Project Solar quote / Install

Hellfire8

Hi guys, I thought I'd check on here first for feedback and details, Had them round today to quote for a system. They talked the talk, their numbers "seemed" to make sense but would love some clarification.

They recommended the following

4Kw system,
14 x Evo Max Life solar panels (99 year warranty)

Location is Essex (CM7)

Roof 1, 8 panels
Pitch 45°
Orientation 25°

Roof 2, 6 panels
Putch 45°
Orientation 65°
1% shade in winter from the neighbours roof, (winter only)

Estimated production per year is 3560kWh

We have exceedingly high usage in our household (£150 or 1,000+ Units per month)

Total cost of the system is £9,400 including install, and they guarantee to save £753.91 per year,

That subject to the cost of inflation the system has paid for it self by year 11.

Current feed in tariff saving of £230.73 for year 1.

We use a lot of power, especially during the day as we house reptiles in high temperature enclosures using A LOT of power for heat, lighting and UVA/UVB.


I'd love some feed back on the quote, mainly the estimate production figures they've quoted. I know there are cheaper alternatives out there but the lifetime guarantee does seem nice.

I have ordered but can obviously cancel up until install date (21st)


Thanks.

G

Exiled_Tyke

Cancel immediately. This is way too expensive. In today's market you need to be aiming for around £1k per Kw. Get a few quotes from reputable firms. Some contributors here may be able to suggest some.

Martyn1981

Hiya, the FiT + export figure looks right, assuming the generation estimate is correct - have a play with PVGIS, see section 5 of the FAQ's (link in autosig).

They then seem to be assuming that you use 100% of the generation, thus reduce import by that 3,560kWh figure. Do you draw 3kW+ at midday in the summer, if not then you won't consume it all. Your 1,000kWh per month figure suggests an average draw of around 1.4kW.

Price is insane.

Install date is only 12 days away, but you should have 14 days minimum to decide, and they aren't supposed to install before that date to ensure customers have time to think and ask for advice.


You could install more if you have room, and at a much cheaper price, and will get the same FiT, export and leccy savings as there is nothing special about the kit being offered.

Also check other threads, just Google MSE and Project Solar, no end of threads with insane prices.

Hellfire8

Hi Martyn,

Thanks for your reply,

I've used the PVGIS and it estimated generation of 3700 KwH per year based on the 4K panels,

I was lead to believe there was a cap of 4Kw for feeding back into the National Grid, this is what he said anyway? Either way this takes up both sides of our roof already so 14 panels would be our max.

Happy to cancel and go cheaper, Any recommendation on good companies, the idea of the 99 year warranty sounds nice, and the 48 hour repair guarantee. However if I half the cost, thus bringing my break even point down then that is good for me.

Martyn1981

Hellfire8 wrote: »

Hi Martyn,

Thanks for your reply,

I've used the PVGIS and it estimated generation of 3700 KwH per year based on the 4K panels,

I was lead to believe there was a cap of 4Kw for feeding back into the National Grid, this is what he said anyway? Either way this takes up both sides of our roof already so 14 panels would be our max.

Happy to cancel and go cheaper, Any recommendation on good companies, the idea of the 99 year warranty sounds nice, and the 48 hour repair guarantee. However if I half the cost, thus bringing my break even point down then that is good for me.

Hiya. If you are using all the roof then it doesn't matter too much, but there is no limit on the amount of PV you put on the roof (KWp), the only limitation is that your local grid company the DNO needs to give prior permission if the system is capable of exporting more than 3.68kW. The simple solution is to have an inverter that caps output at 3.68kW which is fine. That would work well up to about 5kWp of panels since the loose performance when they get hot and two rooves won't peak at the same time.

With such high leccy consumption I'd guess that PV is a no-brainer on the repayment side. I doubt you will consume all of it in the summer, but you will certainly consume more than most of us.

With so much potential demand you might want to chat to installers about higher efficiency panels, perhaps 300Wp or even 330Wp. They do get more expensive per Wp as the efficiency rises, so you'll need to ponder the extra generation value against extra cost, but you might as well try to squeeze as much kWp onto the roof now before the subsidy ends in Mch.

