Why is firm one only fitting 10 when firm two fitting 12? Ask firm one to fit 12
I'm not the OP but the two quotes use different panels. Likely the 405 panels are narrower than the 415 so more can be installed, I'm seeing this with my quotes coming in too, just depends which panels they can get hold of.
When we got quotes a few installers sent little diagrams of how they would put the panels on; they were slightly different with a different number of panels. I guess it depends on the size of the panels but also how they arrange them on the roof and how much space they leave around the edges.
It’s only lost if you don’t have a single neighbor in you side of the transformer
I did not know that. In the situation where the export wasn't used on the LV side, I would have expected the transformer to step it up to the HV - but I'm not an electrical engineer. I can see why grid transformers might be more complex than the basic concept I learnt in school physics, but I'd be interested to understand more. Any search terms I've tried in Google only find articles about export limiting inverters.
It just goes the other way through the transformer.
In my experience the difference between panel outputs is down to whether they have black or silver frames.
I'm sorry if this has been covered before but is anybody using the Octopus Go tariff without an EV?
We are Octopus customers and our PV and battery is being installed on Thursday. Octopus tariffs seem at bit changeable and its not clear if they are enforcing the "must own an EV" thing. We dont have one so not sure how we can answer the specific charger and car model questions on signing up. This tariff would be perfect for charging our home battery overnight.
Recently they have been asking you to do a test charge so getting wise to folks not having an ev and claiming they do.
Folks really getting their knickers in a twist about the fact they are lying and in breach of.contract but somehow that's octopus' fault.
It just goes the other way through the transformer.
In an onpaper calculation perhaps.
240v at solar style low amperage arriving at a 10Kva inductive transformer will just make the low voltage coil a wee bit warmer.
Recently they have been asking you to do a test charge so getting wise to folks not having an ev and claiming they do.
Folks really getting their knickers in a twist about the fact they are lying and in breach of.contract but somehow that’s octopus’ fault.
Mmmm... as someone who is trying to reduce their driving and overall power use, as well as generating my own. I find it a bit rich that motorists are rewarded with cheap power but those wanting to store and use later to reduce demand on the grid are not.
Given the car tariffs are loss makers
You wonder who’s making the car tariffs exist.
You can access cheap charging tariffs but economy 7 and also if you buy a Tesla power wall.
Given the car tariffs are loss makers
You wonder who’s making the car tariffs exist.
Car tariffs exist to discourage peak time charging (1,000,000 get home from work at 6pm + plug car in = problems). I'm not convinced by Octopus's claim that they "subsidise" EV owners who charge at night since for most of the year there's a significant energy surplus in those hours.
The other way of doing it would be to have no cheap overnight tariff but instead apply an extra premium per kWh to all users who use power at peak times to discourage it. Which would you prefer?
I do think it's disappointing that no energy provider will offer a cheap rate for battery charging (well, except Octopus if you choose IO or fib about having an EV), but then they're in the market to make as much money as possible.
Even the new "reduce power" subsidy is a shit-show because anyone who isn't using power at peak times is now encouraged to do so for the next six months in order to grab the payments down the road. If I didn't have the cheap overnight rate, I would definitely be charging the car and house batteries at peak times, knowing that I get paid £1 - £10/kWh for shifting that load to the wee hours in the winter.
Even the new “reduce power” subsidy is a shit-show because anyone who isn’t using power at peak times is now encouraged to do so for the next six months in order to grab the payments down the road. If I didn’t have the cheap overnight rate, I would definitely be charging the car and house batteries at peak times, knowing that I get paid £1 – £10/kWh for shifting that load to the wee hours in the winter.
Who's tariff is that ? Ovos is less than 12% of your daily usage between 4-7pm and you qualify for 20 quid payment each month.
As my wife put it. Fine if the battery has charge but we won't be making the bairn go to bed hungry to achieve it.
It's a fair point
I had my array and battery installed last week and yesterday received access to the inverter software (after paying the bill...) so was able to start tinkering. Yesterday was a good day for solar and our array (5.6kWh) generated enough power to run from sun up until bedtime. The battery (8.7kWh) was at about 80% when the sun went down. Our overnight tariff kicked in last night so I charged the battery fully at the lower rate and given our daytime use is quite low in spite of us both being home all day then it will be interesting to see how the battery fsres today and if it is topped up enough by solar to again run through until midnight.
