Project Solar Quote Advice

Martyn1981

umz786 said:

Hexane said:

umz786 said:

Project solar are proposing installing 18 x 345w panels with an output of 6.21kW generating 5620kW per year.

I think you mean 5620kWh per year - it's worth getting the units right, and keeping them right, to avoid confusion down the line and avoid the wrong figure potentially ending up being misunderstood as something it's not.

(It's the equivalent of trying to work out whether a particular model of car would be a good purchase, and writing down in your notes "with the fuel efficiency and fuel tank size on this car, under motorway conditions I could drive 500mph on one tank of fuel." Easier with cars because everyone knows what you actually mean - tricky with home generation and storage solutions because you're sometimes not quite sure what you mean, even when the salesman isn't trying to pull the wool over your eyes.)

Thanks for your advice, I have double checked and this is a screenshot of the quote. Its got 5620kW. Should it be 5620kWh?

Wow, that's pretty shocking. As Hexane said, we can work out what people are saying, and confusing the units is really common on here, and of course often just a simple typo, but the company shouldn't be doing this. kW is power, such as a 3kW kettle, which draws and uses 3kW when switched on. kWh is energy, so that kettle if running for 20 mins would consume 1kWh of energy, if it was on for an hour it would consume 3kWh.
A 6.21kW system will run at anything from zero to 6.21kW depending on the weather. In fact it'll have a minimum start up power of perhaps 30W or 40W (0.03kW), and if not capped by the inverter might go over 6.21kW briefly in very cold weather, especially if the sun pops out from behind a cloud.
The sum of all those generating levels x the time it was generating at that level, will give you the energy it produces, for example 5,620kWh per year.
This isn't a hanging offence, but it does set off little alarm bells and raises more questions about professionalism.

umz786

BrilliantMartyn1981 said:

Wow, that's pretty shocking. As Hexane said, we can work out what people are saying, and confusing the units is really common on here, and of course often just a simple typo, but the company shouldn't be doing this. kW is power, such as a 3kW kettle, which draws and uses 3kW when switched on. kWh is energy, so that kettle if running for 20 mins would consume 1kWh of energy, if it was on for an hour it would consume 3kWh.

A 6.21kW system will run at anything from zero to 6.21kW depending on the weather. In fact it'll have a minimum start up power of perhaps 30W or 40W (0.03kW), and if not capped by the inverter might go over 6.21kW briefly in very cold weather, especially if the sun pops out from behind a cloud.
The sum of all those generating levels x the time it was generating at that level, will give you the energy it produces, for example 5,620kWh per year.
This isn't a hanging offence, but it does set off little alarm bells and raises more questions about professionalism.

Bloody hell. That is a big error there then! Definitely need to stay away from them now.

umz786

jimjames said:

Good question Hexane, I'd assumed they were just using their rates to calculate but there may be more too it.

Looking more closely I'm curious what happens in year 3, why does the saving go down? 4000kWh sounds quite low for annual consumption, it would be interesting to know how accurate others see that to be.

I showed the rep my last leccy bill and she used those figures to calculate. We are a 4 bed detached house with 6 ppl living but I always get this (that we consume less leccy than average)

ABrass

It's worth remembering that this isn't even a 6.2kW system. It's a 3.6kW system with delusions of grandeur.

The extra panels will help boost performance over winter and when the panels are working at less than 60% of their potential. But after that they will saturate the inverter and you won't get any benefit over a system with 60% as many panels.

IF, the inverter were one that can limit power to export but allow use of more juice domestically then that'd be different, but I don't believe it is.

Hexane

Worth mentioning that zorber said on a different discussion a few weeks ago: "i have just received a quote for a 6.1kw system with 8.2kwh battery for £8100". If correct, that's a similar specification of system (actually far better because of the larger battery and probably an appropriately sized inverter) to the one that Project Solar are offering you for £12,900

abeezar

Project Solar - means NO.
2.5 times the prices.
Pressure Selling,
If you are taking a loan they will tell you that there are only a few places left so hurry.
They install the system over 3.68 KW and do not inform DNO. DNO will ask you to disconnect.
ALL Lies. 
Don't waste your time and get caught in their lies.