Solar & Battery Advice

Nick_Dr1

Just for info, my 3.9 kW array produced 4.02 MWhr in its first 10 months of operation (installed in March) and for its first full year of operation produced 4.32MWhr (2023)
This is for an almost perfect south facing roof with a bit of shading at the end of the day. Its pretty much in line with PVGIS give or take, so it is just about possible.

Solarchaser

mnewtonuk said:

I originally thought I had the option of 10 panels on a SW aspect but I had a survey done today and after measuring everything up they have suggested 11 panels on the SW aspect and 10 panels on NE taking the whole system to 8.92kWh with an 8kW inverter.

The panels will apparently be facing 70° and 250° which they have said should generate a good amount from both aspects. The report produced only details expected production of the panels combined so I have asked if the different aspects can be separated so that I can see if it is worth it.

Comments I've seen on this board seem to suggest that people wish they'd have maximised their roof space when getting panels fitted initially so I'm quite tempted to do this if having panels on the NE aspect makes financial sense.

Has anybody had NE panels fitted and do they generate enough to make it worthwhile? I had a play on the PVGIS tool and it seemed to suggest they'd generate a decent amount but I'm not 100% sure I was using it correctly.

I have panels on roughly 50 and 270, initially I had 3.3kw on both, but soon realised the ene panels produced about half of what the wsw panels produced,  partly due to shading. 1.3Mwh vs 2.6Mwh.
I moved it to 3kw ene and 3.6kw wsw and noted the ene produced about about a third of the wsw (1Mwh and 3Mwh, partly due to shading and partly due to making the 3.6 wsw array into two arrays, to better deal with the shading.

I've now (a week ago) made it 2.1kw ene and 4.5kw wsw to further optimise my production.

So will ene panels produce something, yes they definitely will, but your wsw panels will produce more.
How much more depends on your location and shading.

Waywardmike

Nick_Dr1 said:

Just for info, my 3.9 kW array produced 4.02 MWhr in its first 10 months of operation (installed in March) and for its first full year of operation produced 4.32MWhr (2023)
This is for an almost perfect south facing roof with a bit of shading at the end of the day. Its pretty much in line with PVGIS give or take, so it is just about possible.

Again , just for info, but my 4kW panels (3.68 inverter) produces on average 4361.41kWh a year (8 years full data).  the lowest was 4067.2 and the highest 4689.8kWh. My array is in Bedford, single aspect, maybe 15° off south (E), slight shading in December/January from a lamp post and not bifacial.

So it's possible.

Telegraph_Sam

Could I ask for some basic guidance on the economics of installing solar batteries. I did this exercise a year ago but concluded then that from a financial viewpoint the outlay could not be justified. Perhaps the metrics have now changed.

I have solar panels. 16 producing in total 4 kWp. On a 22° pitch south facing roof, North East England. Av annual kWh 3180. FIT's go to Scot Power. Deemed export now SEG's go to Octopus @ 15p / kWh.

Normal consumption is on Octopus Tracker. 945 kWh / year.

I do NOT have an EV

Normal consumption can mostly avoid the evening peaks, but otherwise load shifting is limited.

Back in April 2024 my expenditure on electricity was estimated @ £516. Allow for inflation since then.
I am not clued up on the costs / performance of the latest technology: Someone said I should look at the Musk (not Tesla) Powerwall but I don't have the tools to evaluate this objectively and scientifically
Can anyone help - or refer me to a source than can?
Tks.