Solar panels- advice needed

Petriix

Slinky said:

Had a 'drive by' from a solar company this morning, came back with the following:

Solar PV & Battery storage system.

X10 Canadian Solar Panels (400) 

GIVEnergy Hybrid Inverter (3.6kw)

GIVEnergy Battery storage (9.5kw) (haven't explained why this size)

Bird catchers 

All electrical works

Fully Installed and Commissioned

Scaffolding

Price £13,500

Is making the council scheme seem a little more attractive!

Got another visiting next Wednesday.

The retail price for the Givenergy 9.5 kWh hybrid kit is £5,500 and those panels are £168 each (all inclusive of VAT). There may be another £500 of kit being generous, so under £8k. They're basically charging £5,500 for scaffolding and installation and trousering any trade discount and the VAT too. 

Screwdriva

Slinky said:

Price £13,500

Is making the council scheme seem a little more attractive!

Got another visiting next Wednesday.

Compared to the < £6K + battery quote shared above for the superior 410W Sharp panel, I'd say these drive by jokers are over quoting by atleast £3K and hoping to get lucky! 

Slinky

Screwdriva said:

Slinky said:

Price £13,500

Is making the council scheme seem a little more attractive!

Got another visiting next Wednesday.

Compared to the < £6K + battery quote shared above for the superior 410W Sharp panel, I'd say these drive by jokers are over quoting by atleast £3K and hoping to get lucky! 

It's hard trying to find anybody quoting less round here though! It's not like we're able to DIY.

rickyrickuk

Slinky said:

Screwdriva said:

Slinky said:

Price £13,500

Is making the council scheme seem a little more attractive!

Got another visiting next Wednesday.

Compared to the < £6K + battery quote shared above for the superior 410W Sharp panel, I'd say these drive by jokers are over quoting by atleast £3K and hoping to get lucky! 

It's hard trying to find anybody quoting less round here though! It's not like we're able to DIY.

Similar for me, had 4 quotes for a 4kW Solar with 6kW Inverter and 5kw battery and all quotes between £11k and £13k

UncleK

We had 3x 6.5kW Growatt batteries plus cable kit and 125A DC disconnect switches supplied for £6,426 and installed for £350 in November last year all zero VAT as part of an earlier solar install. I was seeing battery prices almost double that at the time. My solar panel price is well out of date so maybe less valid.

rickyrickuk

Can anyone recommend any installers for the Hertfordshire area?

propnut

You can try the MCS website but be advised that in my experience MCS registered doesn't equate to professional, ethical or being able to spell customer service. I could write a novel about the comedy of errors and mistruths I experienced in my solar journey.

Shortsy

I thought I'd post an update as I finally got round to getting PV panels up and have had a good experience with the install, which might have some useful information for others.

I got a 4.25 panel system (10x425W Sharp) fitted in the layout that I'd planned, so it looks very neat from outside and maximizes the space. The system included bird netting, SolarEdge optimisers, inverter, scaffold, guarantees, electrics, commissioning and all the paperwork (building regs, MCS and DNO acceptance). No battery.

It only took two weeks from agreeing the quote and getting the contract signed with deposit paid to getting the system in. The survey was fine and the design did not change. The scaffolding went up two days before and was removed after one week. The staff were great on the day, and the electrics did not need to go off for any significant time. The roofing team arrived first, then the electricians and it was all done and commissioned the same day.

The paperwork arrived over the next two working days and I was able to apply for export payments with an export reading at that point, so that should lock in SEG contributions from now whilst the papers are done. I needed to go online to understand how to read my smart meter properly, and it wasn't obvious what the DNO number was, but I was able to find it in the end.

I was content with the price I paid at 5.75K, which worked out as 1.43/W installed, which matched what I'd been quoted in 2021 and beat other quotes since, plus made the best possible use of the roof space.

A few reflections:
- It's worth holding out for the right layout for your house so that it's both efficient and good looking. You can plan it yourself in advance by measuring your roof space and trying some standard panel sizes (many are 1.7x1m, but they seem to get bigger all the time). Many installers weren't interested in doing that. One even refused to believe that I'd converted my loft from a hip to a gable and refused to quote!
- If like me you are doing a loft conversion, you can plan it together. My skylight position worked really well and that was no fluke. It also gives great access for cleaning.
- Also think carefully about where the cable runs should go and where the inverter should go. I'm very happy with my solution, which is cables down the end terrace wall, inverter in the ground floor cloakroom with isolator and panel meter next to the smart meter. I'd discussed this during the survey and it was installed in the same way. I hadn't realised that there was an isolator and second meter to include, but they aren't very large.
- On the day, the staff don't need to access much from inside, but be there all day to have a look at the parts as they come off, see the install as it goes on, and check that the app works on your phone and you can see the system, and receive the inverter manual.
- Check the paperwork for the guarantees, there should be two, one for the parts and one for the installation. My contract documents had a discrepancy on the installation guarantee, which was clarified to be the higher value (10 years rather than 5). On completion, the installation guarantee I was sent still said 5 years, so on challenging it was corrected to 10 years. This would also be important if you are selling the house on one day.

The weather has been poor in the few days we've had the system. The first day had some sun and generated about 11.5, the next two days were dark and wet at 1.5-2, and today a bit brighter at about 4. We didn't export on the wet days, it was all used up in our base load. You can check your meter to see how much you've used, imported and exported. At it's peak on Saturday lunchtime when the sun was out, I was able to cook lunch in the oven without drawing from the mains. It will be interesting to see how it performs in the sunny months.

Thank you so much to @Screwdriva for the advice and finding the installers; he has helped a lot of forum members previously and would well worth messaging if you are thinking of installing a system.

Shortsy

Correction... 1.35/W