Could anyone sanity-check my fag-packet solar ROI calculation?

itm2

Martyn1981 said:

Hiya. Have you asked the local planning department for an informal chat, or has that already happened leading to the information from them? You might find that:

so far as practicable

covers you, as PV on the NE roof wouldn't work well, and all cities, especially London, are under pressure to support renewables, reduced FF consumption, etc etc..

Can you find/spot other installs in the local council area that are on road facing roofs, and use those to support your case?

I haven't asked them for an informal chat as such, as I wanted any feedback to be in writing, but the intent of my email was to get an informal indication of whether I'd need planning permission.

It also looks like I may have been wrong about not being in a conservation area. While my road is just outside a conservation area, it falls into another conservation area which was introduced more recently. So at least that partially explains the response from the council planning department, even if it doesn't explain the straight "no", having not asked for any further details of my property.

I've written to one of my local councillors, as well as the local press, to raise awareness of the issue.

Martyn1981

Best of luck to you. I appreciate that some folk aren't keen on PV panels, personally I simply don't care what someone's roof looks like, but maybe council's need to move with the times now regarding conservation areas, especially if there is a huge number of similar looking houses, and environmental concerns come in many different flavours now.

My sister owned a house in a conservation area and the ornate cast iron railings outside had disappeared years ago, so my father took pics of some further up the road and got his friend 'the iron-man' to make and install new ones that matched. She got shopped to the council for making a change, and had to pay for a retrospective planning application. Very silly.

Screwdriva

itm2 said:

Screwdriva said:

Top of the range (non-Chinese) costs around £5500 for a 4kW system. (Hyundai all black 400W panels + Solar Edge Inverters + Solar Edge Optimizers + Installation with a 20 year warranty on everything)

That's interesting - thanks. I've just been quoted £6,469 by Spirit Energy for a 3.85kWp system with a Growatt inverter, or £8,344 for a 4kWp system with a Solis inverter.
Those are higher than I was expecting.

I'm 100% with Martyn on this. The planning office will lose a case when it comes to a solar installation (with the exception of listed buildings). Don't give up on this without a stern written response. 
 
DM me if you'd like me to connect you to the company who supplied this quote last month (and installed my 4 kW system in SE16)

Size of system 4kh. 

Equipment;

10 x 400w Hyundai panels, 25 year warranty to 86.2% efficiency and a 25 year product warranty

10 x Solar Edge optimizers fitted to each panel making the panels smart panels. 20 year warranty.

1 x Solar Edge 3600w HD Wave inverter system 20 year product warranty

1 x All cable run’s isolators and fitting’s 

1 x Micro generation meter

1 x System Wi Fi monitor  

1 x System registration

1 x Access Equipment

1 x MCS and G98 Certificates 

 All service and maintenance under the terms of the warranty.

 

Fully fitted price of £5,650.00 This price includes 5% Vat. No extra’s

Officer_Dibble

Same company I used Screwdriva. Mark's rogue apostrophes are the giveaway!

Magnitio

itm2 said:

Screwdriva said:

Top of the range (non-Chinese) costs around £5500 for a 4kW system. (Hyundai all black 400W panels + Solar Edge Inverters + Solar Edge Optimizers + Installation with a 20 year warranty on everything)

That's interesting - thanks. I've just been quoted £6,469 by Spirit Energy for a 3.85kWp system with a Growatt inverter, or £8,344 for a 4kWp system with a Solis inverter.
Those are higher than I was expecting.

The most expensive quote I had back in November was from Spirit Energy. Nearly £14k for 5.6kwp with 7.8kwh battery. About £4k more than the cheapest quote and it wasn't quite what I asked for.

itm2

Screwdriva said:

itm2 said:

Screwdriva said:

Top of the range (non-Chinese) costs around £5500 for a 4kW system. (Hyundai all black 400W panels + Solar Edge Inverters + Solar Edge Optimizers + Installation with a 20 year warranty on everything)

That's interesting - thanks. I've just been quoted £6,469 by Spirit Energy for a 3.85kWp system with a Growatt inverter, or £8,344 for a 4kWp system with a Solis inverter.
Those are higher than I was expecting.

I'm 100% with Martyn on this. The planning office will lose a case when it comes to a solar installation (with the exception of listed buildings). Don't give up on this without a stern written response. 
 
DM me if you'd like me to connect you to the company who supplied this quote last month (and installed my 4 kW system in SE16)

Size of system 4kh. 

Equipment;

10 x 400w Hyundai panels, 25 year warranty to 86.2% efficiency and a 25 year product warranty

10 x Solar Edge optimizers fitted to each panel making the panels smart panels. 20 year warranty.

1 x Solar Edge 3600w HD Wave inverter system 20 year product warranty

1 x All cable run’s isolators and fitting’s 

1 x Micro generation meter

1 x System Wi Fi monitor  

1 x System registration

1 x Access Equipment

1 x MCS and G98 Certificates 

 All service and maintenance under the terms of the warranty.

 

Fully fitted price of £5,650.00 This price includes 5% Vat. No extra’s

Many thanks for all this. Have you managed to get your system registered for a feed-in tariff yet? I've read mixed feedback on this (in terms of hassle getting the relevant registraton done).
 

Spies

There shouldn't be any issue getting SEG as long as the installation is MCS Certified. 

Magnitio

I've been waiting several weeks for SEG to be sorted out with Octopus. Bit frustrating that I am providing power to the grid and not getting paid for it, but I guess they are quite busy at the moment with other more important issues.

itm2

I've now had 3 very different quotes, and am trying to make sense of the differences:

Quote 1 - £6,649

• 3.85kWp system with Growatt inverter
• JA Solar 385 mono/ black frame panels
  

Quote 2 - £4,400

• "4kh" system with Sofar inverter
• 10 x 400w Hyundai Solar Mono panels
  

Quote 3 - £16,114

• SolarEdge Smart 360w Black Module, 60-cell module
• SolarEdge inverter
  
• Energy Hub 3680 SolarEdge Set App Home Package
  
• SolarEdge Smart Energy Bank Battery 10 kWh
  

The supplier of Quote 3 has said that they can provide a lower quote based on Longi panels and a Growatt Shine Link inverter (I'm waiting for this quote).

Any views on the pros & cons of:

•  Growatt vs Sofar vs SolarEdge inverters
• JA Solar vs Hyundau vs SolarEdge vs Longi panels?

Verdigris

I think I'd snatch Quote 2's hand off in these volatile times. See if they'll quote for some (preferably) Pylontech batteries, as they will only attract 5% VAT if installed together.