Solar panel and battery quandry

didsbury

Good Afternoon.

 

Today I was to have my Octopus Solar panels and Battery installed.

 

Unfortunately, when the roofer (and all the materials turned up), he declared that the repair to the felt under the roof tiles, was not satisfactory. He also said that otherwise the roof was in good condition. I had discussed with some people about the repairs to the felt and all the roofers said that to do repairs to the felt required removing the tiles and redoing the affected areas. This was a major job.

I really want solar and battery but I think the cost of the roofing repairs will make it uneconomic.

 

I was to have:

10 or 13 JA Solar panels JAM54D41 LB

5.785kW of Solar Power

13 x JAM54D41-445/LB

445 Watt panels

 

Enphase IQ8AC Microinverter

(0.36 kW AC)

4.68 kW of Inverter Power

Enphase Energy Inc.

13 x IQ8AC-72-M-INT [25 year warranty]

25 Year Warranty Parts & Labour

 

Enphase IQ Battery 5P (5.0kWh, 3.2 kW AC)

10kWh of Usable Capacity

Enphase Energy Inc.

2 x IQBATTERY-5P-1P-INT

15.0 Year Warranty

 

Any suggestions?

Kieran McCullough

QrizB

If your roof is in poor condition, it'll need fixing whether or not you have solar panels installed.

How much have your roofers quoted for the job?

And how much did Octopus quote you for that aborted installation?

Screwdriva

didsbury said:

I really want solar and battery but I think the cost of the roofing repairs will make it uneconomic. 

Any suggestions?

Kieran McCullough

Perhaps a solution lies with in-roof panels? Octopus won't do this as it more bespoke, involving cutting into the roof to insert cartridges. However, this should make the felt issue redundant.  It will be slightly more dear than an on-roof panel installation but it will look great on a dark tile roof. 

Installers I use to help others typically install a 13 X 500W Eurener panel system with a Tesla PW3 for under £13K. Here's a recent image of an installation. 

Netexporter

If you refurbish your roof you could have an in-roof array, which looks neater, and will probably cost no more than the cost of putting back slates/tiles over the area the panels occupy. Solar panels are cheaper, per square metre, than most conventional roofing materials.

didsbury

Thanks for the replies.

The quote for 13 panels and 10 KwH battery was £12045.

According to a builder, I had look at the roof and also the Octopus one, the roof is in good condition apart from the felt. I got the impression that other installers might consider this job. 

Screwdriva

didsbury said:

Thanks for the replies.

The quote for 13 panels and 10 KwH battery was £12045.

According to a builder, I had look at the roof and also the Octopus one, the roof is in good condition apart from the felt. I got the impression that other installers might consider this job. 

I am positive others will. Feel free to DM me - happy to help! 

didsbury

Screwdriva said:

didsbury said:

Thanks for the replies.

The quote for 13 panels and 10 KwH battery was £12045.

According to a builder, I had look at the roof and also the Octopus one, the roof is in good condition apart from the felt. I got the impression that other installers might consider this job. 

I am positive others will. Feel free to DM me - happy to help! 

Thanks, I have PM'd you.

didsbury

Here is a wrap-up of this story.

It started on the 6th of May and it finished on the 6th of June.

I pm’d Screwdriva on this site and he put me in contact with one of his recommended installers.

They quoted £12K for 14 panels and a Tesla Powerwall 3, I accepted and last Friday (6th of June) they came and installed it in a day.

It was as simple as that; no scaffolding, no nonsense about roof refurbishment, one day instead of two, and more panels and bigger battery for slightly less than Octopus quoted. Also, much shorter time from start to finish.

 

I’m very happy with the standard of work and ridiculously happy with both panels and battery (except I’m now thinking about a second battery for this winter when my new heat pump might double my electricity usage).

Many thanks to Screwdriva for his help.

Screwdriva

Congrats on the new setup - love the image with the Octopus Cosy Heat Pump in full view. 

I was particularly pleased to see the slightly larger Eurener 500W bifacial panels fill your roof area in a way that is aesthetically pleasing, and was pleasantly surprised to see it performing as well as it did  (won’t spoil your future updates on performance

It may make more sense to choose the right tariff to recharge your battery  at different times for less (vs. spending another £5K on an expansion pack) during the colder months. Octopus Cosy/ Agile are great examples! For now, Intelligent Flux is the right tariff for you! 

If you really want to spend more £, I'd ask the installer to come back to fit another 2 panels on the top left of your roof (the chimney shading is the only thing stopping me from saying another 4 panels), whenever they are in your area. Given the aforementioned outperformance, it will likely hasten your return on investment over the long term. 

Martyn1981

didsbury said:

It was as simple as that; no scaffolding, no nonsense about roof refurbishment, one day instead of two, and more panels and bigger battery for slightly less than Octopus quoted. Also, much shorter time from start to finish.

Out of interest, can I ask how they worked without scaffolding? Did they have a tower, use a row of ladders etc?

I'm interested as I've always wondered what other solutions there may now be, especially as the scaffolding cost is more than the panels for many installs.

Looks great, hopefully when the weather is nice, you can sit outside and enjoy a nice glass of your wine, whilst admiring the panels.  

Screwdriva

I asked the same question. I was told that OP’s roof was one of the easiest to mount successive ladders to, as it had two levels.