Solar PV target price

AntonyTewks

Hi there. Considering solar PV as it seems the costs have really come down. I'm thinking 4kwp, pretty average set up, perhaps a mix of South and West aspect. We have a fairly standard detached house but two main sections of roof that run south/north (smaller) and West/east (larger). What kind of price is fair and I should be aiming for? Also any recommendations? I have a call with Eon next week to get a quote from them, anyone used? Thanks!

Martyn1981

Just some quick thoughts, but always best to go as big as practical, and if you have multiple orientations, then that makes more sense again, as they won't all be generating at best at the same time. Perhaps 6kWp, spread over the rooves, and that might be doable through an inverter capped at 3.68kW (the DNO 'no permission required' limit). For multiple aspects it might be worth going with a Solaredge system, where each panel works away at its best, rather than all being matched togather via a 'normal' string inverter.

Price wise, as you go larger, the cost per kWp gets lower, so for 5kWp+ I'd hope you could get to, or below £1k/kWp. 

Solarchaser

I'd agree entirely with Martyn.
Work out the size of your roof and so how many panels will fit.
Panels are roughly 1m by 1.6m, there is some variations, but its a decent rule of thumb

AntonyTewks

Thanks both. I think I can fit either 4 or 6 south facing and then up to 16 west facing. Are panels typically 250w each? That would mean around 5kwp.
Ideally I'd like to keep the cost to £5k ish if I can and it's feasible.  
Are there any recommended companies out there who won't take me for a ride? I'm trying Eon for quote first as is hope being a big company they should be pretty reliable. 

Martyn1981

Hiya, panels today are typically more powerful now, I'd expect suggestions in the 300-400Wp range, though you might find the price (per Wp) starts to spike upwards somewhere above 350Wp. So just guessing, but you might find that 6kWp made up of 20 300Wp panels, or 17 350Wp panels might be a similar price, whilst 15 400Wp panels may be more expensive. So worth getting several suggestions from all the companies you speak with.

Hexane

I used a small local (or I suppose "regional") installer, effectively a three-man band with no salespeople. If you mention what part of the country you're in, people may be able to recommend an outfit like that near you. By using a small installer I was able to tell them what I wanted and they applied to the DNO on my behalf for an exception (might have been a G59 application) allowing more than 3.68kW inverter capacity. Both of the big providers who sent salespeople, were not willing to do anything like that.

You may wish to overstep your £5k target and try to get a DNO agreement, a 6kW inverter and maybe a total of twenty 350W panels. I have twenty-three 315W panels and I like having the extra generation. This allows me to do things like running multiple appliances at the same time (for example tumble dryer + dishwasher + computers and screens) without any import from the grid, which wouldn't be possible with a more normal 3.68kW system. It does however mean that there are frequently times I can't use all the power I generate, which means I only get the export payments (and for me, FiT payments) for it.

ASavvyBuyer

AntonyTewks said:

Thanks both. I think I can fit either 4 or 6 south facing and then up to 16 west facing. Are panels typically 250w each? That would mean around 5kwp.
Ideally I'd like to keep the cost to £5k ish if I can and it's feasible.  
Are there any recommended companies out there who won't take me for a ride? I'm trying Eon for quote first as is hope being a big company they should be pretty reliable. 

I take it from your username that you may be based in Tewksbury. There is a firm based in Cheltenham that we used 5 years ago for our Solar PV installation. https://forevergreen-energy.co.uk We were very happy with the work they did and the system has worked well since installation. The engineer/salesman that we dealt with was very well informed and helpful and did not pressure us to buy on the spot.

AntonyTewks

Great thanks, yes in Tewks Gloucestershire. I'll add them to my list for quotes! Was hoping to find someone local

mre15

I used  http://roxonelectrical.co.uk/solar.html  based in Gloucester.

AntonyTewks

Thanks for your help folks. Had a first quote of £5.6k for 4.08kwp made up of 12 JA Solar 340w panels with a solar edge. Feels reasonable but had rather hoped to sneak in under £5k. I have another couple of quotes due by the end of the week then couple more in next fortnight. Mixture of national and local so will get a good range of them

Petriix

Do you have shading issues that justify the extra expense of Solar Edge?
At over £5.5k a 4kWp system will take well over 15 years to break even.