Solar Panels UK - is it worth it?

[ACarneiro]

It does as you have two PWs. I should have gone with two batteries. 9.7kW doesn’t last long enough.

Yeah. Back then they cost about £6k each…. Them were the days, eh?

 

[RedMod3]

Update to my previous post.
Contacted SolarEdge this morning to discover they had tried to update the battery bank firmware & it had crashed, although they hadn’t realised at the time, somewhat akin to tesla then. Shove it out & hope it works!
So after about 35 minutes the system was up & running again, so fingers crossed.
Going by others responses I’ve been very unlucky.
I’ve got to say when it works it works well, it’s so unreliable & the warranty spares backup is dire. When it failed in June they were forecasting early 2023 for a replacement inverter, that’s why I accepted a lower power (cheaper) replacement that was available, still waiting for a refund.
I do have another niggle, you aren’t able to configure you’re own profiles, any changes you want/need have to be done by SE or the installer.

Have you tried this link:

https://solared.ge/ea2

I suspect if you complete the course, you may become an installer and your email will reflect that and enable you to update your inverter. Not sure, I've just started the course.

 

[NikoV6]

Thats where im getting mine from.... 10kw of what though? panels and inverter and battery? its a bit vague

22 JA Solar 455W Mono Percium Half Cell Panels
Solis 8.0Kw 5G Inverter
All MC4s needed
250M DC cable
2 AC Isolators
Generation meter

I had to buy two 4 pole DC isolators as ITS had no stock

Already had Powerwall so connecting solars was straightforward.

Had a local electrician with me to ensure all circuits were made correctly and final connection to gateway was good

 

[DaveNN]

In reality I don't think you would be able to be charging your car off your solar/batteries especially not 30kWh a day unless you pay for a big battery setup and related costs, so the solar/batteries are more likely to be used to offset against the home use.

The average person without a cheap rate would be able to offset solar production average say 14kWh a day * 35p = £4.90 or about £1788 a year, or payback over 6.7 years which isn't bad. If you had say octopus go at 4hours 7.5p then £3.85 = £1405.25 a year (8.5 years).

We don't know what the future holds with regards to long term pricing but overall solar/batteries should give long term value, I think the key would be getting the initial install costs down as low as possible to reduce the payback period.

My 4.05kva system ( soon to be installed) with 9.6kw battery storage is giving me 7 years ROI , using IO for 6 hours a day.
There's a bit of load shifting in that but it'll still only be one washing load overnight, for example.

 

[yessuz]

My 4.05kva system ( soon to be installed) with 9.6kw battery storage is giving me 7 years ROI , using IO for 6 hours a day.
There's a bit of load shifting in that but it'll still only be one washing load overnight, for example.

in reality, washer in A+ is not using that much. Once it heat up water (an this depends on your washing setting) it just spins a motor which is not that much.

 

[ACarneiro]

in reality, washer in A+ is not using that much. Once it heat up water (an this depends on your washing setting) it just spins a motor which is not that much.

Indeed, although a washing machine still uses a reasonable amount of water so heating it up (especially in the winter when it comes from the pipes colder) uses a non-trivial amount of energy.

But I agree, you’d probably be better off load-shifting the tumble dryer (if you use one)…

 

[Undecided_2]

Can someone help a noob like me understand what steps I should take in order to understand and install battery/and or solar to get off the grid and maximize the octopus go window - I don't use it unless I'm charging!

We have 2 young ones and my wife refuses to switch the usage during the off-peak times. So I've been thinking a battery would probably be the best solution - charge it up with go/ solar and use it during the peak hrs. The dilemma is, I have no idea which companies are reputable /good, or how much installation should be.

Any advice will be very much appreciated!

Solar Edge doesn’t yet enable user configurations. It has to be done by your installer or Solar Edge support. They’re promising to make it available sometime in the future. This makes it difficult to fine tune ad hoc.

Going off grid depends where you are and how much solar you can generate. I’m on the West Coast of Scotland and we’ve generated less then 1Kw some days during Oct/Nov. So off grid is unlikely unless we had significant storage.

