Solar panel quote

Oscarmax

rjmachin said:

Yes, I now have the solar panels and battery installed.

I am very happy with the system so far.  Yesterday the solar panels nearly filled my battery and supplied the house with power from around 10am until 2pm.

Of course, the winter is very variable, so a few days earlier the panels only generated 0.5kWh, so I had to import from the grid.

I now also have the SEG setup so that I get paid for any export.  I am hoping this is minimal with the battery, but may as well get paid for any I do export.

Sadly, I missed the peak summer with the battery installed, so have not had the experience yet.

I may need to look in a year or two at adding the second battery, depending on how much I have to export next summer to see if the cost is worth it.

In terms of Solar Star Power, the price is very competitive and when the installation team are on site, they are very good.  The only downside I felt was the office admin team lacked communication.  I placed the order, got the installation date of the solar panels, booked time off work and then the person come to put the panels on the roof a day early.

The battery installation date kept getting pushed back, but only when I called them to check was I told.   They then called me saying they had a cancellation and could they come to install it that same day.   Luckily, a family member was home, so it was okay.

Did you manage to get all your companies 10 year warranty and associated paperwork

rjmachin

Oscarmax said:

rjmachin said:

Yes, I now have the solar panels and battery installed.

I am very happy with the system so far.  Yesterday the solar panels nearly filled my battery and supplied the house with power from around 10am until 2pm.

Of course, the winter is very variable, so a few days earlier the panels only generated 0.5kWh, so I had to import from the grid.

I now also have the SEG setup so that I get paid for any export.  I am hoping this is minimal with the battery, but may as well get paid for any I do export.

Sadly, I missed the peak summer with the battery installed, so have not had the experience yet.

I may need to look in a year or two at adding the second battery, depending on how much I have to export next summer to see if the cost is worth it.

In terms of Solar Star Power, the price is very competitive and when the installation team are on site, they are very good.  The only downside I felt was the office admin team lacked communication.  I placed the order, got the installation date of the solar panels, booked time off work and then the person come to put the panels on the roof a day early.

The battery installation date kept getting pushed back, but only when I called them to check was I told.   They then called me saying they had a cancellation and could they come to install it that same day.   Luckily, a family member was home, so it was okay.

Did you manage to get all your companies 10 year warranty and associated paperwork

Yes, I received the 10 year warranty, MCS certificate and building regulation compliance documents sent to me in a pack about a week after installation.

I did have to chase them and western power for the letter/email from the DNO showing they have been notified of the installation that Octopus needed as part of signing up for the SEG tariff

Oscarmax

They fitted our 4.4 solar array in March, I could not fault them, however in October they fitted a Solax AC invertor and master 5.8 battery, the first appointment no on turned up, when we chased them they had not taken delivery of the battery, eventually in October they fitted the battery, however we have been chasing the admin for the 10 year guarantee and associated paperwork since the middle of November, their admin is absolutely diabolical, hopefully one day we will receive it.

rjmachin

Oscarmax said:

They fitted our 4.4 solar array in March, I could not fault them, however in October they fitted a Solax AC invertor and master 5.8 battery, the first appointment no on turned up, when we chased them they had not taken delivery of the battery, eventually in October they fitted the battery, however we have been chasing the admin for the 10 year guarantee and associated paperwork since the middle of November, their admin is absolutely diabolical, hopefully one day we will receive it.

Did you get the paperwork for the solar installation in March?

The paperwork I received was between the solar installation in July and the battery installation in October.   I have not had anything else following the battery install.

Oscarmax

rjmachin said:

Oscarmax said:

They fitted our 4.4 solar array in March, I could not fault them, however in October they fitted a Solax AC invertor and master 5.8 battery, the first appointment no on turned up, when we chased them they had not taken delivery of the battery, eventually in October they fitted the battery, however we have been chasing the admin for the 10 year guarantee and associated paperwork since the middle of November, their admin is absolutely diabolical, hopefully one day we will receive it.

Did you get the paperwork for the solar installation in March?

The paperwork I received was between the solar installation in July and the battery installation in October.   I have not had anything else following the battery install.

We had to chase them for the Solar installation paperwork complete with the HIES insurance based guarantee, I enquire why my iPhone would not connect to to the Solis invertor, they informed it was not part of there service, I did sort it out myself.

Did you receive and a sign a contract prior to the installation, did it cover both the solar and battery installation, if it did it would cover you. If the contract was only for the solar installation you should have receive a separate contact for the battery installation complete with schematic drawing and electric certification. As I found out you need to register your warranties with Solax UK.

We initially never intended to installer a solar battery, however you always intended to fit a solar battery, I am surprised they did not fit a Hybrid invertor which would have been more efficient and saved you around £800 rather than a AC invertor which is less efficient?

rjmachin

Oscarmax said:

rjmachin said:

Oscarmax said:

They fitted our 4.4 solar array in March, I could not fault them, however in October they fitted a Solax AC invertor and master 5.8 battery, the first appointment no on turned up, when we chased them they had not taken delivery of the battery, eventually in October they fitted the battery, however we have been chasing the admin for the 10 year guarantee and associated paperwork since the middle of November, their admin is absolutely diabolical, hopefully one day we will receive it.

