Quote for solar PV

mmmmikey

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

We bought our smallholding so we could have more control over our lives. We wanted to raise our own animals so we knew what they ate, where they slept, that they had good lives outside with their mates, not in cramped sheds. We wanted to grow more of our own fruit and veg, to not be so reliant on supermarkets. We want to be more on the side of producing than consuming. The solar panels would fit in with that, an overall desire to be a little more independent and responsible for our own lives.

Thanks Martyn - I only have 3 brain cells left and I'm holding on to them as long as I can - use them or lose them


My initial reaction was based on pension paranoia having been forced into very early retirement by ill health and realising just how important decent pension provisions are (but fortunately a rich uncle saved the day!)


Could I suggest another way of rationalising this?


If you take an optimistic view, the panels are a safe bet that fit in with your lifestyle, so no issue.



Even if you take a pessimistic view, then they're still unlikely to end up costing you much (a few hundred pounds over 15 to 20 years = £20 or £30 per year) which in the context of your lifestyle and philosophy doesn't sound like a lot to me in relation to the value (in terms of satisfaction, etc.) you'll get from the knowledge that you're leading a sustainable life. If you're only looking at money, that's still a cost/waste (which is where my previous comments came from), but if you're going to derive value it's not a lot to spend.



If things are very tight pension-wise then that still might not be money you really have to spend so that might steer you towards putting the money in your pension now. But if, worse case, you can afford that then go for it!


Hope that doesn't sound patronising


.....hmmmm - have I just U-turned?

Cottage_Economy

mmmmikey wrote: »

Hope that doesn't sound patronising

Not in the slightest

mmmmikey wrote: »

My initial reaction was based on pension paranoia having been forced into very early retirement by ill health and realising just how important decent pension provisions are (but fortunately a rich uncle saved the day!)

Sorry to hear that but good that a relative was able to step in and help.

mmmmikey wrote: »

If things are very tight pension-wise then that still might not be money you really have to spend so that might steer you towards putting the money in your pension now. But if, worse case, you can afford that then go for it!

DH is four years off retiring early and I am 12 years younger so quite a bit of time for me to go and wiggle room for him to work longer if the worst happens to me. Our pensions are relatively stable, especially DH's. If he suddenly couldn't work his firm would medically retire him, which would pay him a full pension immediately as if he had worked to 65. My firm has a policy on medical retirement, although not as generous as DH's.

We have a nice chunk of savings in ISAs in case anything happened to me and insurance policies that could be called in. We also have MIL living with us who would step in to help more if needed. I have a freelance business on the side, although I chose not to do anything this tax year as I wanted to focus on the holding and develop some other marketable skills in my free time. Looking to pick that up next tax year.

So we have a few back up plans...

Anyway, I think we're probably going to go for it but I'm not convinced about iBoost, mainly due to the distance the WiFi signal has to travel and the fact it has to go through four walls of the house and barns before the signal reaches the receiver. I don't fancy spending out another £350-£500 only to find it works intermittently. The range is about 30 metres according to its spec sheet but the signal can be affected by too many walls.

I might look at it again at a later date

mmmmikey wrote: »

.....hmmmm - have I just U-turned?

Yep!

Martyn1981

mmmmikey wrote: »

If things are very tight pension-wise then that still might not be money you really have to spend so that might steer you towards putting the money in your pension now. But if, worse case, you can afford that then go for it!


Hope that doesn't sound patronising


.....hmmmm - have I just U-turned?

Nah, still balanced IMO. The saving grace here is that CE intends to put the income/savings into a pension, so either way they do OK. If the 'annuity' returns from the PV are better, then they will then grow in the pension too, and if the pension outperforms the 'annuity', then that's a damn good pension, with great growth anyway. I can't see a wrong decision either way.

The PV option is just kinda hedging bets by splitting investments, plus the G&E side. And as us PV'ers have discovered, an interesting toy to own and chat about.

mmmmikey

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

Anyway, I think we're probably going to go for it but I'm not convinced about iBoost, mainly due to the distance the WiFi signal has to travel and the fact it has to go through four walls of the house and barns before the signal reaches the receiver. I don't fancy spending out another £350-£500 only to find it works intermittently. The range is about 30 metres according to its spec sheet but the signal can be affected by too many walls.