 

[GRiLLA]

Indeed, although a washing machine still uses a reasonable amount of water so heating it up (especially in the winter when it comes from the pipes colder) uses a non-trivial amount of energy.

But I agree, you’d probably be better off load-shifting the tumble dryer (if you use one)…

Picking the correct temperature that suits your wash liquid/capsules is essential, most don't need more than 30 degrees. Lots of people use the legacy temperatures they are used to or washers default to.

 

[ACarneiro]

Picking the correct temperature that suits your wash liquid/capsules is essential, most don't need more than 30 degrees. Lots of people use the legacy temperatures they are used to or washers default to.

True. Just done some back-of-a-fag-packet calculations and heating 10Kg of water from 10 to 30 degrees C would use about 250Wh
Maybe it's not that significant after all.
Definitely load-shift the tumble dryer, though!

 

[GRiLLA]

True. Just done some back-of-a-fag-packet calculations and heating 10Kg of water from 10 to 30 degrees C would use about 250Wh
Maybe it's not that significant after all.
Definitely load-shift the tumble dryer, though!

Lots of variation in dryers as well, a heat pump version is many times more efficient than a vented dryer. It's still a significant load, but I bought a Bosch Heat Pump dryer when they were a novelty about 10 years ago and it's saved me several times its cost and is still going strong.

 

[ACarneiro]

Lots of variation in dryers as well, a heat pump version is many times more efficient than a vented dryer. It's still a significant load, but I bought a Bosch Heat Pump dryer when they were a novelty about 10 years ago and it's saved me several times its cost and is still going strong.

Very few people will have those. They've only really been mainstream for about 5 years or so and even then still at a price premium.
I, for one, am waiting for my Bosch condensing dryer to die so I can replace it with a Heat Pump one, but the bloody thing is now 15 years old and still going strong!
(A nice "problem" to have, I'd say!)

 

[MrT3]

True. Just done some back-of-a-fag-packet calculations and heating 10Kg of water from 10 to 30 degrees C would use about 250Wh
Maybe it's not that significant after all.
Definitely load-shift the tumble dryer, though!

The water itself will be heating up the clothes and the drum so will take more energy to get it up to 30 deg C.

Modern machines consume between 0.4 and 0.7 kWh per eco cycle.

 

[DaveNN]

in reality, washer in A+ is not using that much. Once it heat up water (an this depends on your washing setting) it just spins a motor which is not that much.

It's on a minimum of 7hrs a week..as is the dishwasher, electric UFH etc it'll soon start to save us.

 

[DaveNN]

Indeed, although a washing machine still uses a reasonable amount of water so heating it up (especially in the winter when it comes from the pipes colder) uses a non-trivial amount of energy.

But I agree, you’d probably be better off load-shifting the tumble dryer (if you use one)…

Our TD won't ever be used at night...even with the umpteen smoke alarms...as noted above a heat pump dryer will be happening. That said, I'll be getting just shy of 10kw of battery power for a quid.

 

[DaveNN]

We can't, sadly, load shift the hot tub (heater) using a timer.
In an ideal world I would turn it on at 11.30pm and within a few hrs it'll be up to temp..with the filter only using about 200watts/hr. However, due to it requiring a manual reset on loss of power, I would need to get into the pcb and set up a remote reset within. However that's above my ability, so I might have to simply turn up the stat before I go to bed, after all.

 

[Yachtsman]

Have you tried this link:

https://solared.ge/ea2

I suspect if you complete the course, you may become an installer and your email will reflect that and enable you to update your inverter. Not sure, I've just started the course.

No I didn’t know it existed.
Allegedly, SE are releasing a new myenergy app in the new year to enable users to set there own profiles.
During one of the previous failures SE support asked me to reset the system, giving me a detailed description of the process. The reset worked for a couple of days, then it failed again with the same symptoms, so I did another reset exactly as originally instructed.
This time it didn’t work so I contacted SE support to be boll……cked for doing a reset without their permission. I was told that I could loose the warranty on the battery if I reset again.
Sorry for the delay responding we lost our broadband for several hours. That’s another story though.

 

[PITA]

...
Sorry for the delay responding we lost our broadband for several hours. That’s another story though.

