Plug in solar

Newbie_John

I think competition is kicking in..

At Argos all the UKSOL ones were £800+ - even 460W costs £849, but there is now 515W version for £599.

Give it 6 months and should go down to £350 😅

tfhnota

City Plumbing now have three two panel options at well under £500 inc VAT and shipping, though the inverter only has a single mppt. Reasonably robust looking stand included, photo only shows one panel, description lists two. Probably best to go for the 1030W option as it is only a few more quid than the 940W.

Looks like the buyers are not buying at the inflated prices and the market is actually working.

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82130698#Comment_82130698

That 1030Wp system for £468 looks decent value, especially with mounts. And in price ratio terms is ~£360 for 800Wp.

Wasn't expecting prices to improve so quickly, looking good for next Spring perhaps?

QrizB

That 1030Wp system for £468 looks decent value, especially with mounts. And in price ratio terms is ~£360 for 800Wp.

Four of those would be a tad under £1900. If you paid a sparky £500 to hard-wire them you'd have a 4kWp, 3.2kW microinverter-based G98-compliant system for £2400.

It's definitely making the price-per-watt for a professional installation seem a bit steep!

I wonder if Enphase are getting nervous?

tfhnota

£2400 plus £250 to Octopus if you want the export payment… if the electrician was friendly and bought them for you, might get the VAT back as well, assuming he is VAT registered

QrizB

ADAC is Germany's equivalent to the AA or RAC. A major pro-car campaign group, small-c conservative organisation. Not your usual sandal-wearing muesli-eating environmentalists.

Nevertheless, they're promoting plug-in solar to their members.

https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-haus/energie/balkonkraftwerk/

There's a basic system with two 500 watt panels for €314, a lightweight system with four 225 watt panels for €407, and a plugin battery system with 5kWh of storag and four 500 watt panels for €1709.

These aren't directly equivalent to the UK systems we've seen - mounting brackets are extra, for example - but show where prices could go once we get past the early-adopter phase here.

tfhnota

with the exchange rate at 1.17 you can more or less translate euro directly into £ and ignore the effect of VAT charged over here, so that £314 compares to £468 (cityplumbing) with touch more for the mounting, so the real figure should be around £350, which is about in line with my thoughts that there was still £100 to come off, so should be the new target price for two panel systems - I am sure UK retailers will be happy with that idea!

tfhnota

Cityplumbing are almost sold out of their own kits, just one variant left, so looks like they know more about pricing than I do. Printing money, I'd say.

lohr500

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82138721#Comment_82138721

They were probably quite wise when deciding how many to stock, recognising that the price point would surely drop as/when the likes of Aldi/Lidl/Amazon jump on the band wagon.

Scot_39

Given the forecast prices - 25% up - on the MSE article for later this winter (Jan and Apr) - taking a hit on prices - even to get lower winter output - might not be such a bad decision - if have the space - and of course the IP rated outdoor socket - many of these kits - if not the legislation - recommend.