Recently bought a house with panels on, installed back in 2018. Wind is howling today and i can hear rattling/chattering in strong gusts which i assume is coming from them. Only other time i heard it was in storm babet. Is this normal in strong winds or is something loose? If it isn't normal am i right in assuming this will be a pain/ expensive to inspect?
Not normal. Get someone up there to look at it soon
OK not what i wanted to hear but will get someone to look at it. Been in the garden looking through binoculars and can't see any movement anywhere when it gusts but quite loud inside from a specific area of the roof. Can't imagine anyone getting up there before the new year now though.
Probably. The cables banging off the underside in the wind. Especially if they have been up there for. A long time and the cable restrain system has failed.
Or it’s just the tiles moving around. Ours do this in strong winds.
December update and annual summary – 5.5kWp array, S facing in the SW. 20kWh of battery storage.
81kWh Generated (HALF of last year - what a crap December)
550kWh Imported (Wife was at home for most of it, kids were at home for a lot of it, at least 100kWh went into car charging)
19kWh Exported
Running total for the year is ~5731kWh of generation. We beat our installer estimates by 13%.
Overall, we're still in profit for the year, but unless the PV yield picks up in January, we'll be paying at the end of it.
How did everyone do during the recent power saving period? We got 5600pts, which wasn't that great.
3.9kw panels, 10.4 kw/h batteries, 3.6kw inverter
some quick math has me co9nsuming 1198 kw since august, my average unit price works out at 1.1p per kwh.. wonder how that will work out over the year, that doesnt include the following:
saving sessions, have taken part in all, i have earned 81,376 points so far (£101.72)
last one 10624
4.14 kwh system.
Wife has been at home since May on maternity. So washing machines been getting cycled daily with nappies and wipes etc.
We have imported 10kwh more than we exported just on top of all the power we used at source.
The 50000 points we got through the December saving sessions has paid for our import usage through December. Just have to pay for the standing charge which will be our first payment to octopus this year.
During a normal non maternity year I think our system is sized correctly
5.7Kwh array south facing in a mountainous valley setting. Powering 2 households and a small farm workshop and livestock sheds. Also have a 14KWh battery storage. I am grid tied but have no ability to export.
Since June last year we now supply power to an internet radio repeater mast on our shed. This has a background consumption of 300w, so 7.2 KW daily or approximately 1900 KWh total over and above for the last 6 months or so.
Results from 2023 (Not including 1900 KWh usage by the radio mast which is paid at cost)
Solar generation 4490 KWh<br />Consumption 4491 KWh<br />Import from grid 544 KWh
Expenses at 60p/Kwh = £2700 (generated) - £332 (imported) = £2368
December has easily been the worst month so far with only 85 KWh generated which is half the next worse month of November with 185 KWh. Best month was June with 577 Kwh
During a normal non maternity year I think our system is sized correctly
the volume of clothing you wash as your kids grow does not shink. If you're lucky they stop pooing themselves but shortly after they find ways of going through a couple of outfits a day (especially this time of year with mud/puddles), and said outfits are significantly bigger.
heads up, saving session today at 5:30!
@andybrad - thanks for the nudge. My best result so far is 3100 pts + 400 bonus - limited by the inverter.
Figures for the year :
(10kwp east west split, 10kwh battery)
we only started exporting at the end of May when our transformer was uprated.
Use - 9.36 MWh
Production - 7.33 MWh
Of which was exported - 3.96MWh
I think we are about break even for the year, maybe £100 in credit i.e. no payment for energy, including standing charges (we are electric only).
So that's ~£2800 "earned" for the year.
The array and battery were part of the new-build house purchase so I don't know what they cost. the battery is ~ £6k (inc vat) now
octopus saving session 5-6pm tonight
So we got ours installed at the end of January:
- String one - 10 * 435w inset panels south facing
- String two - 4* 435w east & 4* 435w west
- 6kwh solaredge inverter and Tesla Powerwall
What's amazed me so far, one week in, is how much we make on a totally overcast or wet day, we generate 4-6Kwh even when the sun doesn't break the clouds (North Yorkshire). when the sun comes out we've seen 4kwh generation. Best day so far 16kwh, worst day 1.5kwh. Powerwall has been excellent, we've been self powered for 50% of the time, longest stretch was 36 hours.
I've just switched us over to Octopus Agile. I resisted for a while because I thought we'd have to move to either Agile outgoing or fixed, but it seems they are happy to leave me on flux export.
