Octopus Energy BAD or OVO Energy Good? Solar Panel Quote Comparison!

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  • Опубліковано 17 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 90

  • @davidgates3498
    @davidgates3498 11 місяців тому +5

    Make sure you are looking into the spec of the growat inverter. Look into micro inverters and optimisers due to your shading

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +1

      Thank you for the heads up. Those things are on my radar but warrant more investigation!

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  10 місяців тому

      @scrapyardwars Thanks for the comment! Since this video I have decided on just that. Sunsynk inverter with Tigo optimisers!

  • @robmog88
    @robmog88 11 місяців тому +5

    I’ve had a solar installation for five years, I would go with the biggest battery you can afford, we unfortunately started with a 2.4 kWh battery then a year or two later upgraded to a 4.8 kWh moixa battery and I wish I’d gone for a 9 or 10 plus kWh but couldn’t afford it at the time.
    I’m now looking to add another 9.5kwh battery to take me to around 14kwh total.
    If I had an unlimited budget I’d go for 20-25 plus as in the summer you’d be covering your needs in total and getting a good income from exported power and in the winter you just charge the batteries on cheap overnight tariff rates and almost never need expensive daytime grid at high prices. Good luck

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment and sharing your personal experience.
      Like you, if money were no object i'd happily site 30kWh in my garage!

    • @geoffreycoan
      @geoffreycoan 11 місяців тому +1

      Yes definitely buy the most batteries you can, but even with recent cost reductions they’re still expensive, circa 5-20 years payback.
      Don’t get the 5.2 as they are only 80% depth of discharge, the 8.2 and 9.5 are 100%

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@geoffreycoan What do you think about the grid battery strategy?

    • @rogerphelps9939
      @rogerphelps9939 10 місяців тому

      Even now batteries really are not worth it.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  10 місяців тому

      @@rogerphelps9939 That's the conclusion I came to on this video here: ua-cam.com/video/hXCiZwlTuk0/v-deo.html

  • @andrewbellinger1135
    @andrewbellinger1135 11 місяців тому +1

    Have you thought about getting a quote from a builder to late out that front gable, then you could just have the panels at the front might save you some money.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. Another person mentioned that on a previous video and whilst I had not previously considered it, unfortunately my wife is dead set against that.

  • @tach175
    @tach175 3 місяці тому +1

    Your correct to price any system, you need to work out the KW, So a 6KW Solar fully installed anything under £6000 is a good deal

  • @RussMBrooks
    @RussMBrooks 11 місяців тому +2

    I would switch the invertor to the same manufacturer as the battery one app. Also Octopus energy can give you a great tariff, and control your system with the GivEnergy setup.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment.
      Is that the intelligent go that you're referring to?
      I need to investigate that more.

    • @RussMBrooks
      @RussMBrooks 11 місяців тому

      @@UpsideDownFork it’s Intelligent Octopus Flux.

    • @paulmannion7097
      @paulmannion7097 11 місяців тому

      Just got a quote myself from Ovo. Similar price but they specified the GivEnergy gen 3 inverter. Battery is a little limited on the peak output of 3.3Kw. I would prefer the GivEnergy All in One but they don’t yet quote for that (on the way). It’s also a lot more expensive. Thanks for the vid..

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@RussMBrooks Thank you. I'll take a closer look and do some calculations with my spreadsheet.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@paulmannion7097 Thanks for commenting. I have noticed the charge and discharge rates of the givenergy inverters appears to be low compared to some others.

  • @bobchambers6952
    @bobchambers6952 11 місяців тому +1

    I am pretty sure u can only pull 3 KWh from the inverter so as you have a heat pump you may take electricity from the grid at some time.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. The biggest spike i've seen from the heat pump so far was 2kW, but i'm sure with other appliances going simultaneously it won't take a lot for us to trip over the 3kW on a very cold day.
      I'll be drilling down into the inverter specs shortly. Thanks.

