Solar quote advice please
NormanSpiny
Forumite 11 Posts
Hi
Solar newbie here, still gathering info and quotes.
I've been quoted £13585 from ESE group for the following including installation etc:
16 x 410W Longi panels
3.6kW Lux power hybrid inverter
6.4kWh Greenlinx battery
10 PV optimisers
This seems pricey to me. Are these good quality components? Shouldn't there be one optimiser per panel? Any opinions on ESE group? They have told me they are not MCS accredited so won't be able to get a MSC cert to sell any surplus back to the provider. I'm not really bothered about that anyway as the rates are pitiful at the moment and probably not going to improve. Should that be a black flag?
Many thanks
Norman
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Edit: SEG rates are rising- Octopus basic rate now 15p and Agile Outgoing rate is currently consistently higher. Other providers may well improve their own SEG rates so you may as well be prepared with a certified system.
Solar PV 5.25kWp SW facing (14 x 375 Longi) Lux 3.6kw hybrid inverter and 4.8kw Pylontech battery storage installed March 22
Octopus Flux electric and Tracker gas
In terms of value It's lousy. The price is higher than my similar (slightly larger) system which is actually MCS certified and going through G99 now.
The calculation there is assuming you're going to use 87% of your generation? That's nonsense. You're a really high electricity user if you're on 9MWh of power a year, I'm guessing either electric heating of some sort or an EV? In practice it'll be heavily skewed to the summer months so you'll be exporting more than that calculation includes. 30% self consumption is good for a no-battery system, 60% is a good performance for a battery system.
You'd be exporting much more than it says and getting no money at all for it.
https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_installer_reprimanded_by_council_after_hiccups_led_to_potentially_mis
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/beware-letters-offering-free-solar-15015418
Trustpilot is overwhelmingly positive about ESE group. The hegative comments seem to be about spending a couple of hundred pounds a year for a “service contract” which appears to involve an ‘’engineer” who visits and glances at the inverter, doesn’t even look at the panels - and tries to sell a battery. It’s bewildering how many have bought from a non-MCS registered company and seem to be so content. Although reading some of the comments it does look like many are unaware of the limitations of the system they have purchased, ie a single faulty panel knocking out the whole system. It does really illustrate how buying something from a bit of direct mail or advert or cold call and only having a single quote without due diligence has potential consequences.
Like others have suggested, I would ignore anonymous reviews and run in the opposite direction from anyone non-MCS accredited/ HIES registered. A couple questions for you:
1) Where are you located? You should really be paying <£8K for a 6.4kW system with 400W Sharp Panels, SolarEdge inverters and optimizers on every panel, all with a 25 year warranty.
2) Do you really need a battery? If you're not a heavy nighttime user or EV owner, the answer will likely be no and it may make sense to sell your excess energy instead.
- 40% of panels in an East/ West rooftop orientation.
- Viessmann 200-W on Advanced Weather Comp. (the most efficient gas boiler sold)
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 2.5kw inverter. 28MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.