Solar PV quote 27 March 2022 at 11:06AM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 22 replies 1.1K views

Clive_Woody

14x Trina Vertex S 400W Black Framed Mono (white backsheet) solar panel
GivEnergy 5kW Hybrid inverter

**NET** Emlite Bi-directional Meter ECA2.nv

Label sheet

iBoost +

GivEnergy 100A DC breaker

GivEnergy EM115 Meter with CT Clamp

GivEnergy WiFi Dongle

2x Reinforced BirdBlocker for Solar Panels

2x AC isolator - KN 25A 3-pole

GivEnergy 8.2kWh LiFePO4 Battery

2x DC isolator - KG20-4

4x Pair of MC4 connectors

50m reel of 4mm2 solar cable

8x Fastensol end clamp (30mm black)

24x Fastensol mid clamp (30mm black)

8x Fastensol end cap (silver)

32x Fastensol portrait flat tile roof hook

8x Fastensol rail splice

10x FS Silver rail 3.3m

Scaffolding, Labour, Warranties, MCS Cert & Ancillaries

I have received a quote of £11,500 for the installation above from a local company - I live in West Sussex and have struggled to find anyone else who will even quote or answer their phone at the moment. The company has panels and battery in stock in their warehouse (I understand that there is a newer version of the GiveEnergy battery out soon).

I work from home full time and my wife is at home all day too, so we can certainly make the most of daytime energy by doing washing, tumble drying, etc and we added the battery for evening supply when the kids are home from school. Cooking is electric hob and oven.

House is south facing and roof is not shaded. We have a huge pigeon population locally as well as crows, magpies and a host of small birds, so I think the birdblocker is needed.

From what I have read this quote seems quite high, but I guess with energy prices shooting up it’s a supply and demand thing. I would appreciate any thoughts on whether this is reasonable in the current climate or if anyone knows of another supplier who covers West Sussex.

Magnitio

I had quotes for a similar installation last November: £10,200, £11,000 and £13,800. Prices do appear to have gone up since, so your quote does not look unreasonable. However, due to a lack of Givenergy stock, I ended up with Huawei.

Spies

I think that's reasonable especially if everything is in stock. 

Clive_Woody

Thanks I guess I had read too many articles saying you could get a system installed for around the £7k range...but I do appreciate this is possibly larger than standard and has a battery included 

QrizB

Clive_Woody said:

Thanks I guess I had read too many articles saying you could get a system installed for around the £7k range...but I do appreciate this is possibly larger than standard and has a battery included 

My personal benchmark was £1/watt for the solar part then £1000 plus £400/kWh for the battery. I think prices have crept up by 10-20% recently so that's now a bit low.

Using those numbers I get £5600 for the solar plus £4200 for the battery, £9800 all in. Add 10-20% for "2022 prices" gives £10780-£11760, and your quote of £11500 is within that range. Plus you've got an iBoost+ and bird mesh.

Clive_Woody

My panels and battery are now installed and I'm glued to the Givenergy app watching generation.

We've not had any paperwork yet from the installers (it was only finished a couple of days ago) - we authorised our installer to do the DNO application. Naive question, but what paperwork should I be expecting now everything is in place and working?

Magnitio

Ideally, you should receive an MCS certificate,  Building Regulations Compliance Certificate and warranty documentation. If you haven't yet paid the final installment, then see if you can hold off until the documentation has been provided.

Clive_Woody

I have the option to extend the warranty on our GivEnergy inverter from 5 up to 10 years for a cost of £295. How long does an inverter typically last and does this cost seem reasonable (not sure if our installer is adding their own fee within the £295)?

Coastalwatch

Clive_Woody said:

I have the option to extend the warranty on our GivEnergy inverter from 5 up to 10 years for a cost of £295. How long does an inverter typically last and does this cost seem reasonable (not sure if our installer is adding their own fee within the £295)?

Hi CW! It's been an interesting thread to follow and thanks for letting us know how it has worked out. I have to say you've done very well to get it all sorted in such a relative short space of time. The option posed above struck a chord with me as I did similar when we had our system installed four years ago, so not easy to compare then and now. But checking back through our paperwork, we had a Solaredge system with an HD Wave Inverter installed, I too had the option of extending the warranty, but to twenty years at a cost of 180 Euro's.

I cannot find what period the original warranty was for but believe it may have been ten!

Clive_Woody

Coastalwatch said:

Clive_Woody said:

I have the option to extend the warranty on our GivEnergy inverter from 5 up to 10 years for a cost of £295. How long does an inverter typically last and does this cost seem reasonable (not sure if our installer is adding their own fee within the £295)?

Hi CW! It's been an interesting thread to follow and thanks for letting us know how it has worked out. I have to say you've done very well to get it all sorted in such a relative short space of time. The option posed above struck a chord with me as I did similar when we had our system installed four years ago, so not easy to compare then and now. But checking back through our paperwork, we had a Solaredge system with an HD Wave Inverter installed, I too had the option of extending the warranty, but to twenty years at a cost of 180 Euro's.

I cannot find what period the original warranty was for but believe it may have been ten!

Thanks, I certainly found it helpful reading through all the posts on here to educate myself on solar PV...and still learning.

Our panels have a 15yr warranty, 10yr for the battery, but only 5 for the inverter which is why I am tempted to extend the warranty on that. 

1961Nick

The GivEnergy 5.0kWh hybrid inverter is relatively expensive so £295 for an extra 5 years warranty seems reasonable to me. I also have the feeling that GivEnergy are still going to be around in 10 years to honour the warranty.