Solar panel installation

cc58

Hi folks, I moved into a new property at the end of last year and a few places around have solar panels so it's something I've been thinking about.
We had a letter through from the council saying they were going to see if people were interested in a group purchase of solar installation in our area and to put out name down if we were. Well we finally got the info through with a rough quite from "solar together Bedfordshire"
Based on the info I gave them they have recommended the below;

14 panels based on South West facing tiles roof

Total price of £9,340

• Roof survey
• Installation
• 14 panels
• Inverter
• Materials and fittings
• Monitoring tool
• Extended warranties 
• Insurance-backed guarantee 
• Additional scaffolding cost for multiple roof slopes at £500 

So to my untrained eye seems like everything? They've also got a bit of blurb about how much you save and produce but something that jumped out is by adding a battery it almost doubled my money saved and halves my reliance on the grid. They have said that a battery would be an extra £3,464 for a 4kwh battery. 

Does this sound like a good / bad / middling deal? Never dealt with solar panels before but with energy prices going the way they are I think it might be a sound investment and the battery seems a no brainer for 1/3 of the panel price? 
Answers on a postcard please, thanks in advance 

cc58

Forgot to mention this is based on 7k per year estimation 
Also an 8kwh battery would be an extra £2k, or 10kwh at £2.5k would that be worth the additional cost? 

FreeBear

Take the projected generation and savings with a big pinch of salt - They will be based on ideal conditions with a South facing roof. Being SW, you are already at a disadvantage.

Had a similar council sponsored group buy in my area. Looked at the costings, and decided it really was not good value for money. For your roof, a 5.2KW 14 panel kit is around £3000, so you are paying over £6K for installation - Someone is making a pretty packet for a couple of days work at your expense.

Have a chat with a few local companies and see what price they offer in comparison.

cc58

FreeBear said:

Take the projected generation and savings with a big pinch of salt - They will be based on ideal conditions with a South facing roof. Being SW, you are already at a disadvantage.

Had a similar council sponsored group buy in my area. Looked at the costings, and decided it really was not good value for money. For your roof, a 5.2KW 14 panel kit is around £3000, so you are paying over £6K for installation - Someone is making a pretty packet for a couple of days work at your expense.

Have a chat with a few local companies and see what price they offer in comparison.

Thanks for this, can you link me to where I could get a similar setup for £3k? Would be interested as I've had a Google but couldn't find it.
I've spoken to a few local companies but none are able to come out and quote for weeks, seems like they're all very busy getting these installed in the area 

ComicGeek

cc58 said:

FreeBear said:

Take the projected generation and savings with a big pinch of salt - They will be based on ideal conditions with a South facing roof. Being SW, you are already at a disadvantage.

Had a similar council sponsored group buy in my area. Looked at the costings, and decided it really was not good value for money. For your roof, a 5.2KW 14 panel kit is around £3000, so you are paying over £6K for installation - Someone is making a pretty packet for a couple of days work at your expense.

Have a chat with a few local companies and see what price they offer in comparison.

Thanks for this, can you link me to where I could get a similar setup for £3k? Would be interested as I've had a Google but couldn't find it.
I've spoken to a few local companies but none are able to come out and quote for weeks, seems like they're all very busy getting these installed in the area 

Not sure that £3k is possible for 5.2 kWp, even for materials only. A contractor I spoke to this morning had a best supply only price (so no scaffolding costs, no installation costs, no cabling or alterations to existing consumer unit etc) at £4500 + vat.

£9340 is too high, but Gov.uk quotes average install cost of £1,876 per kWp, so that probably is calculated using average costs rather than lowest.

Just means that you wouldn't get as ripped off as going directly with some solar companies!

The real question is whether you actually need a system that large, probably not. I have 4 kWp and a large battery system, and I still can't use enough of it - that's with an electric car, pool heater and small air con unit. What the scheme is trying to do is deliver a large carbon reduction with as few roofs as possible by making each system as large as possible - that isn't necessarily the best thing for the house owners. You could probably have the same annual energy savings with a system 30% smaller and cheaper.