We've got a 1 Gbps fibre broadband on WiFi 6E mesh network.

Also now got SpaceX Starlink on a Wifi 6 mesh network as a failover option.

Something to consider...

 

[GRiLLA]

Well, I'm on the list of people waiting for solar now, expecting installation in about 6 months, it's not like you make much over the winter anyway.

18 panels in an East/West array, Giv Energy Inverter and 10KWH battery, just under £14K from First4Solar. Expecting this to increase a bit for bird protection etc but I've got lots of time to think about that.

 

[spon88]

Well, I'm on the list of people waiting for solar now, expecting installation in about 6 months, it's not like you make much over the winter anyway.

18 panels in an East/West array, Giv Energy Inverter and 10KWH battery, just under £14K from First4Solar. Expecting this to increase a bit for bird protection etc but I've got lots of time to think about that.

We're still waiting with F4S - ordered first week in April. To be fair, the delay has been the fault of Givenergy as much as F4S. Whilst F4S clearly took on way too much, Givenergy have been awful with missing supplies to wholesalers. It's been a complete sh1tshow to be fair. On the plus side, one of the other guys on here got his installation done a month ago with F4S and seems they did a good job. We're promised an installation next month after 4 cancellations.

My advice would be to contact them at every stage of the process to make sure timelines are met. So make sure the surveyor comes when promised and then this translates into a design quickly. Also the submission to the DNO needs to be done on time etc. Each of these steps can hold up the complete job. The communication at F4S is poor to be honest so prepare for frustration and chasing. Their prices are very good compared to many and I guess the cr@p comms is the price you pay offsetting that. They say they are training more staff but I am yet to see an improvement.

Price wise, you are still doing OK there but it's clear that kit has gone up considerably. We paid around £16.8k for 24 panels (East/West), 5kw hybrid inverter (gen 2), 2 x 9.5kwh batteries, bird mesh, an Eddi, Zappi, Harvi and the management hub. So it looks like prices are up around 30% with F4S whereas I'm seeing 60% increases elsewhere,

Oh and make sure that they quoted you for the generation 2 inverter as that has a higher charge/discharge capacity.

Summary - you look to have a decent price but pester them to make sure stuff happens. Hang in there and in the end they do seem to do a decent job, it's just the process of getting there!

I'll let you know how our installation goes next month - hopefully!

 

[David T]

We're still waiting with F4S - ordered first week in April. To be fair, the delay has been the fault of Givenergy as much as F4S. Whilst F4S clearly took on way too much, Givenergy have been awful with missing supplies to wholesalers. It's been a complete sh1tshow to be fair. On the plus side, one of the other guys on here got his installation done a month ago with F4S and seems they did a good job. We're promised an installation next month after 4 cancellations.

My advice would be to contact them at every stage of the process to make sure timelines are met. So make sure the surveyor comes when promised and then this translates into a design quickly. Also the submission to the DNO needs to be done on time etc. Each of these steps can hold up the complete job. The communication at F4S is poor to be honest so prepare for frustration and chasing. Their prices are very good compared to many and I guess the cr@p comms is the price you pay offsetting that. They say they are training more staff but I am yet to see an improvement.

Price wise, you are still doing OK there but it's clear that kit has gone up considerably. We paid around £16.8k for 24 panels (East/West), 5kw hybrid inverter (gen 2), 2 x 9.5kwh batteries, bird mesh, an Eddi, Zappi, Harvi and the management hub. So it looks like prices are up around 30% with F4S whereas I'm seeing 60% increases elsewhere,

Oh and make sure that they quoted you for the generation 2 inverter as that has a higher charge/discharge capacity.

Summary - you look to have a decent price but pester them to make sure stuff happens. Hang in there and in the end they do seem to do a decent job, it's just the process of getting there!

I'll let you know how our installation goes next month - hopefully!

Etose are good prices. I got 14 panels, 5kW hybrid inverter, 9.5kW Givenergy battery and Eddi for £12k from local installer. Order placed in July, panels fitted September, still waiting for battery and Eddi. Givenergy hopelessly behind on orders and sending out batteries WITHOUT the cables, which are non-standard, so installer can do nothing with them....