Yesterday was very clear and sunny but we used around 17kWr on Monday down to around 4 yesterday so I am very pleased with that.
I have been trying to get on Go without and EV for a while but they want to see a V5 to prove you have the car.
It's very frustrating - we have solar and a 10kwh battery as well as electric-only heating and hot water.
We could use the cheap electricity to charge the battery, fill the hot water tank and give the underfloor heating a boost. The battery and solar would offset the higher price of usage during the day. This would save us money and help them cut peak time usage.
But they are sticking to the rules and say it is because "it messes up their data" when non-EV owners are connected. No real idea what this means, but it seems they are sticking to it. I am sort of considering ordering an EV with a long lead time from Octopus (my company car provider), getting on Go for the winter, then cancelling it all in the spring when we are back in energy self-sufficiency.
Utilita - my current supplier, won't put me on E7. Green Energy used to do a good one called TIDE, but it's not open at the moment due to price fluctuations.
But they are sticking to the rules and say it is because “it messes up their data” when non-EV owners are connected.
The main reason is that at the moment they are losing money on the cheap overnight rate, but the benefit to them of not charging an EV at peak times outweighs this. If they let you join without an EV, all that happens is you get cheap electricity all day at their expense.
It's pretty short-sighted, but then look at the new schemes that directly penalise people like you who are already reducing their peak time use by fitting battery storage.
This would save us money and help them cut peak time usage.
You saving money would cost them money, and I guess they don't think it's worth it for the peak saving from your usage compared to the saving from avoiding an EV being plugged in.
@lodger how are you even applying to get on that tariff. I'd like to get on it as eon next are pants and we do have an eve to charge but cannot find any sign up form currently.
I asked OVO to put me on economy 7
They said i couldn't have it as my property had central heating.
I asked how they came to that conclusion - as i do not have gas.
I said im moving from Oil to electric heating for green reasons - and they said still it would not be possible to go on E7
They are actively blocking it without good reason.---> this is a different discussion to those lying about having an electric car to get on an electric car tariff.
Will probably move next year once the winter OVO move payments stop.
I dont have an EV so switched to Economy 7 with Octopus. I already had a smart meter but when Mrs Surfer called they said the switch would take weeks. She challenged them politely for a few minutes and by the time she came off the call the switch had been done and was appearing in the app...
But they are sticking to the rules and say it is because “it messes up their data” when non-EV owners are connected.
I suspect its a bit different. I would imagine that their tariff is benefitial for them when the overall usage is high - ie you're charging your car overnight on cheap electricity, but still using a normal house worth of electricity during the day, which is now priced higher than you would on a normal tariff.
if you just whack a battery and use cheapo elec, they're not getting the house-worth of expensive electricity during the day to offset the cheap electricity at night.
Hi
Just had a quote for 12 panels providing 4.75kWp of solar and 4.8kWh of DC side storage for £9,200. Think thats quite competitive?
I still have an old analogue meter which will run backwards in export, do I keep quiet or tell suppler 😉
In terms of battery size, do you think I have got it right, my house consumption is approx 6-7kwh per day, should I go up a battery size to 7.2kWh for an extra £600?
I drive EV - high mileage and plan ASHP next year..
THoughts welcome
how are you even applying to get on that tariff.
Ringing up and badgering. Emailing.
I already had a smart meter but when Mrs Surfer called they said the switch would take weeks.
We have a 1st gen smart meter and they said it would need to be replaced. They said this would take a while and in the interim we'd be on a temporary tariff that was about 75p a unit (and this was before the last lot of price rises!)
One of the quirks of utilita is no standing charge (first 2 units are more expensive instead), so when we're running off the roof/battery, we aren't paying. So even economy 7 is more expensive in the summer.
Sounds pretty good. A battery that size is good for absorbing the spikes throughout the day. If the clouds come over and you've got the oven and tumble dryer on etc, it discharges for a bit and smooths out demand.