We have 10kwh battery so can avoid the 4-7 peak. as a result, our average unit cost has dropped from 19p to 13p.
I don't really understand how agile can be so much cheaper - but i'm certainly not complaining! Even the peak time doesn't go much over the capped rate at this time of year.
that's a mistake, Flux is a combined import/export tariff, you either need to go on fixed or agile export. expect a correction in the future IMHO
Look at the prices of agile during the fuel crisis, over xmas 22 into 23 😉 then you'll see how it could be
Check your figures though, most people with solar are saying Flux is a better deal as the weather turns, luckily i think you are only tied into a 30 day contract on smart tariffs
i'd expected to be moved for export, so if it happens i won't be too disappointed. agile import prices are definitely much cheaper than flux at the moment though - it's below the flux cheap rate for about 20 hours a day. we'll probably switch back to flux as the sun starts to come out and we export more. Hope the prices don't drop too much next month though as the credit we built up last spring/summer mostly paid for this winter.
You can switch away from our Agile Octopus tariff to one of our standard tariffs any time without financial penalty, but you can’t move back to one of our smart tariffs within 30 days
This is the TnC forSmart Tariffs from Octopus, so worth bearing in mind. You'll lose at least 2 months a year and possibly longer by the time the switch is made.
@Daffy That's what I thought, but i asked in an email and got the following reply, which seems pretty unambiguous:
"Thank you for reaching out to us. To switch from Octopus Flux to Octopus Agile, you can simply request the switch through your online account. There is no delay before you can switch back if you decide to do so in the future.
If you have any further questions or need assistance with the switch, please let me know."
I am on fixed output (15p) and just moved to tracker for 17p import.
i dont see how you can make agile work unless its big batteries?
Agile and electric car here. No special usage we just charge the car overnight or when we see pricing go very low (plunge).
average price paid over last 12 months with approx 7200kwh’s is 4.9p / kWh. Last 6 months is 4.5p / kwh
Our panels got fitted yesterday. 16 of them on the roof of the shed and now all we need to do is wait for the electrical bloke and his mate to turn up with a bunch of cables and a 10Kwh battery system and wore the whole lot together.
Nice.
If anyone is interested, I’m about to sell on my LG RESU 6.5 battery pack. It’s a low voltage DC battery with a usable capacity of 5.9kWh.
This is the current generation of pack and is highly efficient in all weather conditions.
It’s 10months old is still at 98-99% state of health and comes with the brackets and connectors to fit it. It was installed outside, but in an enclosure so whilst it has signs of use, they’re highly minimal.
I’m only selling as I’ve bought a bigger one.
£1100 plus postage or collected/meet up. I’m near Bath. It cost over £2700.
Finally... The "Chaps" are finishing off the day's work work installing the inverter, battery and assorted cabling that makes up our solar installation. This comes about a week after their crew came and installed the roof framework and the 16 panels that we have on the shed roof.
After a slight hiccup with the box for the 10Kwh battery (built to the size of the actual battery and not what the battery _requires_ to prevent overheating), our bit of the installation was just to make sure there was WiFi for the Huawei inverter to connect to which, thanks to a long Cat6 cable and a new AP, it can.
I just need to put the AP somewhere out of the way, but still in sight of the router, and tidy up some cables and it should all work fine. If there was sun.
has anyone had any info about next month's Flux rates?
I think the cap has dropped 15%, which would take the peak export to about 25p/unit, but I don't know if that's how it works.
Had an email today
Import changing to 14.794/24.656/34.519
Export changing to 5.373/15.149/25.098
SC to 61.268
On the Octopus forum there's been some muttering about how the drop in rates but increase in SC is going to actually increase the amount low importers will pay each year.
Yeah, mine's gone up by £34/yr. Object to having a standing charge that's 78% higher than London when the electricity is produced in our backyard and posted down to the South East.
Slightly regretting the order of an extra battery and bigger inverter now. £2,900, but I don't like the batteries under the stairs. I was tempted to do it myself and save £1000, but not keen on cutting and re-terminating the solar PV cabling. High voltage DC scares me a lot more than AC, and I don't think "wait until it's dark" is in the IET guidelines.
I have a 10.25kWp solar and 6.9kWh battery installation booked for early April. Just trying to work out the best tariff... is Octopus Flux still the go to?
Object to having a standing charge that’s 78% higher than London when the electricity is produced in our backyard and posted down to the South East.
