Which Company for Solar in Cambridge?

Martyn1981

Judy_Brunton wrote: »

I'm continuing to read around and now have two other companies booked to do a survey and quote. (Cambridge Solar and Eco Green Energy).
Big problem for us might be the financing. Cambridge Solar don't offer financing but I don't yet know what the total will be so I'm going ahead with the visit anyway.
The financing offered by Project Solar is excellent so even if it is an inflated price it could be the only way we could go ahead with this at this time. apr is only 9.9% and it is possible to pay off lump sums at any time to reduce the interest. (reducing balance calculation)

Hiya, please be careful. That apr is terrifying to me, and it's on a price that's nearly double what it should be to start with.

Surely you could get a loan for far less, and at a far lower apr - see the MSE card and loans tab at the top.

I totally appreciate that you are putting green before money, but you still need to be sensible. It might be better for you to put the monthly payments aside, and in a couple of years (based on that £9k quote) you'll have the cash available.

I know it's just the opinion of some bod on T'internet, but at £9k it's not worth doing it, at 9.9%apr it's not worth doing it. Sorry.

Edit - should have said, I have Solaredge on my systems, it's great, but if you are single orientation south facing and no shading, I don't think it's worth bothering with. Get two quotes (from each company) and compare if you want, and see if it's just a few quid more, or a lot, that'll make the decision easier either way. M.

Judy_Brunton

It might be better for you to put the monthly payments aside, and in a couple of years (based on that £9k quote) you'll have the cash available.

Are there not any government benefits (the FITs scheme?) that we might lose out on if we wait a couple of years?

look for an alternative (delay&save/extend mortgage option?)

We don't have a mortgage.

NineDeuce

Judy_Brunton wrote: »

I recently had a visit from a very nice sales person for Project Solar UK.
Now that I have their quote I want to compare to get the best deal and also to get the best Installers. The only negative reviews I have read for Project Solar relate to the installation and I am quite fearful of getting damage to not only my roof but the neighbours conservatory below!
I live in Cambridge and have requested a call from Cambridge Solar and Greenscape Energy Ltd. Any comments re any of these companys? Any other recommendations?

Details of the quote:
12 Evolution Max life panels;
1 Solax single track inverter;
1 Volt Doctor (I know, I read the post that says these are a gimmick)
Annual generation 3285.94 KWh; System size 3.43 KWp
Total cost inc VAT £8924

I bet they were nice to you £8,924 is a horrendous rip off. I am sure they were trying to take advantage of the lack of knowledge of the market.

NineDeuce

Judy_Brunton wrote: »

Are there not any government benefits (the FITs scheme?) that we might lose out on if we wait a couple of years?

look for an alternative (delay&save/extend mortgage option?)

We don't have a mortgage.

The FiT scheme is set to expire mid 2019. If you dont have your MCS certificate and FiT application completed by then, you wont be eligible, unless something changes. Even between now and then, the FiT rate is on a gradual decline.

rustyg

You have a solar wholesaler in Cambridge. Visit their trade counter, ask for advice and which local installers they recommend. Take a photo of your house and roof on your iPad:

https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/find

Martyn1981

Judy_Brunton wrote: »

Are there not any government benefits (the FITs scheme?) that we might lose out on if we wait a couple of years?

Yes, that's true, and I was being a bit flippant, apologies. The current FiT rate is 3.93p/kWh and will drop to 3.64p/kWh by 1/1/19 before expiring (unless it's extended) on 31/3/19.

At the moment FiT, export and leccy savings would probably earn you around £350 pa, so the first 10yrs would only cover the 'extra' cost that this firm has slapped on. Including interest, it only gets worse, and you would probably be financially better off, to save the repayments and buy a non-FiTs system in 4yrs(?)

But don't worry about that, it's just an argument against high prices and high apr's. If you shop around for a better PV price, that should help considerably, and then if it has to be PV and it has to be finance, then hopefully you'll have found a better deal on that too between now and early 2019.

zeupater

Judy_Brunton wrote: »

Are there not any government benefits (the FITs scheme?) that we might lose out on if we wait a couple of years?

look for an alternative (delay&save/extend mortgage option?)

We don't have a mortgage.

Hi

There's a basic decision making flowchart you may be interested in here ... PV Flowchart - Initial Decision Process ... to the right of the article there are related posts which cover FiT, installed costs etc which may also be useful ...

I'm really concerned that you seem to be worried about losing out on the FiT scheme etc and that this thought may have been seeded by a salesman ... the way you could look at it is that you'd likely be far better off waiting a couple of years & saving money to purchase outright without gaining access to the FiT scheme than to pay double the going rate for a system and then financing it at almost 10%APR ... If finance is over 15years (as others have previously mentioned) then you're probably looking at paying ~£95/month and around £17k overall for the system. In order for the FiT to recover the additional ~£12k at your ~3300kWh/yr it would need to be set at over 18p/kWh for 20 years .... and that's the crux, unless the price is keen and finance is based on a very low APR%, then it would most likely be better to not worry about any FiT deadline & simply save the same £100/month and buy outright in around 3years time, hopefully for around £4k if the predictions on panel prices are correct & EU import tariffs no longer apply!

HTH
Z

Judy_Brunton

We now have 2 sensible quotes from local companies.
For around £6,200 we can have 12 panels with a Solaredge inverter. The string inverter offered is only £157 cheaper: SMA inverter. We have a south facing non shaded roof but the solar edge offers more detailed monitoring and remote access - any thoughts?

Also they offered Trina panels or more efficient LG panels - I've heard of LG never heard of Trina. Extra cost for the LG is £594. Again, any thoughts?

Dave_Fowler

Judy_Brunton wrote: »

We now have 2 sensible quotes from local companies.
For around £6,200 we can have 12 panels with a Solaredge inverter. The string inverter offered is only £157 cheaper: SMA inverter. We have a south facing non shaded roof but the solar edge offers more detailed monitoring and remote access - any thoughts?

Also they offered Trina panels or more efficient LG panels - I've heard of LG never heard of Trina. Extra cost for the LG is £594. Again, any thoughts?

The monitoring with SolarEdge is quite good - it showed up a fault with my system which otherwise may have gone unnoticed.

If the the LG panels system and the Trina panels are the same quoted output, there's no point paying more for the Trina panels. More efficient panels are smaller (for the same output); is the Trina system having more panels and hence more output?

Dave F

Judy_Brunton

12 x LG 300Wp estimated annual 3,452 kWh
12 x Trina 275 Wp estimated annual 3,165 kWh costing £594 less in total outlay.
Obviously income will be greater with the LG but the price difference is going to take several years to make that up. 25 yr performance warranty on both.