When the nights draw in, it will be exhausted pretty quickly and as soon as the ASHP is in it will be gone in a flash. However, what we found with a bigger battery is that (in the winter) there's not enough sun in the day to fully charge it anyway, especially when we're trying to heat water, so a bigger capacity may not give you much return on investment.
I still have an old analogue meter which will run backwards in export, do I keep quiet or tell suppler 😉
are you sure - dont assume cause its analogue it will run backwards . mine didnt 🙁
it has to be reeaaaally old to go backwards . mines was tagged 1987.....
@djglover I have had 1 quote slightly above that for a 14 panel 5kWh system with 5.2kWh battery using solar edge panel optimisers and inverter. It is less than any other quote so far but they want to install on the SE roof and I want the SW one done (which is what every other supplier has quoted on).
how are you even applying to get on that tariff.
Ringing up and badgering. Emailing.
Thanks @lodger
So even economy 7 is more expensive in the summer.
Yes we will likely change tariff again early spring. I expect the solar will be providing so much (and given we have no EV) we will have to find the best feed in tariff available and won need the overnight rate (which has a correspondingly high day rate)
What I am learning is how it cant really be set and left alone. I am sure it will settle down a bit but estimating the next days solar and making small changes to how you use the solar and battery makes a big difference.
is approx 6-7kwh per day, should I go up a battery size to 7.2kWh for an extra £600?
That sounds quite cheap for an extra 2.4kW battery. I would grap the larger one for that price but its very dependent on your usage (which is low) and how and when you use it. I added an extra battery to our setup at install and it was £1,500 for a 2.9kW module.
That quote sounds fair to me
As you drive high EV mileage get yourself a smart meter and get onto Octopus Go ASAP. Also consider doubling the battery size at least so in winter you can fill the battery at night time cheap rate with enough power to get you through the next day
Thanks, I will probably add another battery module to it. They are the Pylontech 2.4 units stacked
Any pointers for a solar and battery company in south wales, ideally Cardiff?
I used a company called UPS Solar based in Chorley, Lancashire. I live on the Wirral near Liverpool which isn't too far away but I was surprised that the team who turned up on the day to mount the panels were from Leeds and the electrician was from Manchester. I have no other affiliation with them but the whole process was quite smooth and although the installation took an extra morning (due to one of the roofers having a sore back) it did give me time to chat with the electrician and he helped with some prep for a future EV outlet which was very welcome!
The price was pretty good (I had 5 comparable quotes) and I liked the equipment they used (Fox ESS cube) plus they had stock and arranged the install quite quickly so all in all I would recommend them.
I think it is worth giving them a call (or adding to you list to request quotes from) point being many companies dont discriminate on distance. They can only say no.
So mine got installed yeterday. The weather was terrible and it took them from 8:30 to 4:30 to get it on without any breaks.
Got 11x 400W panels, luxpower invertor and one US5000 battery (was 2x usc2000 but they swapped it) Im a bit worried that PV2 isnt running yet.
Obviously its cloudy today so its trickle charging the battery. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.
If anyone has a mortgage with Barclays you could potentially get some money back with their Greener Home Reward, up to £1000 if I read correctly. There are terms and conditions but worth applying if you meet the criteria.
Hey, Shropshire based here and looking to get quotes for our family home. The first one has come in from Genfit and it seems at the higher end compared to some on here: £7k for a 4.92kWp solar panel install and£14.8K for the same with a 10kWh battery. Or is this in the right ball park?
I've contacted a couple of other companies but have had no reply as of yet. Any other suggestions for Shropshire?
So - how’s everyone’s installs doing at this time of year? Mild weather, but still, low solar altitude.
1. What’s your location?
2. What’s your array capacity/azimuth/inclination?
3. How much are you generating/using?
Not much to compare it with as I only had mine installed a few weeks ago.
I am surprised that they have been so effective this time of year. We have a 5.6kW array and yesterday (which has been the best day yet) I was getting 3kW for quite some time. My battery was fully charged at 7:30 and had dropped about 15% until we got a burst of sun at around 11am. With the battery at 100% soon after our iBoost heated our tank fully (first time I have seen this) and we were feeding around 2kW back to the grid. I did a machine wash and tumble dried some towels ( we would have struggled to dry these given we have not been using the heating much) to make good use of the excess. I dont have an electric car at the moment but I have no doubt we could keep it fully charged (even a 2nd...) from around March onwards...
