Solar Panel Quotes - Help

Solarstart001

Hello,

First post here, taking my initial steps on the green journey. I have been a silent reader for the last few days and found it very useful.

Considering installing solar panels on a south facing roof, Manchester area. I would love to get some thoughts on the systems being proposed and the costs quoted.

Annual electricity consumption between 4500-5000 kWh. Looking at a 14 panel system.

Quote 1
DMEGC 405W panels, Sunsynk 3.6KW inverter, Sunsynk 5.12KW battery - £10,500.

Quote 2
Longi 400W panels, Lux 3.6KW inverter, 2x Greenlinx batteries - £11,000.

Quote 3
QPeak 395W panels, Sunsynk 3.6KW inverter, Sunsynk 5.12KW battery - £12,000.

Largely ok with panels, any advice and reviews on the battery / inverted combo would also be much appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance!

Screwdriva

Sorry to share, all 3 quotes are for budget Chinese brands at high end component prices. This practice is endemic in the UK sadly. 

A 14 Panel SHARP 410W panel system + 14 SolarEdge Optimizers + 1 SolarEdge inverter will cost no more than ~£7000 installed. With a 25 year warranty on everything! (I'd be impressed if any of the quoted brands will exist in 25 years)

Assuming you have a heat pump and/ or EV and your annual consumption justifies a battery, you can easily add one to the above. Otherwise, just export your excess to the grid via Octopus Outgoing Agile and enjoy a better return on your investment! 

Solarstart001

Thanks Screwdriva.

None of the quotes have come up with the SHARP panels, I would appreciate a steer if you know of orgs offering what you have suggested. I will look around further.

No EV/Heat pump but I am keen to minimise grid dependence and use as much of what the PVs generate. In my view it would be  more cost effective to minimise import of something that costs 33p/unit (and this is likely to go up?) than maximise export at 5-15p/unit. 

Alnat1

All 3 of the quotes seem fairly typical of prices at the moment. I had 4 companies round to survey before quoting and I already knew before they sent prices through which 2 I would decide between. You need to have confidence in your installer, if there are problems they will be dealing with them, so check for (hopefully genuine) reviews.

Sunsynk seems a popular option recently, seen several posts getting quotes with them, maybe it's what is available to installers right now. I have been happy so far with my Lux inverter.

Might be worth you looking at a new Octopus tariff that will be available shortly called Flux, especially for those with panels and batteries. Should work well when you have quite a lot on the roof.

Solarstart001

Thanks Alnat1.

Currently looking at the installers (reviews etc). Agree, need to pick a business that has some pedigree and will be there in the future if there are any issues.

Solarstart001

Looking at either SWS Northwest or Solar Fast as regards the installer. Anyone with good, bad, ugly experience involving either of the two orgs?

Solarstart001

I have had a 'promotion' from one of the suppliers. 2x 5KW pylontech batteries and 3.6kw SAJ inverter. I think pylontech seems good (based on some research), I havent come across SAJ for the inverter. Any thoughts?

Screwdriva

Both are incredibly low end products. Take view of this and this. Not suggesting you will have the same experience with the hardware but it does highlight the way they treat their customers. I wouldn't install either in my home, even if they were free. 

If you're really keen on a battery, get a Libbi with built in inverter or the GivEnergy 2 inverter + battery combo. 

Waywardmike

@screwdriva Many people have Pylontech batteries and have no problems with them.  You can't take the odd negative experience and claim they're a problem.

You're very keen to push the Libbi, which is strange considering the cost compared with alternatives and your stance on batteries not being a good ROI.  I suppose you won't find a negative experience with them though as they're not even available yet!  As for GivEnergy, the SOC bug that's plaguing most systems is hardly a good selling point.  They do have a fix though in the works, it was supposed to be rolled out 16th December 2022, and yet there's still no update of when/if it will be available.

Bianchiintenso

Personally I'm very happy with the cost/performance of my low end/budget panels batteries and inverter, even the inevitable abhorrent customer service that will eventually come my way from choosing them. 
To anyone thinking of installing Solar/Battery/Inverter get your quotes and go with the company/installer preferably local and established that give you the most confidence, if they've done local installations, see if you can visit/chat to the customers. Don't get put off certain hardware by 'opinions' on the internet.

Officer_Dibble

Agreed Bianchiintenso - my cheap as chips Growatt system's going great guns. Any decent installer's not going to waste time putting stuff in that's going to drive them mad with warranty claims for the next decade, so if they're happy about reliability I'm happy. First year generation 4863kWh vs 4560 PVIS estimate.