  • @Roedy_Coedy
    @Roedy_Coedy 11 місяців тому +1

    Not sure you are aware (not checked the other comments) but Battery only systems will be vat free from mid/end of Feb this year apparently so may be worth asking for an updated quote on battery only systems in March as could be up to 20% cheaper.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +1

      Thanks for the comment. I'm not personally interested in a battery only system.
      Take care!

  • @asabriggs6426
    @asabriggs6426 11 місяців тому +1

    Thanks for doing the leg-work! Useful to know what technologies the energy companies favour!

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      You're welcome.
      Thanks for commenting 👍

  • @colingoode3702
    @colingoode3702 11 місяців тому +2

    I would seriously look at doubling the size of that single 9.5kWh battery. I have the same size GE battery & in winter it's empty by midday after charging overnight - & we don't have a heat pump. Admittedly we are retired so we are at home most days so appliances are on during the day as well as overnight. I'm going to add another 9.5kWh battery to our system as soon at the 0% Vat comes in.
    For a sanity check against an outstanding quote I have from my original installer I asked Octopus for a quote to add more panels & battery to our system & they have politely declined because they are too busy!

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for commenting.
      I'm doing my sums very carefully because the payback period on any battery is currently looking very very long compared to solar panels.
      Even utilising smart tariffs and selling back to the grid during peak times as well as benefitting from saver sessions.
      You are right, to make it work for me I do need at least 20-30kWh in the winter, but during the summer that's just going to be totally over the top so I'm not sure I can justify the capital investment.

  • @davidsinclair144
    @davidsinclair144 10 місяців тому

    I think your savings calcs are for PV only. Installers generally don't include battery savings as there are too many variables depending on your charge/discharge patterns. Also need to factor in the capital of replacing the battery (10-15 years) within your 25 year span for the PV

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  10 місяців тому

      Thanks. I did some rough calculations on whether a battery is worth it for my use case here:
      ua-cam.com/video/hXCiZwlTuk0/v-deo.html

  • @9111logic
    @9111logic Місяць тому

    In this description, the direction on the compass of the two arrays appears to be 129º for the 5 modules and 310º for the 12 modules. They are claiming a return of about 4700kWh, I really cannot see that happening, considering the position of the two arrays, I would be interested to see if it materialises, assuming you're going ahead with the installation. Thanks for sharing 🙏

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  Місяць тому +1

      @@9111logic fitted at very end of Jan and I'm already over 7000kWh.
      I did end up with 6 SE facing and 16 NW facing though.
      A modest overview of production is in this latest video of mine.
      ua-cam.com/video/3NqH6frMTF0/v-deo.html

    • @9111logic
      @9111logic Місяць тому

      @@UpsideDownFork 🙏 thanks, I am watching now

  • @gwen0437
    @gwen0437 11 місяців тому +2

    Hard to beat solis and pylontech combo price and quality is good. Very easy to add battery's to pylontech and won't brake the bank. I started with a 3.5 kw pylontech and now have 14kw and keeps my heat pump running most of the time.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for your comment. Pylontech do seem to be coming up again and again!

    • @SimonRGates
      @SimonRGates 11 місяців тому

      @@UpsideDownForkI have 18kWh of them, and aside from having to build a little insulated box for them (they're in an unheated garage) they've been faultless. When we install the heat pump, I'm going to add a nother stack.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@SimonRGates Thanks for replying. Mine would have to go in the garage too. I do have a radiator out there but currently choose to have it turned off, but once I finish insulating the garage i'll probably have that radiator on a very low setting.

  • @andrewbellinger1135
    @andrewbellinger1135 11 місяців тому

    Just got my inverter replaced yesterday so back on line for the first time in 8 weeks. I have a 9.5 battery and it's a must have as it's better to save what you are importing then to export as a lower rate.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. Have you calculated the payback period for your battery strategy?

