Solar panels and battery. Do these sound OK?

Polly05

Think we are going with this quote which includes; 14 x 410W JA Solar panels, a Givenergy 3.0 and a 9.5kW Battery Storage system (AC-Coupled) and Growatt 6000TL inverter.
It mentions that a G99 is required.
Anyone know anything about these parts and anything about a G99? 
Thanks! 

Petriix

For reference the Givenergy 9.5kWh AC kit retails at £4500, the panels are ~ £140 each and the 6000TL £475 (all ex VAT) so ~ £7k for materials. A generous £3k for fitting makes that about £10k max, unless you have a complex install. 

Polly05

Petriix said:

For reference the Givenergy 9.5kWh AC kit retails at £4500, the panels are ~ £140 each and the 6000TL £475 (all ex VAT) so ~ £7k for materials. A generous £3k for fitting makes that about £10k max, unless you have a complex install. 

Ooh. Quote is £11,800. 
Not complex install, I dont think.. 

Alnat1

Petriix said:

For reference the Givenergy 9.5kWh AC kit retails at £4500, the panels are ~ £140 each and the 6000TL £475 (all ex VAT) so ~ £7k for materials. A generous £3k for fitting makes that about £10k max, unless you have a complex install. 

Scaffolding?

Screwdriva

A couple questions for you:

1) Have you received multiple quotes?
2) Any reason why they are using a GivEnergy battery but not an inverter from the same brand? I ask because Growatt is notoriously poor in terms of aftersales support. I'd discount the "I have Growatt and its been working fine" comments - you haven't experienced the true meaning of misery till you attempt a warranty claim from them!

JA Solar are okay but I recommend Sharp or Hyundai or Solarwatt or REC or Panasonic 400W+ panels.

ispookie666

@Polly05
Welcome to the journey! 
Hope you do obtain a few more quotes. 
I have had terrible experience with Givenergy system, it's actually their customer care and after sales support. I do know a few installers have stopped using them! 
But, when it works it's amazing and helps me shift load (95% of my energy usage to E7, during winter months).  
I do have JA solar panels, I'm not that technically minded as @Screwdriva and did not bother to ask for better ones. I'm working with a 10 yr lifespan for the panels! 

Also, Givenergy AC coupled is limited to 3000VA charge and discharge, can be a bit of pain at times, especially when you have house base load and you turn on the kettle. The inverters response time is like a tortoise running a marathon! 

I would suggest you model your solar generation using PVGIS, it's freely available to give you a better idea. 

The only other suggestion would be, get the maximum number of panels you can - they do not need to be on a single roof or south facing. Even panels facing true north will produce some electricity. 

yp70479

I would get several quotes if you can, but prices have gone up hugely in the last year as solar has become more popular with the energy crisis.Make sure the quote includes scaffolding, all electrics and paperwork. Scaffolding costs have also gone up and can easily be £1000, so this may explain why your quote looks higher than just the cost of materials.

https://easy-pv.co.uk/home is an alternative to PVGIS if you want to do modelling.

The D99 is a request that must be sent to your local distribution network (DNO) if your system has the potential to shove a lot of power back into the grid. They have to assess if your local network is capable of supporting it, and may ask you to limit the amount of electricity that you export back to the grid. Your installer can set this limit up when fitting the system if it is required. Be warned - this approval can take a bit of time to come through.

There are a few other things to consider.
Do you have a lot of birds in your area. Pigeons especially love getting under the panels to nest. As bird poo is really acidic this can cause havoc with the wiring, so ask about bird mesh (basically wire netting around the panels) to stop this.

Most people think solar will continue to supply electricity in a power outage. This isn't true unless you ask for it and pay extra. With the battery in place and an AC unit you can run from the battery during a power cut if you have EPS ( and change over switches or  a double socket installed to run extension leads), but your inverter will disconnect from the grid and you won't be able to generate solar power (legal requirement to stop people working on the grid from getting fried). But if you have a hybrid inverter you can continue to generate solar and top up the battery (although you can't export or draw from the grid during the outage). If you go for a Giv Energy hybrid, make sure its Gen 2, as these have a greater discharge capacity than Gen 1

If you have a hot water tank with an immersion heater you can also get a water heating diverter to heat hot water from solar in the summer - but to be fair, it's a toss up if it is cheaper to claim the SEG and pay for water heating with your gas boiler - it all depends who you go with for your export tariff. Talking of SEG - make sure you get a copy of your MCS certificate and the approval letter or email from your installer as you can't apply for an export tariff without it. 

If you go with an AC3 route it isn't unusual to have a different make of inverter. I have a Solis one , but as Screwdriver says - Growatt have a bad rep so I would ask for an alternative. I have Trinia panels and the Giv Energy system (ac3 and 8.2kw battery) and I haven't had any issues, but I know there are a couple of software bugs they have been working on for quite a while

Petriix

Alnat1 said:

Petriix said:

For reference the Givenergy 9.5kWh AC kit retails at £4500, the panels are ~ £140 each and the 6000TL £475 (all ex VAT) so ~ £7k for materials. A generous £3k for fitting makes that about £10k max, unless you have a complex install. 

Scaffolding?

£3k installation = £1k scaffolding, 2 x £300 day rate for installers, £50 for the secretary, £100 for the van, £200 for running the office and a lovely £1k profit for the business owner. Plus they already trousered the trade discount on all the kit. Anything more is just greed. 

Screwdriva

Petriix said:

£3k installation = £1k scaffolding, 2 x £300 day rate for installers, £50 for the secretary, £100 for the van, £200 for running the office and a lovely £1k profit for the business owner. Plus they already trousered the trade discount on all the kit. Anything more is just greed. 

Based on my understanding of actual breakdowns from installers, this ^ is remarkably accurate. Except that scaffolding is closer to £700 and that they often make £100s more for each add on, like bird netting and a hot water diverter etc. 

Sadly, most installers succumb to further incentives to purchase containers from Chinese manufacturers due to their state sponsored trade discounts that exceed the other brands. Today, a Solar business earns closer to ~£1350 pure profit on average per standard job. Most will do two a day. It's no wonder companies like Octopus and Heatable are entering this market! 

ABrass

The majority of Solar Panels are made in China.

A bit dated but in 2021 it was 75% of modules and 96% of wafers.

https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/solar-pv-manufacturing-capacity-by-country-and-region-2021

Screwdriva

ABrass said:

The majority of Solar Panels are made in China.

A bit dated but in 2021 it was 75% of modules and 96% of wafers.

https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/solar-pv-manufacturing-capacity-by-country-and-region-2021

Made in China does not = Owned by China. In my experience, there is a marked difference in the way several Chinese owned brands operate their businesses and treat their customers.