I've got lots of data! Here's a comparison of my two systems which shows quick clearly that, although an E/W* split is good in the spring/summer, a S** facing array kicks butt during the winter!
I'm hoping to add an 2Kw to the larger array but ground mounted and angled purely to maximise winter production.
* Chester
** NW coast
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
@sharkbait how are you collecting the data? I use the foxess app and Web interface but it is not as accurate as home assistant I understand.
Each inverter has a Raspberry Pi attached to it and they run an app every 5 minutes to collect the data and upload it to pvoutput.org.
Works well and has lots of different ways to view the data.
New inverter fitted in sept to play with the batteries.
Sitting at 87kwh for November so far which is down on last year but a waterwheel would have been better so far this year.
4kw array south facing 8 miles west of Aberdeen.
Plans to install another 2kw east facing on top of the garage which will capture the morning sun up till when it swings round onto the south facing aspect.
I've also just about nailed down the specifics of my solar thermal system which should remove a significant portion of our dependence on heating oil....
Thanks.
4kW east/west array in North Yorkshire. Tends to do OK in the morning if it’s bright but significant drop-off in afternoon as the sun goes behind a line of tall trees. It doesn’t cover the roughly 4kWh daily draw of the house, but it’s still pretty rare to end up with empty batteries when I go to bed.
Heat pump tumble dryer helps with this and will largely run off solar provided it’s not raining.
Panels go above 200W at 8am, peak at about 800W at lunchtime, and are offline at about 3.30pm. Weather has been rubbish for weeks now though. Having said all that my net balance with Octopus is £140 in credit with the direct debit set to £1. The £200 oil credit means that I’m cost-neutral for energy this winter (if it ever happens, I can’t see any realistic way of implementing it).
So we now have a solar system installed, 9 x 425 Watt panels plus 10 kWh battery..
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544582048_250998d281_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544582048_250998d281_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o4bHBN ]Solar panels on south facing part of roof[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544030721_291078510a_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544030721_291078510a_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o48TJa ]Solar panels on South facing part of the roof[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544514390_30a29f6c97_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544514390_30a29f6c97_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o4bnvh ]10 kWh battery and inverter[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
I seem to recall some public website where you can link your system to and it tallies up everyone's generation (of those who have connected) - does such a thing exist?
That's a really tidy precise install ! No margin for error on that roof.
That’s a really tidy precise install ! No margin for error on that roof.
They were very good, the electrician was very tidy on cable runs etc.
The roofers were tidy as well - lovely under tile brackets:
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544035286_5ec820f38f_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544035286_5ec820f38f_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o48V5S ]Solar install[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544514850_5e1e410eaa_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544514850_5e1e410eaa_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o4bnDd ]Solar install[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544035351_0b18de8093_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544035351_0b18de8093_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o48V6Z ]Solar install[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52543573102_6105ced2a9_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52543573102_6105ced2a9_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o46xGb ]Solar install[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
They also replaced every cracked tile with a brand new slate one - which is impressive given no one would probably notice...
So mines installed and up and running. looks a little like this
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GwUXYEG8cnMhuUjQ9
Its got 11x 400W Ja pannels with a luxpower hybrid invertor and US5000 pylontech battery.
So far so good but since install its not been giving a lot (weather) on average its pulling in about 200W at any one time between 10am and 3pm. this just covers the house base load. this gives about 1.5KW a day. i was hoping that it might be able to power an immersion heater during winter but this clearly isn't the case
The battery is interesting as im looking to use it to move some of our dependence outside of peak. but not enough to make me move tarrifs yet.
Best thing is the energy monitoring. its really interesting graphing the usage but unlikely to get me to stop using anything.
looking forward to the summer.
I seem to recall some public website where you can link your system to and it tallies up everyone’s generation (of those who have connected) – does such a thing exist?
pvoutput?
. i was hoping that it might be able to power an immersion heater during winter but this clearly isn’t the case
Obvs this depends on what you've got running in the background in the house - I saw some immersion activity* a couple of days ago.
Basically the winter is a bit crap though. I'm still looking to add a separate 2Kwp ground mounted array set up to maximise winter production.