Think about how we feel in north of Scotland then. When largely the green energy is produced here and sent daan south and they want to up our standing charge to pay for the new mega pylons they want to put in our gardens to get the power down south .
59.031p a day.
And I'm not "allowed" a larger inverter......
I've been looking for quotes for solar panels recently but it's worse than double glazing, for pricing and tactics.
Could those of you who've recently had solar panels fitted please quote the cost and installed kWH? @Northernraider @Willard
Thanks
feel you on the cost and difficulty benchmarking. We used a company called green building renewables.
North Yorkshire. 8.7kwh inset panels, 6kwh solar edge inverter, solar iboost and Tesla power wall. £17k including scaffold.
I’ll try and dig out the costs, but it will be in SEK and not UKP
£8k for 12 panels, 3.7kW inverter, and 5.kWh of battery storage about 18 months ago. Biggest single expense was the scaffolding.
If more than 3.7kW you may need a G99 application. Northern Powergrid charge £680+ VAT for the assessment based on their website. However, my installers did say that they don’t always charge but it was unpredictable. If you have a lot of solar nearby there may be issues with export, but you can still use the full output privately.
If you have a plug-in socket tester with a voltage reading (or your smart meter or car will show you), then you will hit issues if it’s above 250V on a sunny day as your inverter may disconnect.
Northern Powergrid didn’t charge us for g99, but they did insist our inverter capped us at our export. So we are capped to 6kw
but they did insist our inverter capped us at our export
Your inverter is simply limited to a 6kW output [into your house] surely?
The inverter has nothing to do with the amount of power that's exported.
Your inverter is simply limited to a 6kW output [into your house] surely
No it'll be export capped at 6kw.you can sometimes get a software limited export approval to have a large inverter with a limited export - but seems to be rare they seem to want to limit the hardware.
It's a nonsense though. I'm capped at 3.6kw export "because infrastructure". But everyone around me could put 3.6kw solar on their roofs and "infrastructure" would still be overloaded.
But half those houses(or more) are in the north lee of the hill and get about 15 minutes of sun a day so solar would be a horrible investment for them
But what can I say..... No one's ever checked - which is probably why they want to insist on point one beinga hardware limit because I for one would have no qualms pressing a few buttons and making full use of the Hardwear.
We live on a new-build estate of 25 houses all with above average arrays. It took 2 years to build all the houses and while SSE accepted the first 9 houses for export, they refused the rest. The developer had to pay to upgrade the transformer to accept the export.
Sounds fishy to me, if it's capable of delivering the power to that number of houses I'd have thought that the pipes would be big enough to transport the juice in the other direction. (Can you tell I'm not an electrical engineer?)
There was talk of installing a 500kwh grid storage battery as part of a local experimental program but it never materialised.
Anyway, it was eventually approved 18 months after we moved in on the basis of the max export from the specified inverters - in our case we are limited to 6kw.
@sharkbait - if the inverter can only deliver 6kw, surely that means we can't export any more?
@ransos with 10kw/p you will be producing more than you need for a lot of the year so your focus should be on maximising your export price, which means Flux. The exception might be if you are a high mileage EV driver as flux off peak window is short and not that cheap.
We are an electric only house, without an EV, and energetically self-sufficient from mid April to mid October including heating and hot water so import prices are less important. For the "shoulder" months, agile is cheaper though.
Thanks @lodger. There was a mistake in my post, it's ten panels of 425W each so 4.25 kWp. My annual electricity consumption is about 3,800 kWh so we should generate roughly the same, obviously not at the same time. We don't have an EV.
I'm a little confused with regards inverters, I've got a 5kw inverter, 5kwh battery and currently 3.2kw of pannels (8x0.4). I am considering adding more panels, but is it pointless adding more than another 1 8kw of panels? also grid connected for export if that makes a difference
But what can I say….. No one’s ever checked – which is probably why they want to insist on point one beinga hardware limit because I for one would have no qualms pressing a few buttons and making full use of the Hardwear.
To be fair this led to an argument with my installer when they told me that the inverter settings would be locked behind a PIN that they refused to divulge, in case I changed the export limit.
Anyway, this is a very good example of why you never pay in full up front for any electrical work.
Second installers compromised with me and said that the DNO requires a PIN, but nothing says that it has to be changed from the factory default setting.
If you have space go for the most amount of panels you can - panels are cheap now. 60-80 quid a unit for the standard stuff.
You'll be clipping in summer
But in lower light conditions each panel will produce a given % of rated amount.
