Solar panels

madminiman

I have solar Panels which I sell my energy to the Grid, as the cost to buy gas & electricity has gone up why don’t I get paid more?
is it best to get paid for the energy from my solar panels or is it best to use my own generated electricity?

[Deleted User]

Use it.

If you have FiT, then what you get paid goes up each year anyway.  If you don't like that arrangement, try SEG.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6375943/solar-energy-feed-in-tariff

Petriix

Octopus have just increased their outgoing rate to 15p per kWh, that's if you're not on Agile Outgoing which is variable but sometimes hits 60p per kWh. Anyone can get these rates apart from people on Go, Go Faster and Intelligent. Even if you're on the old FIT, you can opt out of the deemed exports and sign up with Octopus for SEG payments. Otherwise the FIT and deemed exports have increased at RPI which was close to 10% this year...

By any objective measure the payments have indeed gone up. 

Hecky232

Solar panels can not only reduce your energy costs but also generate income for you. And don't worry, even on cloudy days, panels can still produce some electricity, which is necessary when the weather is as boring as watching paint dry. But given that solar panels typically cost £6,500, there are a few things to know in order to determine whether the numbers add up.

Astria

Hecky232 said:

Solar panels can not only reduce your energy costs but also generate income for you. And don't worry, even on cloudy days, panels can still produce some electricity, which is necessary when the weather is as boring as watching paint dry. But given that solar panels typically cost £6,500, there are a few things to know in order to determine whether the numbers add up.

Solar panels installed by a typical company can cost £6.500 (and upto 10K from some companies), but panels installed by yourself can cost as little as 33p/watt, but you'll need a qualified electrician and possibly additional equipment if you want to tie it to the grid.

My own kit installed by myself, including 100ah battery and 4kW of solar panels cost less than £2000 to install. It's completely separate from the grid and runs my office and lounge. High drain appliances such as shower, kettle, oven are still connected to the grid.

theshed

Astria said

Solar panels installed by a typical company can cost £6.500 (and upto 10K from some companies), but panels installed by yourself can cost as little as 33p/watt, but you'll need a qualified electrician and possibly additional equipment if you want to tie it to the grid.

My own kit installed by myself, including 100ah battery and 4kW of solar panels cost less than £2000 to install. It's completely separate from the grid and runs my office and lounge. High drain appliances such as shower, kettle, oven are still connected to the grid.

Can I ask where you purchased your battery ? I have made contact with a couple of companies advertising batteries but the price and service varies widely. I like you would like to buy my own and have it installed, I already have Solar panels.
Thanks

rodmaker

theshed said:

Astria said

Solar panels installed by a typical company can cost £6.500 (and upto 10K from some companies), but panels installed by yourself can cost as little as 33p/watt, but you'll need a qualified electrician and possibly additional equipment if you want to tie it to the grid.

My own kit installed by myself, including 100ah battery and 4kW of solar panels cost less than £2000 to install. It's completely separate from the grid and runs my office and lounge. High drain appliances such as shower, kettle, oven are still connected to the grid.

Can I ask where you purchased your battery ? I have made contact with a couple of companies advertising batteries but the price and service varies widely. I like you would like to buy my own and have it installed, I already have Solar panels.
Thanks

I sourced my 100amp lifep04 batteries from an Amazon seller at a very good price. I've since bought four from the same amazon seller. All have arrived with no issues within a week and all of them are doing fine.

Astria you will find that in the winter 100 amps is not enough. I've added batteries as needed and have found by trial and error that around 400 amps and five 120 watt panels fills my needs and gives us 16 hours of good power and leaves us some power in reserve each day to run some things overnight..

We have oil heating and run the pump for that from the batteries, they also power a 55" tv, the internet modem, varius chargers, all the living room lighting and two laptops off the energy produced by a 20 amp charger. We are on Eco 7. The charger runs on off peak for 7 hours and the battery is boosted with what sun power is availible each day.
Our controler is an mppt type. The inverter is only 600 watts at the moment and is on the limit of the load it will power. I have a 3000 watt one on order that will run higher power items. All in the whole lot cost around £2500.

I don't look on getting a return on this or even breaking even. It is just a pet project I stated to stop the energy companies holding me to ransom.

InvertedVee

@Astria and @rodmaker don't mention the voltage of their batteries and panels. I guess they are using 12V leisure batteries with an inverter to give 240V for mains-rated appliances. Similar to caravans and motorhomes. 

And there's a bit of a muddle with their A and Ah.

rodmaker

Sorry should have been clearer. The panels are 12 volt and on max sun each produce 6.5 amps. Batteries are 100 ah. 12.8 volt lifep04 (lithium)and are wired in parallel and feed a 30 amp mppt charge controller. The Inverter produces 225 volts, slightly down on full mains voltage and runs every 240volt rated item without any bother.

Astria

theshed said:

Astria said

Solar panels installed by a typical company can cost £6.500 (and upto 10K from some companies), but panels installed by yourself can cost as little as 33p/watt, but you'll need a qualified electrician and possibly additional equipment if you want to tie it to the grid.

My own kit installed by myself, including 100ah battery and 4kW of solar panels cost less than £2000 to install. It's completely separate from the grid and runs my office and lounge. High drain appliances such as shower, kettle, oven are still connected to the grid.

Can I ask where you purchased your battery ? I have made contact with a couple of companies advertising batteries but the price and service varies widely. I like you would like to buy my own and have it installed, I already have Solar panels.
Thanks

I actually bought 4x3.2v cells from a seller on ebay advertised as brand new, connected them up in series to give 12V then used a BMS (battery management system) also from ebay which sits on a board just above the batteries which keeps tabs on battery temperature and balancing. I'm actually considering buying another 4 cells and running them in parallel with the existing set to give more capacity, but I'm also thinking of changing to 24V (8x3.2v), but that means changing the inverter as well so might leave that a while.

100Ah lasts me about 5 hours without sunlight. All batteries are LiFePO4.

Was also considering moving to Octopus and charging them overnight.

dunstonh

Solar panels installed by a typical company can cost £6.500 (and upto 10K from some companies),

I would avoid using "upto" as that could confuse some people.   Our installation quote is heading towards £20k and I expect it to end up just over.