Ballpark prices for solar panels.

heartfield

I'm asking how long is a piece of string. We have explored how viable solar panels would be on a couple of occasions. Firms have advised, but we never purchased. Now we have had a reasonable five figure addition to our finances, which makes it likely doable.

Our roof can take up to 16 panels it is claimed. We have no trees, or the like, shading, so don't need edging(?) on  panels. We also know that battery storage could keep a reserve for us, and we could install power points for an EV.

Thats a bit of background. The piece of string question is, what 'ball park' prices should we be looking at, and what options might we consider.
Thank you.

Niv

The prices for systems has sky rocketed over the last year or so which mean you will find many saying any quote you receive is overpriced. The best thing you can do is get a few quotes and post the details here and people will give feedback. If it is at all helpful some were saying you should aim for £1 per watt (excluding batteries) - I think thats pie in the sky tbh, my system works out at£1.30 per watt.

rjmachin

A year ago, I had the following quote:

• 14x JA Solar All Black 370W panels (5.18kW array) - £5,216.42
• Solax 5.8 kWh battery - £4,426.09

Total: £9,642.51

However, that was around a year ago, and prices have increased since then following the energy and inflation increases.

Screwdriva

If your annual consumption is under 3500 kWh per annum, a battery makes nearly no fiscal sense.

16 X Sharp 410W Panels + 16 SolarEdge Optimizers + SE inverter will cost you £7500 installed. 20+ year warranty + G99 included. 

Bird netting and a battery if you really want one, is extra. 

Boffinboy24

I am curious to see price benchmarks nowadays as I am considering adding panels on other (non optimal) orientations and pricing is critical. I ended up paying around £1.3 per watt on my current array and that was before most of the price rises, I got quotes for 4+ places and tried to haggle, but it seemed to be the going rate in my area. Some places as soon as I started to haggle just didn't want to discuss. I think the fact that I needed fairly complicated, lengthy and high scaffold increased cost but perhaps I should have tried harder!

I am impressed with that pricing level for SolarEdge and Sharp kit @Screwdriva , would that really be current pricing?

heartfield

Thanks for replies. 

We will pass on the battery. Have had no favourable recommendation's from contacts who have had them installed either. I'm guessing we can add on at a later date if necessary.

If 8k is a fair amount to budget for, then that is also good news. All that needs to be done now is a cost benefit analysis as opposed to doing nothing.

Once again, thanks.

Petriix

Niv said:

The prices for systems has sky rocketed over the last year or so which mean you will find many saying any quote you receive is overpriced. The best thing you can do is get a few quotes and post the details here and people will give feedback. If it is at all helpful some were saying you should aim for £1 per watt (excluding batteries) - I think thats pie in the sky tbh, my system works out at£1.30 per watt.

That's because any quote anyone receives *is* overpriced. The wholesale price for panels has remained pretty static over the past couple of years if not dropped a little as higher wattage panels have become standard.

The problem is that too many people seem happy to pay the inflated prices so every installer has more work than they can physically do. I've recommended a couple of local firms to friends and family but they've received no replies to their enquiries.

It's an entirely disfunctional market right now. My advice is to wait rather than paying 50-100% too much. 

Jonboy1889

Petriix said:

Niv said:

The prices for systems has sky rocketed over the last year or so which mean you will find many saying any quote you receive is overpriced. The best thing you can do is get a few quotes and post the details here and people will give feedback. If it is at all helpful some were saying you should aim for £1 per watt (excluding batteries) - I think thats pie in the sky tbh, my system works out at£1.30 per watt.

That's because any quote anyone receives *is* overpriced. The wholesale price for panels has remained pretty static over the past couple of years if not dropped a little as higher wattage panels have become standard.

The problem is that too many people seem happy to pay the inflated prices so every installer has more work than they can physically do. I've recommended a couple of local firms to friends and family but they've received no replies to their enquiries.

It's an entirely disfunctional market right now. My advice is to wait rather than paying 50-100% too much. 

The panels are a (relatively) small part of the cost- labour (roofers, electricians), scaffolding and other parts have still gone up in price (like everything else in the world!!), which is what has pushed prices up. 

Also jobs are different in form/complexity.

I agree with the other poster that £1 per KW is pie in the sky at the moment. Eg even cheap 370W panels are still c£160 each (eg 160x 10 = £1.6k), plus an inverter at £600 (cheap one, as long as you’re not having a battery- twice the price otherwise), roofer for 2 days (£500), Scaffolding (£0.8k). That’s already £1 per KW before you take into account any labour from the company, transport/storage, safety kit, cables, electrician labour, clips, cables, clamps, rails, new meter, Wi-Fi dongle, other costs that come with more complex jobs etc.

ours was £7.2k for 4.7KW (12 Black 395W JA Solar panels, plus rayleigh inverter), split over two roofs at completely different levels (one ground floor roof, the other 2nd floor), slate roof (scaffolding therefore more awkward- and it took roofers two days- slate roofs are much more difficult than standard tiles). 

No doubt I could have saved a a bit if I had gone elsewhere but they have been very responsive, reliable and had many positive google reviews 

We didn’t feel it was a bad deal- payback should still be about 6-7 years with our usage + export

Screwdriva

Petriix said:

That's because any quote anyone receives *is* overpriced. The wholesale price for panels has remained pretty static over the past couple of years if not dropped a little as higher wattage panels have become standard.

The problem is that too many people seem happy to pay the inflated prices so every installer has more work than they can physically do. I've recommended a couple of local firms to friends and family but they've received no replies to their enquiries.

It's an entirely disfunctional market right now. My advice is to wait rather than paying 50-100% too much. 

Sadly true. Add in the total disregard for the quality of the components, from greedy installers to desperate customers. Such is the frenzy that people are happy to pay for brands with no semblance of customer service or track record of producing anything but bargain basement junk, egged on by others who have made the same mistake just a few months before them. 

This exactly why I have connected dozens of forum members to either of my two installers, who I know do not extort their customers even during this "boom" period and who supply quality brands as options.

Boffinboy24 said:

I am impressed with that pricing level for SolarEdge and Sharp kit @Screwdriva , would that really be current pricing?

Yes. This is based off a quote that was sent to another forum member just last week. 

  

Jonboy1889

Screwdriva said:

If your annual consumption is under 3500 kWh per annum, a battery makes nearly no fiscal sense.

16 X Sharp 410W Panels + 16 SolarEdge Optimizers + SE inverter will cost you £7500 installed. 20+ year warranty + G99 included. 

Bird netting and a battery if you really want one, is extra. 

That really is a ridiculously low price- those panels seem to be £400 each? £800 for optimisers, £1.2k inverter. They must make very low margins, good on them!!

but actually the main increase is in labour, rather than them ripping people off - like anyone in the building trade will tell you, most building work has gone up by 30-40% in the last couple of years, a lot of it down to labour (scarcity of), and solar install does effectively use a lot of building labour, so it’s not immune to increase in costs.

Plus materials have gone up generally- there is pretty much nothing I buy now which is not more expensive than it was 3 years ago.

Boffinboy24

Screwdriva said:

Boffinboy24 said:

I am impressed with that pricing level for SolarEdge and Sharp kit @Screwdriva , would that really be current pricing?

Yes. This is based off a quote that was sent to another forum member just last week. 

  

Interesting. Would they cover up to Cambridge area do you think? Good quality work? I’m waiting on a couple of quotes here to add panels on a NW or other non-optimal orientation so sensitive to price and shading if it would make sense, and would need a view from DNO first whether they’d allow export since I already have one array.