Assessed for Solar - what to consider

grant_uk

We were cold-called by a solar company in Hull a couple of weeks back and we agreed to have an assessor round. He visited last night, took light measurements of the property and went through what was available. Despite us not having a south facing roof, he said that there would still be enough light on our property to make it viable, but it would mean fitting panels to both sides of the roof to catch the maximum sunlight.

Part of the set-up suggested includes a battery to store the energy produced during the day which, according to the assessor, would mean that we would end up using a much higher percentage of the electricity used. 95% according to this chap, but I don't know how accurate that would be.

The total price quoted was £11k. I know this is a lot more than people tend to be paying now, but the battery is likely to be a large part of that. I wasn't even aware that such batteries were available for domestic properties, so if anyone can confirm that this is likely to be how it has been described, that will be a big help in whether we decide to go ahead.

What else do we need to consider? Part of the arrangement is finance to pay for the panels, which, according to the projected figures, would be more than covered by the returns from the generated power, with the possible exception of the winter quarter, with more usage and less generation.

We could probably get better finance ourselves to pay for this, but are we getting a decent deal in the first place? Obviously we like the idea of cheap to free energy, but we don't want to rush to sign if there's something glaring we haven't considered.

Thanks

EricMears

As a general working rule, anyone who cold calls you is unlikely to offer the best deal !

But it can happen - though I'd urge you to get some more quotes first.

Other posters have reported similar offers where the finance deal offered is at far from competitive rates.

"A battery" isn't very helpful ! Unless you specify what storage capacity you're thinking of, the figures are pretty meaningless ! You might make do with a box of AAA rechargeable (torch) batteries for under £10 or decide to go with a 18kWh system such as VW fit to the e-Up! and claim to be worth £11k (+vat). That could make your £11k somewhere between outrageously expensive and incredibly cheap

Suitable batteries are widely expected to drop in price over the next couple of years so if you did decide to specify that sort of installation you might consider including the facility but postponing the actual batteries.

Martyn1981

Hiya, I love the idea of batts, and it is coming, but at the moment the cost for a relatively small domestic on-grid system is too high in the UK.

Germany is rolling out systems, and multiple players are now launching in Australia, so for the UK, we probably need to wait 5 years for the costs to come down, perhaps 50%.

I've analysed my generation, export and consumption patterns, and could probably save £140(ish) pa with batts, that doesn't yet stack up against the additional costs. In my case it would take my import down from about 1,500 now (3,000 before PV) to about 500, so approx total reduction of 80%.

However, if you can get better price breakdowns:
All in system.
PV only.
PV only but an inverter that is suitable for direct connection to batts in the future.

then it would make it easier to compare costs and potential savings.


For general PV advice and background reading have a look at the PV FAQs.

Mart.

grant_uk

Thanks for the replies so far. This is the company involved - https://helmsuk.co.uk/. They don't provide much in the way of technical information about the battery technology on their website, which is making me wonder about what it is they're offering. Not much technical information about anything else on there either, looking through the pages.

Also, I notice they've been recently fined £200k for nuisance phone calls, which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence about their business ethics.

EricMears

grant_uk wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far. This is the company involved - https://helmsuk.co.uk/. They don't provide much in the way of technical information about the battery technology on their website, which is making me wonder about what it is they're offering. Not much technical information about anything else on there either, looking through the pages.

Also, I notice they've been recently fined £200k for nuisance phone calls, which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence about their business ethics.

I guess the chances of you dealing with them are slim !

If you let us know whereabouts you are, someone may be able to suggest a reliable local supplier. (I know your initial posting mentioned Hull but probably only because the company were based there and perhaps they call anywhere in the country)

grant_uk

EricMears wrote: »

I guess the chances of you dealing with them are slim !

If you let us know whereabouts you are, someone may be able to suggest a reliable local supplier. (I know your initial posting mentioned Hull but probably only because the company were based there and perhaps they call anywhere in the country)

We're in the East Riding of Yorkshire, not too far from Hull, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

We didn't think solar was worth considering because we don't have a south facing roof, but after this assessor seemed to think it wouldn't be an issue I'm taking it a bit more seriously.

This chap did want us to sign up quickly, given the rush to get in before the change to the tariff comes in at the beginning of January, but we like to talk things over and do research. Maybe he also wanted us to sign quickly before we had chance to do that, but who knows? He is supposed to be an independent assessor, but I can't help being a little cynical.