Critique my solar quote!

richc1981

Hi all

Does this seem like a decent deal,
5.8.kw jingko panels
5kw GivEnergy hybrid inverter
5kw givenergy battery
givenergy ev charger
installed on to slate roof with solar flash (no drilling of slates)
10 yr warranty on installation, 25yr on panels, 12 yr on inverter and battery

£9136

have also been offered by same company an alternative with growatt inverter, 5kw growatt battery and zappi charger for same price.

What do you think?  Any thoughts on givenergy vs growatt?

Thanks

RD

Netexporter

Definitely Givernergy, if it is the same price. Looks about the right ballpark for price. Make sure it includes the G(( application to the DNO.

richc1981

Yes it includes the dno application.  The only issue I can see with givenergy is that their charger is not compatible with intelligent octopus which is a bit annoying!

Netexporter

The charger has only just come out, but everything else that Givenergy make is Octopus compatible/optimised. I suspect it is just a matter of time before the charger is adopted for Intelligent.

QrizB

Even though I have a Growatt inverter (purchased second-hand), I'd choose the Givenergy.

One of the forum regulars has a downer on Jinko panels. Has your installer offered you any alternatives to those?

Netexporter

One of the forum regulars has a downer on Jinko panels

Based on ancient data. Assuming N-type Jinkos have been specified, they are a different animal, with one of the highest efficiencies for commonly available panels.

Netexporter

I'll let you have that discussion when they turn up!

It's the same "argument" as those vehemently against Chinese EVs.
<scarpers>

richc1981

YNetexporter said:

One of the forum regulars has a downer on Jinko panels

Based on ancient data. Assuming N-type Jinkos have been specified, they are a different animal, with one of the highest efficiencies for commonly available panels.

Yes they are the N-type panels, seemed to be quite common amongst the quotes I had back.  Sounds like givenergy is the better solution, fingers crossed they get the intelligent stuff sorted with octopus.  

ecraig

If I was buying again, I’d request a Giv AIO unit, so it can output more power to run the oven + dishwasher + kettle + something else allll at the same time.
i would want something that can output more than 3kwh from the battery.

Or, I would suck it up but look at the ultra modular Pylontech batteries, considering how much cheaper and expandable they are.

Apart from the output limit, I have no beef with my growatt battery and ac/dc box, but wish it was bigger or easily/cheaply expandable. 

richc1981

I am finding it a bit off putting that the operation of the givenergy equipment seems to be completely dependent on their own online portal.  What happens if they go bust in 5, 10 years time?  I quite like that you can use 3rd party monitoring systems with the growatt stuff and have more control over your own system.

i guess the givenergy “walled garden” approach is great if it’s working and givenergy are available if things go wrong.  But if not…?

Waywardmike

I have an old FIT system and a couple of years ago was looking for an AC coupled inverter and battery to add to it.  I ended up with quotes for two systems one using Growatt and one using Givenergy much like yourself.  I knew nothing about either companies.  I really wanted a Givenergy system, the system looks better and I joined their Facebook  group and the app and UI seemed great, but they were having supply issues at the time and it was looking like ~6 months till I could get it installed. 

I'm massively impatient, so went with the Growatt, which I might add was significantly cheaper with a slightly bigger battery (~£1500 cheaper).  It's been installed now nearly two years and has been absolutely flawless.  I've had to do nothing, it was a bit of a learning curve understanding why it does what it does (if it drops under 10% it charges from the grid to 12% so it never goes flat etc..).  The App that comes with it is completely useless, bordering on unusable IMO, but others seem to not have a problem with it so that's probably just because I like to monitor closely.  I almost immediately switched to a 3rd party app with a Rasp Pi, which gives me complete control, almost real time updates, and stores all my data locally on the Pi so I'm not reliant on Growatt's servers which regularly seem to be down.  I finally managed to get a smart meter this year and am now on Octopus Go, and use WonderWatt which predicts the next day's solar output and then charges the battery to a set % in my cheap period accordingly.

I'm still a member of Giv's Facebook group, and in the early days I was like 'What have I done?' as they seem to be very proactive in app and software development, and the tech support appears unrivalled.  That being said, and I know a Facebook group is where people go to discuss problems but it does seem like the app and software and firmware are plagued by bugs and problems, so it looks like you'll probably need the tech support.

They have a real issue with measuring the state of charge (SOC) of their batteries which is somewhat fundamental, this appears better with their AIO product as it's not discussed as much but this may be because there's less of them out there.  As far as I can tell they're the only manufacturer which require calibration of their batteries.  This process requires fully charging the batteries (often using the grid at inappropriate times) and then fully discharging them, this is done at installation initially but as this seems to be the main fix for the SOC issue, people are having to do this regularly. This would annoy me no end as I don't have metered export so that would be energy paid for and then lost to the grid for me.

Maybe if I do encounter a problem with my Growatt and have to rely on their legendary terrible customer service I might feel differently but currently I feel like I've dodged a bullet.