Did you get the paperwork for the solar installation in March?

The paperwork I received was between the solar installation in July and the battery installation in October.   I have not had anything else following the battery install.

We had to chase them for the Solar installation paperwork complete with the HIES insurance based guarantee, I enquire why my iPhone would not connect to to the Solis invertor, they informed it was not part of there service, I did sort it out myself.

Did you receive and a sign a contract prior to the installation, did it cover both the solar and battery installation, if it did it would cover you. If the contract was only for the solar installation you should have receive a separate contact for the battery installation complete with schematic drawing and electric certification. As I found out you need to register your warranties with Solax UK.

We initially never intended to installer a solar battery, however you always intended to fit a solar battery, I am surprised they did not fit a Hybrid invertor which would have been more efficient and saved you around £800 rather than a AC invertor which is less efficient?

I purchased myself the wifi dongle for the Solis inverter from ebay so that I had data of the generated electricity from the panels.

I had nor signed no contract for the system.  As I said, communication was really bad (i.e. non-existent) between placing the order, getting the date and then the team turning up to install it.

I did not know about the Solax warranty, I will look into that, thanks for letting me know (I can see a form in the SolaxCloud portal).

I guess as the prices (for battereies) are specified on the website, they use a specific list of equipment rather than customise it for each install.

Oscarmax

rjmachin said:

Oscarmax said:

rjmachin said:

Oscarmax said:

They fitted our 4.4 solar array in March, I could not fault them, however in October they fitted a Solax AC invertor and master 5.8 battery, the first appointment no on turned up, when we chased them they had not taken delivery of the battery, eventually in October they fitted the battery, however we have been chasing the admin for the 10 year guarantee and associated paperwork since the middle of November, their admin is absolutely diabolical, hopefully one day we will receive it.

Did you get the paperwork for the solar installation in March?

The paperwork I received was between the solar installation in July and the battery installation in October.   I have not had anything else following the battery install.

We had to chase them for the Solar installation paperwork complete with the HIES insurance based guarantee, I enquire why my iPhone would not connect to to the Solis invertor, they informed it was not part of there service, I did sort it out myself.

Did you receive and a sign a contract prior to the installation, did it cover both the solar and battery installation, if it did it would cover you. If the contract was only for the solar installation you should have receive a separate contact for the battery installation complete with schematic drawing and electric certification. As I found out you need to register your warranties with Solax UK.

We initially never intended to installer a solar battery, however you always intended to fit a solar battery, I am surprised they did not fit a Hybrid invertor which would have been more efficient and saved you around £800 rather than a AC invertor which is less efficient?

I purchased myself the wifi dongle for the Solis inverter from ebay so that I had data of the generated electricity from the panels.

I had nor signed no contract for the system.  As I said, communication was really bad (i.e. non-existent) between placing the order, getting the date and then the team turning up to install it.

I did not know about the Solax warranty, I will look into that, thanks for letting me know (I can see a form in the SolaxCloud portal).

I guess as the prices (for battereies) are specified on the website, they use a specific list of equipment rather than customise it for each install.

The HIES are now dealing directly with Solar Star Power Ltd on my behalf, I received and signed a contract for my solar panels, however I have not received or signed any paperwork from the battery installation, I found out last week they do not hold the relevant MCS NAPIT registration to install batteries, I am not sure too whether they have DNO registed my battery.

I am assuming you have received your HIES certificates for both your solar and battery installation? before they changed their website in December they highlighted all work backed by insurance based warranty.

rjmachin

I contacted the National Grid following installation and they forwarded me a letter which includes the following, indicating they were advised of storage as well:
"Thank you for providing advanced notice for the connection of integrated micro-generation and storage installations to be connected under the G99 fast-track process"

The HIES certificate only mentions the solar installation, not the battery.

I have now got the 10 year warranty from Solax after I completed the online form earlier, so that is good.

Oscarmax

rjmachin said:

I contacted the National Grid following installation and they forwarded me a letter which includes the following, indicating they were advised of storage as well:
"Thank you for providing advanced notice for the connection of integrated micro-generation and storage installations to be connected under the G99 fast-track process"

The HIES certificate only mentions the solar installation, not the battery.

I have now got the 10 year warranty from Solax after I completed the online form earlier, so that is good.

Looks like I will have to contact the National Grid and update my G98.

I did consider a second Solax battery, apparently it just 2 leads and plug and play, financial it is not cost effective, I have already made a reservation with Ripple Windfarm 

rjmachin

I paid the £25 reservation for the Ripple Windfarm, but did not proceed to putting anymore into it because when I read the terms, it mentioned that the amount you get deducted off your bill (minus the share capital) is treated as interest and counts towards your annual interest allowance.

I was going to invest around £5k, but decided on the solar panels instead