Solar Panel Advice

cufc_mike

Hi all, apologies for what is bound to be another "solar panel advice" topic. Just looking for a bit of advice, and guidance and hope some of the more knowledgeable and in-the-know posters here will be able to provide some words of wisdom. I literally am clueless when it comes to solar panels.

So my wife and I have occasionally discussed solar panels, but always put it off due to the thought of them requiring a high initial outlay - and up until recently, it's not really been something we would've been able to afford. I have absolutely no intention of buying them on a payment plan. If I can't pay for them outright, I or on a 0% agreement, I'm not interested.

We had a salesman (from Solar Style UK - North East based firm) knock the door last week asking if we'd be interested in a "free, no obligation quote", so my wife took them up on their offer, and after a quick phone call with me, we scheduled for this evening. This is the first time we've ever really looked at the cost of solar panels, and what's involved.

With the salesman now gone, I've done some of my own research, but look for further guidance and clarity.

Some details first about us. My wife and I (and 2 young kids) own a detached house in Cumbria.

Roof space = approx 29 square metres
South facing roof (0 degress from south apparently, I'd say its more likely to be 5 degrees. Will that make much difference in the grand scheme of things?)
Pitch = 35% (apparently - can he have accurately calculated this from our back yard?)

Current energy provider is EDF Energy
Current tariff is the Blue+Fixed Price October 2018
Unit rate is 12.72 per kWh
Standing charge is 18.9p/day
Annual consumption: 3,750 kWh

Cost breakdown for 2016/17.
3,750 kWh used.
12.72per kWh = £477.64
18.9p/day standing charge = £68.99
= TOTAL of £546.63 for 2016/17

We have been quoted £6,950 for 12 x 270w Sharp panels (with a 25 yr guarantee). The salesman made it sounds like he was doing us a favour (yeah right!) upgrading our panels from 250w to 270w, at no extra cost (yeah right!).

A few initial questions:
* Are these 250/270w panels pretty standard, or are they now old technology. Should we be looking to have 'better' panels installed?
* Do I need to know more about these panels, other than they're 250w Sharp panels - a model number perhaps? What I'm getting at is, are there likely to be more than one type of 250w Sharp panel, and if so, is one likely to be more efficient than another?
* I've read somewhere tonight that an average 4kW system will generate approx 3,400 kWh of electricity a year. If that's so, and we're using approx 3,750 kWh, why wouldn't he be proposing a 4kW system instead of a 3kW system, or 3.24kW system?

So we're told the FiT is:

3.85p per kWh, plus 5.03p export.

How is this export calculated? I can't get my head around it. The chap reckoned we'd be selling approx 50% of energy generated back to the grid. Is it as simple as:
2,750 kWh (estimated output) x 50% x 0.0503 = £69.16 per year received from export?

We haven't been given anything in writing yet, and I've told him to phone back in a few days after my wife and I have had time to properly discuss it, and more importantly, research it more.

Is there any info I've missed that is absolutely critical, or that I should be asking for?
What kind of maintenance/repair costs can we expect over the next 20 years? Do these panels need work on an annual basis, or can we expect to go 5 years without any maintenance of any form for example?

My next step, other than getting a proper quote in writing, is obviously to get a couple more quotes, so we at least have something to compare.

I realise I have a LOT more reading to do over the coming days. This is a very new experience for me, and something I'm definitely not rushing into, but would appreciate any advice you may be able to offer.

Also, if anybody has had any dealings with Solar Style UK in the past, I would be interested to know whether you would recommend them.

Thanks

zeupater

Hi

You can probably cut down in the research time significantly by looking at the Solar PV FAQ thread on this board as it addresses many of the important points quite quickly .... also have a look at the decision making flowcharts <here> - the site also contains many of the useful links you'll need ...

Have a read & come back with any remaining questions ...

HTH
Z


# Edit .. by the way, the price looks to be a little high ... possibly around £2k-£3k too much, depending on what's involved & included.

Martyn1981

Hi. As Z said have a quick read then come back.

Regarding some points, 250Wp panels are relatively old news. Most installers would now probably use something in the 270-290Wp range, or higher (but they may cost a bit more per Wp).

I'd suggest filling your roof with PV, so many costs are fixed, like scaffolding, wiring etc, and the panels themselves are relatively cheap, so might as well pack em out whilst they are up there.

Total guess, but let's say 90% of your roof can be used (leaving space around the edges), that's 26.1m2 and an average panel is 1.6m2, so 16 panels, at 290Wp = 4.64kWp.

For 3.24kWp I'd suggest £4k(ish). Hopefully with some shopping and haggling you might get 4.64kWp for £6k or less?

Keep chatting, lots of us on here can offer advice from the PV'er point of view.

Chat soon. Mart.

hollie.weimeraner

I paid £5,600 for my installation 2 years 9 months ago. Panels totalling 3.975 KW (Canadian Black) and a Sunny Boy Inverter with a Sunny Boy bluetooth Monitor so I would say your quote is way too high. As you're also in Cumbria you won't get as much sun as those of us further south so you'll need to factor that in to your returns as well.

Merlin139

Do you have anything that casts a shadow on your roof? Trees? Chimneys? TV aerial?

If you do maybe look at getting a SolarEdge system that will treat each panel separately instead of 2 strings of panels. If not ignore SolarEdge. It will improve efficiency but it will cost maybe 1K more .

If anyone mentions PV Plus or anything Optimiser Ignore it as it makes no difference.

Also stay away from batteries as the cost still needs to comedown to make them viable.

If anything goes wrong it will likely be with the Inverter. So a long warranty needed for that. Also look at what will back up any warranty.

How do you heat your Hot water? Maybe look at adding something called Iboost which diverts energy produced to the hot water tank before it sends it back into the grid. I had one fitted when my system was installed 4 years ago and for around 8 months of the year do not use the boiler to heat my water. I paid about £150 for mine at the time.

You might want to ask people who give you quotes to breakdown the costs on the quote. Anybody that has nothing to hide will do this. With a bit of research you can find out costs of items using google so would get a clean picture of who is ripping you off!

I paid under 6K for a 3.975 kWh system with SolarEdge in 2014 with a company called Saveheat Energy in Durham.

cufc_mike

Thanks for the replies, and pointing me in the right direction with the earlier links. I'll have a good read of those this evening, and come back with any follow up questions I may have.

NigeWick

Martyn1981 wrote: »

250Wp panels are relatively old news. Most installers would now probably use something in the 270-290Wp range, or higher (but they may cost a bit more per Wp).

The couple of extra panels to go with my TPW2 are going to be 300W which were the cheapest new ones the electrician could find.