We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

Any comments on solar pv quote?

Hi everyone.  I have received a quote for solar PV in my house.  Any comments appreciated.

a 4kw Solar PV system with a Growatt 4.2kw Inverter and 12 DAH all Black 405 Wattt Solar PV panels.

12 X DAH Solar All black 405 Watt Panels. (25 Year Warranty)
1 x Growatt 4.2Kw TL -3 Dual MPPT Inverter ( 10 Year Warranty)
8 x 4 metres of Solar Rail 
24 x Roof High tensile Hooks
72 x Roof Nut Screws
24 x Rail Nut fixings
24 x Mid Clamps
12 x End Clamps
50 x Metres of H1Z272-k 6MM Solar PV Cable 
4 x Rail Splice kits
1 x Emlite Bi directional Gen meter
1 x Ac Isolater
1 x Dc Isolater 
1 x Circuit Breaker
1 x 2m 75mm x 75mm Trunking
2  x 3m lengths of Conduit inc clips and boxes ( If needed )
Cables , Clips and sealant as required. 
Scaffolding and Towers to front and side of property.
Builders to install all Rails,  fixings and Panels to the Front Elevation of the roof.
Electricians to Install the Inverter , Isolaters , Gen meter and breakers to make and test the system working.
Delivery of all Components and Scaffolding to site as required. 

Total  £4500.00
£1500.00 Deposit
£3000.00 payable on completion

Estimated 3533 kwh per year
I am currently on octopus tracker but looking to switch to intelligent octopus.
May be able to get another 2 or 4 Panels on the roof.
«1

Comments

  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 15,022 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 18 September 2023 at 5:19PM
    Genuinely shocked at the price, in a good way. Been getting used to the really high prices since the invasion of Ukraine, and 'explosion' in demand for PV, so scrolled down expecting another depressing £6k or £7k price.

    So you've cheered me up, no end, many thanks.

    Regarding generation, you'll need to give rough location, and roof orientation, plus an estimate on shade (good/bad). But 3,533kWh from 4kWp is low for south facing, high for east or west, so probably not overegging it. If you have a play on PVGIS, you can get a very good guestimate, possibly a bit pessismistic. Don't worry too much, just stick in a pin in your house, enter 4 in the KWp box, and then a rough figure for orientation and pitch. Orientation is an azimuth, with south being zero, so SE is -45d, and SW is +45d just for clarification.
    Mart. Cardiff. 8.72 kWp PV systems (2.12 SSW 4.6 ESE & 2.0 WNW). 20kWh battery storage. Two A2A units for cleaner heating. Two BEV's for cleaner driving.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • eyeofthetiger999
    eyeofthetiger999 Posts: 39 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 18 September 2023 at 5:31PM
    Thanks Martyn
    The price does seem low to me as well.  A year ago prices for a 4kwh system were around 6-7k.  This is a 4.90kw system.

    I did put that into the system and it estimates 3800kw per year.  

    I am based in Stockport Cheshire and the panels are facing approx 80 degrees west of south( almost fully west).  Mild shading.
  • Petriix
    Petriix Posts: 2,177 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    That's a perfectly reasonable quote. 
  • Screwdriva
    Screwdriva Posts: 1,296 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 18 September 2023 at 9:11PM
    I've helped alot of people with their Solar PV quotes since the start of the Ukrainian war.  On price, I would describe the above quote as entirely unbeatable (I thought it was a typo) That said, the brands specified are among the worst of the lowest grade Chinese lot. Take a look at Growatt's reviews!

    A few questions:

    1) Is the installer MCS registered w/ RECC or HIES? 
    2) Will they offer a G98 or G99 Certificate? Extended Warranties on the components? 
    3) "Builders to install all Rails,  fixings and Panels to the Front Elevation of the roof" Does this mean the installer will not install the system for you?

    If you're budget constrained, I say go for it and hope for the best. If you can increase your budget, ~£6K will get you 12 X 420W Sharp panels and a SolarEdge 5kW inverter with optimizers + 20 year warranty on the inverter, all installed w/ G99. And aftersales support worth more than the paper it's printed on! 

    The G99 + peace of mind + ability of the optimizers to deal with shading would be my reasons to pick quality over price. 
    -  10 x 400w LG + 6 x 550W SHARP BiFacial Panels + SE 3680 HD Wave Inverter + SE Optimizers. SE London.
    -  Triple aspect. (22% ENE/ 33% SSE/ 45% WSW)
    -  Viessmann 200-W on Advanced Weather Comp. (the most efficient gas boiler sold)

    Feel free to DM me if I can help with any energy saving!
  • ecraig
    ecraig Posts: 254 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 19 September 2023 at 7:47AM
    It’s been a year since I had my installation completed and I’ve had zero big patches of shading up till around a week ago. Trees are growing and shading is now more apparent.
    My optimised setup was always an insurance policy for when the shading occurs - but I thought it might be a few years off but not just 1 year on. 
    I’m pleased to have gone for an optimised setup. Would thoroughly recommend as a longer term insurance policy.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 15,022 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 19 September 2023 at 9:32AM
    Thanks Martyn
    The price does seem low to me as well.  A year ago prices for a 4kwh system were around 6-7k.  This is a 4.90kw system.