    • @andrewbellinger1135
      @andrewbellinger1135 11 місяців тому +1

      @@UpsideDownFork I think it will be 6 or 7 years.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@andrewbellinger1135 Thanks for replying! Good luck.

  • @vmanthani
    @vmanthani 11 місяців тому

    In your excel sheet, I see the battery only installation for 9.5kw is 3459. Does it include any inverter(AC or Hybrid) and installation!! this is the cheapest option if it includes everything!

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +1

      I'm afraid that's just the cost of the battery as an add-on to the rest of the solar system.
      Thanks for the comment.

  • @MagicianMan
    @MagicianMan 11 місяців тому +4

    DO NOT BUY THAT SYSTEM!
    With your shading issues you want to buy **SHINGLED PANELS** - its worth paying slightly more for them as the impact of shading on them is MASSIVELY reduced.
    Instead of having Half Cut Panels - ie each panel consists of 2 separate producing segments - Shingled panels have 144 segments, so shading on 1 of them reduces output by 1/144th etc.
    Don't let anyone persuade you to use optimizers, shingled panels are the better option in terms of cost and future failure/maintenance (optimizers have fairly well established failure rate of 10-15% over 10 years). That would then mean you would need to erect scaffolding to be able to replace them, panel failures are significantly less common.
    .
    GivEnergy kit is good but DONT buy the 3kw AC Coupled with 9.5kw Battery. You are limited to 3kw peak AC output from the battery.
    ,
    Instead get the GivEnergy AIO - that's 6kw AC Coupled with 13.5kw Battery, Max peak draw is 7.2kw and continuous is 6kw.
    .
    If you know your peak energy draw is going to be consistently more than that (6kw) then you might want to look at different options.
    .
    Potentially you could look at Sunsynk 8kw Hybrid, or 15kw Hybrid (the only product currently on the market offering 15kw Single Phase connection) or it might work out cheaper installing 2 x 8kw Sunsynk Inverters in Parallel.
    You could then split your panels into 4 separate strings which again would help with shading.
    Whilst this is overkill for your PV Array the important factor here is ensuring that your house demand is met by your batteries and maximizes full use of the Solar & Batteries to load shift to cheap rate time of use tariffs.
    .
    Growatt have been in the business for a while but are not generally considered Top Tier Inverters. There are for sure on the cheaper end of the scale too.
    .
    With the potential for shading issues it might be worth considering Fronius Inverters. These have one of the best Shadow Tracking (aka algorithms) allowing them to cope with the impact of shading on panel output. They do tend to be bit pricier though in general as made in Austria.
    .
    Also Sunsynk are manufacturer agnostic when it comes to batteries giving lots of options.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks. I am leaning towards Sunsynk for that very reason.
      Is there a particular shingled solar panel that you would recommend?

  • @geoffreycoan
    @geoffreycoan 11 місяців тому +1

    Have a look at the Gary does Solar videos for lots of detailed explanation of things like inverters, shading, battery sizings.
    The Octopus quote doesn’t look good I agree. Whilst you have the scaffolding up it’s best to maximise the panels you are installing as it’d cost another £500-1000 just for scaffolding to expand in the future. Having panels on different sides of the roof will give you a longer solar generation day.
    I’m not sure why Ovo are quoting for an AC coupled system, a hybrid inverter is one less box to install thus cheaper and will have about 5% less energy losses when charging your battery from solar.
    GivEnergy batteries and inverters are good, lots of people have them and there’s an active community forum

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +1

      Thanks for the comment. I have been binge watching gary does solar recently to get fully up to speed.
      Totally agree that it seems sensible to maximise the roof space whilst scaffolding is in place.

  • @seekeroftruth0665
    @seekeroftruth0665 11 місяців тому

    Im leaning towards getting a battery from fogstar 15.5 kw £2500 and a hybrid inverter

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. I highlighted that as a good option in my most recent video!

