Acceptable Solar Panel quote for install 1.45/w ?

mcn99

I am based just south of Gala, I think you installer is more D+G, so probably too far.

My roof doesn't have much direct shading, I do have some trees to west of roof, and some i can cut down on the east of the roof. 

Perhaps i'm simplifying, but when i look at the inverter, its £900, and each optimiser was about £50.

If i could get to 1.20 (excluding optimisers) i would be happy.

But if i'm paying £1000 for scaffolding, I'm thinking of extending the number of panels to 8kw, ultimately i'm going to get an ev car, plus battery storage. 

Spies

Depending on how bad the shading is, I would go with a hybrid inverter and battery from the get go and forget about solar Edge and individual optimisers. 

mcn99

Waiting on other quotes, to see what they say about the optimisers, i just dont know enough.

I had a good look at storage, and im just not convinced its there yet, especially considering i have 3 people working from home. my gut feeling is to retrofit it in a few years time, when the technology improves and gets cheaper. I was going to go for a diverter, and may look at a hybrid invertor. My thinking is it should be easy to add a battery to an existing system.

arty688

SE Optimizers are about £50 but I'm guessing theres an install cost? There are other types of optimizers that don't have to be put on every panel and work with all inverters (TIGO).

Have a mess about with this shadow calculator to estimate your shading.

http://shadowcalculator.eu/#/lat/50.08/lng/19.9

 

Meatballs

Good example of shading effects - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoIjTK249D0&t=0s

Solarchaser

I'd take the view of fill your roof with panels. 
Install is expensive comparatively adding panels shouldn't be.

If you reckon you will use most of your solar, id ignore batteries for the moment.

If you use alot of electric then they may be worthwhile.

And welcome 👍

mcn99

I dont think i can afford to fill roof with panels,  but i am thinking of going to 8kw if i go ahead, but just getting  installers to quote is proving difficult.

But i think i really need to do more research to pick what equipment i want, instead of installers just giving their bog standard install.

I really want to be in a position where i can easily plug in  a battery in a few years time.

Spies

See if eco renewables group will travel that far north (they're in Preston) , they were super quick coming back to me with a quote. 

2nd_time_buyer

I really want to be in a position where i can easily plug in  a battery in a few years time.

As I understand it, if you go down the Solar Edge route. Then you will use their optimisers and inverter. Then you can add a separate AC battery charger downstream. E.g. Sofar ME3000SP. This will allow you to charge most batteries including the popular Pylontech ones.

If you go down the Tigo optimisers route, then you can install any hybrid inverter and change batteries directly from this.

The second option is likely to be cheaper particularly if you only need to optimise a few panels.

mcn99

Thanks again for all comments, the shading video was quite revealing.

I really want to go for a dc-coupled battery solution, no point in doubling loses. I can understand if i already had a system in place, then this would be a logical move.

But I want to make sure i get a system where adding a battery should be cheap and not require expensive equipment (excluding battery)