Would you do it again?

rugbyleague

Ok first quote in!
Really professionally done and easy for me to understand.
5 options 4*15 panel systems (1 inc 6.4k battery) 1 *14 panel system
All include scaffold
All 4k systems
Prices start at £4875, have 3 prices low 5's and the battery system is £8621

Lots of information showing savings. Have 2 more companies quoting on Friday and finally 1 on Saturday.

pinnks

I'll let others comment on the prices, though they look reasonable. Just wanted to suggest you look at https://www.yougen.co.uk to see what people are saying about the firms who are quoting.

Martyn1981

rugbyleague wrote: »

Ok first quote in!
Really professionally done and easy for me to understand.
5 options 4*15 panel systems (1 inc 6.4k battery) 1 *14 panel system
All include scaffold
All 4k systems
Prices start at £4875, have 3 prices low 5's and the battery system is £8621

Lots of information showing savings. Have 2 more companies quoting on Friday and finally 1 on Saturday.

Hi Ian. That all sounds quite promising. Just a few thoughts:-

1. Have you played with PVGIS yet? It's simple and fun, but if you're not sure see section 5 of the FAQs for a walkthrough.

This will give you a very accurate guesstimate of (average) annual generation. This will help you work out income, and also be a nice little check for you on the numbers quoted by the installers, in case they get it wrong, or fib.

2. The battery quote suggests to me that it's just not worth considering at the moment.

3. Shame you can't get lower, but if you have lots of quotes, then you may be able to haggle a bit. Fingers crossed.

4. Remember, if roof space is available, you don't have to limit install to 4kWp. The FiT band is now 0-10kWp. For DNO compliance you'll need to have an inverter capped at 3.68kW (or ask for permission to have higher export potential), but 5kWp of panels running through a 3.68kW inverter would be fine, and see surprisingly little capping across a year.

I mention this, as most PV costs are fixed (scaffolding, labour, profit, paperwork, inverter, internal works etc) so adding more panels won't increase the price proportionately.

Have fun!

Mart.

tunnel

I'm with Mart on this one, go bigger if your roof and finances allow!(but then I would say that)

rugbyleague

Thank you, PVGIS quotes 3640 my first quotes state that 3100 will be generated from systems wondering whether I've run the model properly.

My property has an apex roof which is north south facing (with a small area which is east/west) 1st quote has 90% of south roof covered with an area avoided because of shadowing from chimney, quote reccomends solar edging?

Will try to see how I can maximise system tomorrow with onside surveyors.

EricMears

rugbyleague wrote: »

Thank you, PVGIS quotes 3640 my first quotes state that 3100 will be generated from systems wondering whether I've run the model properly.

You probably have. I have heard that some installers say they have to ignore your actual location and offer a 'standard' quote (which I think means using the figures for the centre of Sheffield).

Martyn1981

rugbyleague wrote: »

Thank you, PVGIS quotes 3640 my first quotes state that 3100 will be generated from systems wondering whether I've run the model properly.

My property has an apex roof which is north south facing (with a small area which is east/west) 1st quote has 90% of south roof covered with an area avoided because of shadowing from chimney, quote reccomends solar edging?

Will try to see how I can maximise system tomorrow with onside surveyors.

Like Eric, I'm guessing you probably did it right. PVGIS is excellent, but do look out for shading. If you are willing to disclose a bit of info, then we can double check for you - nearest city, or first half of postcode, roof orientation and roof pitch.

I'm guessing the installer mentioned SolarEdge. It's 'ruddy' excellent and I have it on my WNW system. Basically each panel operates individually, so if a panel is shaded it won't drag down the rest of the panels (like a brake). The down side is that you have an extra piece of kit (a PO or power optimiser) attached to each panel, so access could be an issue if one fails. But they have excellent warranties, efficiencies and reputations.

You can also consider higher wattage panels to get a bigger system on your roof. At the very least aim for 285Wp* panels, these cost the same(ish) as 250Wp panels proportionately (250Wp price x (285/250)). Then there are high efficiency panels which for a standard size panel would go into the low 300W's, but these are more expensive proportionately.

With SolarEdge you can go all around the chimney, losing some generation on panels affected, but without cross contamination. My 'normal' ESE system is right next to a chimney, but still comes in around PVGIS annual estimates, but I might just be lucky.

*You mentioned a 15 panel quote. With 285Wp panels that would be 4.275kWp which would be absolutely fine with a 3.68kW cap. 16 panels even better, 4.56kWp. Gentle haggling would probably you get you the 16 285's for the same price as the 15 265's (guess based on you saying all quotes were 4kWp).

Mart.

rugbyleague

I'm loving this!

Postcode LA11 Roof pitch 30 degrees. Chap has been on the roof and advises zero shading on a south facing roof. 16 panels will fit easily he stated. He said the installation would be straight forward. We talked about solar edge (he said it would not be needed for shading off the the roof but the technology was very good.....did question whether I would need it).

We talked about going larger than 4kw (have to get permission from the electricity board), different panel types and batteries (interesting lifestyle consideration here i.e when do you use your electricity?)

I learnt a lot today, next chap due 10 mins ago!

Ian

tunnel

Keep at it Ian and if there's anything you don't understand, just ask on here and you'll get all the help you need from fellow PV'ers.

rugbyleague

He's measuring, he is of firm view batteries too expensive.......