Solar quotes - Confused! 21 April 2022 at 7:22AM edited 21 April 2022 at 7:24AM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 3 replies 132 views

m0t

My wife and I are really interested in getting solar panels, partly to save some money but mainly to lower our reliance on fossil fuels. 

Our house has two roofs, one adjacent to the other. One is flat and the panels (8) can be orientated directly south with no shading. The other is pitched and faces slightly south west with no shading (6).

Quote 1 was through the local council scheme and involved 6 x 380w panels at £4700. I didn't get much more detail on this because it looked like such a poor deal.

Quote 2 is from a recommended local installer for 14 x 340w JA Solar panels, Solis hybrid inverter, flat and pitched roof renusol mounting systems, all cabling etc for £5,690. That price seemed OK to me £1.19 per kwh), is it?

It doesn't come with any optimisers, would this make much of a difference in our application? Is there a benefit to having 340w panels vs a lower number of higher wattage ones? We are currently with Shell Energy and their SEG rate is 3.5p per kwh, would I be able to switch to someone with a better rate now or will I be stuck with Shell until the market calms down?

QrizB

Quote 2 looks reasonable. Hopefully it's a dual-MPPT inverter so your two roof aspects can work independently.

If there's no shading I don't see any need for optimisers.

340W panels are relatively small by current standards, but they might fill your roofs better than larger ones would. It's impossible for us to say but hopefully you will get a detailed plan from your installer.

Yes you can switch. Options are limited but Octopus seem to have the best export tariffs and may be taking on new customers. If you feel lucky you could try their Tracker or Agile smart tariffs.

Alnat1

I had a solar and battery installation fitted early March. I contacted Octopus by phone and was told to stay with my current supplier but could open a SEG account with them, this pays 4.1p. I contacted Octopus again once I had received emails confirming the SEG account was in the process of being opened and this time they agreed a switch. 

My gas and electricity supply moves over today to their Flexible Octopus, which is the capped rates and they have agreed that my SEG can be changed to Outgoing Agile now they also supply me. It did take a few phone calls and emails to get it set up but it can be done. Not all their advisors give the same info, keep trying.

Magnitio

If you are also interested in reducing the environmental impact of the solar panel manufacture, you might like to consider REC panels. It's worth considering.