  • @RachelGrubb-x3u
    @RachelGrubb-x3u 2 місяці тому

    Does the payback time include the natural degradation of the panels? Solar panel loose between 2% to 4% efficiency each year. I suspect not.

  • @Gazmaz
    @Gazmaz 11 місяців тому +1

    FYI. I know that a small electrical company installing solar can purchase the givenergy 9.5 KWh battery at £2.5k and I’m sure the likes of octopus and OVO can get them a lot cheaper.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. That is interesting to know.

    • @geoffreycoan
      @geoffreycoan 11 місяців тому +1

      Bear in mind that the solar only price from OVO wouldn’t include the AC inverter? That’s another £1k

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@geoffreycoan Thanks for pointing that out.

    • @Dale-11
      @Dale-11 11 місяців тому

      No vat on battery's now I believe.

    • @geoffreycoan
      @geoffreycoan 11 місяців тому +2

      @@Dale-11 Batteries with solar installations are already vat free. From 1st February 2024 standalone batteries are now also vat free

  • @danabc322
    @danabc322 11 місяців тому

    Is there any sort of guarantee for the generation figures, is it a case of sucks to be you if that north facing array doesn’t perform?

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. The generation figures are 10-15% pessimistic from my research. I've not come across any other online or locally who have performed worse than their generation forecast. It appears that nearly all of the installers use either the opensolar or easypv system to generate their proposals.

  • @rajus0
    @rajus0 11 місяців тому

    Another great video thanks for sharing your journey with us!

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment and following along!

  • @Thomasmann-iw4uf
    @Thomasmann-iw4uf 11 місяців тому +3

    No vat on batteries now.

  • @andyballard1883
    @andyballard1883 11 місяців тому

    thank you for another really good video, as an ex IT Project Manager the thoroughness of your spreadsheets is much appreciated 🙂...If i'm honest I'm a bit shocked at the 'price gouging' by Octopus in the markup they are adding to third party supplied products. It has made me completely skeptical about going anywhere near their COSY Heat Pump solution when it rolls out 👎

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +2

      Thanks for the comment.
      The reason I went to Octopus first of all was the knowledge of how aggressive they've been with pricing in the heat pump market. It doesn't seem to have carried over to solar at all.

  • @SimonRGates
    @SimonRGates 11 місяців тому

    I'm impressed with the amount of power you get from the NW facing roof, the JRC prediction is 3800kWh/year for the 14 panels. However, that battery quote is huge. You could get 14kWh of off the shelf 48v lifepo4 batteries for that. I'm not impressed with the givenergy inverter stats either - they're expensive, and are relatively low power when it comes to charging / discharging the batteries.

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +1

      Thanks for your comment.
      I am leaning towards a SunSynk inverter for this reason. It seems to have higher charge/discharge rates and plays nicely with any type of battery.
      The NW roof also surprised me. There seems to be a growing consensus that blanketing the whole roof space, no matter the orientation, should be done.

  • @tonyfeasby1437
    @tonyfeasby1437 11 місяців тому

    Does feel like theres a need for optimisers there?

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +1

      Thanks for the comment.
      I think the front panels will certainly benefit from optimisers, the rear panels less so.

  • @DFowlesVWID7Tourer
    @DFowlesVWID7Tourer 10 місяців тому

    A;ways take the payback periods with a pinch of salt as there are some big assumptions in them plus of course you battery and inverter are likely to need replacing in 10 to 15 years depending how hard they are worked, warranties and degradation. No installer ever factors in that you will have another capital investment or two to make over the 20-30 year lifespan of the panels.
    I agree with many on here about sizing your battery properly and not going to small however it need to be appropriate for your needs now and in future noting that the inverter and battery are the more expensive parts of the system and will need replacing so if you go big it costs more now and in 10 to 15 years.
    One of the big things people overlook is the Inverter size and capacity both the recieve but more importantly output AC. It looks like yours is showing 3kW from the battery which could be limiting as many electric ovens run at 2.4 to 3 kW so any other base load would take a demand from the grid as well.
    My system has a 6kW Hybrid inverter which for our smaller energy needs has been sufficient when cooking Christmas Dinner (oven, hobs TV's everyone home).

