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ikorodu

Hello All,

I've been quoted £6395 for install of a 3.99kW system.

The panels are JA Solar 285w Percium black framed panels and the inverter is Solis Dual Inverter.

It would be another £300 to have iboost.

Too much or about right?

Seems a bit expensive to me but its my first quote so not a lot to go on!

warrenb

Had exactly that system installed 1 month ago for £5600

ikorodu

Thanks for your input.

It does look a bit high then.

The payback that was presented suggested that we'd use 80% of what we generate and although we are a big family and are in for much of the day I think 70% would be better. Also I've put an annual rise of energy at 4% rather than the 11% that was in the quote, am I being unrealistic on this?

My calcs say that I'd break even at the end of year 8. By end of year 20 I'd be in profit by £11880. Which is nice but not spectacular, same as a 5.4% savings account (not that they exist!). If I could get it to £5600 as an install then the savings equivalent is 6.1%.

My issue is I don't know if I'll be in the house in 20 years. I'm pretty certain that I will be in 10 years, but in 10 years a 3% account will still be in front of the solar.

Looks like its not for me. Shame as I like the idea.

pinnks

80% self-use is more than a little high. Most people struggle to use 50% and even with a diverter I don't think you'll get even up to 70% seen over the year. In winter I use 95% with diverters and un summer only about 10% as we need only about 2-3kWh (out of perhaps 25-30kWh for hot water, plus base load of the house etc.

I don't know where things are with FITs v installation costs these days as I am 2+ years in but I reckon with my mix of 16p and 14p FIT (plus export) that my investment should be recouped at about year 8 if I am lucky. The proof of the pudding of course will be in the eating but my estimate to June this year (2 years with one system and 15 months with the other) is that I was about 21% of the way there. My systems are WSW-facing with minor shading at certain times of the year and SSE with unresolved shading from about 4pm British Summer Time, which knocks a fair bit off the totals.

Hope this helps

Martyn1981

ikorodu wrote: »

Thanks for your input.

It does look a bit high then.

The payback that was presented suggested that we'd use 80% of what we generate and although we are a big family and are in for much of the day I think 70% would be better. Also I've put an annual rise of energy at 4% rather than the 11% that was in the quote, am I being unrealistic on this?

My calcs say that I'd break even at the end of year 8. By end of year 20 I'd be in profit by £11880. Which is nice but not spectacular, same as a 5.4% savings account (not that they exist!). If I could get it to £5600 as an install then the savings equivalent is 6.1%.

My issue is I don't know if I'll be in the house in 20 years. I'm pretty certain that I will be in 10 years, but in 10 years a 3% account will still be in front of the solar.

Looks like its not for me. Shame as I like the idea.

We consume about 30% of what we generate, I think the average is about 25-40%.

You are right to challenge the energy price inflation figure. This is a personal bugbear of mine, as we now know where many of the prices are going (wind, PV, nuclear, gas with carbon tax or CCS etc). They may push the generation cost up 100% from £50/MWh to around £100/MWh, but that will 'only' add 5p/kWh, with the other costs of leccy only rising with normal inflation. So even your 4% figure may be a little high over 20 years.

In your calcs, have you remembered to add interest (compounded) to the annual returns from the PV system too? This can make quite a difference to the results when you have an interest earning PV pot with about £500+ being added to it each year.

Mart.

ikorodu

Thanks for your comments.

I have not added interest to the income and I'd guess that I should as you suggest. Compounding will definitely have an effect.

I might get another quote to see if I can get it down a bit and rerun the numbers with a bit of interest on the income pot. Ultimately I think that this only a goer if you are certain that your going to stay put for 15 years minimum.

pw22

If you post your rough location, then you might get some recommendations for local installers.

Ainsley1

Thanks for the link to this post. I cannot really comment on the specific quotation cost you have been given and it is not always straight forward to compare directly with others. There are several factors that need to be considered.

For lower cost installations a reasonable rule of thumb might be that the hardware cost to you is two thirds of the overall, leaving one third for business admin, installation, EPC report, structural survey etc (depending upon specific needs).

However, although the hardware costs can be compared the rest can be, or rather ought to be a bit more variable. Consider the difference between installation where no scaffolding is required, close to the installer's premises, no long cable runs, just one array orientation, roof type etc. and the opposite. Then factor in markup being made and how keen the company is for your business such as when they are overloaded with demand in the short term! Company and warranty reliability all come into it. That is, the whole package of value and quality.

Not saying you should not compare but just understand the reasons for potentially differing costs for differing installations. That is why one always should get several quotations.

My recent quotations(within last few weeks for installed solar PV of identical peak power output -nominal 4kWp) have ranged from £5.5k upwards and one company even went as high as over £9k !!! They will not be getting my order!

ikorodu

Possibly the most surprising thing I have seen is the over inflated paybacks that were with the quote.

My quote showed that energy from the grid would rise as 8% pa and that it cost 16ppkWh as of today, both of which are well off the truth.

Add to this they say I'd use 80% of the generated energy.

The quote shows a total cumulative income and savings total of £28k by year 20. My sums show £14.8k by year 20!

If I put the £6395 in a 2% savings account instead of solar then the savings account wins all the way up to year 11. If the cost is reduced to £5600 then the savings account wins until year 9.

I was expecting a much better return from the hype around solar, but it looks like that boat has sailed.

tunnel

ikorodu wrote: »

I was expecting a much better return from the hype around solar, but it looks like that boat has sailed.

There's no boats a sailing around here, you need to get more quotes and get the price down some more.
There's plenty of companies willing to install a near 4kWp system for less than £5k making the returns much better.
1 x 4kWp south facing(no shade) £5k
FiTs around £460 a year
Export around £90 a year
Total £550
Leccy savings around £120 a year
Total £670
Roughly 7.5 years to pay back(excluding RPI for FiT and leccy increases)
Add an Iboost(or similar) and that figure reduces further and again if you can barter hard on the install price. I have seen a recent 4kWp install at £4200 so you do the maths!!

Oneday77

Another way to view this. If you can get your money back in 8 year sand make a profit for 2 years. While a savings account may break even for you, in the same time PV will cut back your CO2 emissions, teach the family about energy awareness and hopefully add a valuable selling tool to your house if you move.
In 10 years time, in the absence of FiTs, how many homes will have PV as a selling point?