Solar Panel Install

pmartin86

Evening All

Been looking at Solar panels for the last year or so since we moved in, now looking at going forward, had a couple of quotes all in the same ballpark, but just wanted to double check I'm not missing anything, in south wales if that helps.

7.7kw System consisting of

20 x 385w Panels
1 x 5kwh Battery
1 x Energy Storage Hybrid 5G Inverter 6kW of Inverter Power

The preferred quote (based on the company's reputation + competitive price) is £13,022 fully installed, that includes all scaffolding etc. and cable runs to the CU (Additional work will be done to move the CU, but that's a "separate" job.

We also have the option of adding a second 5kw battery for just under 3k.

I'm mildly sceptical of the actual performance based on the projections, but again, all the quotes are broadly similar in their estimations, this one is actually the "lowest" expected generation despite all 3 quotes being for 20 x 385.

If it helps explain things, we are a high usage household (currently 6,000 khw per year) and with 2 kids who are 6 and 3, I can only see usage creeping up over time. Power usage is fairly consistent through the day, both myself and wife WFH and myself at least will continue indefinitely.

Any thoughts appreciated.    
 

Spies

To me being quoted an extra battery for £3k seems excessive so I'm not convinced about the rest of the quote. 

pmartin86

Can you point out "cheaper" ones? Seemed "about right" to me when i looked them up, but thats exactly why I'm asking!

superdevx

End of last year, in SE England, I was quoted around £8.8k for 12 345W panels (got upgraded to 385W for no charge at the time) including a 7.2kWh battery, all scaffolding, hybrid inverter, bird proofing, and all installation costs. By the time they installed it the VAT cut had happened so we got about £500 off. Your quote doesn't seem crazy to me based on the scarcity of parts and demand for panels at the moment, but I'd be wary of the manufacturer you're getting. Our panels themselves are great but I'm not convinced the battery's been worth it in our case... it sometimes charges from the grid even when we're getting enough solar to power the whole house, inexplicably, and I suspect it's a problem with the inverter. The inverter is made by a company (Solis) who have extremely slow customer service so I'd check reviews of inverter manufacturers before you jump.

pmartin86

Thanks for your input - as it happens, we are still trying to nail down exactly what we want and need, trying to get the balance between now and 10 years down the line etc so it's been a fun process. The panels are actualy these ones:

JA Solar JAM60S20-385/MR BF (tradesparky.com)

Which seem to be reasonably well reviewed.

The inverter is in fact a Solis, but that was the one bit i was less concerned about as they seemed to have very good reviews, so now I'm slightly worried!

Assuming the battery works as intended, it will likely be very useful for our particular circumstances - I work in the IT field and can sometimes have 2 enterprise grade servers running overnight, being able to run those for "free" on good days would be a dent in the bills alone - at current rates (30~kwh) they run at about £2 each per day which can add up quite rapidly - On the flip side, I'd need to travel a roughly 70 mile round trip each day I needed them if I didn't have them at home, so still well worth it compared to travel time and fuel costs.

I'll have to have a chat with the tame installer and ask what their thoughts are on the inverter, and what exactly their "own" warraty covers (They have offered and additional 3 years warranty for faults on top of the manufacturer) oh, and the price does include everything else you mentioned too, scaffolding to 2 aspects of the house, all install costs etc.

Kuly

I'm being quoted 20k for similar setup. Based on your quote I'm being robbed! Was hoping it would be something like yours. The fact I'm in southern UK should not lead to 50% price diff.

You have a decent quote.