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  10 місяців тому

      Thanks for your comment! I've been proactively calculating my own payback based on different forecasts and assumptions, you can see them in the last 2 videos on my channel.
      For my usage profile, a battery does not look viable at all, but that could certainly change quickly when we get an EV and can access intelligent go. We would be looking at 15-20kWh of battery storage in that case.
      The SunSynk 8.8 inverter is my first choice to give us the future proofing we want.

  • @Thomasmann-iw4uf
    @Thomasmann-iw4uf 11 місяців тому

    My batteries alone 4x4.8 kwh come to £ 5600. Pylontech us5000

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому +1

      Do you have that paired with Solar PV?

    • @Thomasmann-iw4uf
      @Thomasmann-iw4uf 11 місяців тому +1

      @UpsideDownFork yes I've got 5.8 kw with 4x pylontech us5000 through a Solis 6kw inverter. I still dip into grid if the wife switches everything on together. 😁

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@Thomasmann-iw4uf As the saying goes...every little helps!

  • @arnovdmeer
    @arnovdmeer 11 місяців тому

    Buy into a windfarm and wait until sodium battery's become available

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. Both good ideas. I am on the waiting list for ripple.
      Personally, I'm more interested in V2G than waiting for the next battery chemistry.

  • @ecoterrorist1402
    @ecoterrorist1402 11 місяців тому

    Shading factor is incorrect

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment.
      Can you elaborate?

    • @ecoterrorist1402
      @ecoterrorist1402 11 місяців тому

      @@UpsideDownFork if you can post a Gmail link to me, I will contact you to get your post code, YT does not allow me to post links

  • @rogerphelps9939
    @rogerphelps9939 10 місяців тому

    I wouldn't touch OVO with a bargepole. Their customer relations is shockingly bad. My FIT generation meter failed. It was replaced by a MCS registered installer. OVO was informed. It took the best part of a year before OVO updated my account details and that was after getting the ombudsman involved. We were originally with SSE who were very good; they made FIT payments within a couple of days of the reading. OVO take the maximum time that they are allowed, almost 3 months. Unfortunately we were moved to OVO not through choice but because of SSE withdrawing from the domestic market. Appalling

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  10 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. Sorry to hear about your poor customer experience.
      Did you have Solar panels installed by OVO or are you just talking about your perspective as an energy customer?

  • @MarkAAshdown
    @MarkAAshdown 11 місяців тому

    I cant see that you are comparing like for like? it looks like you are trying to compare a 2.43 KWp system with a 7 KWp system? They are two separate beasts with two different economies of scale. A larger system will always be cheaper per kwh produced!

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      I'm comparing two different suppliers who both put forward their best proposals.

    • @MarkAAshdown
      @MarkAAshdown 11 місяців тому

      You are also comparing prices against two totally different setups. One is more than twice the size of the other.If you specified the same design to the two different companies then you could compare them against each other. @@UpsideDownFork

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@MarkAAshdown I guess you haven't seen the other video? Octopus refused to adjust their quote.

  • @shaunkerr4647
    @shaunkerr4647 11 місяців тому

    Try beatable prices a lot better than that and a good system

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for the comment. Do you mean Heatable?

    • @shaunkerr4647
      @shaunkerr4647 11 місяців тому

      @@UpsideDownFork yes heatable, they have panels with micro inverters worth a look biggest thing being, not effected if one panel is shaded or goes down and because the micro inverter needs a lot less power to begin production they come on a lot earlier and turn off later compared to a string set up with a central inverter

    • @UpsideDownFork
      @UpsideDownFork  11 місяців тому

      @@shaunkerr4647 Thank you. I have been researching microinverters after watching Gary Does Solar.