have two electric showers in the house.

I am getting what you are saying about the heating - we are not going to have enough to heat our house which is frustrating but - it is what it is.

I wish we had it put in at the beginning of the year - we would have done well this summer it has been sunny in our garden/roofs for months in the daytime.

I think our panels on this quote need 5 kwh to activate.

samtoby

I have just checked with the salesman and the Immersun he quoted for will divert once the hot water is at temp to other appliances - is that what you mean?

Martyn1981

samtoby wrote: »

I have just checked with the salesman and the Immersun he quoted for will divert once the hot water is at temp to other appliances - is that what you mean?

Hiya. Yep, that's what I meant. Although in your situation it might not be quite so relevant since you may be heating with leccy anyway, so generation will just cut your import, without you needing to do anything. But on a sunny day, in Mch or Oct, when the heating may be off, and the water up to temp, you could divert to extra heating to top up ready for the evening.

Don't forget to mention Silverwhistle's price, that's the sort of figure you want to aim for, though the Immersun might be a couple of hundred more - I'm not really up on 'intelligent switches' as I don't have a hot water cylinder.

Don't leap too soon, keep looking.

Mart.

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Don't forget to mention Silverwhistle's price, that's the sort of figure you want to aim for, though the Immersun might be a couple of hundred more - I'm not really up on 'intelligent switches' as I don't have a hot water cylinder.

Don't leap too soon, keep looking.

Mart.

Just to highlight this. I'd other more expensive quotes, another quote I considered as the company seemed professional but I went for the one I did as they came in from the beginning with a decent quote. I could have probably knocked them down a couple of hundred, but I'm quite happy with the price and the installation, and that is the essence of the marketplace. I'm not a supermarket trying to drive my suppliers to bankruptcy!

But 9k sounds like an ex double-glazing salesman...

samtoby

I think getting another quote might be a good idea. Thank you. I am learning just a lot of internet googling but like anyone I want the best price.

samtoby

Just wanted to let you know for a mirror of what we had been offered I have a quote for 6k. Just Canadian panels instead of German.

Thank you

rustyg

If they are "Canadian Solar", you'll find that:

"The bulk of Canadian Solar's manufacturing facilities are located in China"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Solar

samtoby

Is that a bad thing?