How much money would I save on this solar setup?

snowqueen555

Hi

I'm thinking of buying a small new build 1.5 bed flat, the EPC is an A. I'm not sure how accurate they are but they didn't give a KW amount on this report, just the yearly estimate of £330 per year for heating and lighting, which sounds very low but doesn't provide a whole picture.

I would have 4x455w panels, 1 x 1.5kW grid tied inverter.

What does this all mean, it is gobbledygook to me.

I've uploaded the PDFs to view as well if anyone would be kind enough to help out.

It looks like the panels would face east/west direction, normal sloped roofs.

https://jumpshare.com/s/N0ywpr34d6NAqUadTNyN

https://jumpshare.com/s/4l1s1YGarDCF3aoHdmnI

Newbie_John

This should produce somewhere between 6-10kWh per sunny day depending on many factors.
You can sell electricity from 7p up, Octopus pays 15p so on sunny day you can get £1.50 if you export all of it - but you won't as you'll be using some.
It's really hard to predict anything not knowing your habits (are you at home during the day or at work?) and internal home set up (what do you use electricity for?), nor what the weather be like in 2025.

Is it electric heating in the house?

The £330 is too low in my opinion - the standing charges for electricity will be nearly £200 (365*50p). Assuming you export all of it and half of the year is sunny that will be about £250. 
Then your actual usage.. the less you use the less you pay. £330 sounds very low, but with A EPC could be possible. Anyway I'd guess under £1000 for sure 😅

snowqueen555

snowqueen555 said:

Heating is via a gas combi boiler. I would be living alone. I work from home so using a work laptop and monitor screen would be my main drain, also my personal laptop. I have the option to work in office (a short walk away) if that saves me much money. I am not sure it will unless I am having to turn on the heating all day.

And if i am away all day what happens to that energy, does it just go to waste without a battery? How do you sell energy back to the grid?

I thought the epc figure is stupidly low but the epc I don't know why it doesn't quote any kwh figures

Heating is via a gas combi boiler. I would be living alone. I work from home so using a work laptop and monitor screen would be my main drain, also my personal laptop. I have the option to work in office (a short walk away) if that saves me much money. I am not sure it will unless I am having to turn on the heating all day.

And if i am away all day what happens to that energy, does it just go to waste without a battery? How do you sell energy back to the grid?

I thought the epc figure is stupidly low but the epc I don't know why it doesn't quote any kwh figures

Heedtheadvice

Payment for excess energy generation that you export (rather than use) with an export tarrif comes under what is known as SEG, the Smart Export Guarantee.

There are a variety of Tarrifs but a more limited number if you don't have an electric vehicle that you charge or batteries but they are available.

Hopefully posters with more knowledge of them will respond.

With a small consumption level ( that you might have even if bigger than the given estimate) and with SEG battery purchase is unlikely to be financially advantageous.

I would also query how that estimate of just £300+ has been derived and what assumptions have been made!

Magnitio

If it is a small new-build that has been constructed with high performance insulation, then heating bills should be low. However, some of the new-build houses near me have been missing insulation, the worst being a 4-bed house where the builders forgot to put any insulation in the loft.

Screwdriva

The 4 panel system described will save/ earn you ~£250-300 a year from marginally reduced import + export of excess energy. For your perspective, installers I use offer 5 Sharp bifacial panels + a 2.2kW SolarEdge inverter (20 year warranty) + optimizers for £3.8K installed, which is the smallest system I would recommend. 

I do not recommend JA Solar panels or Solis inverters on quality/ ethical grounds unless offered under an ECO4 scheme (which basically means they are installed for free). 

Have you checked if more panels can fit on your the S/ W/ E aspects of your roof?

snowqueen555

Screwdriva said:

The 4 panel system described will save/ earn you ~£250-300 a year from marginally reduced import + export of excess energy. For your perspective, installers I use offer 5 Sharp bifacial panels + a 2.2kW SolarEdge inverter (20 year warranty) + optimizers for £3.8K installed, which is the smallest system I would recommend. 

I do not recommend JA Solar panels or Solis inverters on quality/ ethical grounds unless offered under an ECO4 scheme (which basically means they are installed for free). 

Have you checked if more panels can fit on your the S/ W/ E aspects of your roof?

Hi, what's the ethical issue for those?

I don't really have a say, the development is mostly made so there's x amount of panels on the roof divided equally among them all. I get the feeling they put the bare minimum on to achieve whatever score it is they need.