New solar panels- some advice please 12 September 2022 at 10:24AM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 40 replies 2.5K views

rew81

Hello dear forum members,
I'm doing a lot of research and asking for quotes for a 5-6kwp solar panels array coupled with a 5kw battery. 
One of the best quotes (please advise if it is actually a reasonable price) is:
-13x Trina Vertex S+ 415W Dual Glass N-Type (White Backsheet) solar panel;
-G2 GivEnergy 5kW Hybrid inverter
-G2 GivEnergy 5.2kWh LiFePO4 Battery
installed at £10500
I would kindly ask for your feedback on the system and price.
A better system in that budget (£11k)?
What is your opinion on that quote?

Thank you all very much. 

TheTwillows

I am going through a similar exercise and this is how my quote looks:

 
20 off  Trina solar 400 panels TSM-400-DE09.08 1                                             £ 3,430.00
  1 off  6 kW Luxpower solar hybrid inverter                                                         £ 1,800.00
2 off    3.2 kW Greenlinx battery                                                                           £ 3,000.00
All rail, hooks and clamps for an on-roof installation                                                £ 800.00
Electrical sundries                                                                                                    £ 200.00
                                                                                                 Materials Subtotal £ 9,230.00

Quantity Description of Services Warranty Unit Price Amount
1 Scaffold erection to 2 sides of property                                                                 £ 800.00
1 Installation of on-roof solar panels to roof                                                             1,250.00
1 Electrical installation                                                                                              1,400.00
1 NICEIC and MCS certification                                                                               £ 100.00
1 G99 application to local DNO (note: cost is indicative)                                         £ 640.00
                                                                                                Services Subtotal   £ 4,190.00
                                                                             Materials & Services Subtotal £ 13,420.00

I have this quote and another for £18.5K, but with differing specs which I find hard to reconcile. One offering is 6.4 kW of battery and 8.1 kW of pannels, the other is 13.5Kw and 4.07 respectively. My suspicion is lack of attention to detail at the quote stage.

Any ideas?

ABrass

Mediocre in terms of price. Neither good nor terrible. Going larger normally gets better value, so if you've got room then squeezing on another few panels might be worth it.

Screwdriva

Sorry to say, but these prices seem too high for what you are getting.  I would recommend insisting on quality panel manufacturers from global brands- Sharp, Hyundai, Solarwatt are my top 3 picks for 400W black panel options in this market.

Do you really need batteries? Have you done the maths on selling your excess energy at current export prices vs. storing it? For many, you will likely never recover the cost of battery storage, especially without an EV to justify the cheap charging tariffs. Then there's the relatively shorter life vs. the rest of the system.

I would suggest that not rushing into this will save you money and, potentially, future hassles. Try getting a good installer who will supply you with quality components at a fair price. 

rew81

TheTwillows said:

I am going through a similar exercise and this is how my quote looks:

 
20 off  Trina solar 400 panels TSM-400-DE09.08 1                                             £ 3,430.00
  1 off  6 kW Luxpower solar hybrid inverter                                                         £ 1,800.00
2 off    3.2 kW Greenlinx battery                                                                           £ 3,000.00
All rail, hooks and clamps for an on-roof installation                                                £ 800.00
Electrical sundries                                                                                                    £ 200.00
                                                                                                 Materials Subtotal £ 9,230.00

Quantity Description of Services Warranty Unit Price Amount
1 Scaffold erection to 2 sides of property                                                                 £ 800.00
1 Installation of on-roof solar panels to roof                                                             1,250.00
1 Electrical installation                                                                                              1,400.00
1 NICEIC and MCS certification                                                                               £ 100.00
1 G99 application to local DNO (note: cost is indicative)                                         £ 640.00
                                                                                                Services Subtotal   £ 4,190.00
                                                                             Materials & Services Subtotal £ 13,420.00

I have this quote and another for £18.5K, but with differing specs which I find hard to reconcile. One offering is 6.4 kW of battery and 8.1 kW of pannels, the other is 13.5Kw and 4.07 respectively. My suspicion is lack of attention to detail at the quote stage.

Any ideas?

Keep on mind that you or your installer will have to apply for DNO approval, fill the g99 form.
I will also need that.
Trina vertex s+ is the 2022 generation panels, worth looking into that.  Is important to use the most up to date technology (considering the budget) as once up the panels will be there a long time. 
£13k seems ok, obviously I advice to negotiate  and not accept the first price offered. Is in line with what I have received (considering the differences). 

rew81

Screwdriva said:

Sorry to say, but these prices seem too high for what you are getting.  I would recommend insisting on quality panel manufacturers from global brands- Sharp, Hyundai, Solarwatt are my top 3 picks for 400W black panel options in this market.

