Project Solar Quote, Large GROUND mount panels

sirsavealot1

Hi all, 
bit of an unusual one, was hoping for some advice, we had project solar round for a quote for solar panels.

We have a field so its an unusual ground mount system, perfect South facing.

46 x Evolution Maxima 490W Panels creating 19,813 kWh a year
with Inverter , with 99 year warranty on everything (very appealing as I have heard inverters break...a lot!)
Consumption is high - 12,000kWh a year
meaning 8000kWh ish exported to grid
(no battery... as large capacity batteries are eye-wateringly expensive)  

£34,000, does this seem a good figure?

Thanks so much, if anyone has any other companies they'd recommend do let me know (We're Midlands based if this helps) 

born_again

Have you got planning permission or contacted council about your plans?
Is it agricultural land?

Lot of nimbys fight these sort of things.

QrizB

sirsavealot1 said:

£34,000, does this seem a good figure?

For a PV-only system, that seems outrageously high. They're charging £1.50 a watt. I'd hope you could get a quote for half that.

Evolution Maxima looks to be a Project Solar white-label brand, so the warranty is only as good as Project Solar are.

This recently-installed system was shared by @Screwdriva and was a similar size to yours but included £14k-worth of Tesla Powerwalls ad still came in at only £28k!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6586305/the-largest-system-ive-seen

OK ground mounts might add a bit to the cost but they're not going to double it.

Petriix

I believe those panels cost under £100 each. Not sure what inverter(s) and other equipment is involved but can't imagine total materials exceeding £10k. I'd stay well clear of Project Solar. 

QrizB

Petriix said:

I believe those panels cost under £100 each. Not sure what inverter(s) and other equipment is involved but can't imagine total materials exceeding £10k. I'd stay well clear of Project Solar. 

Just as a thought experiment ...

• Forty-eight of these panels - £3160
• Eight of these ground mounts - £4320
• Four of these inverters - £4130
• Allow £50 per panel for cables and connections - £2400
• Two person-weeks of labour at £1500 a week - £3000
• Someone in the office to wrangle the paperwork - £1000

That's a total of £18k for a 22kWp system.

Have I missed anything significant?

Robin9

QrizB said:

 

Have I missed anything significant?

add   100% profit margin

Screwdriva

sirsavealot1 said:

£34,000, does this seem a good figure?

Thanks so much, if anyone has any other companies they'd recommend do let me know (We're Midlands based if this helps) 

Just to weigh in, I agree with @QrizB - Project Solar's quote is extortionate. With installers I use for the Midlands, £34K will get you 

46 X Eurener 500W ground mounted black bifacial panels (bifacials will always outperform any monofacial panels with a white pebble background by 10-15% above the 500W rating)

2 X Tesla Powerwall 3 battery inverters with Gateway 2 (That's 27kW of battery storage and 22 kWh of inverter capability - pending DNO approval)

G99 and a 10 year workmanship warranty included. Add £250 for every additional panel upto 52. I hope this gives you perspective and encourages you not to proceed!

QrizB said:

Have I missed anything significant?

FYI - Ground Mount additional costs (over an on-roof installation) are roughly as follows: 

£400   - Planning 
£800   - Architectural diagrams. 
£8000 - Ground Mount Screws or Concrete pads
£1000 - Labour

sirsavealot1

born_again said:

Have you got planning permission or contacted council about your plans?
Is it agricultural land?

Lot of nimbys fight these sort of things.

sirsavealot1 said:

Hi all, 
bit of an unusual one, was hoping for some advice, we had project solar round for a quote for solar panels.

We have a field so its an unusual ground mount system, perfect South facing.

46 x Evolution Maxima 490W Panels creating 19,813 kWh a year
with Inverter , with 99 year warranty on everything (very appealing as I have heard inverters break...a lot!)
Consumption is high - 12,000kWh a year
meaning 8000kWh ish exported to grid
(no battery... as large capacity batteries are eye-wateringly expensive)  

£34,000, does this seem a good figure?

Thanks so much, if anyone has any other companies they'd recommend do let me know (We're Midlands based if this helps) 

oh also to add to the fun. House is on 3 Phase

Screwdriva

sirsavealot1 said:

oh also to add to the fun. House is on 3 Phase

I am known to advocate against batteries for the average household installation, but your consumption is 3X the threshold from where batteries starts to make fiscal sense. Said another way, batteries are a no brainer in this instance.  

With a stated 12000 kWh consumption, your daily usage averages around 33kWh. Dual PW3's will provide 27 kW of storage to mitigate this. (I view it as irresponsible for any installer to quote you such a high price with no storage included).

The PW3 can handle 3 phase out of the box, and each PW3 provides back up to one phase during an outage, so you will have 2 phases (out of 3) backed up in the event of a grid outage.