New solar panels- some advice please

Alnat1

If you can give Octopus a reason why you would benefit from being a customer then they are happy to accept you. This can be something they do better than other companies but also if there's something your present company is bad at.

Screwdriva

Petriix said:

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.

As I spend more time on these forums, I've come to realize that a few members are militant in their own belief systems (and associated purchases) and won't hesitate to slander an alternative viewpoint. 

Batteries are a great example. Even when the numbers clearly fail to prove storage is as financially favorable as it was when all SEG tariffs were <10p per kWh, conspiracy theories about the impending demise of Outgoing Agile were shared without hesitation, despite being remotely possible (at best). 

ispookie666

@rew81 @TheTwillows
There has definitely been price inflation with the ongoing energy crisis. With the size of your systems, you are unlikely to get any benefit of going with premium models as your inverter will be limiting what will be converted into usable energy. You might struggle to find cheaper quotes in the current climate, I'm being a realist   

As a Givenergy user, I have not had great experience with them.  When my inverter was faulty, the customer service was appalling. Their batteries have problem displaying accurate state of charge - the company have some nonsense excuse and given that there are half a dozen EV manufacturers, they are just talking porkies.  

I am a firm believer that maximising self consumption is the way to go, which includes diverter to hot water tank and battery.  There are lots of things which do not make economic sense and I find it really difficult to understand when people discuss solar/battery , the first thing is ROI.  

Your biggest problem will be 
1. getting an installation date 
2. DNO permission (if going down G99) 
3. material availability - Givenergy are pants in this department

Having following the solar market since 2015, the only regret I had with the first solar install was not having a battery 

Waywardmike

I have a battery.  Not a huge one, but generally sufficient to cover our needs till the early morning if it fills up the day before, which it always does in summer.

My ROI may be slightly different as it's AC coupled, I gain a FIT from my PV system which was fitted in 2014.  I'm still not sure I'll get my money back from the battery if I'm honest, also as it was a battery only install I had to pay VAT. 

That being said, I LOVE it! Some days we import less than 0.5kWh.  That feel good factor is priceless to me.

Our usage pattern benefits from having a battery.  We're out during the day.  I pretty much exported about 80% of what I made in the past.  I had an unvented cylinder fitted and iBoost 3 years ago which helped somewhat, but even from cold the immersion will only take ~4kWh. so again we exported loads.

I'll also say, initially I wanted a Givenergy system, but the lead times were insane and I'm wildly impatient so I went pure Chinesium with a Growatt system that was fitted in less than month.  Maybe the wrong choice, as I've heard support can be sketchy, but it cost considerably less and has performed flawlessly since fitted.  Only time will tell, if I don't need any support (it has a 10 year warranty), it was the right choice IMO.

If you do go Givenergy, I'd advise not joining their Facebook group.  I know people only post when they have problems but it's a very disgruntled forum and the last thing you want to read is numerous posts a day from people not happy, and not hear from the 95% of people who are enjoying their systems with no issues.

rew81

Waywardmike said:

I have a battery.  Not a huge one, but generally sufficient to cover our needs till the early morning if it fills up the day before, which it always does in summer.

My ROI may be slightly different as it's AC coupled, I gain a FIT from my PV system which was fitted in 2014.  I'm still not sure I'll get my money back from the battery if I'm honest, also as it was a battery only install I had to pay VAT. 

That being said, I LOVE it! Some days we import less than 0.5kWh.  That feel good factor is priceless to me.

Our usage pattern benefits from having a battery.  We're out during the day.  I pretty much exported about 80% of what I made in the past.  I had an unvented cylinder fitted and iBoost 3 years ago which helped somewhat, but even from cold the immersion will only take ~4kWh. so again we exported loads.

I'll also say, initially I wanted a Givenergy system, but the lead times were insane and I'm wildly impatient so I went pure Chinesium with a Growatt system that was fitted in less than month.  Maybe the wrong choice, as I've heard support can be sketchy, but it cost considerably less and has performed flawlessly since fitted.  Only time will tell, if I don't need any support (it has a 10 year warranty), it was the right choice IMO.

If you do go Givenergy, I'd advise not joining their Facebook group.  I know people only post when they have problems but it's a very disgruntled forum and the last thing you want to read is numerous posts a day from people not happy, and not hear from the 95% of people who are enjoying their systems with no issues.

Great feedback, it helps a lot newbies like me.
I'm also having a similar electricity consumption, 80% of it in the afternoon- evening when the generation gets close to 0.
I'm debating if I should start with a 6.5kwh or bigger battery to cover the afternoon-evening-next day morning. 

Waywardmike

I already got a bit carried away and got a quote for another 6.5kWh battery to be fitted.  After looking at my generation, current battery and also hot water diversion, there are very few days I'd generate enough to fill 13kWh.

I'm questioning whether I'd get payback on the battery I have, no way on earth I would with a second one.

That being said, I'm now toying with the idea of getting a second PV system (so the second battery will be VAT free), which would increase generation.

Not sure I'll ever get payback from that either, but like I mentioned the feel good factor is hard to describe and especially hard to value in monetary terms.  You do run the risk of being a bit of a smug ****head, so watch out for that.

ABrass

My battery never makes it through the night. I've got a quote for another 6.5kWh battery to add on and have started running numbers (£2550) - also a Growatt.

For me the calculation is:

Daily return = (N X (C-P))

N =number of kWh that I could have generated, stored and used with an extra battery in a 24hr period 
C = cost per kWh purchased
P = price for each kWh I export.

For the battery to pay for itself over 10 years I'd need the average day to generate and self consume around 2.5kWh more on my current prices and SEG.

Right now that's happening most days, but over summer I probably wouldn't need as much storage and over winter even with a large array I may not generate enough power to fill one, let alone 2 batteries.

I'm going to wait for a years data before buying more.

Waywardmike

ABrass said:

My battery never makes it through the night. I've got a quote for another 6.5kWh battery to add on and have started running numbers (£2550) - also a Growatt.

Is that £2550 fitted?  I was quoted £3000 fitted for the second one.  At £2550 I'd be more tempted, but like you want to get more data before I commit.

Probably helps that you have double the PV array I have, which is why I'm considering a second PV system.

Just run the numbers on your calculation. (using monthly export, so assuming I captured it all, which wouldn't be the case on some days).

I also omitted 'P' as I'm on deemed export. Since May, when I started capturing data more accurately using Solar Assistant, I would have saved £121.82 (also assuming 10% losses on AC-DC-AC conversion).

Makes a second battery even more unattractive from a ROI point.  Still want one though!

rew81

I have narrowed down to 3 quotations:

1. Solarwatt 400w 15 panels 
     Huawei hybrid inverter 3.68kw 
     Huawei 5kw battery 
             installed for 13400

2.   Trina vertex s + 415w 15 panels 
        G2 GivEnergy 5.2kWh LiFePO4 Battery
        G2 GivEnergy 5kW Hybrid inverter
               installed for £11.000

3      12 x 400w Sharp solar panels,
          12 x Solar optimizers. 25 Year warranty
          1 x Solar Edge HD Wave single phase SE3680H inverter[Battery ready inverter] 25 year product warranty
          1 x Growatt SPA3000 AC/DC controller 10 year warranty
        1 x Growatt GBL16532 6.5kh battery 10 year warranty
     1 x Emergency power backup supply.
            installed for £10500(thank you to a very helpful forum member) 

Any opinions? What would you chose?

rew81

Is it worth paying £2k more for a premium brand (Solarwatt)? Trina and Sharp are also offering 30-25 years or warranty. All are Tier 1 companies.