* Top tip. If your immersion diverter does not have an always on display fit an immersion switch with an old school filament bulb in it to give an immediate view of what's happening.
It will light dependent upon how much power is going to the immersion (i.e. flickering dimly up to a solid bright light).
pvoutput?
That looks like it, just need to figure out how to get it to talk to the Huawei system....
. i was hoping that it might be able to power an immersion heater during winter but this clearly isn’t the case
Our predicted generation is only 1Kwh per day in December, so unlikely to be able to heat much water.
We have bought an Eddy Power Diverter for the immersion, but that hasn't been installed yet.
I do mine with a Raspberry Pi talking to the inverter with a python script and then uploading data to pvoutput every 5 minutes.
We're having a new, south-facing roof built on an extension next year, which at some point (probably 6 months later, due to finances) we'll have solar added to.
We're thinking about having the builder put countersunk solar panel holders on (ratehr than brand new tiles that then have a solar panel whacked on top of them) as they build the roof. I know that these marginally effect peak output due to heat, but we're not too worried about that.
How much varience is there in panel sizing? what we don't want to do is have a bunch of holders put in then be stuck with availability of panels, either when we go to put the panels in for the first time, or if we need to replace a panel down the line..
I do mine with a Raspberry Pi talking to the inverter with a python script and then uploading data to pvoutput every 5 minutes.
Yes, just found a project on GH, was hoping I wouldn't need a local host to run something and could just connect PV to Huawei direct via an API. Will have to get a Raspberry PI....
How much varience is there in panel sizing? what we don’t want to do is have a bunch of holders put in then be stuck with availability of panels, either when we go to put the panels in for the first time, or if we need to replace a panel down the line..
Panels vary a lot eg ours are different to the neighbours ones. However, the panels are clamped to rails, with 'over the lip' clamps, which means there is some flexibility to accommodate panel size variations on the same rails.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544519040_417dbe49b6_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52544519040_417dbe49b6_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o4boTs ]Solar install[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Fitting clamps:
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52543574132_0a39012f4c_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52543574132_0a39012f4c_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o46xZW ]Solar install[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Nest guard? Couldn’t obviously see any on the recent install pics.
Did you go for optimisers?
Considering theses options at the moment for an install.
Did you go for optimisers?
AIUI you only need those if you expect partial shade on the panel array.
Nest guard?
Wasn't suggested nor offered, so no.
Can't see any nests on the neighbour's arrays..
@footflaps - they've done a super job. You must be happy with how the panels are presented?
Nice set up and i like the Python script element. I have some panels going onto one of my outbuildings in the next couple of weeks to service the home office. I have the Powerwall set up for my house, but have opted for an SLA battery cluster so will enjoy getting this working with the Pi.
@footflaps – they’ve done a super job. You must be happy with how the panels are presented?
Yep, they were very slick and have done a very neat job.
One of our neighbours had some cowboys in to do hers a few years back - they just drilled through the slate roof into the rafters shattering all the tiles in the process. It then rained and the roof leaked like a sieve. She spent about 2-3 years with tarpaulins all over the roof and eventually sued them for a new roof. Her install was finally finished by another company earlier this year!
Nest guard?
Wasn’t suggested nor offered, so no.
Never had an issue with birds on either of my arrays so I'm not sure it's actually a thing (similar to cleaning the panels)
Did you go for optimisers?
AIUI you only need those if you expect partial shade on the panel array.
Yep and if you have a split array (E/W for instance) then you can just fit an inverter that takes multiple strings. They also add a layer of complication: on the one hand if one goes down then you just replace one optimiser rather than a more expensive inverter. But, generally, inverters are easy to get to and replace while optimisers involve getting onto the roof and finding which one has died before you can replace it - hard work , tricky (especially as panel removal is possibly involved), and spendy!
Useful thread this. We're having the roof off next summer and planning to fit flush panels (18 of) with inverter/10kw battery. The way our house is orientated it gets sun on one side of the roof in the morning and then other roof in the afternoon (it's an odd shape but it's a big roof so we can fit lots of panels).
