Conflicted on solar

hiddenshadow

Currently investigating options for solar panels. Our house faces roughly east/west (70 degrees according to the Energy Saving Trust calculator).

One quote was done over the phone for £5,900 incl VAT. Waiting on another in-person quote on Monday. Quote is for 16 panels (8 each side) 4kW system, dual inverter, energy monitor, etc.

Going by the numbers:
£5,900 to install (assuming that's the cheaper quote)
£532 annual benefit (between FIT/energy saving/export tariff)

Roughly 11 years to break-even point. However, we're planning to be MF in 5 years, and may sell anytime after that (may not, but at the moment the plan is to relocate somewhere cheaper in the UK). Assuming that we did sell in, say, 7 years, we'd have recouped ~£3,724 of our install cost.

Estate agents have had mixed reviews on solar panels - one said that the increase in house value doesn't match the cost to install so it's only worth doing for your own personal savings; one had horror stories of arranging financing on the buyer's end due to the solar panels. (Our lender has no objection to solar panels being installed as long as we own them out-right.)

On the one hand, I like the environmental side of things, and the energy saving is a nice bonus. On the other hand, I don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot with regards to selling the house in the future (which we may not do, but is currently the plan).

Anyone have thoughts one way or another?

tunnel

hiddenshadow wrote: »

One quote was done over the phone for £5,900 incl VAT.

Anyone have thoughts one way or another?

Yes....get more quotes as that's still about £1k too much for a 4kWp system(even with an E/W split)
Better still, post your rough location so you may get some recommendations from fellow pv'ers who aren't out to pick your pocket.


As for house values....I'd probably say someone getting an install now may not be increasing the value of their house whereas anyone with the (much)older tariffs might fair a little better(mine generate over £2k a year making it hard to ignore).
I definitely agree with owning them outright, I wouldn't touch a RaR(rent a roof) property with a bargepole, I believe they're a necessary evil for some(mainly elderly) who believe they won't see out a 20yr contract or those who just can't afford their own.

hiddenshadow

tunnel wrote: »

Yes....get more quotes as that's still about £1k too much for a 4kWp system(even with an E/W split)
Better still, post your rough location so you may get some recommendations from fellow pv'ers who aren't out to pick your pocket.

Interesting, thanks. (Not sure how expensive scaffolding is, but the quote includes two sets and we have a 3-story house so quite tall. For what that's worth.)

We're on the west side of Essex, near Hertfordshire.

As for house values....I'd probably say someone getting an install now may not be increasing the value of their house whereas anyone with the (much)older tariffs might fair a little better(mine generate over £2k a year making it hard to ignore).
I definitely agree with owning them outright, I wouldn't touch a RaR(rent a roof) property with a bargepole, I believe they're a necessary evil for some(mainly elderly) who believe they won't see out a 20yr contract or those who just can't afford their own.

£2k/year sounds lovely - if only we'd had a house then! Even if we don't go forward with panels now, I imagine we'll have them (or something similar) on whatever house we move to, just hope they're reasonably cost-effective at that point as well.

ely_ellis

My brother has a WSW facing property at 70 degrees west of south.
We instinctively thought that a 50/50 split on the roof was the normal way to go but looking further into it and doing the calcs on PVGIS with different split options, it appeard that having all the panels located on the front WSW would produce more than any split option.
This was confirmed by the installer too, so don't just accept a 50/50 split, consider other options too.
My brother paid £5550 for 14 x 285w panels all on the WSW roof.

pinnks

While total generation is a key factor, so is the hour-by-hour availability of generated leccy. My west-facing roof is 70 degrees west of south and generation is pants until about 11am when it begins to pick up. After midday when the sun shines directly onto the panels it then climbs almost instantly to expected max production. But in the morning it doesn't even cover the base load of the house.

I would certainly consider the spilt option but also consider going large, even 8kWp by maxing out both roofs.

esperluette

( newbie question)
wouldnt an 8kW system require very strong words with the DNOS?
even if it never produces more than 4 kW because , say, its north facing?
and is there is enough time now for DNO approval?
it is temting...
esp

EricMears

It's 4 years ago now so perhaps not relevant but when I asked for my 4kW system not to be capped it took only a few days for my installer to contact the DNO and confirm that would be OK.

Admittedly we were in a very strong position in that it was a very small increase above the automatic acceptance level and we're supplied from an 11kV - 230V transformer that isn't shared with anyone else so there were very few network issues but if there was a rigid procedure to follow then it was obviously very quick.

pinnks

When I installed my first system we only had a couple of weeks and ran out of time but when I extended it, it ran smoothly in about two weeks from memory.

hiddenshadow

First in-person quote today (two more tomorrow)

Green Eco Solar Solutions
4kW system (16 panels ECO-250C60 250Wp, split on both sides of the roof)
Enphase micro-inverters on each panel

Install cost £7,000 :eek:

Proposed generation: 3,184kW/yr

Proposed savings: £647.13 (he was surprised at how low our energy tariff is, though, so maybe not quite £222.88 in annual energy supply savings :money:)

10.8 years to pay off, so I’m not really sure where he was saying that you could triple/quadruple your investment (maybe assuming the FIT would increase with inflation?).

He also mentioned a battery system that's meant to be on the market next spring (also from enphase?) that would supposedly store energy for a week's use, allowing you to be completely off-grid (at least for electricity).

Seemed nice enough, and I like the sound of the system, still not sure if the numbers work for us right now.

Will see what tomorrow’s quotes are like.

ely_ellis

Did they explain why you would need an 'Enphase' system?
Do you have shading issues.
If both sides of the roof are clear then I would have thought just a dual string inverter would have been sufficient.
If you do have shading issues and Enphase is what you want, the price maybe on the high side.
I mentioned before what my brother had and to have it 50/50 NNE/WSW would not have cost any extra! His was the Enphase system to manage shading issues.

hiddenshadow

ely_ellis wrote: »

Did they explain why you would need an 'Enphase' system?
Do you have shading issues.
If both sides of the roof are clear then I would have thought just a dual string inverter would have been sufficient.
If you do have shading issues and Enphase is what you want, the price maybe on the high side.
I mentioned before what my brother had and to have it 50/50 NNE/WSW would not have cost any extra! His was the Enphase system to manage shading issues.

No shading issues (one benefit to having a 3-story house :cool:).

They just had the standard shpiel about enphase (and the micro-inverters) being better because each panel gets its own inverter and can thus have multiple points of failure (vs. a single inverter). Didn't actually offer anything beyond 1 inverter or enphase micro-inverters, but the price for 1 inverter was still £6,250, I believe.