Help with solar quotes please!! 1 June 2022 at 4:35PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 15 replies 638 views

polar0l

Apologies I know there’s a lot of posts on here already (which I have been reading) but I really would appreciate feedback on prices and kit from those who have much more knowledge than me as it’s a minefield. I hope in turn this helps someone out 😀

Firstly, are panels generally worth it? Same with batteries… we use 3199 kWh a year, estimated. 

Quote 1 
10 x Jinko 380w solar panels 
SofarSolar 3-6kW single phase inverter 
SofarSolar amastore battery GTX 3000 5.1kWh 

£5039 without battery 
£7887 with battery 

Quote 2 
10 x JA 390w solar panels 
solaredge inverter 3000w single phase 
£8,300

Solaredge battery 10kWH £10,054 

Quote 3 
7 x “Tier 1” 390w solar panel 
solaredge wave inverter 
GivEnergy AC-coupled inverter with 5.2 kWh battery (5.2 kWh usable)

£11,237

Quote 4 
10 x 390w Trina Panel
Solaredge wave inverter

OR

Growatt hybrid inverter with 6.5 kWh battery 

£7025 without battery 
£11545 with battery 

Thank you!!!!

Spies

Quote 1 sounds pretty decent to me, when is most of your electricity usage? During daylight hours or is the house empty during that time?

polar0l

Thanks spies. I agree, that’s the solar together reverse auction thing, just not heard of those brands (doesn’t mean much though!). 

2 people working from home 50% of the time I’d say and then the usual cooking/tv in the evening. 

Spies

I don't think solar together are rated very highly on here, I believe some Installs have never been finished for a couple of people on here. 

arty688

Another question is do intend to get an EV , which I guess you haven’t ATM due to usage.

polar0l

No plans at the moment @arty688 - not due to replace a car for a bit. Is it easy to add more panels in a few years time? 

arty688

It’s the battery economics that improves as more tariffs are open to you.
basically ATM if you covered your whole annual usage how much would you save ? 

Optimistic 

Then with batteries you will maybe cover 80%

without 40%

So work out the savings.

The above figures could be complete nonsense BTW and who knows where prices will be in 2 years time could be half what they are now.

polar0l

arty688 said:

It’s the battery economics that improves as more tariffs are open to you.
basically ATM if you covered your whole annual usage how much would you save ? 

Optimistic 

Then with batteries you will maybe cover 80%

without 40%

So work out the savings.

The above figures could be complete nonsense BTW and who knows where prices will be in 2 years time could be half what they are now.

Not a bad way of estimating though - good shout. We use about £1.75-£2 a day. 

So 40% of £2 x 365 = £292 potential saving a year and 17 years to break even without a battery. 

The same at 80% with a battery is 13.5 years to break even. 

Do you mean the octopus go / agile tarrifs? 

polar0l

The proposed 45% price rise in autumn would bring that to 12 years and 9 years respectively. At that price it all seems quite convincing but as you say who knows what will happen. 

QrizB

polar0l said:

Do you mean the octopus go / agile tarrifs? 

Time-of-use tariffs in general, of which Go is an (extreme) example.

Even boring old Economy 7 offers arbitrage options to someone with a home battery, and charging for seven hours at 1/7 C is kinder to your battery than charging for four hours at 1/4C is.

Last August I was seriously considering Green Energy Tide (who were then offering 7 hrs at 7.5p, link) and/or Logicor Advanced (7 hrs at 11.76p, link). I got as far as signing up with Logicor but they lost my application and by then Green had increased their prices significantly (link) so I went with Octopus instead.

All these tariffs become more attractive if you have a battery and can buy your peak electricity at off-peak prices.

------

FYI Tide is currently in the "boutique" price range as you would expect from one of the three uncapped "deep green" suppliers. 24p/kWh overnight and 70p/kWh in the evening peak:

polar0l

QrizB said:

polar0l said:

Do you mean the octopus go / agile tarrifs? 

Time-of-use tariffs in general, of which Go is an (extreme) example.

Even boring old Economy 7 offers arbitrage options to someone with a home battery, and charging for seven hours at 1/7 C is kinder to your battery than charging for four hours at 1/4C is.

Last August I was seriously considering Green Energy Tide (who were then offering 7 hrs at 7.5p, link) and/or Logicor Advanced (7 hrs at 11.76p, link). I got as far as signing up with Logicor but they lost my application and by then Green had increased their prices significantly (link) so I went with Octopus instead.

All these tariffs become more attractive if you have a battery and can buy your peak electricity at off-peak prices.

------

FYI Tide is currently in the "boutique" price range as you would expect from one of the three uncapped "deep green" suppliers. 24p/kWh overnight and 70p/kWh in the evening peak:

Ah good old economy 7! 

Thanks, very useful! With batteries I get that you’d probably want it fully charged overnight in winter when the solar panels aren’t able to generate as much. At this time of year are the panels able to give a good amount of charge or would you still fully charge your battery overnight? 

I think what I’m asking is the battery more useful for cheap overnight charging than charging via the solar panels?