It was interesting working out how many panels we should go for. But as we have no gas, no oil (ground source only and elec cooking) we were going to be better off with 'quite a lot'. Along with proper roof insulation, new windows upstairs, fixing the other roof (long story) and reboarding/insulating the house length loft we're hoping for significantly less use of main supply - esp outside winter.
I'm really looking forward to mining the data 🙂 We might not get a return in the 10 years we intend to stay here but it just feels the right thing to do for whoever has the house after us as well.
Now trying to align roofer/builder/solar installers at the same time is going to be fun....
then you can just fit an inverter that takes multiple strings.
Our inverter takes two strings and they split the 9 panels into a run of 5 and a run of 4.
I didn't ask why they just didn't have one string - I guess having two means it works slightly better with partial shade eg clouds?
We might not get a return in the 10 years we intend to stay here but it just feels the right thing to do for whoever has the house after us as well.
I did the sums on ours, approx 20 years payback at 28 pence per kWh - so not a great business case....
Obvs this depends on what you’ve got running in the background in the house – I saw some immersion activity* a couple of days ago.
Basically the winter is a bit crap though. I’m still looking to add a separate 2Kwp ground mounted array set up to maximise winter production.
yea im taking it into the battery atm. no immersion heater or divertor installed at the moment. Im going to see how summer goes.
I didn’t ask why they just didn’t have one string – I guess having two means it works slightly better with partial shade eg clouds?
Yep, without it a couple of shaded panels could bring your output down considerably. It also means that a fault on one part of the string does not stop your entire production.
yea im taking it into the battery atm. no immersion heater or divertor installed at the moment. Im going to see how summer goes.
From April/May our PV produces all our hot water - it's a great use of PV.
i was hoping that it might be able to power an immersion heater during winter but this clearly isn’t the case
I have an iBoost which heats the immersion from spare solar once the battery is charged. I have been fully charging the battery during the Eco7 period which ends at 7:30. Between 7:30 and 8:30 the battery takes a hit then generally tops itself up depending on the solar. Yesterday it topped up fully by around 10:30 then heated the water fully an hour or so later then I did a bit of cooking and a slow pot for tea, washed some clothes and ran the tumble dryer for an hour. The battery was around 100% when the sun went down and I had sent a couple of kW back to the grid (15p per kW) All good on a winters day but other than the iBoost and grid feed it does require me to monitor to take advantage.
The issue for us is the early evening use. If we use the oven and electric hob for more than a short period we are running out of power around 8-9pm. Our battery is 8.7kw but with 90% usable. Another battery module would sort it but at £1500 I am reluctant just to save a kW or 2 a day in winter. Once we have even an hours more of daylight the problem will disappear.
So far I am happy with the investment even in November... A large upfront cost however..
I did the sums on ours, approx 20 years payback at 28 pence per kWh – so not a great business case…
Yeah having looked at the quote, we're not even going to get that! Ours is quite a big system tho
GSE in Roof System, 18x Panels on two roofs. (10 at road side and 8 on rear roof).
Huawei Optimisers with 6kW Inverter and 10kW Battery Storage."
The panel area will measure about 19.2M2 on the rear roof.
The panel area will measure about 24M2 on roadside roof.
We also have ground source with the facility to plug solar into the immersion, but the advice we've had from multiple experts is that's not a good use of the power compared to a battery.
If we can get the farmer to chop the trees down on the other side of the road before they fall INTO the road, our afternoon panels will see quite a lot of sun. Still he's only been promising to do that for the last 9 years so maybe next year 😉
Is your battery outside? Is the capacity not affected by cold?
Yesterday it topped up fully by around 10:30 then heated the water fully an hour or so later then I did a bit of cooking and a slow pot for tea, washed some clothes and ran the tumble dryer for an hour.
So what was your generation yesterday?
but the advice we’ve had from multiple experts is that’s not a good use of the power compared to a battery.
If you have a battery then the spare generation should go there - otherwise send it to the 'water battery'
If we can get the farmer to chop the trees down on the other side of the road before they fall INTO the road, our afternoon panels will see quite a lot of sun.
Oh the irony!
@sharkbait - we need to see what's left before deciding on some extra plumbing. It's not ideal in terms of location of pipes. But I anm stealing water battery 🙂
In terms of trees, just to be clear our lane is sunken, the three trees are dead/near dead on the opposite bank. One already fell into teh road and just missed next doors house! I'm not advocating hacking down healthy trees as part of a greener energy solution!