I've got a SOLiC 200 which I bought as a factory reconditioned unit off eBay for well under £200. It does much the same thing as the iBoost:

https://www.earthwiseproducts.co.uk/solic-200/

There's no wifi involved, and as long as your electricity meter and consumer unit/fusebox are fairly close together a very simple install (assuming the immersion heater is on it's own circuit which they mostly are).

It does make a big difference to the savings (for me) and it will remove the need to burn some (CO2 emmitting!) oil especially in the summer months.

Worth making sure your hot water cylinder is well lagged regardless of what you do with iBoost / solar etc.

Cottage_Economy

mmmmikey wrote: »

I've got a SOLiC 200 which I bought as a factory reconditioned unit off eBay for well under £200. It does much the same thing as the iBoost:

https://www.earthwiseproducts.co.uk/solic-200/

There's no wifi involved, and as long as your electricity meter and consumer unit/fusebox are fairly close together a very simple install (assuming the immersion heater is on it's own circuit which they mostly are).

It does make a big difference to the savings (for me) and it will remove the need to burn some (CO2 emmitting!) oil especially in the summer months.

Worth making sure your hot water cylinder is well lagged regardless of what you do with iBoost / solar etc.

That's a great tip, thank you.

As for how close the consumer unit/fusebox is to the meter, our meter is out under cover in one of the open barns and has a consumer unit next to it for the barn's power. There is a feed off the meter ( i think) that comes under the drive into the house to a second consumer unit in the utility room downstairs.

No idea if that would work but I will discuss this with the installer.

The boiler has the usual green foam insulation round it but no more as I like to use my airing cupboard to dry clothes in the winter.

pile-o-stone

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

We bought our smallholding so we could have more control over our lives. We wanted to raise our own animals so we knew what they ate, where they slept, that they had good lives outside with their mates, not in cramped sheds. We wanted to grow more of our own fruit and veg, to not be so reliant on supermarkets. We want to be more on the side of producing than consuming. The solar panels would fit in with that, an overall desire to be a little more independent and responsible for our own lives.

This is what I hope to do when I retire. My goal isn't to live self-sufficiently as I think this is incredibly difficult to do and still maintain a reasonable lifestyle, especially in the UK.

My aim would be to hit a minimum of 50% self sufficiency in energy, water and food. I'd be looking to have a heavily insulated home that reduces space heating costs, rainwater & grey water recycling to reduce water usage, solar and batteries to generate and store energy, a passive greenhouse and raised beds for food production and a plantation of willow to supply wood for space heating and cooking via a Rayburn stove.

When I look at the costs in retirement, apart from tax and insurances the largest outgoing is food and energy bills. If I can reduce these down to a minimal level then I need less pension income to pay for them. I'd much rather spend the money to permanently reduce my outgoings by 50% than to pay for that extra 50% by keeping the money in an investment whose return is not guaranteed.

Insulation, high efficiency glazing, 25/30 year solar panels, a sustainably managed woodland for firewood, an underground water tank for rainwater are all things that you buy once, they produce forever and they will last for the remainder of your life.

pile-o-stone

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

As for how close the consumer unit/fusebox is to the meter, our meter is out under cover in one of the open barns and has a consumer unit next to it for the barn's power. There is a feed off the meter ( i think) that comes under the drive into the house to a second consumer unit in the utility room downstairs.

Where does your electricity feed from the grid come in, is it to the house or to the barn? If the feed comes into the house consumer unit and then you have a feed to the barn, then you won't have any problem with wiring in an iboost or similar.

If the mains supply feed to the barn, then you'd need to fit Cat5 cable underground from the barn to the house so that the iboost can communicate with the sender unit.

As to your other comment about the airing cupboard, even with a lot of insulation around your water cylinder, heat still escapes, so you'd still have warm towels, but you'd also have hot water in the evenings.

Cottage_Economy

pile-o-stone wrote: »

My aim would be to hit a minimum of 50% self sufficiency in energy, water and food. I'd be looking to have a heavily insulated home that reduces space heating costs, rainwater & grey water recycling to reduce water usage, solar and batteries to generate and store energy, a passive greenhouse and raised beds for food production and a plantation of willow to supply wood for space heating and cooking via a Rayburn stove.

I think you are my twin

pile-o-stone wrote: »

When I look at the costs in retirement, apart from tax and insurances the largest outgoing is food and energy bills. If I can reduce these down to a minimal level then I need less pension income to pay for them.

pile-o-stone wrote: »

Insulation, high efficiency glazing, 25/30 year solar panels, a sustainably managed woodland for firewood, an underground water tank for rainwater are all things that you buy once, they produce forever and they will last for the remainder of your life.