Regarding 'their' warranty, I'd be nervous about anything they say.

For reptile heating, I assume that specialist heating is needed to ensure they get the necessary light too, but for background room temps you might this thread interesting for efficient leccy heating:

Discussion ... ASHP(Air/Air) with Solar pv ....

you can hopefully get around 4kWh of heat for every 1kWh of leccy you put in.

Martyn1981

Hellfire8 wrote: »

Any recommendation on good companies,

This isn't a recommendation, but you might find it useful simply as a price guide, so I just went to Ikea (the website) and popped in my info. It suggested a 16 panel system of 295Wp panels (the rooftop plus deal) 4.72kWp and a price of £5,835.

Now it might be that they slap on loads of extras and caveats etc, but I'd tend to think that this is a better guide of prices for you.

Then as Exiled tyke suggests you will hopefully do better still shopping around. If you check the G&E board here you will find lots of recent threads and posts on prices, such as this one:

Zarch wrote: »

That seems expensive to me. I recently got 17 x 300w, full SolarEdge on 4 different roof for just over £6000 all in.

I was offered the chance to go for 330w panels, but they were priced at a premium that I thought I wouldn't get back, so went for 300 as better value.

Hellfire8

Thanks Martyn, Our heating and cooker is central heating. Thanks for the link however, Funny thing is we only use around £35 a month on Gas,

Our electric use is down to my computer equipment (I work in IT and have a server on site) and the reptiles, they do use specialist equipment, Ceramic Heat Emitters, UVA/UVB Lighting, LED light etc, as you assumed :-)

I do understand in Summer we won't use all of it, however per reptile we use the following (luckily their equipment tells me the usage)

- 120w ceramic heater at around 75-80% power (90w)
- UVA/UVB (25-30w)
- LED lighting (10w)

I suspect the LED light uses less but this means 125-130w per reptile over 12 hours (8-8) that's 1500w and 8 reptiles on this heating method i calculated to 12kw per day, however correct me if I am wrong.


Appreciate if you can't give recommendations on companies to contact but I'm happy to shop around, seems google isn't your friend in this case.

Hellfire8

Second question, Is battery storage worth it? I was considering this originally based upon the fact the reptiles still require heat overnight when the system wouldn't be generating power. I'd be interested to know the thoughts on this.

Zarch

Hellfire8 wrote: »

Second question, Is battery storage worth it? I was considering this originally based upon the fact the reptiles still require heat overnight when the system wouldn't be generating power. I'd be interested to know the thoughts on this.

Whereabouts are you located? Someone might have suggestions if you let us know.

If you're anywhere in the midlands / south yorkshire check out CTS Renewables...... they did mine the other month.

Over 9 grand for something should cost more like £5k is crazy pricing. i'd cancel immediately and shop around.

Just scroll down the first few pages and you'll find install threads (good) and project solar quotes (bad!).

Here's my install thread. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5856064

re: Batteries.... no, not currently worth it. Take a look at the last few pages of the battery thread to get an indepth discussion on that.

Hellfire8

Thanks Zarch, I have emailed cancelling already,

I am located in Essex (south east)

Martyn1981

Hellfire8 wrote: »

Second question, Is battery storage worth it? I was considering this originally based upon the fact the reptiles still require heat overnight when the system wouldn't be generating power. I'd be interested to know the thoughts on this.

I think your calcs look good, so you will probably consume almost all the generation in the bottom 6 months. Then nearly all of it in the mornings and evenings of the better 6 months. The only excess will be during (bit of a rough guess here) 10am to 4pm in the best 6 months.

Really pulling a number out of the air here, but I'd guess at 75%+ of generation, which means great leccy import savings for you ....

...... but if you are consuming most of your generation due to high leccy use, then ironically that impacts batt savings as you will have less to store.

Sticking with my guess of 75% consumption, that leaves you less than 1,000kWh's pa to store, even if it will all fit in a batt (you might still have leftovers in the summer months that get exported) so 1,000 x 15p = £150pa on a batt costing £3k to £6k. So doesn't look like a good idea yet for you.