So what was your generation yesterday?
Try to look later. I have a Foxess system and the software is not intuitive. I will be installing home assistant at some point which gives more data. I am out at the moment but my pv is providing >3kw right now.
Councils around here are having a purge of overhanging trees on safety grounds, especially as there is so much Ash die back in the area. I recently got a snotty letter from the council informing me of my legal obligation to ensure there are no branches or trees at risk of falling on the road. I was able to smugly reply that I have no roadside boundary whatsoever so they should direct their request to the correct landowners 🙂
So might be worth raising a query with your local council highways dept if you really do feel the tree represent a hazard. If there are any dead or dying ash trees there I bet they will be removed pronto!
Thanks Matt. I wrote a longer reply but the forum ate it. Short version- farmer is a lovely fella, he will get round to it, he has lots of the councils tree cutting contracts so he'd probably get a letter to himself asking him to clear the trees. I will take a look to see what the trees are - never bothered as they are covered in ivy.
I've just seen this thread! We have a solar + battery on order - 4.68kW solar panels and an Alpha ESS battery.
Seems that the Alpha ESS batteries have a supply-chain problem so we've been offered alternative batteries - Solax or Givergy. I use Home Assistant and have read that Alpha ESS doesn't easily allow web data scraping. Has anyone got either a Solax or a Givergy battery? Any good?
We have a 10kwp roof - roughly 35% east, 65% west facing. Great for 9 months of the year, useless in the winter. Even on a bright sunny day like today, we'll be lucky to get 7 or 8 units for the day. Most days are closer to 4. Since we are an electric-only house, it doesnt go far.
Have just managed to persuade our provider, utilita, to shift us to Economy 7. They wouldn't before for some reason, but seem to be amenable now. This will hopefully mean we can use the overnight window to heat the floors, hot water and, importantly, charge the 10kw battery. If this system works, the battery alone will be a £2.50 a day saving versus current costs, and heating etc will save loads more (on a bad day, with a house-full we used 80 units last xmas).
We don't have an EV, and this tariff isn't designed for that, but i don't see any restrictions in the T&Cs.
Will change again in March as they only pay 3p/unit export.
So what was your generation yesterday?
Circa 7.3kW which is pretty good for December and more than I expected although I am sceptical of the stats from the Foxess web/app. Its a realistic number though as I did all of the above, had a full battery when the sun went down and hadnt pulled anything from the grid since 7:30.
That's impressive given the lack of daylight at this time of year. I presume your array is fairly big (missus)!
5.6kW
Is your battery outside? Is the capacity not affected by cold?
Yes, and probably a bit, but if they had put it in the attic - it wouldn't be much warmer....
We're getting 3 kWh a day when it's clear (array is 3.8 kWh max). At the low angle we're getting shadowing from next door's chimney which is probably nobbling it a bit, plus the second row never clears partial shadow. I do wonder whether adding optimisers whilst the scaffolding is still up might be a good idea....
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52553304455_02c953e772_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52553304455_02c953e772_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o4Xqu8 ]Solar array[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52553130079_1df235617f_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52553130079_1df235617f_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o4WwDD ]Solar 0912022[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Another winter day reference point, 4kwp south array, North Yorkshire, 7.7kwh generated today, almost all day blue sky, little bit of light cloud an hour or so early afternoon. Just under 6kwh to HW as we have been out most of the day, just the dishwasher ran around midday.
At 7 years, I do think my panels are starting to drop in performance mind.
Well, It's all finally installed with the battery having gone in today and the array having its G99 Approval given 3 weeks ago after having been installed in Mid September.
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5.5kWp Array - 13kWh Battery. In 19 days of operation (since November 21st) we've generated 115kWh (the period of unending fog really killed it) with just over 10kWh today. Not too bad given that almost the entire lower 1/3 of the array is in shade until 11:00AM.
5.5kWp Array – with just over 10kWh today.
That suggests ours is under performing - 3.8 KWp array, so 60% of yours, but only 3 KWh today and a pretty clear day...
test! Can't seem to reply to thread!
