Project Solar panels quote.

chamelion

ASavvyBuyer wrote: »

We used a company in Cheltenham for our Solar PV & a company near Exeter to install our Air Conditioner/Heat pump (but they also install Solar PV and are prepared to travel).
Both quote under £6k for a 4kWp system with Solaredge. PM me if you want company names.

you seem to have private messaging disabled Mind sharing?

rustyg

Sounds like a complete rip-off to me!
I'd go on the official MCS website and search for installers within my area:

http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/consumers/installer-search

Yes, Project Solar are one of the big players but do you really believe they will care about little Michael Clifford after they've taken his cash?

And big players do go bust in the solar industry. Even the guys who got investment from Dragons Den didn't survive:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/oct/04/dragons-den-solar-bust
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mark-group-and-climate-energy-two-clean-energy-firms-go-bust-because-of-tory-u-turn-a6686321.html

Martyn1981

michael_clifford wrote: »

Im paying £8700 for 14 x 285 panels. I have a Voltage Optimiser. Im financing it over 10 years on a balance reducing loan so the plan is to exit that at year 5. 99 year warranty on panels and it looks like the inverter and the voltage optimiser.

Have to say that's way too expensive to start with, and finance will only make it worse. I really don't think you should bother at that price.

PV install prices fell to about £7k in the summer of 2012 for 4kWp.

ASavvyBuyer

“ We used a company in Cheltenham for our Solar PV & a company near Exeter to install our Air Conditioner/Heat pump (but they also install Solar PV and are prepared to travel).
Both quote under £6k for a 4kWp system with Solaredge. PM me if you want company names.
Originally posted by ASavvyBuyer ”

chamelion wrote: »

you seem to have private messaging disabled Mind sharing?

No, it's not disabled; just replied to your message with the company names. Both cover Nationwide.

Don't be taken in, like some, with the "Voltage Optimiser" addition that some other companies try to push. Most on here agree that they don't actually add any benefit.

michael_clifford

That's why FCA is king in this. I think your missing the point. It does not matter if Project Solar is here or not.

Dave_Fowler

michael_clifford wrote: »

That's why FCA is king in this. I think your missing the point. It does not matter if Project Solar is here or not.

Many people have had quotes at about half the price you have been quoted. Most systems come with a 20 year guarantee. So, if you can manage without the finance package - which would ?probably? cost you twice the original capital by the time it's paid off, you could buy two or more systems at £4.5- £5.5k with effectively 40 year warranty. I'm not sure what you are worried about and feel you need the FCA 99 year guarantee - with inverters costing as little as £500 and panels rarely failing.

The voltage optimiser IMHO is a total waste of money for the vast majority of people. There are quite a few posts on this subject.

Dave F

michael_clifford

The problem i have Dave F is you say there are plenty of companies out there with 20 year solar panel warranties. Well there's not 1 in the UK you can only 10 years. Sunpower you get a 25 year but there are only a few companies that do them so i don't know what your looking at. If i buy low end product effectivly it's old out dated stock. You have to compare apples with apples at the end of the day. I'm not buying the price i'm buying a peace of mind product which i believe will be working in 10 years. I looked at a £5500 system and the company was not even FCA or Hies. You have to ask the question why don't you? £5500 is still a lot of money at the end of the day. If i'm going to pay £5500 every 10 years or so then that just does not stack up. Might as well buy once. You can always buy cheaper but you get nothing for nothing. I'm looking more towards quality then just the cheapest product.

Exiled_Tyke

FCA is completely irrelevant to a decision to buy or who to buy from. There is no reason to link borrowing with buying PV and as Mart says is likely to be far more expensive than alternative sources of funding.

Panel warranties pretty much don't matter as they are not so expensive. More expensive is often going to be the scaffolding to put them up - which is unlikely to be covered by many warranties. Any given the pace of the industry I would be very surprised if the players in the market today are the same ones in 10 or 20 years time. I would imagine that (ignoring the FIT issue) panel prices and effeciencies may well improve to the point that it becomes costs effective to change panels more regularly than 20 years. Inverter warranties are the thing that is of real concern as these are expected to fail well within 20years.

Any outfit that pushes voltage optimisers is not to be trusted. They do not pay for themselves - FACT! And those selling them know that they are not worth the money.

Above all there's a huge amount of practical experience on these boards so taken on the advice. Those giving it have nothing to gain expect to save the reputation of PV which they are so enthusiastic about.

Oh and listen to Mart most - he knows more than most of the rest of us put together.

chamelion

michael_clifford wrote: »

The problem i have Dave F is you say there are plenty of companies out there with 20 year solar panel warranties. Well there's not 1 in the UK you can only 10 years. Sunpower you get a 25 year but there are only a few companies that do them so i don't know what your looking at. If i buy low end product effectivly it's old out dated stock. You have to compare apples with apples at the end of the day. I'm not buying the price i'm buying a peace of mind product which i believe will be working in 10 years. I looked at a £5500 system and the company was not even FCA or Hies. You have to ask the question why don't you? £5500 is still a lot of money at the end of the day. If i'm going to pay £5500 every 10 years or so then that just does not stack up. Might as well buy once. You can always buy cheaper but you get nothing for nothing. I'm looking more towards quality then just the cheapest product.

I'm now convinced that you have a vested interest in this company... There's no way anyone who has done any research and followed the advice of people in this thread would come to your conclusions.

You're not paying for peace of mind. You're buying into false marketing and/or marketing something that's not as valuable as advertised.

I'm in the same research phase boat as you and have not found one supplier that charges close to what was quoted by solar people, and for practically speaking the same oranges.

You've gone against all bad moneysaving advice: gone for a much more expensive supplier with nothing special over competitors, believed false marketing on assurances, bought an extra device which you highly unlikely need and took out an outrageously expensive loan thinking that it's good value!

Martyn1981

Exiled_Tyke wrote: »

Panel warranties pretty much don't matter as they are not so expensive.

That's a good point, it was swimming around in my brain, but didn't pop out till you posted it.

I'm sure some of us will lose a panel eventually, but most panels will probably go on for 30 or 40 years. As and when one fails, a replacement will be cheaper and more powerful (efficient size for size), but they typically seem to just keep on ticking.

The post that was deleted (whilst I was typing a response (my 8:39 am reply on the 18th)), mentioned 99yr warranties and the good old line about not using inefficient Chinese panels ...... no sir, we wouldn't want any Chinese panels around these parts, apart from the vast majority of the PV panels in the world.

Funny how folk still don't understand that efficiency impacts the roof space needed for say a 4kWp system, it doesn't change the amount of generation as 4kWp is 4kWp.