Do you really need batteries? Have you done the on selling your excess energy at vs. storing it? For many, you will likely never recover the cost of battery storage, especially without an EV to justify the cheap charging tariffs. Then there's the relatively shorter life vs. the rest of the system.

I would suggest that not rushing into this will save you money and, potentially, future hassles. Try getting a good installer who will supply you with quality components at a fair price. 

To be honest I don't see the point of a solar panels system without a storage solution. 
I'm  sure nobody will spend thousands in order to sell energy to the grid with 5p/kw(average price).  Most of the electricity consumption is done in the afternoon when your system will generate less. With or without the battery the roi is nowhere near what all the installers are predicting. For an average price of 10k you are looking easily at 10-12 years. Obviously that varies a lot. The other day an expert was telling me that for a £11.500 ( his quotation ) my roi will be in 3 years. 😅

bengalknights

pretend your a installer and check prices with Segen (they distribute 70% of the renewable tech in the country)

Should give you a fair idea of how much markup is on the quote.

Screwdriva

rew81 said:
To be honest I don't see the point of a solar panels system without a storage solution. 

I'm  sure nobody will spend thousands in order to sell energy to the grid with 5p/kw(average price).  Most of the electricity consumption is done in the afternoon when your system will generate less. With or without the battery the roi is nowhere near what all the installers are predicting. For an average price of 10k you are looking easily at 10-12 years. Obviously that varies a lot. The other day an expert was telling me that for a £11.500 ( his quotation ) my roi will be in 3 years. 😅

If your model assumes a fixed SEG tariff of £0.05p, then yes, consuming your energy makes the most sense. If you assume a variable SEG tariff like Outgoing Agile by Octopus, you are looking at an average of 5X the fixed SEG tariff and rising! Given that most systems export ~70% of total generation, this can drastically alter your assumptions and make prove to be the more sensible choice in your situation. Spend some time with this calculator to get a pretty good indicator! 

ABrass

rew81 said:

Screwdriva said:

Sorry to say, but these prices seem too high for what you are getting.  I would recommend insisting on quality panel manufacturers from global brands- Sharp, Hyundai, Solarwatt are my top 3 picks for 400W black panel options in this market.

Do you really need batteries? Have you done the on selling your excess energy at vs. storing it? For many, you will likely never recover the cost of battery storage, especially without an EV to justify the cheap charging tariffs. Then there's the relatively shorter life vs. the rest of the system.

I would suggest that not rushing into this will save you money and, potentially, future hassles. Try getting a good installer who will supply you with quality components at a fair price. 

To be honest I don't see the point of a solar panels system without a storage solution. 
I'm  sure nobody will spend thousands in order to sell energy to the grid with 5p/kw(average price).  Most of the electricity consumption is done in the afternoon when your system will generate less. With or without the battery the roi is nowhere near what all the installers are predicting. For an average price of 10k you are looking easily at 10-12 years. Obviously that varies a lot. The other day an expert was telling me that for a £11.500 ( his quotation ) my roi will be in 3 years. 😅

If you're already with Octopus then you can get better export rates, but they aren't accepting new customers at the moment so it's academic for most.

Screwdriva

ABrass said:

If you're already with Octopus then you can get better export rates, but they aren't accepting new customers at the moment so it's academic for most.

Two family member households on solar both on Octopus Outgoing this past week. Took a bit of "escalation" but they were put on the tariff in the end. 

Petriix

ABrass said:

rew81 said:

Screwdriva said:

Sorry to say, but these prices seem too high for what you are getting.  I would recommend insisting on quality panel manufacturers from global brands- Sharp, Hyundai, Solarwatt are my top 3 picks for 400W black panel options in this market.

Do you really need batteries? Have you done the on selling your excess energy at vs. storing it? For many, you will likely never recover the cost of battery storage, especially without an EV to justify the cheap charging tariffs. Then there's the relatively shorter life vs. the rest of the system.

I would suggest that not rushing into this will save you money and, potentially, future hassles. Try getting a good installer who will supply you with quality components at a fair price. 

To be honest I don't see the point of a solar panels system without a storage solution. 
I'm  sure nobody will spend thousands in order to sell energy to the grid with 5p/kw(average price).  Most of the electricity consumption is done in the afternoon when your system will generate less. With or without the battery the roi is nowhere near what all the installers are predicting. For an average price of 10k you are looking easily at 10-12 years. Obviously that varies a lot. The other day an expert was telling me that for a £11.500 ( his quotation ) my roi will be in 3 years. 😅

If you're already with Octopus then you can get better export rates, but they aren't accepting new customers at the moment so it's academic for most.

I really don't understand why people keep spreading this false assertion. Octopus are, and never stopped, accepting new customers. I've referred two people in the past week.

As clearly stated on their website, if you think that you might benefit from switching then you should call them.