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Here's our situation so any advice greatly appreciated:
- Solar PV system came with the new build house we moved into 8 years ago and we won't be moving.
- Inverter is probably getting towards end of life, next doors has already packed up.
- We only have 5 panels and the FIT contract says no more than 4KW
- FIT payments are just under £200 a year.
- West facing roof.
- Just had a smart meter installed.
- We are at home during the day so can benefit from using solar but the current system exports 100% via the FIT.
- Wife has a PHEV with 30 mile electric range but so far we're not on a special tariff for overnight charging and she often charges it during the day.
If roof is unobscured then I would imagine the answer is yes.
There is a chance that you will probably have to change to a bigger capacity inverter and my two inverters are 10 years old and still going strong.
That said that are definitely different qualities of inverter.
FIT makes no difference to the upgrade. The scheme is closed so you won't get any more, just keep what you have. A west facing roof isn't ideal, so you won't get the fully capacity out of your panels.
Export is not connected to FIT. You get FIT for generating the power, irrespective of export. Export is usually about 4p/kWh but varies with the company; it's always less than you pay for incoming power so worth using everything you generate if you can use it effectively. If you have a meter that measures export, you're paid for what it measures, otherwise you get paid export for half what you generate. More panels will get you more export payment.
The 4kW limit is not only related to FIT, it's also what the DNO (Distribution Network Operator, the company that delivers the power, not the company you buy it from) allows. You can, I think, usually get permission for more, but you need to apply, don't know how difficult that is. There are people on STW who will know.