Solar panels and battery. Do these sound OK?

Polly05

Oh I must admit, I am a bit lost with it all. 

We have had 5 quotes now. We are thinking of going with that one simply because we have heard of quite a few people who have used them.

Another company supply Canadian solar panels with ningo ginlong inverter and a puredrive battery.

Another company uses hengdian panels and Growatt inverter and battery. But company doesn't have great reviews.... 

yp70479

Do you actually know the people that have used them? If you can get to talk to any of them about what they have had fitted, the installation process and any issues they have had, that is probably worth more than anything we can say on this forum. I looked on google maps to see who else on my estate had panels and the went and knocked on their door. Some were a bit surprised but all were happy to have a quick chat. Don't bother with any roof that has very small panels as they were usually fitted a while ago. Go with a friend if you don't fancy doing it on your own. 

ecraig

And, if you can, although it's not the most convenient, ask to see a pic of the inverter or cabling work.
It's nice to see lovely panels on the roof, but the neatness of the "back office" will also tell a story about the quality of pride and workmanship. 

Screwdriva

Polly05 said:

Oh I must admit, I am a bit lost with it all. 

We have had 5 quotes now. We are thinking of going with that one simply because we have heard of quite a few people who have used them.

Another company supply Canadian solar panels with ningo ginlong inverter and a puredrive battery.

Another company uses hengdian panels and Growatt inverter and battery. But company doesn't have great reviews.... 

Candian Solar are Canadian in name only. All brands in the subsequent quotes are either terrible or unknown to me. 

If you are keen to install right away, go with the initial quote you shared but insist on the GivEnergy inverter/ battery, which is a better bet than Growatt. If you can give yourself a few weeks, start with your ideal spec and work backwards with any installer willing to supply and fit it.

As an example, for me it would be:

Either Sharp / Hyundai/ Solarwatt / REC or Panasonic Panels married to a Tesla Powerwall 2 or Libbi battery with built in inverter.  Then, find an installer to fit it. Even in this market, decent ones are out there! 

Best of luck! 

yp70479

Your installer may be reluctant to go for the panel Screwdriver suggests. Most have accounts with the big solar panels wholesalers (Midsummer and Segen)and with the exception of REC panels (from Segen) they don't stock these brands. I checked out a few of the smaller wholesalers and found one that stocks Hyundai and one (Alternenergy) that stocks Sharp and Solarwatt - although they carry less stock of these makes. Most suppliers offer JA Solar,Jinko,Trinia, Perlite, Canadian Solar, Longi or Solar Edge. We would all love a Tesla power wall (huge storage, lots of cycles, 10 year guarantee  and gateway for running off grid in a power cut) but few of us can afford £10550 - £12000+ for a battery. . Go with the quote you feel comfortable with and can afford, but definitely swap out the Growatt inverter.

Screwdriva

yp70479 said:

Your installer may be reluctant to go for the panel Screwdriver suggests. Most have accounts with the big solar panels wholesalers (Midsummer and Segen)and with the exception of REC panels (from Segen) they don't stock these brands. I checked out a few of the smaller wholesalers and found one that stocks Hyundai and one (Alternenergy) that stocks Sharp and Solarwatt - although they carry less stock of these makes. Most suppliers offer JA Solar,Jinko,Trinia, Perlite, Canadian Solar, Longi or Solar Edge. We would all love a Tesla power wall (huge storage, lots of cycles, 10 year guarantee  and gateway for running off grid in a power cut) but few of us can afford £10550 - £12000+ for a battery. . Go with the quote you feel comfortable with and can afford, but definitely swap out the Growatt inverter.

Sadly, this is somewhat accurate as I eluded to above - a massive predatory flooding of the UK market by State subsidized Chinese brands, which have largely displaced other manufacturers. 

Fortunately, some installers now purchase containers of panels directly from manufacturers themselves (I know of this practice with Sharp and Hyundai), so the right installer will offer the brands recommended to you, despite the pessimism shared above.

I would rate battery+inverter solutions as follows: Tesla Powerwall (13 kW @ £11K installed > Libbi (10 kW @ £9K installed) > GivEnergy. Always go with the best you can afford! (There is of course the other school of thought which is go as cheap as you can, but in my experience, that rarely proves financially sensible.)

ABrass

To provide balance, I wouldn't worry that much about brand names for the panels.

Spending extra on premium devices from niche manufacturers is ok if you really want to but we don't know it's worth doing. I don't think there is any evidence to show that they work better or are more reliable is there?

For batteries I would focus on availability, support and scalability. If I were buying my system again I'd have gone for a Pylontech system.

ispookie666

@Screwdriva Tesla is probably the one which has been in the market for long. Givenergy is hit and miss, Libby.. only time will tell. 

I'm curious as to why you do not push for Victron - they have fantastic range of kit, fantastic/expensive battery and have been in the market for years and years. 

Plenty more Li batteries from great manufacturers, it's a shame we don't have the same amount of choice compared to those on the other side of the pond. 

Screwdriva

ispookie666 said:

I'm curious as to why you do not push for Victron - they have fantastic range of kit, fantastic/expensive battery and have been in the market for years and years. 

I try to recommend or advise against products where I, or an opinion I trust, have had positive or negative experiences. We have direct experience with a Powerwall and I know 3 installers who have taken the Libbi training who have nothing but positive things to say about the K-Star battery platform. 

It's funny you should raise Victron. I know of a Dutch/Estonian household who has insisted on them recently - I will request to be present during installation/ commissioning. Do you know of anyone who has installed them? Very curious to see an implementation up and running!

ispookie666

I used to have a Multiples II 3000VA along with DIY batteries which used to run my old fish tank in sort of Island mode (I did not notify the DNO 🙈). It was an amazing piece of kit, I only fully appreciated the quality after installing Givenergy. I did run it with Venus GX and their ESS was miles better than the GivEnergy portal. The inverters do have a premium attached but the batteries are expensive! 

There is a chap on YouTube, I'm sure most people have seen! He does have Victron Multiplus, I think 5000VA.  It's not a closed system like Givenergy or Tesla or Libbi etc, in the sense you can use different battery manufacturer or even DiY using BatteryMon or the fancy Electrodacus (they are like gold dust!) 

Finding installer is the problem, as they are targeting the marine/boats in UK.