My thoughts precisely. I have the added incentive that I have to retire early if I'm to spend any time with my husband before his age makes that difficult. Trying to retirement plan when there is a 12 year age gap is a pain.

pile-o-stone wrote: »

Where does your electricity feed from the grid come in, is it to the house or to the barn? If the feed comes into the house consumer unit and then you have a feed to the barn, then you won't have any problem with wiring in an iboost or similar.

If the mains supply feed to the barn, then you'd need to fit Cat5 cable underground from the barn to the house so that the iboost can communicate with the sender unit.

The electric comes into the barn and then comes out to the house consumer unit. Knowing about all the wi-fi deadspots in this house means I'm not too enamoured with anything wi-fi enabled.

pile-o-stone wrote: »

As to your other comment about the airing cupboard, even with a lot of insulation around your water cylinder, heat still escapes, so you'd still have warm towels, but you'd also have hot water in the evenings.

When you say insulation, are you talking about those nifty little jackets you can put on them?

By the way, there are a lot of copper pipes in the cupboard that are bare as well. Hmmmm....methinks a bit of lagging may be required...

Cottage_Economy

Well, supplier 2 came back and apologised that he was doing a commercial job and didn't have time to do the quote for me today, but would do it tomorrow morning. He also thought that a 6kWp system would be unnecessary, as I was unlikely to get agreement for the DNO, so he would quote me just for 4kWp system.

Apparently the DNO told him they were backed up with weeks of work so the chances of me getting a decision in time would be slim.

That's a different story from supplier 1, who said it would take 5-10 days to get a decision from the DNO on a 6kWp system, and if done this week would be back by the time of fitting third week of March.

Is supplier 2 edging me towards a quick one-day install of a 4kWp system because he doesn't have time for anything else? Or is he genuinely trying to helpful?

Is supplier 1 trying to sell me a bigger system for more money knowing I probably won't get a decision in time, but thinking he'll cross that bridge when the third week of March rolls round and then tell me to go ahead and not bother with trying to raise the cap.

As I said, pays your money, you takes your chances.

In other energy saving news, I did a freezer audit and managed to rearrange everything enough to shut down one freezer. Found a big bag of sloes and a plum crumble I had 'lost'. Also discovered all of study lights are LEDs - not sure how that happened or when - but sadly the bedroom main spotlights and overbed lights are not energy-saving, so that's six bulbs to replace in one room at some point.

Cottage_Economy

Ok, so we've made the decision to go ahead with supplier 1 with the 6kWp system. Emailed the go-ahead and deposit being paid.

Supplier 2 still has not come back with a quote, despite promising a time twice when I would have it, and we're not going to hang on any longer. They're quite obviously busy doing commercial jobs, they're not going to come out to the site until a deposit has been paid, which means that resolving some of the site quirks are just not going to be discussed with them until closer to the fitting day. As far as I'm concerned, that's asking for trouble. I really haven't had any good vibes off them anyway.

Supplier 1 has made a case for requesting the export cap to be raised and applied to the DNO yesterday afternoon. I suggested that the DNO might be snowed with applications due to a last minute rush fitting systems before FITs ends (as supplier 2 said) and apparently that doesn’t have anything to do with it, the DNO just has a system in place that takes X amount of time to complete and they don't tend to deviate from it.

The immersion heater issue was a bit thornier to work out. We've always had wi-fi deadspots in the house and so have boosters in these areas. I wanted to go for the Solic 200 and remove this issue, but the Solic 200 wires into the consumer unit directly on from the meter and that is in the barns. The supplier suggested trial fitting the iBoost downstairs next to the house consumer unit, as the immersion heater has its own fuse in the box and is much closer to the barns than the airing cupboard. To cut down on the number of walls the wi-fi signal has to go through, the sender will be put on the wall outside the barns. They have agreed to trial fit the iBoost and if it does not work properly remove it and we will pay nothing.

Also agreed to extend the inverter guarantee to 10 years.

If anyone is interested, I hadn’t seen the specs of the barn roof until I printed out the quote yesterday so thought I’d put them here.

Orientation of PV system – degrees from South: 20
Inclination of system – degrees from horizontal: 28
kWh/kWp (kk factor): 872
Shade factor: 0.97
Total energy output of 6kWp system – 5075kWh

Very exciting times ahead!