Advice on quotes.

Rolandtheroadie

Everything going over and over in my head, virtually there now, one last query though.

Currently, my roof's completely bathed in sun at 9am (little bit shading from house across the street before that) and in the afternoon, another neighbours roof shades mines completely by around 3.30. Obviously this will improve as summer comes along and the suns higher in the sky.

By 4.30, the suns more to the rear of my house than the front and the panels wont have direct sunshine.

Would these factors put anyone off installing panels?

Roof orientations 38 degree pitch and 40 degrees back from South facing (or 140 degrees from North). I've since found a chart suggesting this will still give 96% efficiency.

rogerblack

Currently there may be relatively little output per average month - this will improve as you get later in the year.
You need to work out placement - for example can you place the panels high on the roof so they're not shaded?
The shading you've described doesn't sound terrible.

Rolandtheroadie

Due to the size of roof, panel placements pretty much set.

It was a last wee niggle before arranging installation, but I think it's time just to take the plunge.

Cheers,

Martyn1981

scotsman4th wrote: »

Roof orientations 38 degree pitch and 40 degrees back from South facing (or 140 degrees from North). I've since found a chart suggesting this will still give 96% efficiency.

Hi. If you have a play with PVGIS, then you should be able to get a very good guesstimate of generation.

There's a walkthrough in section 5 of the PV FAQs.

Mart.

tunnel

scotsman4th wrote: »

It was a last wee niggle before arranging installation, but I think it's time just to take the plunge.
Cheers,

Care to post your quotes on here and let some fellow pv'ers run their eye over them, no point having your pocket made lighter by rushing into something head first which you "may" have got cheaper!!

Rolandtheroadie

tunnel wrote: »

Care to post your quotes on here and let some fellow pv'ers run their eye over them, no point having your pocket made lighter by rushing into something head first which you "may" have got cheaper!!

Sure.

13 panel 3.25kw, Eco Future 250 panels, £4720 single inverter, £5850 with the micro inverters.
Panels are Eco Future and a Solax Inverter or Enphase Micros. It's also got a x-monitoring system.

Heres the other quotes from 1 company with multiple options.

Supply & fit complete 3.25kW system using string inverter with monocrystalline modules:
£ 4,350.00 (Black Canadian Solar Modules)*
£ 4,550.00 (8•33 Black Gallium Modules)*
£ 4,700.00 (Black Solarworld Modules)*

Supply & fit complete 3.5kW system using string inverter with polycrystalline modules
£ 4,100.00 (Eco Future Polycrystalline Blue/Silver Modules)*
£ 4,200.00 (Canadian Solar Polycrystalline Blue/Silver Modules).*


Supply & fit complete 3.5 kW system using micro-inverters & monitoring with monocrystalline modules:

£ 5,250.00 (Black Canadian Solar Modules)
£ 5,450.00 (8•33 Black Eternity Premium Range 833)
£ 5,600.00 (Black Solarworld Modules)

Supply & fit complete 3.5 kW system using micro-inverters & monitoring with polycrystalline modules
£ 5,000.00 (Eco Future Polycrystalline Blue/Silver Modules)
£ 5,100.00 (Canadian Solar Polycrystalline Blue/Silver Modules)

I'd also another couple of quotes, 14 x 250canadian black with micros for £5500 all in so probably £4600 if I went for single inverters.

Then there was Ultimate Solar panels, Enphase inverters, voltage optimiser, and I-Boost for £7700


Pvgis suggests 2460 for a 3.25kw system, 2660 for a 3.5kw.

Martyn1981

Hi scotsman, nice set of prices there, well done.

Sorry to go off on a slight tangent, but I'm a little shocked at the extra cost of the micro's. If the extra £900-£1,000 is typical then I didn't realise it was anywhere near that much.

I'm more used to SolarEdge (SE) systems (my WNW has a SE system on it). These use power optimisers (PO's) on each panel, then run through a normal inverter - actually, it's slightly dumbed down as it doesn't have to do any complex stuff, since the PO's have done that already.

The PO's cost about [edit: £30 to] £40 each, so on a 16 panel system would add about £500, but the inverter is a little cheaper, and has a long warranty. So the total extra cost should only be around £300 to £400.

Anyone else compared micro's and SE kit? Is the cost difference really that big?

Mart.

tunnel

I'm with Mart on this one,
Maybe try getting a quote with solaredge instead of micros, I believe from your OP you have shading probs but there's more than one way to skin a cow(so's to say). Solaredge also comes with free(lifetime) online monitoring.


I'm guessing that with the looks of your quotes you're squeezed for space up there, have you considered higher wattage panels to get you closer to the 4kWp limit(for FiTs), panels range roughly from 200W to 327W but the higher wattage do come with a higher price tag.

Rolandtheroadie

Not sure how much of the shading issue will really be, I'm thinking within an hour of shade starting in the afternoon, the sun will no longer be directly on the panels anyways.

Space is tight, 14 panels would be at the absolute limits.

I've one more number I've not called yet , a recommendation from someone I've spoke to locally.

I'll give them a call and see if he could get me closer to the 4kw and use the Solar Edge.

tunnel

Ask about benQ 327W panels, you'd only need 12 panels to hit 3.924kWp system. You may even then be able to position them better to avoid the shading if possible, worth looking at with space at a premium.


Just had a look at other benQ's and there's one at 285W, 14 of those would get you 3.990kWp and they're quite reasonably priced
Take a look here http://www.swithenbanks.co.uk/shop.php?action=index

Rolandtheroadie

Spoke to the guy, sounds promising with regards to getting up to the 3.9Kw. Just need to see what the price options are, then go for it.