Solar quote advice

Anegg

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie to the MSE forums.

I would like some advice regarding a solar and battery quote I recently received for an 11 panel Eurener system (bifacial 450w panels fitted to south facing pitched roof) combined with a FoxESS hybrid 5kW H1 inverter and 10.36kWh EP11 battery. I have been quoted £10,695 fully fitted.

My previous yearly usage has sat around 3-3500kWh of electricity per year. This has significanly increased due to my company van being charged at my property, then reimbursed via allstar. My Octopus bill shows an inflated annual usage north of 7000kWh but this includes the van and home usage.

I have also recently acquired a personal EV, which I would like to partially charge via the PV/battery system (maximising my returns). On average i have charged approx 100-120kWh per month since acquiring the car two months ago. Charging my personal car will inevitably impact on future usage.

Firstly, can anyone tell me if the quote referenced above is good value and competative or should I look for an alternative?

Secondly, should I be looking for a bigger system and/or a system to account for my personal EV usage?

Thanks in advance.

Screwdriva

I suspect the above shared quote is from a 3rd party like Costco? 

1) That quote is poor value. Here's why:

Installers I use to help others offer 11 X Eurener 500W bifacial panels paired to a Tesla PW3 (13.5kW) for ~£10.8K. In addition to the 550W of additional peak generation (5.5 kWP vs. 4.95kWP), the PW3 is a vastly superior, larger battery inverter that is considered best in class. 10 year workmanship warranty, bird netting and optional painting of the invisible area behind the panel painted with white reflective paint, all included. Nothing Fox makes can compare. 

2) The only change I would make is to add as many additional panels as will fit on your East/ West/ South aspects at £270 per panel. The PW3 makes you eligible for the Intelligent Flux tariff which can be very lucrative for homeowners (Fox has not been approved for this tariff) during the peak generation months. The more panels you have, the more power you will generate and the more you will export, often leading to a quicker return on investment. 

Your EV will help you becoming eligible for the Intellgent Go tariff for the winter months, which will help compound your savings! 

Hope this helps!

leshoopers11

We have just had the following installed for less than £7k:

11 x 500w Eurener Bi-Facial Solar black panels, 30- year warranty

  1 x GivEnergy 3.6kW Hybrid Gen1 Inverter – Warranty ends 05/07/2030

  1 x GivEnergy 9.5kW Battery Storage – Warranty ends 05/07/2033

  1 x GivEnergy EV Charger

  1 x Bird protection

  1 x Grid trading option

  1 x All cable run’s isolators and fitting’s

  1 x Estron meter

  1 x System Wi Fi monitor  

  1 x System registration

  1 x Access equipment

  1 x MCS and G98 Certificates

 All service and maintenance under the terms of the warranty.  Admittedly the cost was slightly lower, perhaps by £1k, as the Givenergy battery and inverter were second hand.

Prior to proceeding with the installers we had accepted a quote from Octopus for 8 Aiko neostar 2S 465W panels on our SW roof and an Enphase 5kwh battery for just under £11k. So quotes can vary!   We have been on Octopus Intelligent Flux for about a month now and the export figures are looking very positive indeed.

Anegg

@Screwdriva thank you for the advice! I won't name the company, but it appears there could be more competitive quotes out there... The only other aspects available are north facing (opposite to the proposed south facing panels) and a detatched south/south east facing garage roof. Are you able to tell me via DM who can do the setup for approx 10.8k? I'm in south wales and would definitely consider increasing my budget for a Tesla PW and better quality panels.

Screwdriva

leshoopers11 said:

We have just had the following installed for less than £7k:

Would love to see an image of the end result :-)

Your installation was not as straightforward given the constraints involved but access to Intelligent Flux will make this a 4-5 year break even! 

QrizB

I can't add anything useful - Screwdriva has given a good alternative, and it's interesting to hear from leshoopers11 that they've had a system installed with used parts.

Hope everything goes well and please let us know how you get on!

Anegg

Since my last message, I decided to proceed with a quotation for an 11kWp array comprising of 22 x 500W Eurener Nexus panels and a single Tesla Powerwall 3.

The 22 panels are split across two buildings: my garage (five east-facing and five west-facing) and my house (twelve south-facing). I did experience some delays during the installation process due to the DNO, who unfortunately capped the export at 5.2kW. I politely declined their £13,000 estimate to upgrade my existing single-phase supply to a three-phase supply. A three-phase upgrade could be something I explore in the future, but I would rather invest my money in a heat pump.

The system was commissioned on the 3rd of November and has generated just over 900kWh to date (130kWh have been exported). There have already been several days where generation has covered the house’s usage, fully charged the battery, and still allowed export to the grid. My monthly bills have dropped by approximately £40–£50 so far (during the darkest months of the year), and I expect the savings to be significantly higher during the summer months.

I’m currently signed up to the Octopus Outgoing tariff. Octopus took over eight weeks to set up the export MPAN. Over the summer, I plan to explore some of the other intelligent tariffs available through Octopus.

Overall, I’m really happy with the system’s performance so far. I’d also like to thank Screwdriva for all the support during the quotation process and for providing clear, helpful information about solar technology.

Anegg

I forgot to mention in my previous post that the installation was very neat and was completed within a single day. The company that I used was also very supportive throughout the entire process.

Screwdriva

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81891915#Comment_81891915

If I were you, I'd switch to the Intelligent Flux at the end of the month. The Outgoing Octopus tariff will drop by 20% to 12p per kWh from March 1st, but IOF will continue to reward better than any other tariff can from mid March to Mid October. You won't believe how much more lucrative of a tariff it is!

A heat geek installed heat pump with 400% SCOP guarantee would be a very wise investment given the system you have installed. Glad to hear all has gone well!