Quote for solar PV

mmmmikey

That's great news, I'm sure it's a decision you won't regret



In a strange way seing the panels generate their first few kWh's of electricity is almost as rewarding as seeing the first few veg seedlings germinating in the spring - kind of reinforcing the whole sustainable lifestyle thing you're doing.


I envy both you and pile-o-stone. Never made it to a small holding and woodland (despite lots of books and dreams) but I'm surprised how much of the dream I'm managing to live in a modest bungalow on an estate in rural Lincolnshire.



All the energy things are easy in a new-ish property, and you don't need much space to grow a few veg. Beyond that, the pleasure of walking down Ermine Street to collect half a dozen eggs from the farm, or cycling to the local farm shops, or just swapping some of the home-grown courgette mountain with other veg from friends in the village are all part of a much healthier lifesytle. So much better than flying round Europe fixing computers


Anyway, enough rambling, good luck and do let us know how you get on with the iBoost

Martyn1981

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

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!

Hiya. Don't want to mislead you, but (depending on location) 872kWh/kWp is quite low. Have a play with PVGIS (which gives very good guesstimates) and see what that says.

Popping a pin in Oxford with 6kW, 28d pitch and -20 (or +20 for orientation) gave 5,700, and Leeds was 5,400 (just examples), see what you get?

Cottage_Economy

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Hiya. Don't want to mislead you, but (depending on location) 872kWh/kWp is quite low. Have a play with PVGIS (which gives very good guesstimates) and see what that says.

Popping a pin in Oxford with 6kW, 28d pitch and -20 (or +20 for orientation) gave 5,700, and Leeds was 5,400 (just examples), see what you get?

Just had a look and PVGIS does say a bit more at 6230.

According to my paperwork, the total output is derived from using the standard MCS procedure kWp x SF x Kk = 5075kWh but it does say this is an estimate and guidance only.

Might be due to different algorithms of PVGIS and MCS software and/or different protocols for working out the figure.

In any event, as long as it's not lower then I'm happy.

silverwhistle

An interesting thread. Even in an ex-council terrace in Hampshire you can do a fair bit. I went to live abroad for a bit and within a month of my return had my panels installed back in 2013. Obviously in those days the economics were different and made sense compared to a non-performing cash ISA where I had my emergency money, but if I were ever to move house now I'd add in a large environmental and 'self-sufficiency' weighting to any cost-benefit analysis.


I've also had an efficient wood-burner installed and living on my own the net effect is that my annual fuel bill for electric and gas is just over £300, and that is after the recent increases that have particularly impacted me as a low user. Add 30-40 quid for briquettes to add to the scrounged wood means pretty low outgoings for energy although maybe a bit more pasta for the exercise of prepping wood.



I can confirm that even with an immersion tank fitted with insulation and an additional jacket you still get enough warmth in the airing cupboard.


I'm sure you won't regret your decision. Haven't read all the thread closely, is there an electric car on the horizon yet? :-)

pile-o-stone

mmmmikey wrote: »

I envy both you and pile-o-stone. Never made it to a small holding and woodland (despite lots of books and dreams) but I'm surprised how much of the dream I'm managing to live in a modest bungalow on an estate in rural Lincolnshire.

Nothing to envy here just yet, my off-grid retirement hopes are aspirational at the moment, not factual

Cottage_Economy

silverwhistle wrote: »

An interesting thread. Even in an ex-council terrace in Hampshire you can do a fair bit....Haven't read all the thread closely, is there an electric car on the horizon yet? :-)

We came from an ex-council house. Really solidly built and a massive back garden. Bought it quite cheaply off the previous owners as it hadn't been touched for 30+ years and was a bit of a horror, but we could do a lot with it. We were able to put up a small polytunnel, greenhouse, willow patch, veg beds and have a large chicken and duck enclosure, plus a couple of sheds. We had two apples, a mature plum and a greengage tree, a massive 15ft blackberry thicket at the bottom of the garden in the ditch that we encouraged plus a soft fruit area.

We made a bit of a mistake replacing the open fire with another instead of a log burner (we loved the idea of an open fire but didn't twig how much heat went up the chimney or how much air they drew through the house), and managed to magpie a lot of wood for it. Never did get around to having solar panels but we took advantage of as many opportunities for cheap cavity and loft insulation as came around until we were nice and snug. Also added new windows, front door and a new efficient combi boiler. Managed to get our bills quite low. We even insulated around the bath behind the panel - it was a big steel one and used to lose the heat quite quickly.

