Solar Together Quote

BG2022

Hi everyone,

Was hoping to get some feedback on this quote if possible from any experts on the board please. I'm part of the Essex Solar Together scheme - on face value I was quite pleased with the deal but when researching I saw people pop the deals on here for a bit of feeback.

Solar Together Offer:
14 * 385w panels (Trina Monocrystaline). All on a south facing roof with no shading till very late in the evening.
String inverter (Solis Hybrid Inverter)
4.3kWh battery

All installed for £9,062 (split £6k for solar panels / £3k for battery)

Really interested to hear what people think and many thanks in advance for any feedback or advice. Also apologies if it is bad form to be a long term lurker on the pages and my first post is an ask for help!

Thanks everyone,
BG :-)

QrizB

Just looking at the numbers and making no judgement as to the equipment, that's not a terrible price. You're getting 5.39kWp solar for £6k (£1.11/watt) and a 4.3kWh battery for £3k (nominally £700/kW but that probably includes the extra price of the hybrid inverter too).

Are they offering a 3.6kW inverter or are they offering a 4.something and making the necessary DNO application for it?

Edit: I see Solis offer hybrid inverters in 3kW, 3.6kW and 5kW sizes and they're all a similar price, £1200-1300. Hopefully their quote is for a 5kW one.

BG2022

QrizB said:

Just looking at the numbers and making no judgement as to the equipment, that's not a terrible price. You're getting 5.39kWp solar for £6k (£1.11/watt) and a 4.3kWh battery for £3k (nominally £700/kW but that probably includes the extra price of the hybrid inverter too).

Are they offering a 3.6kW inverter or are they offering a 4.something and making the necessary DNO application for it?

Thanks for the mega fast response! Not entirely sure on the detail yet. I have to pay £150 to lock them in to come and do a more formal quote so hopefully should get the detail then.

My aim would definitely to get the DNO application and get as much throughput as possible. Thinking of this as a big one off investment that sets us up in the long term.

One question I've not quite figured out yet is the merit of a solar edge system as opposed to a string inverter. We had one quote and the guy was a big advocate on the edge system (easily pin point issues, loads of reporting and no drag on performance). Having done a bit of internet research it seems like edge is great for more complex systems / where there are shade issues which is not an issue for our place. What would you recommend from your experience?

thanks again, appreciate your time in responding

arty688

I think the general consensus is SE (which is still a string) is a nice to have if you don't suffer from shade or have multiple roofs , but probably in terms of ROI not worth it.

Me for example I'm putting 20 solar panels on 6 roofs so SE or equivalent is a must.

BG2022

arty688 said:

I think the general consensus is SE (which is still a string) is a nice to have if you don't suffer from shade or have multiple roofs , but probably in terms of ROI not worth it.

Me for example I'm putting 20 solar panels on 6 roofs so SE or equivalent is a must.

Thanks for the feedback, that was what I was sensing so good to have that backed up.

Intrigued about your home having 6 roofs.... do you live in a castle?!

arty688

Unfortunately not it’s a L shaped house with single story extension and detached garage. So 2 south  , 2 west and 2 east. 

Solarchaser

Agreed with all above, its an OK quote.
The one thing I'd be keen to explore is why 14 panels, if that's all the roof can take, then fine, but if you could fit 20 panels for another 2k, then that would be worth it imo, you really want to fill the roof.

Solar Edge is really for shading issues, though I like the way it's being used on arty's house, that's pretty clever.
I'd make sure they have included bird proofing in the quote, otherwise the flying rats move in and its a real pain to get them to move back out.
Finally if you have a hot water tank, id see if you can get a solar diverter added on as this would heat your water for *free* between April and September.

NoobSolar

As Solar chaser says, have as much actual panel generation capacity as possible. However this doesn't have to mean more panels - they are different sizes! It took me ages to figure this out. It is max kwh capacity you want to aim for.

The advantage with solar edge is not just shading but also ageing. As panels don't really age and degrade in performance at the same rate, your generation over time will be better.

And massively echoing solar chaser
again re the iboost or solar diverter; loads of piping hot water for no money. My 240l tank heats from cold to hot on about 10.2 kwh.

As I understand it, it is better to mildly undersize the inverter. Hence mine with. 6.4 has a 6kwh inverter.

Regarding the collective scheme: I am not a fan. I hope once they have the £150 they don't come along and suddenly discover they need to quote a lot more. Installers who visited me took 5 to 15mins to determine what to do and what to offer. £150 is a rather high rate of pay for that, IMHO.

arty688

piping hot water for no money

Its not free for people putting solar in now , it costs your export rate. So compared to gas not a big saving better for the planet though.

gefnew

It will be if all electric house on current rates.

Solarchaser

My gas is 7.5p now at roughly 75% efficiency. 
So somewhere around 9-10p/kwh
The best seg is I think 5.5p, so diverting to save gas makes food sense right now.
Unless your gas price is still the 2.5p mine was a year ago, then seg is better.

I agree with NoobSolar about getting max generation,  but there is a point where the cost of the *premium* panel outweighs its production vs a cheaper panel.
Either way, fill the roof!