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HI team!
We are looking at getting solar, and have arrived at a bit of a crossroads. We're looking at a circa 5.8KWH array (16*365), fairly uncomplicated pure south facing roof. We run an EV, and likely another in next few years, EV charger can cope with power straight from the solar.
Option 1 - Panels plus traditional inverter (i.e. Solaredge). Solid tech, 10 yr plus warranty, good clever kit on the inverter - can add any brand of battery at a later date. We can, when home, use the electric car kind like of a battery storage system to tale advantage of the power, plus immersion solar controller and sell back to grid via octopus. Downsides are more expensive. Looking at about £8k for this but i think theres some improvement to be had.
Option 2 - installer has proposed a FOX ESS hybrid inverter and 10kw battery system. Plus sides, whole lot comes in with panels around £10k, so it's relatively good value. 10KW storage... takes us off grid when it's not sunny. However it's a linked system, so you're locking yourself in to FOX who are a new company, 5 year warranty, relatively unsophisticated app etc - i'm told.
Has anyone had this dilemma, any thoughts? It seems like option two might give us better initial savings albeit in a more crude fashion, and given you'd likely be looking at inverter replacement after 10 years anyway, at this point you can just go to a seperate inverter and battery system. I'm nervous about a new company, it's not clear to me how much value i will get out of better apps/tech to manage energy flow versus just having storage.
Option one, get the good inverter in, then add batteries (whether they be LUX or whoever) in due course. Even if we added 2-4kwh batteries quite quickly, this would easily cover the house usage overnight. Option two, would let you manage most of the house usage all day, even during winter.
It feels like a bit of a minefield tbh, and very difficult to get good impartial advice. I'm maybe overthinking it but it seems like a lot of work on your house also, so want to get it right!
As far as I was aware vehicle to home isn't available yet and from a few friends in the industry it could be a while so you won't be able to run the house off the car just yet.
Have you checked with the local network that you’re able to install a system greater than 3.65kw? The panels don’t matter so much, but the inverter will have to be limited if you can’t. AS far as I’m aware, they don’t take into consideration battery storage, so effectively they work on the basis of what the maximum AC back to the grid could be. You may incur an extra cost for their survey, and possibly delay getting MCS accreditation until that’s completed. (MCS is needed to get the SEG).
EV charger can cope with power straight from the solar.
Not sure what you mean by straight from solar. Straight from solar before it reaches the inverter is DC so your car can't use it. If you mean AC charging using excess solar you'll need a charger like a Zappi which has an eco+ mode to charge when excess solar is 1.4kW or above (EV's need a minimum of 6 amp or 1.4 kW to start a charge). The Zappi also has an eco mode which boosts any excess solar up to 1.4kW using mains if there isn't enough excess solar to get to 1.4kW.
Regarding the rest of your set up I'd go with the Solaredge inverter and maybe look at something like Pylontech battery storage modules which are £1700 per 3.5kWh so you could add more when funds are available. If you had enough battery storage to cover your daily use you could also make use of a time based tarriff like Octopus Go in winter when there's not enough solar to take you off grid.
@northernremedy I was hoping you knew something I didn't 😀 being able to run the house off a car overnight would be ideal for us.
Sorry -straight from solar via the inverter and car charger, again, simplifying 🙂
I'm also edging towards that kind of set up, but without the hybrid inverter.