Electric car next year, as the old wallet needs to recover. Will probably be a secondhand owner-owned battery one rather than new.

Also considering how I can use rainwater for flushing my toilets without enormously expensive rainwater harvesting system being installed. Using drinking water to flush toilets has never seemed right to me, especially given the state of the water some people in the world have to drink. Having buckets of rainwater to decant from upstairs is asking for trouble as I'm a klutz and I can see me kicking a whole bucket all over the floor. Did think about a submersible pump in a water butt, which would be powered off the panels most of the time, but not sure if it could pump the water up to the second floor.

In the meantime, I'm going to look at getting a dual flush put in so we can alter the length of flush each time. I have tried the old water bottle in the cistern trick, but it defeated the purpose for those times when you had to double flush (yes, I'm looking at you DH who ended up triple flushing, if not more. Eat less food, dammit).

chaoszone

Don't get me wrong but your quotes for the 4.2KWp seem on the top side. I did a bit of looking around and have just had eco-cute install mine. They are a 'Which! Trusted Trader' and Trading Standards approved. After suffering from rogue builders in the past I'm wary and figured there should be some protection. Apart from the somewhat crooked EPC guy that came around (I got 1 star for walls even though they are insulated and built with Thermalite with a stone fascia and 1 star for no low energy saving lighting even though the house is fitted with LEDs I still got my 'D' rating) they've been very good for me up to now and have taken me through it step-by-step. The installers even seemed to cope with a grilling they got from an electronics engineer and my constant questions. Don't know about the 6KWp ones though because we never looked at them.

Coastalwatch

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

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.
Very exciting times ahead!

Hi CE, having gone through a similar process twelve months ago we had our system installed last April and, thanks to the advise received here, haven't regretted it one bit. Indeed it will be exciting times ahead for you if our case is anything to go by.

Just walking back from town this week I noticed a pigeon sideling down the side of a PV panel with a beakful of twigs before ducking underneath it. Made me very grateful for the heads up on that particular problem and insisted on our panels being birdproofed. It also has the bonus of keeping squirells out which potentially can cause even more problems due to cable chewing! Good luck with it all I hope you're up and running in time. Do let us know how it all goes.

Cottage_Economy

chaoszone wrote: »

Don't get me wrong but your quotes for the 4.2KWp seem on the top side. I did a bit of looking around and have just had eco-cute install mine. They are a 'Which! Trusted Trader' and Trading Standards approved.

I agree. The quote came through from supplier 2 in the end last night for the 4kWp system at over £5,500, which is pretty much where supplier 1 was and which I thought was a bit 'minty'. I've let them them know I won't be going with them.

Coastalwatch wrote: »

Just walking back from town this week I noticed a pigeon sideling down the side of a PV panel with a beakful of twigs before ducking underneath it. Made me very grateful for the heads up on that particular problem and insisted on our panels being birdproofed. It also has the bonus of keeping squirells out which potentially can cause even more problems due to cable chewing! Good luck with it all I hope you're up and running in time. Do let us know how it all goes.

And thank you for the heads up! Hadn't thought about that. This place is a bird paradise and the squirrels roam free. Will get on to our supplier about it.

I think we need to have a checklist sticky at the top of this board about the finer points to consider with solar panels.

Most of these quotes are for basic system but once you start adding in IBoost, warranty extensions, wi-fi sticks and pigeon proofing it starts to mount up.

Cottage_Economy

We are generating!:j:j:j

Installers just gone. System already generated 7.3kWh. iBoost set up and solar is currently heating our tank.

MCS certificate will be with me tomorrow so I can complete the paperwork and get it off to Ecotricity.

The DNO decision has not come back yet but will be back by Friday.

Installer spoke on the phone to his contact there and said she seemed quite favourable about it without saying outright what the decision was. He said he was quite hopeful as he hadn't realised until he got here that we had a transformer on the corner of our drive.

Not yet capped but installer thinks it doubtful we will be exporting above 3.68kWh in addition to our background requirements before the decision comes in. If it is no he will return and cap the system.