Quote for solar, is this a good price? - Updated

Screwdriva

scarletjim said:

Another question - the opening poster talks about having arrays on multiple roofs - is this generally more costly, panel for panel I mean?

For example, if I was going to have (say) 16 panels on a south facing roof, but instead decided to have 8 on a SE and 8 on a SW, would that be more expensive? If yes, would that additional expense just be the labour cost of putting the scaffolding up twice, or would their be additional hardware or configuration costs for having the 16 panels split between 2 different roofs?

Can't speak from personal experience with other installers but mine did not charge for upto 3 different roof aspects within a certain reasonable distance from each other and as long as the SW and SE aspects were accessible from the roof itself (if that makes sense?)

scarletjim

Screwdriva said:

scarletjim said:

Another question - the opening poster talks about having arrays on multiple roofs - is this generally more costly, panel for panel I mean?

For example, if I was going to have (say) 16 panels on a south facing roof, but instead decided to have 8 on a SE and 8 on a SW, would that be more expensive? If yes, would that additional expense just be the labour cost of putting the scaffolding up twice, or would their be additional hardware or configuration costs for having the 16 panels split between 2 different roofs?

Can't speak from personal experience with other installers but mine did not charge for upto 3 different roof aspects within a certain reasonable distance from each other and as long as the SW and SE aspects were accessible from the roof itself (if that makes sense?)

Makes perfect sense - thanks.

Thevegetarian

Hope you don’t mind me joining. I’ve had a 1.8kw system on my roof since 2011 and I get the higher rate of feed in tariff. I luckily have had no issues at all with it only once the fuse in the inverter blew and it was not your average fuse it took some tracking down. That was a few years ago so with Amazon selling everything it might be easier to get a replacement. Regarding guarantees I was contacted by a local installer informing me because my installer had gone bust I had no warranty, it died with the company. The system works well. For the last 3 months up to 22nd of July it made in money £687. However we use a heck of a lot of electricity and I want a separate system that will power the house the ev and heat water. I can’t and don’t want to export anything back to the grid.  In the last couple of years I have installed solar using a Victron charge controller in my Campervan and I thought that would give me a head start, sadly the more I read the more I realise I have a big learning curve. And before it’s installed I have to convince my wife their worth it. I’ve made costly mistakes in the past one glaring mistake was fitting two air source heat pumps that cost a fortune to buy and run and didn’t heat the house. Their no longer connected but are hanging on my back wall. Must get the research sorted. John

ispookie666

scarletjim said:

Another question - the opening poster talks about having arrays on multiple roofs - is this generally more costly, panel for panel I mean?

For example, if I was going to have (say) 16 panels on a south facing roof, but instead decided to have 8 on a SE and 8 on a SW, would that be more expensive? If yes, would that additional expense just be the labour cost of putting the scaffolding up twice, or would their be additional hardware or configuration costs for having the 16 panels split between 2 different roofs?

If the choice is S facing roof Vs Split SE and SW - don't do it. The panels on S facing roof will generate far more and would be a heck lot cheaper install. You will loose a lot of generation when the sun is low in the sky months. 
Split roof installs are usually expensive - scaffolding, rails, additional cabling, invertors which can have dual MPPT. The installs will often factor these in when providing a quote. 

I have panels over four roofs as 12 - 4 - 3 and 1, running Enphase IQ7+ micro inverters. Seems to work ok and do have panel level/micro inverter level monitoring but have 20 different points of failure compared to a single string inverter. 

DragonQ

It feels like prices have gone pretty crazy recently, presumably due to:

• inflation of source material prices;
• knowing they can get away with increased pricing with similar payback periods (due to higher electricity prices);
• surge in demand.

I contacted half a dozen local installers and only one came back to me, so it's not like there's much competition either. £12k for a 6kWp system, 10kWh battery, 5kW inverter, and Zappi charge point. The charge point would be a grand by itself so say £11k for the rest. Feels like it would've been about £2k less two years ago, even with the new 0% VAT rate!

QrizB

DragonQ said:

£12k for a 6kWp system, 10kWh battery, 5kW inverter, and Zappi charge point. The charge point would be a grand by itself so say £11k for the rest. Feels like it would've been about £2k less two years ago, even with the new 0% VAT rate!

That's not a bad price. £6k for solar (£1/watt), £5k for battery (£500/kWh), £1k for Zappi.

The only bit that's more than it would have been a year ago is the battery; they were getting down towards £350/kWh for a while.

ccbrowning

I'm looking at 15-16K for the same thing up here, so that seems like a good deal at 12k. (16x395w, 6 of those with solaredge), solaredge inverter, 9.5kW battery, and an Eddy. GSE mounting though, which adds to it.

Hadem

How are you guys getting such low quotes? Cheapest I have managed thusfar, that I'm about to take, is 12x400w split east west 3.6kwh battery iboost and pidgeon nets for 11k? (east anglia) 

Coastalwatch

Hadem said:

How are you guys getting such low quotes? Cheapest I have managed thusfar, that I'm about to take, is 12x400w split east west 3.6kwh battery iboost and pidgeon nets for 11k? (east anglia) 

Have you tried Greenscape or CJ Solar!

Raxiel

Just and update to this thread.

After getting a referral from @Screwdriva we opted for a system from Light Renewables. I did have some anxiety over their reputation, but the complaints seemed to be largely related to the timely completion of paperwork after install and not about the install itself.

Given that their quote was so much better than anyone else's in terms of product and price, even a couple of years delay in SEG payments wouldn't touch the saving we were looking at, I decided it was worth the risk.

9x Sharp 400W panels with SolarEdge optimisers, and Solaredge Wave inverter.

There was some poor communication over an issue with their MCS & HIES certification back in August that spooked me into cancelling and then rebooking (when it was resolved) and delaying my install by about 6 weeks due to loosing my September slot, but they turned up on Wednesday as agreed and had the whole system commissioned in about 4-5 hours*. MCS, DNO and Building Regs paperwork was in my inbox 48 hours later, despite them warning me they'd been seeing delays from the DNO of over a month.

*They were able to repurpose the old 40A feed that ran from the distribution board to the loft space above the bathroom that had previously fed an electric shower and has been dormant ever since, so they didn't have to rip up any floors or drill any holes or leave any exposed cable runs, which saved a fair bit of time.

So, I really can't complain. The service was good, and so was the price.

 

Of course, sods law, the day after the system came online the clouds rolled in, so I'm yet to see it in full sun, but we've managed a few hundred Watts through much of the gloom and got a peak of about a kW a couple of times.

 I'm already with Octopus, so it's a no brainer to apply to them for an export tariff, went with the fixed 15p/kWh for now because Agile seems to be averaging below that lately, but it's not like I can't change later if it gets better.