So your total production in lower light conditions will be better - and that area will be will be where you most need the production most likely
To be fair this led to an argument with my installer when they told me that the inverter settings would be locked behind a PIN that they refused to divulge, in case I changed the export limit.
Well in my inverter that would also prevent me from changing import export limits. They can get to buggery with that.
Ah, that's a bit less generating capacity so you have to be a bit smarter about load shifting to make the most of it. Solar water heating, running stuff in the daytime etc which is more labour intensive than just exporting.
If you're already with octopus you can run the Compare app to see which tariff works best for import, but it doesn't account for generation so it's limited use.
Tracker + fixed export may work better than flux if you can keep out of the peak evening window
This was a day in June last year showing the effect of the inverter limit. To be fair, it doesn't happen all that often, because we have an E/W split, but we were restricted for about 4.5 hours that day for example.
I think our limit is hardware rather than software.
We took the attitude of more panels for the reasons above. On a normal grey day, we will still produce 5-8kwh.
We are already clipping in the middle of the day in full sun, which is the downside! Our set up is 5.2kw facing straight south and then 1.6kw facing east and 1.6kw facing west. Whilst we bump up against the 6kw inverter in the middle of the day, we start quite early and finish quite late. February was our first month of having it, we produced 305kwh in North Yorkshire
But inverters are cheap relatively, in 5-10 years maybe stick a 8 on if they’ve upgraded the network or changed the rules. Then we will have sufficient panels.
No it’ll be export capped at 6kw.
Explain that to me then.... How does that work?
If the inverter doesn't limit what goes to the house how does it limit what goes to the grid?
Serious Q as I thought all inverters just converted the DC to AC and sent it into the "house". Anything the house doesn't use naturally goes out to the grid.
If the inverter doesn’t limit what goes to the house how does it limit what goes to the grid?
You don't have batteries do you ?
A hybrid battery pv system constantly monitors generation (natively) demand and export via CT clamps.
It knows how much the house can have it controls how much can be exported and manages it based on the settings.
It has to Otherwise your Batterys would just drain to grid.
If the inverter doesn’t limit what goes to the house how does it limit what goes to the grid?
The inverter measures the electricity flow in and out of your house. If it senses electricity flowing in, it’ll increase its output (drawing from the batteries if necessary) until the incoming measures zero, or it’s reached its physical limit.
For exporting power to the grid, it can have a different (lower) limit and it’ll just put power out to reach that limit and no higher. If there’s spare solar generation it’ll go into the batteries, or your hot water tank, or ultimately it’ll just be ditched as heat.
so with 8kw panels and 5kw inverter I could export 5 and use 3 in the house ? or visa versa?
No. With a 5kw inverter the max you could use from the panels is 5. So 3 to the house then 2 to the grid. For example
Ok, updating this with details from our installation.
Panels: 16x 415W panels with a 6kW Inverter. Max effect approx 6.64kW. Total cost (including tax rebate for installation of green tech) 81K SEK, so about 12.1 k SEK per kW, roughly equivalent to 916UKP/kW.
Battery: 1x 5kW base unit (Huawei) with Luna2000 control module, plus 1 x 5kW (total of 10kW). Total cost, including in tax rebate for installation of green tech) approx 57k SEK, so roughly 4.4 kUKP.
Total installation is therefore about 138k SEK or about 10k.5k UKP. It's a big chunk of cash, but el is only going to get more expensive and it does mean we are a little more self sufficient.
The green discount is much more heavily focussed on the battery (it is effectively half price with that factored in) which is the reason we stretched to 10kW. We'll see if the panels actually fill that in summer with, given the S/SW orientation of the roof, should be possible.
It’s a big chunk of cash, but el is only going to get more expensive
I thought prices were coming down?
Seems quite good value for money to me.
to those wirh octopus, how often do you get export credits on your bill?
to those wirh octopus, how often do you get export credits on your bill?
Monthly
Hi, Australian solar performance here. Most people have panels on their roofs. I’m running 4 strings facing north, east and 5 degrees south totalling 18kw, 2 x Fronius inverters totalling 13kw and 14.5kwh powerwall. On the demand side I’m running air source heating and cooling, as well as an ev. Savings on paper are $4k per annum on a total system cost of $20k. If I add in ev charging savings and firewood savings, that doubles to $8k per year. 
Finally got the system up and running after confirming that the meter was configured and our supplier had ok'd things. Not the sunniest day for a start, but currently getting 1.2-1.8kW from the panels and managing to export a bit to the grid. Still not exactly sure why the panels/inverter are not charging the battery, but...
