Planning solar PV... maybe

Pulpdiction

Thanks for the tip pinnks.

Pulpdiction

oldskoo1 wrote: »

If you stay at that house it's easily a good move.

I did think about the split roof situation after I posted that. You could always calc it separately. 5.7 year payback is on the optimistic side. Usually 6-7 years is very good.

But with inflation adjusted payments and electricity savings, long term tax free payback is very good indeed.

I know, I'd be happy with my money back in 6 years.

hollie.weimeraner

Pulpdiction wrote: »

So in summary my first quote is a 16 panel QCell system with a Sunny boy 4000TL inverter and a geo II monitor for £4,850 fitted. Any views on that?

They are recommending a split of 10 panels of the SE facing roof and 6 on the SW facing. Installed before 1st July, they will do all the paperwork with me on the day.

That sounds very cheap/competitive. I have just signed up for a 15 panel 4kw system with Canadian solar 265 black panels with a Sunny Boy 3600TL and sunny view monitor for £5,600. That quote was over £500 cheaper than the next cheapest which didn't include a monitor and used a Fronius Inverter. The most expensive came in at £7,800 with a Samil Inverter so the difference is staggering.

My cheapest quote also just happens to be the company that inspired most confidence and has excellent reviews over 5 years.

theboylard

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

That sounds very cheap/competitive. I have just signed up for a 15 panel 4kw system with Canadian solar 265 black panels with a Sunny Boy 3600TL and sunny view monitor for £5,600. That quote was over £500 cheaper than the next cheapest which didn't include a monitor and used a Fronius Inverter. The most expensive came in at £7,800 with a Samil Inverter so the difference is staggering.

My cheapest quote also just happens to be the company that inspired most confidence and has excellent reviews over 5 years.

Hi Holly,

care to name your proposed installer and rough location?
Always helpful for other users to see names recommended

hollie.weimeraner

theboylard wrote: »

Hi Holly,
care to name your proposed installer and rough location?
Always helpful for other users to see names recommended

Hi yes no problem. I am using a company called CTS renewables from Mansfield.

http://www.ctsrenewables.co.uk/

Reviews available here

http://www.solarguide.co.uk/listings/cts-renewables

You will notice that "Shelley" gets a mention in all the reviews. She is the admin person there and her service is awesome. Matthew (the guy who quoted us) rang her from our house and we had full quotes emailed within 20 minutes. She has also replied to any queries I have had within minutes.

The only negative reviews I have seen seem to relate to initial contact issues.

I was initially provided with 4 different quotes for varying quality components which were all fully explained. I chose the most expensive apart from the system that used micro inverters that are used with installations with shading issues.

The EPC was done yesterday 24 hours after I placed the deposit.

All in all really pleased at the moment but the proof of the pudding will be the fitting in 2 weeks

Pulpdiction

We'll both be asking all the newbie question in two weeks then Hollie, good luck and tell us how you get on - as I will.

Pulpdiction

So I've had the system installed, I'll fill in some more details later, but I've just had a call from EDF asking for a meter reading, I said well it was 0 when the system was installed - but they said, yes but that isn';t when your payments commence, they only start form when the application was submitted, which was a couple of days later, is this correct? Or should I receive the meter reading from zero?

they also said unless I could give them a reading there and then that I would not get the FIT rate until I could, so it would drop tomorrow if I gave them a reading tomorrow...?

Can anyone advise? i gave them a reading, but effectively have lost several days worth of generation now it seems.

michaels

Not sure - with first utility I had to email them a whole bunch of scanned stuff and also a photo of the meter which at that moment was reading less than 2 units so hopefully I will get everything above that - it would be a shame to miss out on yesterday and today's output!

pw22

I think I had to submit a reading for the day that they received the application (which was a couple of days after the install as I had to get a new EPC done with the panels included).

Sterlingtimes

Just give an opening reading of 20. In fact anything reasonably other than 0.