    I did put that into the system and it estimates 3800kw per year.  

    I am based in Stockport Cheshire and the panels are facing approx 80 degrees west of south( almost fully west).  Mild shading.
    I think I got so excited at the price, that I didn't read properly after 4kW, so yes, 4.9kWp, even better value. That's quite a shocker. I knew that PV panel prices were tumbling again, but they are a minority of the cost of a PV system, so didn't expect to see a quote like that.

    Hopefully, depending on weather, you'll get between 3,500kWh and 4,000kWh per year. And a west system does generate nicely in line with late afternoon demand in the summer.
    Mart. Cardiff. 8.72 kWp PV systems (2.12 SSW 4.6 ESE & 2.0 WNW). 20kWh battery storage. Two A2A units for cleaner heating. Two BEV's for cleaner driving.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.

  • If you're budget constrained, I say go for it and hope for the best. If you can increase your budget, ~£6K will get you 12 X 420W Sharp panels and a SolarEdge 5kW inverter with optimizers + 20 year warranty on the inverter, all installed w/ G99. And aftersales support worth more than the paper it's printed on! 



    But why should the Op invest in a SolarEdge system if it's single orientation and no apparnt shading issues?  Also the inverter capacity should be around 75=80% of maximum output for maximum overall efficiency/production.
    Install 28th Nov 15, 3.3kW, (11x300LG), SolarEdge, SW. W Yorks.
    Install 2: Sept 19, 600W SSE
    Solax 6.3kWh battery
  • Screwdriva
    Screwdriva Posts: 1,296 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic

    But why should the Op invest in a SolarEdge system if it's single orientation and no apparnt shading issues?  
    For all the reasons mentioned here + leagues better aftersales support. It's a common misconception that optimizers are purely to address shading issues.

    That said, I could have sworn OP had shared mild shading issues too but could have been my imagination. 
    -  10 x 400w LG + 6 x 550W SHARP BiFacial Panels + SE 3680 HD Wave Inverter + SE Optimizers. SE London.
    -  Triple aspect. (22% ENE/ 33% SSE/ 45% WSW)
    -  Viessmann 200-W on Advanced Weather Comp. (the most efficient gas boiler sold)

    Feel free to DM me if I can help with any energy saving!
  • Exiled_Tyke
    Exiled_Tyke Posts: 1,247 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 20 September 2023 at 4:28AM
    I can't see any of these other benefits outweighing the additional costs of going with SolarEdge and as someone who's suffered an optimiser failure I would only recommend SE if needed for shading or multi-orientation set ups.  I am one of those who's suffered the worst of both worlds (per the video). In my case the support from SE was appalling as they refused to accept it was the optimiser that had failed and insisted I replaced the offending panel.  it therefore cost me months of lost production on top of everything else.  I think Martyn may have had an optimiser go as well but I could well be wrong.   
    Install 28th Nov 15, 3.3kW, (11x300LG), SolarEdge, SW. W Yorks.
    Install 2: Sept 19, 600W SSE
    Solax 6.3kWh battery
  • I can't see any of these other benefits outweighing the additional costs of going with SolarEdge and as someone who's suffered an optimiser failure I would only recommend SE I am one of those who's suffered the worst of both worlds (per the video). In my case the support from SE was appalling as they refused to accept it was the optimiser that had failed and insisted I replaced the offending panel.  it therefore cost me months of lost production on top of everything else.  I think Martyn may have had an optimiser go as well but I could well be wrong.   

    I've had an optimiser fail as well.  Solar Edge fought tooth and nail trying to get me to change the panel.  With all the graphs available from their monitoring it was obvious that it wasn't the panel.  When the optimiser was changed the problem was cured - (I had to get them to change the panel mapping in the app to accommodate the new optimiser and remove the old).  
    But for the amount of shading I have, I'd not recommend SE because of the time and effort it took to get them to send a replacement optimiser. I suppose that a plus point is that I was able to contact customer service unlike what may be the case with other manufactureres.
    Fortunately the panels are on the garage roof so I was able to get up there and do the work myself without the cost of scaffolding and high-level working H&S issues.
    They didn't want me to return the optimiser so I opened it up and found that water had got in and onto the circuit board.
    Dave F
    Solar PV System 1: 2.96kWp South+8 degrees. Roof 38 degrees. 'Normal' system
    Solar PV System 2: 3.00kWp South-4 degrees. Roof 28 degrees. SolarEdge system
    EV car, PodPoint charger
    Lux LXP 3600 ACS + 6 x 2.4kWh Aoboet LFP 2400 battery storage. Installed Feb 2021
    Location: Bedfordshire
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 346.6K Banking & Borrowing
  • 251.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 451.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 238.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 614.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 174.8K Life & Family
  • 252K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.