GF has not yet plugged the car in to charge, but that will be an interesting experience.
Mega day on Agile just finished.... Average price has been about 0.6p/kWh (not 6p) or less since about 10pm last night.
Got a full tank of water at 65c, house (place by the sea which is all electric) up to 20c and a 3 loads of washing done and tumble dried!
Happy days 😁
A question to those with the Huawei Luna equipment... Is it a user config setting, or a network setting that allows you to charge the battery overnight and then discharge at peak cost? Or is it just going to default to charging from the PV?
I'm staring out into heavy overcast and wondering when I am going to see full flow on the panels...
See oz going mad for it with the LG battery recalls looking to make it compulsory due to a high proportion of fires traced back
Christ a light thats worrying
it reads like an issue with a specific batch or something?
Makes a little scooter battery seem a bit insignificant!
there are a not insignificant significant number of voluntary ongoing mfg recalls for LG equipment - but you'd have to search to know about it - has anyone had any contact from their installer since they installed ? Many installers have gone to the wall over the last couple years with cashflow issues and price rise problems so the chain is broken.
I've certainly had no follow up contact from either installer i used since install.
the big deal here is that the oz gov are trying to force a compulsory recall.
I've got those batteries. I've not been contacted by the installer though he is still in business. I've since checked them and they are seemingly not part of the affected batch.
Stories like this have actually led to me moving my untidy stack of batteries out from under the stairs and into a new and shiny metal tower into the garage. Not cheap to change (£2,500), but it did require a new inverter and fourth battery + DNO notification.
On the bright side I got a phone call from the installers asking if I'd be happy with the 6kW model as a free upgrade due to stock problems, so in the near future I can have Powerwall-style UPS for the house.
Am I right in thinking additional batteries are VAT exempt?
We have an 8.7kW battery and I would like to add another 4kW (DIY job) Can I purchase the additional module VAT free?
I understand they are now VAT free, but i know on my Giveenergy setup i canno0t add a battery without it being recommissioned by a registered installer, or have access to the installer's login to set it up, which obviously i don't have...
Stories like this have actually led to me moving my untidy stack of batteries out from under the stairs and into a new and shiny metal tower into the garage. Not cheap to change (£2,500), but it did require a new inverter and fourth battery + DNO notification.
That was the primary reason for me installing mine outside. Is it likely to go wrong? Probably not, but would it play on my mind? Definitely.
I've boxed mine in to keep the rain, sun and frost off them and have added some fireproofing to the enclosure. On a very hot day, I'll open the doors of the enclosure...I could do this automatically with one of those greenhouse mechanisms, but I don't see the need at the moment.
I understand they are now VAT free, but i know on my Giveenergy setup i canno0t add a battery without it being recommissioned by a registered installer, or have access to the installer’s login to set it up, which obviously i don’t have…
Have you checked that the login details aren't the default ones or that its something postcode, phone number or customer ID related?
Installing a solar battery is a doddle.
you cannot buy them vat free as a consumer.
But in reality theres no such thing even through an installer . The price you can buy them at off the net is less than you'll be getting sold them even VAT free from an installer and then fitting on top.
see also this weekends chat every where about the updates to the BSI advising you dont install batteries in the loft.
If i fitted mine outside - there would be 6 months of the year i could not charge them at night and 3 months i could not use them at all - as well as them being a high theft target in a rural location.
mine are bolted to the gable end brick wall and as far away from habitable rooms as possible + i have egress windows on both upstairs rooms.
be interesting to see what my insurance renewal has to say on the matter now that the guidance has been published through.
If i fitted mine outside – there would be 6 months of the year i could not charge them at night and 3 months i could not use them at all
How so?
interesting trail rat. Ive not been asked about my battery installation at all by my home insurance!
How so?
Temperature.
Are you not in the UK or do they have a really small operating window?
Mine seem to work just fine in anything from -15 all the way to +40. The inverter makes more noise when it's hotter, but the batteries just sit there quietly doing their thing...
Are they life4po ? And have they got on board temperature stabilisation.
On life4po and without heating Anything below 10c ambiant and high charge rate. bit like driving your car everywhere always in 5th gear
My batteries throttle back below 10 down to 0 charge at 0c for self preservation. Reasons
yer the new advisory about location
I considered hard when i had mine installed in August, and went loft, actually the ideal location would be the shed at the bottom of the garden
I read that storage is pretty safe, and Lifepo4 even safer
